The Forrest City times., 1895-07-26
AN NJ. PES INFATUATfON,
A DOMESTIC DIFFERENCE.

The general impression among Jim Percival's friends was that he might have done a good deal better for him. self than he did in his matrimonial venture.
 An M. P, with safe seat and de- cided abilities, young, good-looking, well connected, but having only a limited income, he was just the man who should have married money, and this is exactly what he had not done. He met his wife in Paris during holi- day trip. She was a pretty, viva cious Irish woman, lady-like and att tractive, but she had no fortune, and was of no particular family The NJ P.'s friends shook their heads over the match, and all felt convinced that be- fore long he would find out what a mistake be had made.
 There could be no doubt that under the circumstances his marriage was an imp-udent one. With his eight hun dred pounds a year Percival had subsisted comfortably enough as bachelor, but as a married NJ. P. he found that his income went simply no way at all. To cut himself off from so- ciety and to live with his wife in econom- ical seclusion was, of course, out of the question. It would have made him un- popular with his constituents, as we'll as with certain influential friends in town, to whose good offices he looked for securing some post in the govern ment when his party came back to power. And as he had no profession, but had launched himself for good or i'll upon a parliamentary career, it would have been madness in him to prejudice his cha nces of political pre- ferment.
 The natural consequence followed. Percival got into debt. He consoled himself first of all for outrunnipg the constable by the consideration that his party must soon return to power, and then he should be able to recoup his present expenditure. But the radicals remained ''in" session after session; the looked-for general election came no nearer, and Percival began to feel very lugubrious indeed. He already owed nearly one thousand pounds "a crushing liability to a man with . small income and no capital; in- deed, he did not attempt to disguise from himself that unless something very unexpected turned up he must soon be hopelessly insolvent. His wife had long been urging immediate and rigid retrenchment, but each time she mentioned it Percival shook his head
 The house was in committee oc a bill which was being fought tooth and nail by the opposition, and urgent whips had been issued to the mem bers of both parties to be as frequently as possible in their places But there were many dreary intervals of debate, when no big division was imminent, and during those intervals Percival did not always remain in the precincts of the house.
 He might no doubt have spent them at home or in escorting his wife to one or other of the numerous social func- tions which. for his sake, she so re- igiously attended. But in his worried state of mind the dullness of domes- tic evening, or the yet deadlier bore dom of a political conversations, was uninviting. He preferred to forget his troubles in more enlivening scenes. Within mile of the Palace of West minister there is. as all the world knows, famous theater of varieties 1t is under unexceptionable manage ment; it puts forward the strongest