when I seized the shrew by the
shoulders, I was in real earnest. I had not made up my mind for this
occasion to keep cool, and I did not keep so. I was as mad as a bear
robbed of her cubs.

The idea of Mrs. Fishley's taking my poor deformed sister by the arm,
and shaking her, was too revolting, and even horrible, to be endured. If
I could bear everything else, I could not bear that. At the present
time, I have this pleasant consciousness, that I did not strike the
woman; I only grasped her by the shoulders, and hurled her away from her
victim. It was a vigorous movement on my part, and Mrs. Fishley
staggered till she saved herself by taking hold of a chair. She gathered
herself up, and her eyes flashed fire.

"You rascal, you! What do you mean?" gasped she; and at the same instant
she rushed towards Flora, who was trembling with terror in her chair.

"Stop a minute, Mrs. Fishley," I added.

"You rascal, you!" repeated she, looking first at me, and then at Flora.

"If you put the weight of your little finger on my sister again, I'll
tear you in pieces," I continued, with both fists clinched.

"What do you mean, you serpent, you?"

"You touch her again, and you will know what I mean."

"Don't, Buckland, don't," pleaded poor Flora, alarmed by the hostile
demonstration before her.

"I should like to know!" cried Mrs. Fishley.

As she did not tell me what she should like to know, I did not tell her.
I stood upon the defensive between the virago and my sister's chair.

[Illustration: SHE RUSHED TOWARDS FLORA.--Page 22.]

"Did any one ever see such a boy!" continued the termagant, her tones a
whole octave above the treble staff, as it seemed to me. "How dare
you put your hand on me?"

"I dare."

"You rascal, you!"

"You may snap and snarl at me as much as you like; I don't mind it; but
you shall not abuse my sister."

"Abuse your sister, you wretch!" said she, the words hissing from her
mouth. "I should like to know!"

"You will know if you touch Flora again," I answered.

Somehow I felt as though Mrs. Fishley was not getting the better of me
in this argument; and I soon came to the conclusion that she thought so
herself, for she settled into a chair, and began to exhibit some
symptoms of hysterics.

"O, dear me!" she groaned. "I don't have to work enough to kill common
folks, I don't have more trials than any living being, but something new
must come upon me. There, I shall give up!"

"You must give