The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-05-12
CHAPTER V.


was not made that day.
CHAPTER Y.
VANITY CAN VANQUIsH LovE
The following morning Mr. Brent received
a letter from his son in Australia, announc-
ing his intention of returning to England for
a few months. The reason of this return the
letter went on to furnish. The son said he
feared his father would think him very
foolish; but love was bringing him home, and
here was the worst of the matter-love under
very peculiar circumstances. He had fallen
in love with-a picture He had seen the
portrait of girl whose face had Impressed
him as never the living face of any woman
had, and having ascertained that the original
of the picture really lived, and was English,
and not a duchess or a princess, which well
she might be, but a girl of his own rank in
life. young Brent was determined to find her
out and try to secure her for himself The
letter wound up III very ingenious language,
admitting the apparent absurlity of the
whole proceeding; but protesting that the pas
sion was true and deep. and that nothing
could end it except realization or absolute
and ascertained hopelessness.
Rector Brent was a good natured man and
a kind father; so he shook his head and
smiled over his sons folly, being a sage him
self. But he wrote a kind reply, saying
that his son would be always welcome home
under any conceivable circumstances, and
that though he must confess the expedition
seemed rather wild, yet he well knew that in
the latter scenes of the affair his son would
be ruled by his own good sense and his
fathers counsel
"And now the rector said, as he sealed
4N-s u II y - 1
cival comes home I had better have my af-
fairs settled This he said, and as he spoke
he looked at his own likeness in the chimney
glass. Something struck him. Dear me-"
he exclaimed. Il must get some new teethg'
For fifty years of good living had told upon
this portion of his mechanism; and now re
fecting that he was about TO marry, he
reasoned thus: SAT such times we refurnish
our houses. Think of a man refurnishing his
house, and not refurnishing his mouth II
am to have a new dining table, l ought to
have a new set of teeth to use at it. Besides
He grinned in the glass yes" he said,
shaking his head, mot at all progressing. p"
He grinned again, and this time by the power
of fancy set new white teeth in the vacant
spaces. ~Not doubt of it." he nurmured !;
the greatest Improvement
So that morning, instead of making pro-
posal of marriage to the lively widow, he
went to an adjacent town. where a notable
dentist practiced, and here he had his jaws
overhauled and plan of the projected i'm
provements drawn out The dentist was a
man of chat, and when he ascertained whence
the parson came he had all sorts of questions
to ask about various people in the neighbor-
hood, and curious stories to tell. and gossip to
exchange; so that our little rector, perched IN
the operating chair, laughed and chirruped
and looked the image of enjoyment. Short
sighted mani
by the way" said the dentist, pausing a
moment with one of his tools in his hand,
'has not a Mrs. Temple settled III Kettlewell
during the past year.'
Rector Brent knew that faint blush shot
out of his cheek as he answered Yes"
"A remarkable woman" the dentist con-
tinued, forgetting his task, while with a med
itative face he seemed to contemplate bvgone
days. "A very remarkable woman"
"a very, gerry remarkable woman" the
rector replied, determined to add an adverb
in this very peculiar case.
Wonderful energy, said the dentist.
"Most wonderful,T the rector rejoined, still
on the augmentation principle.
"And such face and fgurem the operator
said again.
"Ah, such face and fgure.' repeated the
rector. unable TO refrain from rubbing his
hanis together.
''I'or her years" the dentist remarked, in
an explanatory voice.
80, come, come." CT ed the rector, in tones
of remonstrance. Il don't see that. She is
youthful, certainly, and sprightly; but still
women are not old at foI ty-iive.n
"At lchGt fve.' asked the dentist, not hay
ing caught the first wo.el
"Forty-fve,H repeated the rector, boldly
and emphatically.
Seventy more likely the blunt den
tist said, now intent oa his tool, which was
out of repair.
20, see, see.7 cried Rector Brent; ayou
are talking of her mother. We don't know
the mother. The mother does not live with
them now
-ITnless Mrs Barbara Temple is herself
and her mother at the same time am not
talking of her mother the dentist an
swered THAT lsdy is seventy years Of age,
if she Is seven
Saying this with great unconcern, he ad-
vanced to take some further measurement of
the elergyman1s mouth, and Observing his
face of horror, he said, reassuringly:
Don't be uneasy; | am not going TO take
anything out
convulsiye were his movements that for o
moment the dentist feared that he might have
left one Of his minor implements in the
patients mouth, which implement, having
been Inadvertently swallowed, was, from
its unaccommodating material ard unusual
shape, doing violence to nature in one or
other of the canals which traverse the human
continent.
eDo YOU mean TO say said the astounded
clergyman at last, that Mrs. Barbara Tenn
ple-the lady who has three fine daughters
is more than forty-fveT
Before one of those young ladies was
toar,.n tha dentist reyiVizd, little thinking how
dreadful were his woris, Il made a from
tooth for Mrs. Temple-not Mrs. Tempb
then She was a remarkably handsome
woman. something over forty-just tint o
gray in her hair. | was not surprised when
heard few months after, that young Cap
tain Temple was going TO marry her. But
scds a little surprised when ] heard subse
quently that his wife was going to preSen
MIN with a child; and when heard that thi
child was followed by a second, and that b,
third, ] was, / confess, surprised not
little
But Mrs. Temple was only about two-and
twenty when she married the second time,
the rector said, still unable to credit what b
heard.
MY dear sir the dentis said, laughing
q have known Mrs. Barbara Temple as
woman for five nd-forty years at the least
Let n>s see7-he went through some half-audi
Bile caiculation-'I remember her jilting
man in I795.
~Tben,r the rector cried, leaping from tn
chair and shifting hand against hand till th
room rang, Il shall never believe anything i
this world again except the three creeds an
the Ten Commandments. Nothing is to b
| tI1lsfed-not eyes nor ears nor the human res
son. Forty -five-seventy- five. jilfed a ma
In seventeen hundred and ninety-five, Why
then, she must remember the French Revolt
ton. o dear, o dear, how very hot it has b
GOMEZ
! The reader vino is observant and studer
Of his kind must have remarked that natur
/ now and then fashions weakly sort OF brain
/ which a single glass OF small beer will benuc
die. In similar way does that by no NEAR
/ infallibIe workman sometimes turn out
| brain which cannot stand the shock of strang
or disagreeable tidings Rector Brent was fc
/ practical purposes tipsy that afternoon III
I disclosure had got into his head Ii Is tIu
that his legs did not stagger, but his reaso
dill He did not know his right han
| from his left, and was prepared
/ commit any thunder. While his min
! was in chaos of ideas that whiried roun
and about like leaves in an auturnrial storm
| he said to himself that something must 2
done. An insane something it Was which
fixed upon He would go straight to Mr.
1 Templs and tax her with dissimuiation ID
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