The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-01-15
now, !" said Mrs. Thimble, II shall wear the

now," said Mrs. Thimble, II shall wear the
( red gown"
From that dinner the mischief spread and
deepened and waved aad ramifed. Mrs.
Thimble looked more beau iful than ever
before. The shrieking, sinful red oct off TO
amazing advantage the sweet spirituality Of
her face and the girlishness OF her figure.
/ She Was-I say 10 with regret, she was the
! oynosure Of al eyes. Other ears might
have been deaf, but mine heard what that
diabolical red raiment kept shrieking:
Borrowed! Borrowed Borrowedp That
was what it shrieked, and my misery was
complete. To emphasize the horror Of the
complication, Mrs. Turner guileIessfy and
cordially complimeuted my wife upon her
appearance. What a lovely toilet you
have this evening" said she; st is very be-
coming; you should wear il often"
! am man Of quiet disposition and Of
! tranquil methods: as the author of juvenile
text books and So an elucidator of
| logarytbms I have never mastered the style
necessary to convey to the reader even a
suggestion of the variety and intensity of
my emotions when / overheard this remark
which Mrs Turner. in all innocence passed.
| Let my silence now stand as an eternal
monument to the magnitude Of my ina
! bility.
We came nome next day. held my
! peace. Mrs. Thimble Was extravagans in
| her rhapsodies over Calm Lake aud the
| Turner's and everything thereunto pertain
ing. "Deluded woman" thought /; "enjOy
your triumph while you can A dreadful
awakening is in store for you'll" Meanwhile
the gowu-ths odious red Rown-went back
TO the keeping OF its lawful owner.
| They went Co the theater about a month
| later; yes, l remember, 10 was In October
the 18th: was watching the stars that
1 Al a
| to prepare a critical paper upon the APP
parent congestion of meteorio matter In
| Sigma Of the constellation Andromeda- So
! / did not go to the theater, and the party
was made up of the Macgregors, my wife
and our oldest child. 1t was happy party
going but sad party coming back. II
seems that in the very next box 30 theirs at
the theater sat the Turner'S That wouldn't
| have been bad at all IL Mrs. Macgregor
hadn't worn the red go n, her red gown,
| that night. But she did wear 1t, and Of
| course the Turner's saw it-of cou se they
sa w It, for that red gown w8s of all gowns
the gown to be seen il mes heard. o, it
| was terrible
The Macgregors and the Thimbles now
| found themselves hsr8ssed by these sew
| eral and distinct propositions:
l. Mr.. Mac2regor was outraged lest the
| Turner'S should think thst his wife was wear
ing borrowed finery.
Macgregor is a proud and sensitive man,
2. Mrs. Thimb!e was distressed lest the
Turner's should discover the imposition she
| practiced upon them last summer
3. Mrs. Macgregor was fearful that
society would uniustly condemn her hus-
band for letting her borrow her sisters
clothes.
4. l was mortified lest my part in the
| crime should DO Ensgnified unpuly.
| We had numerous councils of war
| heartily wished that confounded red gown
| az the bottom of the sea, bus IL was NOT
mine, and codld not do with il as pleased.
| That COMPOUNDED red gown bad cost
''muckle," as Macgregor said, aud Is had to
be worn out IL we had bought il of the
| Macgregors the trouble would not be reme-
| died, for tie Turner's would think QueerlY
| of the MaGgregors. No; the red gown had
come to stay. 1t doomed up like a fortress
in our pathway to happiness Meanwhile
satan cRuckled in dennoniac glee. AS for
myself have been, o 80 very miserable
have never been particularly proud man;
neithef my nature nor my profession has
| served 90 promote q spirit OF pride within
me. Yet here find myself neglecting the
| volume on insectiverous articularions
which have agreed to have ready for the
| printer in March. and am haunted by feel
ings Of resentment day and night, simply
| because am unwilling that folks should
think me SO brutal a husband as TO compel
Mrs. Thimble to gee her clothes from the
| neighbours
Meanwhile the complication gets all the
more tangled up. The Macgregors are be-
! ing Invited out great deal, and, as luck
insists upon having it, the Turner's are
everywhere, too--at parties. receptions,
balls, dinners, theasers-yea, though Ade-
| ialde Lucy MacgreRor were to take the
wings OF the morning and fly to the utter
most parts of the earth, lol the Turner's
| would be there, too, providing Adelaide
Lucy Macgregor was wearing that tateful,
ominous red gown.
On one occasion Mrs.. Turner, deceived
| by that abomiuable gown, has addressed
Mrs. Macgregor as Mrs. Thimble, only to be
acquainted OF her mistake by naughty
answer and freezing, withsriug glance.
Macgregor, naturally proud and sem
sitlye. has fallen into kind of monomania
that diBtresses us all sorely. Il is his fancy
that wherever he goes people are pointing
| the finger OF scorn at him and are haunting
him with cry There goes the husband OF
the woman who wears her sisters red
gownp MacRregor's magnificent Caledonian
| phySlque Is sure to break under this strain {:
IL 4 only question Of time.
Mrs. Thlmble has given up society alto
| gether; If you did not see her at the bazaar
| last month or at Swarthout's dinner last
Thursday or at the Witherspoon's recep-
tlon last tuesday, It was because remorse
over that abominable red gown hfs immured
her Borrowing prisoner within she walls OF
our blighted home
As for myself, am, as have already
confessed, fast approaching the hopeless
condition OF a total wreck. Only an hour
ago made up my mind to take manly.
heroic stand against Satan, who, l repeat. il
at the bottom Of all this mischief. / was
seeking to follow the intricaoies and con-
volutions OF Pettit's logarithm SO, and was
about to prove the cube Of the hypotenuse
OF an isosceies triangle squared by the par
allax, when suddenly q realization of my
shame as an abebtor of the fraud attempted
by that everlasting red gown entered aud
filed my mind to the utter exclusion OF
every pure and holy thought. Then, goaded
| by this hideous wrath, arose and cried
aloud; II will endure this no longer Like
Luther of old, will hurl my inkstend az
the foul fiend that has devised and wrought
all this wretchednessl will make q full
and explicit confession of the truth. aud I
| will send Il 10 the Turner's in order that
they, and II needs be all the world, shall
know how penitent am.
When the Macgregorr come over tonight
I shall read them what I have written.
| Then, IL MIRA Thimble and they approve
what l have said, this confession shall be
signed In the manner OF round-robin. for
truly We have all einned alike and our pea
ibence should be expressed 10 a common ut
I / faaN that "a Il.