Three generations

A PRACTICAL JOKE 263
and what should he have done without Alexander ?
His own mother died in his early childhood. What
he knew of her must have been drawn chiefly from
the lingering, pathetic tradition of the young, much-
loved wife of his father — the gifted divine. One of
the stories is that, coming in from her last walk abroad
and entering her husband's study, she put down her
parasol — the first parasol seen in these primitive days
in the remote, rural parish. There the parasol lay for
weeks and months, long after the hand which had laid
it down was stiff and cold. The bereaved husband
would not suffer the little token of her presence to
be removed from the place where she had put it. It
was half a lifetime later and to a distant city manse
that he brought a worthy partner for his declining
years, and gave Dr. John that brother Alexander and
the sister Jane on whom he set great store.
Sometimes the grave, subdued man could not resist
the impulse to play one of the roguishly, practical
jokes of which he had often been guilty in his youth.
It was just after all Edinburgh was astir with the trial
which had been an attempt to prove the legality of
Captain Yelverton's marriage to the Irish lady with
whom he had engaged in what proved to have been
a spurious ceremony in Ireland. It had not prevented
the gentleman from entering on a public marriage with
a well-known resident in Edinburgh, the widow of
Edward Forbes, the much-lamented young scientist.
It happened to be an occasion when Dr. John was to
accompany two ladies (his sister and his daughter)
to a large evening party which he had consented to
attend. He knew the mental priggishness and acute
gossip which frequently prevailed in such gatherings.
He was moved to administer a shock to the company,