SCENE III.—_Parlor. FLORA present, C. She is arranging flowers

in a vase._

F. (_soliloquizing_). So Mr. Percival is going to call on me to-day. It is quite fortunate I happened to overhear his plans. I suppose he will repeat that momentous question again, and I’ve about made up my mind to accept him. Then the matter will be settled, and I shan’t be worried any more by his importunities. Besides, he is a person of good standing, and I don’t know as I love any one else more; and I don’t think he is after my money. (_A pause in which she completes the arrangement of the flowers. MR. P. enters._)

F. (_advancing toward him_). Ah, Mr. Percival, I was just thinking of you, and you know the old saying, “If you think of the angels, you’ll soon hear the rustling of their wings.”

MR. P. Excuse me, but I never heard it expressed in that way before. It has been told me in this wise: His Satanic Majesty is always near when you’re talking of him.

F. I must say my version is more complimentary than yours.

MR. P. So do I, and I draw encouragement from that fact. If you were thinking of me, I take it as a favorable omen, and shall consider that I am not so disagreeable to you as I feared I was.

F. (_interrupting_). Oh, by the way, Mr. Percival, I had quite an adventure last night. I saw a real, _bona fide_ ghost.

MR. P. Did you really?

F. Yes; as I was quietly dozing, a tall figure, clad in white, stalked into my room, and when I opened my eyes I beheld him close beside me, and looking down upon my face.

MR. P. (_avoiding her eyes_). And what did he say?

F. (laughing). Oh, he pretended to be the spirit of my former husband, and said I must marry again.

MR. P. (_taking both her hands in his_). Why will you not heed his advice? Let me, too, add my solicitations. Marry me, Flora, and you shall never have cause to regret it. (_He anxiously waits her reply._)

F. (_looking up into his face with an amused smile_). Why, Mr. Percival, how much you remind me of my last night’s visitor! The expression of your face, and the lines about your mouth—all but the white sheet and wig.

MR. P. (_changing color_). I see that you know all; but grant me a favorable answer, and I shall be well satisfied.

F. (_smiling_). I suppose I ought to, since it is decided on high authority that it is right and proper I should do so. In that way, if in no other, I shall convince you that I am not afraid of ghosts, if I promise to marry one.

MR. P. (_warmly_). And I shall feel well repaid for personating one by the promised reward. Henceforth I shall look with kindness on shadowy apparitions, feeling that, in other cases as well as my own, even ghosts may be of some practical use.

(_Curtain falls._)

PRACTICAL HUSBANDRY.

CHARACTERS.

FRANK WEBSTER, A Young Man from the City. EDWIN ALDRICH, His Friend. MRS. LEIGHTON, A Farmer’s Wife. ANNIE MONTGOMERY, Her Niece.