Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1886-05-07

NAo N6tAt AlcEb WIS any AEd1Uu Why LQ6
house had not let, except the alleged one Of its
extraordinary grandeur. He assured her
that there was none At this she broke into
a little laugh, which meant, "Kettlewell peo-
pie must be fools. "What rooms for dancingrn
she calculated. "What staircases, up and
do 4r And then she set her own dapper
fig. e in one Of the glasses of the console
tables, and murmured, admirable, ad-
mirable taste!n II shall take this house,
she said aloud, as she set her foot on the
threshold. And as she went from room to
room she kept repeating, II shall take this
house" Bedroom, !" dressing room, y morn
ing ROOM" library" 'boudoir," servants
hall" With such words of assignment on her
lips she went about, and the whole mansion
was allotted to separate uses when she had
completed her inspecting tour. She came
back into the empty dining room, and the
young man who, full Of awe, had followed her
round the house, heard her say to herself, 30,
what a room for a dancer Then he, going
out on some errand, and suddenly returning,
saw the little dame step down the empty floor
in some formal dance, most mystic in his ewes.
and bowling with aristocratic grace to SOM
invisible partner. The young man recalled
his OWL hops at the citizens ball, and won
dered what this grave measure could be. But
the little lady pulled up all of a sudden, with
a whistle of her silks, and repeated for the
fftieth time, II shall take this house,
"Mrs. Barbara Temple was her reply
when the agent asked her name. She de
livered it with decided emphasis, as if the
syllables might be pondered; and forthwith
she gave orders for many things to be done to
the house and grounds, saying that she would
come in next month. You may be sure we
were all alive with curiosity to know every
thing about Mrs. Barbara Temple. She
turned out to be q widow-a widow for tho
second time, we heard-and with three
daughters. She had first married an old mar
of vast wealth, who died when she was two
and-twenty, leaving her with no children ard
a great fortune settled on her. Next, to
avenge herself for the ~privations of her fist
marriage, she allied herself to a young ensign
Of twenty-five, handsome and pennies.
With him she lived happily for seven years,
during which time she gave birth to three
daughters. Then the young officer died; and
so, having got a fortune by the first husband
and a family by the second, Mrs. Barbara
Temple was now making ready to lead the
remainder of her life according to her own
heart.
The family anne into residence on the last
Friday in April, 1858. Nothing was seen Of
them, you may guess, on Saturday, and
everybody was o tiptoe expectation for
their entry into the parish church on Sunday
morning. Thither they came, regularly
enough, like good worshipers, having, by the
way, spoiled the worship of everybody be-
side. First comes my little dame, natty and
brisk, and with something in her movements
that almost made you fancy she must be a
puppet animated by enchantment. Silks,
feathers of the raTeSt sort, a fan-the weather
being holland her frame braced up into
such erectness, that each of her inches was
worth two; so Mrs. Barbara Temple walked
into church. There was spirit in the eye
which went round the building, not with UNI
boldness, but with most unmistaka-
BILE courage. There was a vigor in her step
which told of a good constitution, and she
held her fan in a way that signiied temper.
Indeed, when the ~pew-opener Numbered over
the latch of the door, and kept her waiting in
the aisle, she dealt one glance at the woman
OlO OLll ~ hhuV q ICbuht wa LII IL. AU
sight of the flash, old Sparkins, the doctor,
who had been watching the newcomer
rather obtrusively, was struck with fear that
he might catch the next; and he dropped into
his prayer book like a bird shot in mid air,
trying to look as if he had seen nothing since
service began.
Three daughters came behind. The first
impression they gave us was of a profusion
Of rich dress, chosen and worn with taste
was simply faultless. The next I'M
preston was Of tallness Of figure, the more
conspicuous for the tiny dame who led the
way. The third impression was of beauty,
set out in style and fashion such as our little
town could not rival; and we did not think
ical sense. After this, we had time to
judge and praise the beauties girl by girl.
Girl the first, walked with a mincing step,
and a toss of her head which, though strictly
within the limits of good breeding, was
noticeable and significant. Clever she looked,
too, and her eyes were clear gray, eyes hat
could search you-and did search you-read-
ing your face with great rapidity and appre-
hension. She was the most striking figure Of
the three, being very tall, and with splendid
shoulders, Her face, it is true, would not
bear much looking into; and had you taken it
feature by feature, as the children were
taught to break the fagot in the fable, you
might have proved it a poor face enough.
But taken in its Wilderness, and set upon that
superb bust, it was a face which l should not
have recommended a young fellow to gaze at
too long unless he meant matrimony. And
then her dress-her dress! o, never tell me
that a woman cannot double-treble-her
looks if she has money in her pocket and taste
in her eye!
But the next was p%rettier; indeed, pretty
was not the word appropriate to a woman
who was unquestionably handsome, who knew
her beauty and was proud of it. The second
Miss Temple had a nose of most exquisite
shape, large melting eyes of gray, ready to
turn blue, and she had a lovely mouth, per-
haps with a little too much of the chisel about
it, too finely finished, wanting in expression,
and with a slight hint of disdain carved on its
fine corners. Beauty, professed beauty, con-
fessed beauty, and clad to distraction; so she
g'ided into her pew, and we had time to con-
slider girl the third.
Girl the third! Shall l ever forget her face,
then in the first sweet flush of youth! Shall l
ever forget the light that shone in those deep
serious eyes!-the thousand possibilities of
tender or delicate expression that seemed to
hover around that mouth, ready to alight and
unfold themselves whenever summoned 1
had been thinking a thousand frivolous and
misplaced thoughts, but something in
this face restored me by the most de-
lightful of recalls to the mood of a