Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1886-05-28
CHAPTER ".
STILL ABOUT MISFORTUNE.

- %ADOCA 49,
Perciyal called upon Sophia that afternoon,
and, for some wise reason, Mrs. Barbara Tenn
pie allowed him to see her alone. Indeed, the
little woman was never other than kind to
her daughters, and, being sure that SophiaiS
madness could not last, she resolved not to
seem ~tyrannical. So she let the boy and girl
have it all TO themselves.
Percival, impulsive in his wretchedness,
told Sophia everything in a breath. He was
stout-hearted enough TO hide his grief pretty
well, and he hastily assumed, as a kind of pos
tulate of the whole conversation, that Sophia
would think Of nothing but of giving him up.
Thus he raised in her a light sweet petulance,
which caused her to leave his dark illusion
unscattered for a while.
81 shall go out to Australia again, and be-
gin life" he said with a manful air.
She could not look at him, or she would
have been in his arms, so she stood half
turned from him with downcast eyes, and he,
watching her, felt his heart sink. He had
family hoped for other things.
eyes, l shall go ont to Australia again" he
repeated, SO sadly that Sophia could hardly
even for an instant hold herself back. 1T is
a fine climate" he added, trying to seem un-
concerned again.
"You will meet some girl out there" she
answered in the very exultation of her hy-
pocrisy, land yCu will like her very we'll"
u shall never love any one again" he said
gravely; and bio voice grew unsteady at the
last word. "Oply you" he added, in a yet
more shaking voice. That bit of unsteadi-
ness finished Sophia off.
HhIo.ro, 10 ~ rho o.;oJ n,o-n, IL all
nothing more Of you; and then go round and
round the world, and / shall wait here faith
fully till YOU come back"
So her little bit of deceit was over, and she
was sobbing in his arms, telling him that he
was ten thousand times dearer to her now,
because she could show her love to him; and
that no other man should ever call her
his own, with twenty other of those silly
speeches made on such occasions; some Of
which, as declaring the nobler impulses of
the heart that God has made, will be remem-
bered, | doubt not, when ten thousand human
f~railties are blotted out of the book of his
remembrance. And Percival, holding the
lovely girl in his arms, felt how little he had
lost, and how much he had gained in that
very loss; and he realized something of the
u Jun vi ALiAii VIM hAlC bIC tAAALI lCtll I, u1lI
said that there are times when, in the very
loss of life, we find life anew-life which can
not perish and which cannot be defled.
There! They spoke no more, not another
sentence for many minutes, but stood folded
in each others arms, mingling tears, enrap-
tured, exchanging by a thousand fond pres
sures, heart against heart, emotions, vows,
protestations, which the narrow channels Of
speech can never convey.
"You are all the world to me-" he said at
last.
"Al the world, am L" she answered softly.
70 Percy, Percy!
And you will go on loving me, Sophia|
"For ever and ever"
"Better or worse-richer or poorer?'
"Yes, till death us do part nothing e&
~shall-never, Percy"
So it went on, silence and speech alternating
for full an hour. Mrs. Barbara Temple was
a wise woman, but l somewhat doubt the
astuteness of her policy on that particular
afternoon.