The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1890-10-05

uOnate IN Jhelr bearing toward each other.
There are couple that have been married
long time; see how effusivey polite the gentle
man is to the young lady beside him, and how
grimly his worthy but neglected spouse looks
on There is whole family from suburban
Manchester; notice the unaffected shyness OF
the daughters, the affected GOODNESS of the son,
and the general disgust with Paris and all it
contains expressed in the countenances of the
parents. Watch that old campaigner, with her
three elderly, ugly daughters Observe how she
makes approaches to the few young men at the
table, the delicate way inwhich she inquresinto
their position and prospects. oh, how pleasant
to watch this all, to whisper sneers about the
conduct of this lady and that, to laugh at the
veXation of one and the anger of another, to
criticise their taste in dress, and condemn their
various vices-boldness, impudence vulgarity
II two good women cannot find enough satisfac-
tion in this to last them the whole day through,
it's hard to imagine what would content them
Now, as has been said, and as might have
been expected, the Misses MacSneevil invariably
dined at the table dh6tc. On the first night Of
the visit now referred to it so happened that
while Miss Martha MacSneevil had all the at
fractions before mentioned to occupy and amuse
her during dinner her younger sister, Miss Mag
dalene MacSneevil, had even more. As good
fortune would have it Miss Magdalene had as
her next neighbor most polite and attractive
gentleman. He was not young, but he was
handsome, with grave, elderly beauty, and he
was courteous with the stately old-fashioned
courtesy which has, like many other good
of the present day. and he was talkative with
the garulousness not of age, but rather of kind
ness. He talked freely because he saw his
neighbor liked to hear his pleasant, chatty dis
course and his soft musical voice. Miss Mag
dalene MacSneevil always enjoyed dinner at the
Hotel Glasgow, but never before had she en-
joyed it half so much as on this occasion; it
seemed to her like banquet in Paradise.
Her sister had not had such pleasant time of
it. Miss Magdalene had been so occupied by
her conversation that she had quite forgotten the
presence of her sister, who sat silent and some
what envious listener. When the Elysian ban
| quet was ended they rose together and went to
their private room.
~ WONDER" Miss Magdalene said when they
reached that retreat, 81 wonder who that gentle
| man s?n
Miss Martha.
',Why?" asked her sister sharply "What
makes you think that?"
"Why, because he talked so mueh," retorted
Miss Martha. "And was so very free and easy
in his manners, and so vulgar in his behavior
! generally
Miss Magdalene saw that her sister was an
| noyed and mindful of the proverb which incul-
Gates the soothing effect Of soft answer, she
lneeky expressed surprise that her sister thought
so, and, confessng that the gentleman appeared
to her most courteous and interesting, she prom
| ised to observe him more closely next evening
to see if her sisters opinion were not the more
correct.
This answer had the desired effect. Miss Mar
tina, instead of persistng in her expressed opin-
ion of her sisters neighbour proceeded to explain
it away with an ingenuity and success that would
reflect credit on leading politician. Not only
so, but she suggested that the next morning they
should discover from the visitors book what the
gentleman name was-a suggestion eagerly ac-
cepted by Miss Magdalene.
AS became such yirtuous ladies, the Misses
MacSneevl went early to bed. One of them
however, slept little that night she was too ex-
cited. All her mind was filled with recollectons
of that evenings banquet, with pictures of her
companions grave, handsome face, and with Wis
ions of a future such as she had once thought
would be hers, but of which, for years past She
had ceased to dream.
The next morning, after breakfasting in their
bedroom the two sisters made their Way to the
hall to inspect the visitors book. There, with
the kind assistance of the hall porter, they were
able to identify the hero of the previous evening
His name was entered Patrick Ballyhooley.
"Rather an uncommon name, y said Miss Mag
dalene, trife disappointed. She had been in
hopes that it would prove something romantic
''It's Irish, possibly" was Miss Martha's safe
conjecture.
swell, he's very nice gentleman, lat any rate"
said Miss Magdaene in a tone which suggested
that settled all difficulties.
That evening Miss Magdalene was again for
tunate. Mr.. Patrick Ballyhooley again took
his seat beside her. This time he was to her
even more delightful than before; not only so,
but he extended his conversation to Miss
Martha, with the effect of entirely dssipating
any i'll opinion that that lady had previously
formed of him. When the two ladies retired to
their room that night they sat up until uncanny
hours discussing the manifold attractions of
Mr. Ballyhooley. 1t is surprising that they
found it necessary to discuss the matter so long,
since on every point there was perfect agree
ment between them. However, the ultimate
result was satisfactory; it was to the effect that
both were convinced that there was never In
the world before, and never would be again, so
sweetly charming a gentleman as Mr. Bally-
hooley.
For full week things went on as they had
begun. Every evening the Misses MacSneevil
dined at the table d'hGte, and so did Mr.. Bally-
hooley Every evening the Misses MacSneevil
! took the same seats as before, and so did Mr..
Ballyhooley. Every evening Mr.. Ballyhooley
| devoted all his attention to the Misses Mac
! Sneevi, and every evening his conduct and
! to them At first he had talked on ordinary
subiects-such as Paris, its buildings, its his
/ tory, its people, its literature. On all these he
was extremely well informed but unfortunately
! the Misses MacSneeVil were not One evening"
however, he happened to touch on English
! Church affairs, and at once the two ladies were
in their element. Finding how much they
were interested, Mr.. Ballyhooley henceforth
| always directed the conversation to religious
matters, on which, to the Misses MacSneeVips
delight, he showed himself as well informed as
on everything else-in fact, even better, for he
talked with knowledge which is seldom pos
sessed save by a clergyman. The only point on
which he disappointed his new friends was with
regard to Rituaism. Mr.. Ballyhooey was
strong Low Churcnman. But even this had its
! advantages If he were a clergyman-as Miss
! Martha suspected, and as he once or twice
limited he was-his religious views would not