, smoking cigars, playing
cards, taking a drink of whiskey, and, when it was time for the
singing-school to break up, go home with the girls, then return to the
tavern and carouse till midnight or later. To be cut out by Paul in his
attentions to Azalia was intolerable.

"Character!--character!--character!" said his boots all the while as he
walked. He stopped short, and ground his heels into the frozen earth. He
was in front of Miss Dobb's house.

Miss Dobb was a middle-aged lady, who wore spectacles, had a sharp nose,
a peaked chin, a pinched-up mouth, thin cheeks, and long, bony fingers.
She kept the village school when Paul and Philip were small boys, and
Paul used to think that she wanted to pick him to pieces, her fingers
were so long and bony. She knew pretty much all that was going on in
the village, for she visited somewhere every afternoon to find out what
had happened. Captain Binnacle called her the Daily Advertiser.

"You are the cause of my being jilted, you tattling old maid; you have
told that I was a good-for-nothing scapegrace, and I'll pay you for it,"
said Philip, shaking his fist at the house; and walked on again,
meditating how to do it, his boots at each successive step saying,
"Character! character!"

He went home and tossed all night in his bed, not getting a wink of
sleep, planning how to pay Miss Dobb, and upset Paul.

The next night Philip went to bed earlier than usual, saying, with a
yawn, as he took the light to go up stairs, "How sleepy I am!" But,
instead of going to sleep, he never was more wide awake. He lay till all
in the house were asleep, till he heard the clock strike twelve, then
arose, went down stairs softly, carrying his boots, and, when outside
the door, put them on. He looked round to see if there was any one
astir; but the village was still,--there was not a light to be seen. He
went to Mr. Chrome's shop, stopped, and looked round once more; but,
seeing no one, raised a window and entered. The moon streamed through
the windows, and fell upon the floor, making the shop so light that he
had no difficulty in finding Mr. Chrome's paint buckets and brushes.
Then, with a bucket in his hand, he climbed out, closed the window, and
went to Miss Dobb's. He approached softly, listening and looking to see
if any one was about; but there were no footsteps except his own. He
painted great letters on the side of the house, chuckling as he thought
of what would happen in the morning.