Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-05-28

born," the dentist replied, little thinking how
dreadful were his words, ~ made a front
tooth for Mrs Temple-not Mrs Temple
then. She was a remarkably handsome
woman, something over forty-just a tint Of
gray in her hair. was not surprised when l
heard few months after, that young Cap
tain Temple was going to marry her. But I
Uds a little surprised when | heard subse-
quently that his wife was going to present
him with child; and when heard that his
child was followed by a second, and that by
a third, l was I confess, surprised not
little"
"But Mrs. Temple was only about two and
twenty when she married the second timen
the rector said, still unable to credit what he
heard
any dear sir" the dentist said, laughing,
II have known Mrs. Barbara Temple as a
woman for ive-and-forty years at the least.
Let me see"-he went through some half audi
BILE calculaton-"I remember her jiltng q
man in l795.n
"Then," the rector cried, leaping from the
chair and shifting hand against hand till the
room rang, II shall never believe anything in
this world again except the three creeds and
the Ten Commandments. Nothing is to be
trusted-not eyes nor ears nor the human rea-
son. Forty -fve-seventy-f Tilted a man
in seventeen hundred and ninety-five Why,
then, she must remember the French Revolu-
ton! o dear, o dear, how very hot it has be-
comet"
The reader who is observant and student
Of his kind must have remarked that nature
now and then fashions a weakly sort Of brain,
which a single glass of small beer will bemud-
die. In similar way does that by no means
infallible workman sometimes turn out a
Job Al
or disagreeable tidings. Rector Brent was for
practical purposes tipsy that afternoon The
disclosure had got into his head It is true
that his legs did not stagger, but his reason
did. He did not know his right hand
from his left, and was prepared to
commit any blunder. While his mind
was in chaos of ideas that whirled round
and about like leaves in an autumnal storm,
he said to himself that something must be
done. An insane something it was which he
fixed upon. He would go straight to Mrs
Temple and tax her with assimilation The
excited little gentleman never considered that
the lady had not made any statement of her
age with which she could be confronted Nor
did his preparation of impending absurdity
stop here. Fully resolved as he had been to
propose to the widow, and assured as he had
felt that she both knew his intention and fav-
orably regarded it, he quite forgot in his
hurry of mind that he had never addressed
her in the way of marriage. So he actually
came before her in the posture of a betrayed
sutton, and, as will be seen, he used language
proper only to that particular part in the hui
man comedy.
But this is leaping from chapter to chapter
As we close this one let us simply mark our
parson stepping out of his carriage at Mrs
pa,. ~ l,nr 10 &,
ried, his face is red, his manner is disordered.
And we may he sure that these outward
marks of confusion and annoyance convey
only a very inadequate picture of the state of
his reasoning faculties These were indeed,
in that state of riot and darkness which in
most cases is the acknowledged preliminary
to bedlam