CHAPTER XXI.
A BARGAIN.
I AM not much of a bargain-buyer, having had, like most housekeepers, sufficient experience on that subject to effect a pretty thorough cure of the disease, mild as it was in the beginning.

As all diseases, whether bodily or mental, leave behind them a predisposition to return, I have, from time to time, been subjected to slight paroxisms of the old complaint.

From the effects of my last rather mild attack, I am now recovering.
I was passing along Walnut street, on my way to drop a letter in the Post Office, one morning, about ten o'clock, when the ringing of an auctioneer's bell came suddenly on my ears.

Lifting my eyes, I saw the flag of Thomas & Son displayed before me, and read the words, "Auction this morning." Here was an "exciting cause," as the doctors say, and, instantly I felt a movement of the old affection.

Two or three ladies happened to be entering the store at the time, and the sudden inclination to follow them was so strong that I did not attempt its resistance.