Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1886-06-25
VIII.
LADY RIVALS, WITH THE FooTLIGHTs BE-
TWEEN THEM.

1 49, NbH HCOAAAOh1O DEF
TWEEN THEM.
Percival got his own way, after all, in the
matter of marrying as a poor man. Fortune,
Henry Fielding tells US somewhere, never
does things by halves. Two months after
Percivals uncle died, and it was found that,
in spite of his wife's cajoling, he had remem-
bered his nephew; and, though the bulk of
his property went to his stepsons, he left Per-
cival the fifteen hundred a year which he had
SO long allowed to his father. So PeFcival
did not marry as a poor man, after all, and
the little mother, had she lived, might have
confessed that sometimes love finds out the
way to fortune too.
Wedding bells come ringing in as my story
nears its end. Sophia Temple is the bride the
sun shines on. 1t is a quiet marriage; but
loving eyes are about her and upon her.
Seven long years she has waited, and now the
day has dawnedt that makes her happy. All
is sunshine. The little wedding feast is full
OF pleasantly. Egerton Doolittle makes a
speech, in which he assures the company that
he always maintained, in the face of every
body, that Sophia would find some one to
marry her some day. He did not exactly
mean what he said, but that some one would
turn up; for he had heard that there never is
a Jack but there is a Jill-not that he meant
to imply that Sophia was not most charming;
quite the reverse; but still it requires fore
sight to say how any given thing will turn
out, and he always said so, in spite of every
body; and there the thing was that day,
and nobody could gainsay it And Goldmore
hands Sophia solemnly into her carriage, and
off they go for life and love, and the story is
told.
They come back again and settle in the
Beeches, which has lain vacant since Mrs.
Temple gave it up. They began their mar
ried life with every promise of happiness and
with the brief sunshine of this life warm and
bright about them. May l relate one little
incident?
Exactly a month after their return home
Egerton Doolittle came i'll one morning and
asked to see Sophia privately; and when he
was alone with her, and the door shut, he
drew a long playful out Of his pocket.
Look here, Sophia, he says, in a voice of
alarm, "look at this"
The bill announces that in a %neighboring
city there is to be for one night only a per-
ormance of "The School for Scandal" with
Mr.. Lanigan as Charles Surface and Mrs.
Lanigan as Lady Teazle.
Il call it a serious thing for you, Sophia"
Egerton says. "If you will take my advice
as a relative, l should keep Percival in the
background. You will observe it is only for
one night, and as a prudential matter l should
keep Percival in the background.
Does she?
"Come here, sir" she says to her husband
after Egerton has gone. do you see thisw
She shows him the playful, and he looks a
little foolish and conscious.
u want to see the Lanigan, Percy" she
says. "You must take a box for us both to
see the Lanigan."
you are jesting, Sophia"
Never was more serious in my life. /
must, and I viii, see Mrs. Laniganl'
So the abashed husband has to take a box,
and in due time they are waiting for the cur
tain to rise.
"Now, which is Mrs. LaniganT' Sophia
asks, after the play has begun.
"There," Percival says, "in the satin
dress.n
THE blue satin dress' Surely THAT is not
Mrs. LaniganF' Sophia puts a very impress
sive emphasis on ''that.n
Yes, that is she" Percival replies, with
obvious awkwardness. He feels very much
ashamed of having admired her. He can see
nothing in her now at all.
Mrs. Lanigan is not the woman with the
long trainF Sophia says, resolved to disbe-
heye him. In fact, she implies that it is quite
Incredible that THAT can be Mrs. Lanigan.
"Yes, the woman with the long train" he
replies.
why, Percival yousaid she vas SO pretty