The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1882-03-23
CFrom the Cornhill Magazine.l
THE MAN WITH THE RED HAIR.

: folk, one September morning, whe
Toogood, who had been reading h
letters looked up, rubbing his bal
head and frowning, as he does in mt
ments of distress, and called out aero:
the table to his wife, II say. mothe
e Percival's coming tomorrow"
"Percival? Percival?" repeate
; Mrs. Toogood vaguely "Oh. do yo
mean the man with the red hair?
am so sorry
The Toogoods are such extremel
hospitable people that it is hardly pos
sible to conceive such thing as tina
either Of them shonld feel sorry at tn
prospect of receiving an additions
guest in their capacious house. an
Florry Neville only made herself tn
spokeswoman of the entire compan,
by asking in tone of astonishment
why? Because he has red hair?"
"Well, yes; partly because of that.
answered Mrs Toogood with a sigh
Now mind, children" said Toogoot
in a loud voice; mot word about rer
hair AS long as Mr. Percival is here.
don't know how many children
Toogood has-I have never attempted
to count them-but | do not know
that if there was anything which
[ particularly wished to prevent
them from abiding to, the very
last course that should adopt would
be to tell them of it.
THE first child" continued Too.
good resoluteIy, who mentions the
subject of red hair during Mr.. PEREZ
walls visit will be whopped. or con-
fined to the nursery, or made to learn
the first six propositions of Euclid by
heart according to age and sex.
So now you know"
'And how about adults?" Miss New
lille inquired What is to be- done to
them if they hurt your carroty friends S
feelings?"
"Oh. he'll look after the adults" an
swered Toogood rather gloomily: Il
believe he half killed a man at Ok
ford, years ago. for calling him Car
rots. | don't know what he'd do in
the case Of lady, I'm sure; but |
wouldn't try chatting him, Miss New
lille, if [ were you-I wouldn' t really"
Now that again, is not the sort of
thing that | should have said with a
view to making sure of Florry's be-
having herself; but dear old Toogood
is always saying things that he ought
not to say.
"Percival isn't bad fellow" he
continued pensively, $50 long as you
don't rub him the wrong way; only,
unfortunately, it takes very little to
rub him the wrong way; and when
he gets into one of his tempers-well,
it's uncommonly disagreeable for ev-
erybody."
After that | suppose we all felt an
increased curiosity to behold the man
with the red hair; and | can answer
for one of US who was not without
hop. that he might be attacked by
some extraordinary fit of fury before
he went away. | must confess that |
take great delight in seeing things
broken (of course [ don't mean my
own things); and sincerely as [ should
have deplored the annihilation of Mrs
Toogood's best dessert service, still, if
such calamity was bound to take
place. l should certainly have wished
to be there to look on at it. | imag-
ined the redoubtable Percival as d
brawny giant with flaming name
and beard, and after breakfast found
in one of the children's picture-books
a representation of an ogre which
seemed so exactly like that what he
ought to be that l pointed it out to
Florry Neville, who WAS so kind as to
say that she would take an early op-
portunlty of showing it to him and
telling him that | had supposed it to
be his portrait.
However, when he did come, he
turned out like so many things that
one has looked forward to. to be dis
appoihtment-at all events so far as
appearances went. He was not in the
least like the ogre in the picture book,
nor like any ogre at all. but was a tall
and well-made fellow of six or seven
and twenty, whom nine people out of
ten would have pronounced decidedly
good-looking. Certainly his hair was
red; but it was cut so short that its
color hardly attracted attention, and
he wore neither beard nor moustache.
1t was Just before diuner that we had
our first view of him, and I scrutin-
iz-d him then and throughout the
evening rather narrowl y without dis
covering anything about him different
from the rest Of the world. except
that his eyes were little restless, and
that he spoke with a certain hurried
-xcitability when he was interested In
his subject. If he had been horse
you would have said that he was
high-couraged animal, nothing more
At dessert the children stared at hin
with round eyes, and | could see tha
my feeling of disappointment wa:
shared by them; but they made NJ
dreadful remarks, nor was the har
mony of the evening in any way dis
turbed. As for his manners, nothing
could have been more pleasant. Hi
voice was rather loud. but not disa
greeable; he talked good deal
chiefly about sport-and was yer,
CHEEKY and unaffected and ready t,
make friends with everybody.
After dinner Florry Neville tool
HIM away into corner and began tt
iirt with him outrageously; but tina
| had known beforehand she woul,
do. | may mention that Florry is m,
cousin, and that [ have been ac
quainted with her little ways for man,
years. Rufus appeared to be mucl
taken with her. | don't know wheth
er she chafftd him or not; but if sh
did. her chaff must have been of YER
mild order, for no one could hay
looked more compliment than he di
when the ladies went upstairs and W
adjourned to the smOkino-room.