Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-05-17

I dote on parsons. They're always so
wicked"
Mr. Mainwaring regarded her with
stern severity.
Pax vobiscum." she said, offering him
her hand.
"Dollyr I interjected.
You shut up" she answered. do you
think don't know how to talk to parI
son? Such nice man, too"
Are you Miss Dickens?" asked Mr..
Mainwaring. solemnly
"Of course I'm Dolly Dickens of ours,
the peoples Dolly" she rettled on. 81
thought you'd know me. I say, we're
going to have some fun this afternoon.
I've rugged up a slack wire in the yard.
I'll give you lesson, parson."
II have heard Of you," answered Mr.
Mainwaring. "and am glad to have this
That's real kind of you to say you're
glad to talk to me- said Dolly. knew
you were sportsman"
.! have come here to perform duty"
he began again.
What an idle beggar you must be-"
answered Dolly. "a man who could do
his duty must have very little to does
pecially clergyman. Come along. The
slack wires awful fun"
Miss Dickens" said Mr.. Mainwaring.
Call me Dolly" she replied archly.
How dare you go on like this?" said.
Dolly. You're an old idiot. You'll be
much more jealous before I've DONE" :
What l say will be Short" said Mr..
Mainwaring.
Hear, hear" interrupted Dolly.
what pity ali parsons aren't like you.
l do like you,"
II hope you have some better feel
ings," said the poor man..
"Sometimes-on Sundays" said Dolly.
You are breaking UP what was hap
Ply home" went on Mr.. Mainwaring, sad
Are you so silly about me as all that 2"
answered Dolly. Naughty child, 1t
mustn't break up its happy little vicarage
for me. I'm really not worth it, you
know"
"Dolly!' thundered
You go away" she answered. Don't
you see neither nor little Tiglath-Pileser
want you. I shall call you that for pet
name, parson."
l went off to find my wife. / found
her after about ten minutes.
Alice" I said, II want you to come
down at once to my den. Mr.. Mainwar-
ings there, and he's apparently mad, and
Dollys there, and she's certainly mad"
What do you meang' she asked.
Please come quickly" 1 said. II don't
understand 1t bit The poor mans hav-
ing an awful time of 1t. and Dollys be-
having disgracefully."
Cant you EXPLAIN" she said.
Not in the least answered. please
come at once and find out what It's all
about" .sss.f..s. - IS s.-ze
When we arrived some further compli-
cations bad occurred. Lena Dawson was
lying with her face buried in a sofa cush-
ion, apparently sobbing bitterly. Dolly
was dancing on the hearthrug, and Mr..
Mainwaring, with outstretched arms, was
talking impassionately about this poor
unhappy lady and remnants of womanly
feeling.
Mr.. Mainwaring-my wife," said, as
he paused, for l now guessed that they
had not met before.
Your wife! Is not that your wife?"
he asked, pointing to Lena.
Lena sat up and looked at Dolly. and
then those two wretched girls laughed
incoherently. When they had quieted
down a little Lena explained that she
had been at home when Mr.. Mainwaring
had called on the previous afternoon,
and that she had thought 1t funny to
pretend to be Alice. The rest was OBJ
vIous, except that she had called the al
legged actress Miss Dickens and that they
had listened outside the window for like
ly moments for their appearance.
did my best to apologize to Mr.. Main
waring and insisted that the girls should
apologize also. Lena had a long CONVEX
sation with him alone and must have
apologized adequately, for he emerged
smiling, and she took him opt on the
river for the rest of the afternoon. He
did not trouble us with any more official
visits, though we saw q good deal of him,
and he turned out quite decent chap,
except for his unfortunate theory. re-
fused to forgive Lena unless she prom
ised to reconcile the poor man to the
squire. That took Lena something less
than twenty-four hours. Some day Lena
will commit murder as a practical jokA
and persuade the judge to reward her for
it.