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diff --git a/40332.txt b/40332.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ddae351..0000000 --- a/40332.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5686 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's A Rich Man's Relatives (Vol. 2 of 3), by Robert Cleland - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: A Rich Man's Relatives (Vol. 2 of 3) - -Author: Robert Cleland - -Release Date: July 25, 2012 [EBook #40332] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A RICH MAN'S RELATIVES *** - - - - -Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the -Web Archive (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) - - - - - - - - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - - 1. Page scan source: - http://www.archive.org/details/richmansrelative02clel - (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) - - 2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. - - - - - - - A RICH MAN'S RELATIVES - - - - - - - PRESS NOTICES - - OF - - "INCHBRACKEN," - - A NOVEL BY R. CLELAND - - * * * - - _Westminster Review, October_, 1883. - -"Inchbracken" is a clever sketch of Scottish life and manners at the -time of the "Disruption," or great secession from the Established -Church of Scotland, which resulted in the formation of the Free -Church. The scene of the story is a remote country parish in the north -of Scotland, within a few miles of the highland line. The main -interest centres in the young Free Church minister and his sister and -their relations, on the one hand, with the enthusiastic supporters of -the Disruption movement, mostly of the peasant or small tradesmen -class, with a sprinkling of the smaller landowners; and, on the other -hand, with the zealous supporters of the Established Church, -represented by the Drysdales of Inchbracken, the great family of the -neighbourhood. The story is well and simply told, with many a quiet -touch of humour, founded on no inconsiderable knowledge of human -nature. - - _Academy, 27th October_, 1883. - -There is a great deal of solid writing in "Inchbracken," and they who -read it will hardly do so in vain. It is a story of the Disruption; -and it sets forth, with much pains and not a little spirit, the -humours and scandals of one of the communities affected by the event. -The main incident of the story has nothing to do with the Disruption, -it is true; but its personages are those of the time, and the uses to -which they are put are such as the Disruption made possible. Roderick -Brown, the enthusiastic young Free Church minister, finds on the -sea-shore after wreck and storm, a poor little human waif which the -sea has spared. He takes the baby home, and does his best for it. One -of his parishioners has lost her character, however; and as Roderick, -at the instigation of his beadle, the real author of her ruin, is good -enough to give her money and help, it soon becomes evident to -Inchbracken that he is the villain, and that the baby of the wreck is -the fruit of an illicit amour. How it ends I shall not say. I shall do -no more than note that the story of the minister's trials and the -portraitures--of elders and gossips, hags and maids and village -notables--with which it is enriched are (especially if you are not -afraid of the broadest Scotch, written with the most uncompromising -regard for the national honour) amusing and natural in no mean degree. - - W. E. HENLEY. - - _Athenaeum, 17th November_, 1883. - -"Inchbracken" will be found amusing by those who are familiar with -Scotch country life. The period chosen, the "Disruption time," is an -epoch in the religious and social life of Scotland, marking a revival, -in an extremely modified and not altogether genuine form, of the -polemic Puritanism of the early Presbyterians, and so furnishing a -subject which lends itself better to literary treatment than most -sides of Scottish life in this prosaic century. The author has a good -descriptive gift, and makes the most of the picturesque side of the -early Free Church meetings at which declaimers against Erastian -patronage posed in the attitude of the Covenanters of old. The story -opens on a stormy night when Roderick Brown, the young Free Church -minister of Kilrundle, is summoned on a ten-mile expedition to attend -a dying woman, an expedition which involves him in all the troubles -which form the subject of the book. The patient has nothing on her -mind of an urgent character. "No, mem! na!" says the messenger. - -"My granny's a godly auld wife, tho' maybe she's gye fraxious whiles, -an' money's the sair paikin' she's gi'en me; gin there was ocht to -confess she kens the road to the Throne better nor maist. But ye see -there's a maggit gotten intil her heid an' she says she bent to -testifee afore she gangs hence." - -The example of Jenny Geddes has been too much for the poor old -woman:-- - -"Ay, an' I'm thinkin' it's that auld carline, Jenny Geddes, 'at's -raised a' the fash! My granny gaed to hear Mester Dowlas whan he -preached among the whins down by the shore, an' oh, but he was bonny! -An' a graand screed o' doctrine he gae us. For twa hale hours he -preached an expundet an' never drew breath for a' the wind was -skirlin', an' the renn whiles skelpin' like wild. An' I'm thinkin' my -granny's gotten her death o' ta'. But oh! an' he was grand on Jenny -Geddes! an' hoo she up wi' the creepie am' heved it a the Erastian's -heid. An' my granny was just fairly ta'en wi't a', an' she vooed she -beut to be a mither in Israel tae, an' whan she gaed hame she out wi' -the auld hugger 'at she keeps the bawbees in, aneath the hearthstane, -for to buy a creepie o' her ain,--she thocht a new ane wad be best for -the Lord's wark,--an' she coupet the chair whaur hung her grave -claes,' at she airs fonent the fire ilika Saturday at e'en, 'an out -there cam a lowe, an' scorched a hole i' the windin' sheet, an' noo, -puir body, we'll hae to hap her in her muckle tartan plaid. An' -aiblins she'll be a' the warmer e'y moulds for that. But, however, she -says the sheet was weel waur'd, for the guid cause. An' syne she took -til her bed, wi' a sair host, an' sma' winder, for there was a weet -daub whaur she had been sittin' amang the whins. An' noo the host's -settled on her that sair, she whiles canna draw her breath. Sae she -says she maun let the creepie birlin' slide, but she beut to testifee -afore some godly minister or she gangs hence. An' I'm fear'd, sir, ye -maun hurry, for she's real far through." - -The excuse for this long extract must be its excellence as a specimen -of a long-winded statement, just such as a Scotch fisher boy would -make when once the ice was broken. Not less idiomatic is the interview -between Mrs. Boague, the shepherd's wife, and Mrs. Sangster "of -Auchlippie," the great lady of the congregation, when the latter has -had her painful experience of mountain climbing, till rescued by the -"lug and the horn" at the hands of her spiritual pastor. Other good -scenes are the meeting of the two old wives in mutches an the brae -side, and the final discomfiture of the hypocritical scamp Joseph -Smiley by his mother-in-law, Tibbie Tirpie, who rights her daughter's -wrongs and the minister's reputation by a capital _coup de main_. Of -more serious interest, though full of humour, are the trials the -excellent Roderick endures at the hands of his kirk session. Ebenezer -Prittie and Peter Malloch are types of many an elder minister and -ministers' wives have had to groan under, and the race is not extinct. -But all who are interested in such specimens of human nature should -refer to Mr. Cleland, who knows his countrymen as well as he can -describe his country. - - - - - * * * * * - - Select Novels by Popular Authors. - - _Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. each_. - - By Florence Marryat. - - MY SISTER THE ACTRESS. - A BROKEN BLOSSOM. - PHYLLIDA. - THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL. - FACING THE FOOTLIGHTS. - - By Annie Thomas. - - ALLERTON TOWERS. - FRIENDS AND LOVERS. - EYRE OF BLENDON. - - - By Mrs. Eiloart. - - THE DEAN'S WIFE. - SOME OF OUR GIRLS. - - - By Lady Constance Howard. - - SWEETHEART AND WIFE. - MOLLIE DARLING. - - - By the Author of "Recommended to Mercy." - - BARBARA'S WARNING. - - - By Mrs. Alexander Fraser. - - A PROFESSIONAL BEAUTY. - - - By Harriett Jay. - - TWO MEN AND A MAID. - - - - - - - A - - RICH MAN'S RELATIVES. - - - - BY - - R. CLELAND, - - AUTHOR OF "INCHBRACKEN." - - - - _IN THREE VOLUMES_. - - VOL. II. - - - - - LONDON: - - F. V. WHITE AND CO., - - 31, SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND, W.C. - - 1885. - - - - - - - PRINTED BY - KELLY AND CO., GATE STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS; - AND MIDDLE MILL KINGSTON-ON-THAMES. - - - - - - - CONTENTS - - * * * - - CHAP. - - I.--Finance. - - II.--Mary Selby meets her Daughter. - - III.--Considine. - - IV.--Betsey en Fete. - - V.--Randolph's Tribulations. - - VI.--A Benevolent Spider. - - VII.--In the Rue des Borgnes. - - VIII.--The Tie of Kindred. - - IX.--Tobogganing. - - X.--Annette. - - XI.--Bluff. - - XII.--A Board Meeting. - - - - - A RICH MAN'S RELATIVES. - - - - - CHAPTER I. - - FINANCE. - - -The sunshine and the glow faded slowly out of the air, the world fell -into shadow, and the heavens changed their sunset glory for the blue -transparency of summer twilight. Evening spread wings of soothing calm -over the drowsy land, worn out, as a child might be, with its day-long -revel in the garish light. The air grew softened and refreshed with -falling dews which gathered unnoticed on the leaves and grass blades. -The winds were still, and only fire-flies, blinking among the herbage -or pursuing aimless flights across the deepening dimness, disturbed -the perfect rest. - -Along the dusty road came sounds of wheels, the wheels of the Misses -Stanleys' home-going guests. The sound spread far and wide across the -humid air which sublimated it into something above the common daylight -noise, rasping and jarring against stones and gravel, into a rumbling -half musical with suggestive echoes reverberating through the -stillness. - -Out of the gate they came, those vehicles, along the road, around the -corner where Bruneau's cottage stood, and down towards the village -shrouded in gathering obscurity, with the twinkle of a candle -scattered through it here and there in rivalry of the fire-flies in -the bushes nearer hand, but far less brilliant. The vehicles rumbled -and disappeared, and the echoes of their wheels died out as ripples -die on the surface of a stagnant pool; and the road was left alone to -night and silence. - -But not for long. Two passengers on foot came forward by-and-by, their -footsteps audible in the sensitive quiet, while yet themselves were -scarce visible in the gloom, and the fumes of their cigars tainting -the sweetness of the clover-scented air. It was Considine and Jordan, -who had preferred to walk while the rest drove on, and were enjoying -their tobacco in the coolness on their leisurely way. - -"Fine lad that ward of ours is growing up. Healthy, handsome, and well -conditioned, I should say by his looks. Likely to do credit to his -good fortune." It was Jordan who spoke. - -"To whom do you allude, sir?" answered the other, with the prim -formality of print, and of his native land--a formality which -continued residence among Her Majesty's more easy-spoken subjects was -little likely to relax at his time of life. "I am not aware of any lad -to whom I stand in the relation of guardian to a ward." - -"I mean Ralph Herkimer's boy, of course. No! You are right enough! He -is not our ward in the legal sense. We can have no voice in his -education. But, really, if we had, I do not think we could have -brought him up better." - -"Ha! Ralph's boy? Yes. He seems what we would class as 'good -ordin_ai_ry,' down my way, in the Cotton States--a shade better than -'fair to middlin'.' He ain't just real peart, I should say, but then -he is not a poor man's son, so that is natural. It takes hard work, -and hard feed, and not too much of the feed either, to make a lad -truly peart. But he seems high-toned, and that's the main point with a -young man of his prospects. But I would expect no less from Mrs. -Herkimer's son. Ah, sir! She's Noo Hampshire, 'tis true, and I don't -hold with Noo Hampshire and its notions; but, sir, she is a -high-souled, clear-seeing, honourable and accomplished--lady." -Strange--is it not?--how every female American resents being called a -_woman!_ and no male American dare apply that most simple and -dignified title to the sex. Let us hope that eventually the coloured -lady who condescends to do the washing for white women--_she_ calls -them so--will succeed in disgusting them with the frippery -pretentiousness of the title she usurps, and educate them into -adopting the gracious style of their illustrious mother Eve. - -"Oh, yes," answered Jordan, "Mrs. Ralph is an excellent person. My -wife thinks all the world of her, and I like her too; though, perhaps, -as you say, there is a little more New Hampshire than there need have -been. Yes! no doubt, young Gerald is most happy in having such a -mother. And then his father! Think of him! An extremely good fellow is -Ralph Herkimer. So wealthy! Such talent! _Must_ have it, you -know--though that kind of cleverness does not show much in society--to -make such a fortune. The practical talent which amasses a fortune -never _does_ shine in society, though we are ready enough to give it -every credit whenever it gives us the chance, which it never does but -when it invites us to dinner, and that, somehow, is not often. -However, Ralph is indisputably smart, as well as rich, and of course -high principled. How could he have made such a fortune otherwise? Our -young friend Gerald is most fortunate in his parents as well as in the -old uncle." - -"Ah! Gerald. Yes. I am with you there. A high-toned, whole-souled -gentleman. I knew him well. Had much to do in assisting him to manage -his affairs after he came to Canady. Very handsome affairs they were. -And I feel proud at having arranged all to his satisfaction, and -realized the whole before our unfort'nate unpleasantness, and the -depreciation of values in the South." - -"Yes, that was most fortunate. The old gentleman had time to make his -Canadian investments before his demise, and so saved you and me, -friend Considine"--this was an unwonted familiarity in Jordan's -reserved manner of speech, betraying a desire to grow intimate, which -implied something in his mind requiring a confidential mood for its -reception. "Saved you and me from a power of responsibility." - -Considine puffed his cigar in silence. If this _rapprochement_ was -meant to lead up to something behind, let it do so, he would give it -no assistance. He knew of nothing connected with the Herkimer estate -requiring confidential talk just then, and his thoughts were disposed -to linger on other themes. The soothing air and the fragrance of his -weed brought pleasanter fancies to his mind than could spring from the -contemplation of a dead man's money. He had spent a pleasant -afternoon, in what, to an old bachelor of his retiring habits, was a -scene of unwonted gaiety. The low soft hum of women's voices, the -rustle of their silks, the garden scents, and a vague impression of -gentle sweetness and pretty behaviour, so different from the tone at -his hotel and the club smoking-room, where so many of his evenings -were spent, hung like a rosy mist over his memory; and he would fain -have let it hang, so unaccustomed was it, and so pleasant. There was -something, too, like the wave of falling tresses before his eyes, and -a sound of pleasant laughter, not loud or much prolonged, as he -recalled his talk with Mrs. Ralph, and another talk which followed, in -which Miss Matilda was a third at first, and by-and-by sole auditor -and interlocutor, which had lasted long and been extremely pleasant. - -"Bless my soul!" said this sober elder to himself. "How deuced -agreeable I must have been! She really liked it--I could see -that--looked interested, no end, when I was explaining to her. And she -understood it all at once! Intelligent, very--cultured, too, and well -read--one knew that by the neat remark she made about Seringapatam. -And a _fine_ woman. What hair! Well-rounded bust, too, and what dainty -slippers. Neat ankle--that time it showed when she kicked the puppy -from under the tea-table. She looked as if she saw that I admired it -when she was drawing it back. She coloured, I think. But not a bit -offended--they never are, to see that a fellow appreciates their -'points.' How archly she smiled, too, at my little sally! What was it -again? But I made several, now I think of it, and she smiled at them -all--not sure, but she laughed. Yes, she did laugh once--laughed right -out. I believe she appreciates me! A woman of discernment. Not one to -be taken in by a sleek young puppy, fitted out by his tailor and his -barber, and nothing inside but his dinner. No, she appreciates a man -who knows something of life! Yes, I do believe she really did -appreciate me;" and he stroked his chin complacently, blowing his -smoke in a long thin tail of satisfaction into the night, and feeling -that the world with its cakes and ale was not all over for him yet, as -he pushed out his chest and stepped springily forward. - -Jordan had received no answer to his last observation. He had more to -say, but was waiting for a lead, such as his last remark should have -called forth, but no lead came. He gnawed the end of his cigar -impatiently; the thread of his discourse was being cut. Worse, it was -being allowed to trail idly on the mind and be forgot; like a -purposeless gossamer, which no one troubles to catch hold on, and -which, though its length has been nicely calculated for the gulf it -was meant to span, will never be caught on the further shore, and the -ingenious spider who spun it must wait bridgeless and in vain, or else -he must begin his labour over again, and try anew. Inwardly fuming, -pishing and pshawing under his breath, and gnawing his cigar, the -smoke grew turbulent and lost its way among the passages and recesses -of his system. It got in his eyes, first, and made them smart, it got -into his nostrils and made him snort; finally it made a solid charge -backwards for his throat, like a trapped animal struggling to escape. -Then at last he threw the vexatious thing away, and stood in the -middle of the highway, coughing, gasping and holding his sides, while -his eyes ran water, and his companion wondered if anything ought to be -done. Considine's day-dream after dark was dissipated utterly, and by -the time the other had composed himself he was ready enough to attend -to whatever his companion might choose to say. - -"Horrid cigar, that," Jordan was at last able to utter, as they -resumed their walk. "They _will_ always slip a few bad ones into each -box, however good. I wish the _con_founded tobacconist had had the -smoking of that one himself, and coughed his head off, it would have -served him right. But let me see--what was it we were talking about? -Hm--ha. Ah, yes! Old Herkimer's investments. Most judicious they were. -Oh, yes, very much so. Could not have done better--at the time, that -is. But times change. Circumstances have altered since '59. This is -'73, and no one can see fourteen years ahead." - -"The stocks all stand higher to-day than they did then," observed -Considine. "Let me see"--and he began to count off on his finger -tips--"Banque d'Orval, that's one. A very large block of stock we hold -there. That has gone up mightily since the surrender. How it stood in -'59 I can't say." - -"Oh, yes. It is higher than in '59, of course." - -"The Proletarian Loan and Mortgage Co. Don't know a better -mark on the share list at present than that. Pike and Steel Money -Co.--good--Bank of Progress--would be glad to hold some of its stock -myself--Tuscarora Roads--Consolidated Drainage. And--and three or four -more which I do not recall at present. As for the Provincial -Debentures, and Railroad and Municipal Bonds, we went over them -together last time we cut the _coupons_--could not be better, and I -reckon our friend bought them all at a discount. The estate will -realize a handsome profit." - -"Quite true, General!"--Jordan did not often lubricate his lips with -American titles of honour--"just what I observed. Our client could not -have acted with a sounder judgment when he made his investments. But -it is years since then, and the business world has had its -vicissitudes, like other institutions. Now--_entre nous_, and strictly -in confidence--are there no whispers afloat in financial circles? has -no--well, no breath--shall I call it? no tone of depreciation come to -your ears? No? You surprise me. But to be sure, it is not so very -unusual for signs and circumstances to leek out and become known in -our profession. Not to be _talked_ about, of course--that would -_never_ do. Betray the necessary confidence between lawyer and client? -Oh, no! Not for a moment! But we do get to know things _at times_, -while you men of the world are still in the dark, and going forward in -the blindest confidence. As to the Banque d'Orval, now. Has nothing -transpired to raise the--what shall I call it?--the shadow of a -misgiving?" - -"Misgiving?--Banque d'Orval?--I believe it stands as strong as the -Bank of Commerce of Noo York! Certainly, nairy one! You cannot have -looked into its last statement. Reserve of specie, circulation, -discounts, all O.K. Never made a better showing since it was -chartered." - -"I confess I never muddle myself with unnecessary figures. And as to -bank statements in general, the only reliable one of their affairs -ever issued is the one put out by the assignee when they go into -liquidation; and that comes too late to be of much use, except to sue -the old directors upon. No, I did not look into the statement. I have -always felt that that institution suffered an irreparable injury in -the death of Truepenny, the old president." - -"The shares are higher now than ever they were in his time." - -"No doubt. But what does that prove? Is there any limit to the -wrongheadedness and gullability of investors?--I know of none." - -"But Pennywise is manager still. Think of his long experience in the -bank, and how many years he acted under Truepenny. Pennywise is the -most cautious and circumspect bank manager going." - -"He is slow enough, if that is what you mean; and that slowness is the -foundation of his high repute. It has been worth a fortune to him. You -submit your proposal and he lets you talk, and when you have talked -yourself into a belief that he will never let so good a thing go past -him, he says 'hum,' and coughs--he has always a cough when he ought to -speak, and gains time by eating a lozenge. When that is over he clears -his voice with a long breath, and promises to submit the matter to his -board. Truepenny, now, was gruff, but he was quick, and he did not -waste time. He might cut you short in the middle of your story--he -always cut Pennywise short when he began to wheeze and ask more -questions--but it was because he knew what you were going to say, and -he gave you your answer. It was always the best answer for the bank's -interest, and generally it was the kindest for the customer. His -successor, Sacavent, is rarely to be seen in the bank parlour now, and -Pennywise does as he pleases, that is, makes people wait, till his -mind is satisfied, and their opportunity is past." - -"But the bank's business has not fallen off. The profits are larger -than ever this year." - -"On paper, at least. But we must wait to test the reality. It takes -time to weaken a made reputation. Sacavent, now! Do you think that was -a judicious choice?" - -"One of our most distinguished merchants--Why, of course!--Rich, -popular, doing an immense business of his own. Who can understand the -wants of the business community better?" - -"That is just it. I fear he understands the _wants_ of the business -community too well--knows them from personal experience. What would -you say, now, if I were to tell you that his fine house on the -mountain was mortgaged up to the gold weather cocks? and that the bank -has had to be content with a second mortgage, as collateral, which is -just worth the paper it is written on, for the first will cover -everything." - -"Hm. That sounds serious. Is it really so?" - -"I hear so, and more. They tell me his wife, who has her own -property--'_separee des biens_,' we call it in our law--has had to -give security for a large sum." - -"Indeed? But after all it is a big institootion. If Sacavent were to -bleed it for all he is worth it would be only a pin-prick to the -Banque d'Orval." - -"Perhaps; but who can be sure that he is the only blood-sucker on the -board? One cannot suppose the others would pass over his overdrafts if -they did not get something for themselves. Why, even Pennywise will -have to get something to keep him quiet. If it should turn out that -there is a whole nest of needy ones, who can tell how far the queer -transactions may extend? If anything should leak out--you see -something _is_ known, though not to the public--it would raise a -panic." - -"The Banque d'Orval can stand a run. Look at the specie reserve! It -_must_ stand. The government must come to its rescue in case of need." - -"No doubt. But think of the shares! If they fall back to par--and it -is not so many years since they were only a few per cents above--the -present value of an investment would be reduced one-half. And -everything else on the share list would be affected by the distrust it -would create. Many smaller institutions would go, and all would -suffer. It is a serious consideration. There is the Proletarian Loan, -now." - -"That is sound at any rate. Mortgaged properties cannot be wiped out -like the '_rest_' in a bank ledger." - -"But you must recollect the Proletarian receives deposits. They had -quite a flourish in their last statement over the increased amount, -and the smaller interest they have to pay on such moneys than on the -bonds they issue; which is all very well, but in case of a run by -their depositors, how are they to realize the long-time mortgages in -which their funds are tied up? They cannot look for much help from the -banks, who naturally would not be sorry to see a competitor for the -public savings in a tight place. Again, are you perfectly confident -that the affairs of the Proletarian would stand a close audit? I -confess I have a feeling myself which is not one of security, -notwithstanding the high quotations of the shares. It has always been -a mystery to me how old Weevil, the managing director, made his -fortune. When he went in there he appeared to have nothing but his -salary from the company of three thousand dollars. Now the man is -undeniably wealthy. Owns blocks of valuable city property, is director -in several companies where he must have a large interest, and lives in -a style which his salary could not keep up for a couple of months, far -less a year--houses for his sons, who, by-the-way, do nothing for -themselves, and English schools for his daughters, which a thousand -dollars a-piece do not begin to pay for. I would be the very last man -to say everything was not as it should be there, but at the same time -it is hard to understand." - -"Hm! These are new lights to me, friend Jordan. I must take time to -comprehend them. Meanwhile what is your own opinion? And have you any -suggestion to make as to what we should do?" - -"Candidly, then, General--and with all deference in discussing a -matter of finance with you, a member of the Stock Exchange, who make -the subject your profession--I believe that you financiers have -squally times before you. Confidence will be disturbed and quotations -will fall. The investments of our late highly valued friend stand now -at higher prices than ever before. The full value of the property is -vastly greater than when he purchased, and I hate to think of its -shrinking back to the sum, insignificant by comparison, which it -amounted to when it came under our care." - -"But I do not see that we can help that, even if it should occur. It -has not occurred as yet. The investments were made by Gerald himself, -and if, in the fluctuations of the market, the property becomes less -valuable, we are not responsible." - -"Not legally, even if morally. Still, we would like to do our best for -our worthy friend. For myself, I confess I am proud to be guardian of -so handsome a property; and, seeing we are not asked to work -gratuitously, it appears to me we should do our best for it." - -"All very true; but suppose it should turn out that our investments do -not prove profitable--that, after we have sold, the old investments -improve--what then? The estate will have suffered a loss, and the heir -may hold us to account." - -"My dear sir, present prices cannot rise any higher. Take my word for -it. How could they? Unless the rate of interest falls materially, how -could investors afford to pay higher prices? Consider that, and then -discount those circumstances, not generally known, which I have -mentioned to you--in confidence--and you cannot but agree with me. -Besides, our friend Ralph--he is your friend more than he is mine--is -a business man, prompt and off-hand. He knows. He is in big operations -every day; and he will not haggle over the odd cents like a _habitant_ -farmer." - -"But Ralph is not the heir. Gerald hated him, and would have thrown -his money into the St. Lawrence sooner than Ralph should get it." - -"Quite so. It is Ralph's boy, a fine lad, too. But he will do just as -his father thinks best. Any young fellow would be like wax in the -hands of so keen a practitioner as friend Ralph." - -"I think not. Mrs. Selby's child is the heir. She was to have had the -property herself if she had not married against her brother's wish." - -"My dear sir, that child is dead. It must be. It is ten years since it -disappeared. In spite of every effort and inquiry, nothing has been -heard of it since the day it was lost. Ralph's boy is the heir in -default of Mrs. Selby's children. Failing the boy, Ralph would inherit -from his son." - -"I have known so many instances in the South of the long-lost heir -turning up when he was least expected, that I never look on any one as -dead till I have seen the burial certificate. After a person has been -put underground, in the presence of witnesses, I feel that his claims -have been quieted, but not before. Twenty years from the date of Mrs. -Selby's marriage we will hand over the property to her child; failing -a child of hers we will pay it to Ralph's son; and, meanwhile, we need -not trouble our heads with questions of heirship." - -"True; but we would not fulfil the duty our deceased friend expected -of us if we stood idly by while panics and fluctuations of the Stock -Market were eating away the value of the property. Man alive! our -allowances and commissions in selling out and re-investing would go a -long way to make up any loss which could be proved in a court to have -arisen from our error in judgment, even if our good intentions did not -weigh with the jury to absolve us. That is, supposing the heir should -be shabby enough to make such a claim. But the supposition is -preposterous. If you sell out that block of stock in the Banque -d'Orval and the Proletarian now, your brokerage will be quite a pretty -thing--makes a man wish himself a broker to think of it." - -"And after the shares were sold, what would you do with the money?" - -"Invest in first mortgages on good real property--never to more than -half or a third of the value. I can lay my hands on any quantity of -such security. It is safe beyond question; for, as you observed a -little while ago, the acres cannot run away and I will see to there -being the fullest powers of foreclosure and sale; so there can be no -possibility of loss." - -"I do not understand your Canady laws about real property, and I would -be sure to get tripped up in some nicety about titles." - -"But _I_ know, General. It is my business." - -"Of course you do, and you would feel all safe. But what of me? One -man don't exactly like to shoulder a responsibility on the strength of -another man's knowledge--see? I would consult you myself, friend -Jordan, on my own affairs, and go by what you told me, but somehow -that seems different from going it blind in another man's business, -and making myself responsible for everything some one else may do." - -"But, my dear sir, I am as ignorant of Stock Exchange matters as you -can possibly be of the law of real property. Suppose we were to divide -the proceeds of stocks sold into two parts; you to invest the one-half -in stocks and bonds, and I the other in mortgages, and each to furnish -the other with particulars of what he had done. You would make a very -pretty sum out of your share of the business, and I don't mean to say -that I would not do the same out of the other, only as it is the -borrower who pays the law costs, my profits would come mostly out of -the public, while yours would come out of the estate, so you cannot -but say I am well disposed towards you." - -"But if we are to sell out the very strongest stocks on the list in -fear of a panic, it would be a foolish thing to buy into the weaker -ones at the same time." - -"Buy American bonds then. You know all about them. So much of United -States bonds, as being strong, and so much in bonds of the better -individual States, which can be got at a discount now, and will be -about par by the time the heir is to receive them. Quite a pretty -transaction for you, I should think, general." - -The "general" coughed and hummed, and cleared his voice as if about to -speak; but so many different words rushed to his lips at once--words -of doubt, words of inquiry, refusal and consent--that he could not -frame them into speech. - -"Think over it, general," Jordan said as they shook hands at parting, -"and let me know as soon as you have made up your mind. Something -should be done at once." - -Considine thought it would be mortifying if the estate left in his -charge should suffer diminution or loss simply on account of his own -want of enterprise. Of course there were chances both ways, but was it -not his business to make gain out of these chances? And had he not -secured for himself a snug little fortune by manipulating them for his -own advantage? And should he not risk something to save a friend, an -old and deceased friend, who would besides, pay brokerage on all he -did for him? Considine valued himself, and I doubt not, justly so, on -his "high tone;" but he was human, as we who contemplate his conduct -also are--and those brokerages _did_ range themselves in his mind -among the considerations for and against disturbing old Gerald's -investments, and eventually it was on the side with brokerages that -his decision fell; but we are not therefore justified in describing -Considine with his "tone" as a specious humbug. He meant well, as so -many of us do, only he was happy to combine his own advantage with -what he--therefore, perhaps--considered the advantage of his trust. - - - - - CHAPTER II. - - MARY SELBY MEETS HER DAUGHTER. - - -Four years later, in a street in Montreal. It had snowed -uninterruptedly the day before, in fine dry particles, sifting -noiselessly through the air, and filling it with prickly points--not -the broad clammy flakes of an insular climate which loiter as they -fall, and feel damp and clay-like beneath the passer's feet; but -rather an attenuated sand or dust, dimming and pervading the day, and -heaping itself in drifts which overspread and bury while you watch, -yet cannot reckon how it is they grow. And then it is so dry in its -exceeding coldness that it will not wet, and springs and crackles -merrily under foot. - -It was morning--not yet nine o'clock--and the snow shovellers were -only beginning here and there to relieve the encumbered footways, and -contribute another layer to the solidly-packed thicknesses of snow and -ice which winter had been building in the streets, a foot or two above -the neighbouring side walks. The snow had ceased to fall, and the -laden clouds which had brought it having burst and dissolved -themselves, the sky was a clear pale vault, filled with diffused and -dazzling brightness. - -From a door there issued a young girl, trim and slight. She was -dressed in brown--brown close-fitting, warm and shaggy--muffled as to -ears and chin in a wisp of "cloud" of the same colour, out of which -there peered the daintiest little pink nose and a pair of eyes of -merry blue, shining as they looked out from under the edge of her -sealskin cap, with the gleeful twinkle of a squirrel's in the snugness -of his nest. I would have said they were like fawn's eyes, save that -it has a sentimental association which does not accord with Muriel -Stanley, now arrived at the age of fifteen--the border land between -child and woman--and fancy free. She stood on the doorsteps with a -roll of music under her arm, and her hands in the pockets of her -jacket. Muff she had none, it is in the way with active people who do -their five or six miles on snow-shoes of winter afternoons, and -"_toboggan_" down slopes in the moonlight. - -The air was so chill it seemed to catch the breath on emerging from -the indoor warmth; but it was so transfused with brightness and -dancing sunshine that it sent the blood coursing quicker through the -veins, and prickled in the nostrils with an exhilarating joy, like the -sting of the air bubbles in effervescing wine. - -The doorsteps were as yet unswept, and deep in snow, the shovellers -being still a good many doors off, and Muriel stood on the top looking -down and around ere she made the knee-deep plunge, when a voice -accosted her coming down the street. - -"Miss Muriel! yet surely not, at this hour of the morning." - -"Yes, it's me, Mr. Gerald," she said, turning round. "What would any -one stay indoors for on a jolly morning like this?" - -"But you do not go out at this hour of the morning in general?" - -"Neither do you; I know that much. We see the business people go -past--M. Petitot and the Ferretings--about half-past eight, but you -gentlemen of the Stock Board never by any chance before half-past ten. -If I were a man, and lazy, I would be a stockbroker. No going back to -the office in the evening!" - -"Ha, ha! you are severe this morning. Does that come of being out so -early?" - -"That? Oh! I have to go for my music lesson this morning; if I am to -have one at all. Mr. Selby has fallen on the ice and sprained both his -ankle and his wrist. I have a note from him, written with his left -hand, asking me to come to his house, as he cannot come to me--written -with his left hand, actually; think of the trouble it must have cost -him!--so I could not refuse to go." - -"Poor old Selby! I did not hear of that. He is my uncle, you know, or -at least he is married to my aunt. And Judy--Mrs. Bunce, I mean--is -there just now, with Betsey, to show her the gaieties of the city. -Nice house to see the gaieties from. They will consist of a _musicale_ -at Counter Tenor's, the dry-goods man, and one or two select -performances of the Classical Quartette Club. Betsey's mind won't be -unsettled by the dissipation, I guess. She won't leave town thoroughly -dissatisfied with country life. Then again, what a pretty specimen of -musical culture poor Betsey must be for Selby to lead around. I can -imagine his being silently thankful for the sprain as an excuse to -stay at home. Just come in the nick of time. However, as my mother was -saying to me, though somehow it seems to have slipped out of my mind, -we must do what we can for Betsey. If she _is_ a rumpty-tumpty little -thing, with her hair always lying the wrong way, she can't help it, -and Uncle Bunce is not half bad--for a parson. I have it! I shall go -in with you now, if you don't mind, find them all at breakfast, like -an intimate and affectionate nephew--it will save more valuable time -in the afternoon--and offer to take Betsey to the Rink to-day at three -or four o'clock--that is, if you will promise to be there. But let me -see! Have I time? Ah, yes! Twenty minutes to spare before I am due at -Hammerstone's." - -"Hammerstone's? Professor Hammerstone's? Is it a breakfast? Do you -attend scientific breakfasts?" - -"No. But I study the sciences, though perhaps you would not think it. -You see we have so much to do with mineral lands, mines, metals, and -that sort of thing, that the governor thinks it is worth while for me -to try and find out what it all means. Those sharks, the experts, -impose on you so abominably if you do not know something of what they -are talking about. So I go to Hammerstone for an hour three mornings -in the week, if I get up in time; and really it is more interesting -than you would suppose. It is settled, then, that you will be on the -Rink this afternoon?" - -"I scarcely think it. Mr. Considine is coming to drive us out this -afternoon." - -"Considine! Phew--But gooseberries are not in season at this time of -year! He! he!" - -"I do not understand. I said we were going for a sleigh ride." - -"With Considine? Will it not be rather cold work sitting with your -back to the horses while the old chap makes--conversation--to the Miss -Stanleys?" - -"Aunt Penelope is afraid to venture out these cold days." - -"Just what I said about wholesome summer fruit. That old Considine -must be a sad bore, running out and in so much to one's house--like a -tame cat." - -"Mr. Considine is very nice. I like him. He is so good-natured, and he -never says a word against people in their absence." - -"One for me! But he _is_ a good fellow, and I fancy you are not the -only Miss Stanley who thinks so." - -"How slippery it is! You turn off here, I think, to go to Professor -Hammerstone's, do you not? I hope you will not be late. Thanks for -carrying my music; I will take it now." - -"But I mean to carry your music all the way, Miss Muriel. As I told -you, I am going to look in on my three aunts at breakfast, and ask -them for a cup of hot coffee. That will have a good effect on my aunt -Judy, who I fear suspects me of being not very steady. She is a great -promoter of coffee taverns. Tried to start one at St. Euphrase, I -believe, and had to drink all the coffee herself because the -_habitants_ would not buy it. She will say I am an improving character -if I ask for a cup of coffee." - - -When Muriel had finished her music lesson and was resuming her gloves -and cloud, she found herself caught from behind by a pair of short fat -arms in a sort of hug, accompanied by a little scream of enthusiasm. - -"Muriel! And were you going away without ever asking to see me?" - -Muriel turned in surprise. "Betsey Bunce! But I did not know you were -in town till an hour ago. You know you never wrote." - -"Wrote! What is there to write about at St. Euphrase?--unless I were -to walk up to the farm and ask Bruneau about your cows and chickens. -But you knew an hour ago, you say, and yet you were going away without -asking for me. I call it real unkind." - -"It is only ten o'clock, you know--far too early an hour for calling." - -"You are so particular! Just like an old woman--and a stiff -old-country woman, too--Miss Penelope all over." - -"I hope so. Aunt Penelope is always right." - -"Come in now, anyway, and take off your things. I am dying for -somebody to talk to, after sitting round the stove for three days with -three old women. What with Mr. Selby's bandages, and embrocations, and -Miss Susan's neuralgia, and Mrs. Selby's poor health, this house is -worse than a hospital. Auntie likes it first-rate; she enjoys giving -people physic, and says it was a Providence which brought her here at -this time; but I find it real lonesome. I have read through the only -two novels I can find, and I declare my back aches with sitting still -and doing nothing. Couldn't we go down town by-and-by and look at the -shops? Let me help you off with your jacket. Fur-lined, I do declare! -Cost twenty dollars, I dare say. Thirty was it? You're the lucky -girl! Never mind fixing up before the glass, you're all right--here's -a pin if you want one. Wherever did you pick up that cunning -neck-ribbon?--lady bugs and grasshoppers--I call it sweet. It would -just suit my geranium-coloured poplin! By-the-way, do you think that -will do for evening wear, if I am asked anywhere? It is made with a -tablier--looked scrumptious the night they gave charades at Madame -Podevin's boarding-house. Mdlle. Ciseau cut it out for me, and I run -it on the machine myself--fits like a glove. But your city fashions -are so different, one never can be sure. We will go upstairs and look -at it; but first you must come into the Snuggery and see the old -ladies." - -The "Snuggery" was at the back of the house, a sort of family room in -which strangers were not received. It had been the chief apartment of -the old log homestead which preceded the existing dwelling. The logs -had been found so sound and the chamber so desirable that it had been -suffered to remain, and been incorporated with the "frame" building -erected in front, which it promised to survive, and last on in solid -stability when the lighter structure of posts and boards should have -fallen to pieces. It was cooler than the rest of the house in warm -weather, and warmer in cold; built of twelve inch logs carefully -jointed together, plastered on the outside, panelled and ceiled within -with red pine highly varnished, and floored with parquetry of -different native woods. It had a window on each of three sides, -flanked by heavy curtains. There was no fire-place, but in the centre -an old-fashioned box-stove, capable of holding billets from two to -three feet long, and whose great black smoke-pipe pierced the roof -like a pivot for the family life to revolve on. - -A bear skin and rugs lay about the floor, sofas and tables stood by -the walls, and round the domestic altar, the blazing stove, were the -rocking-chairs of the three sisters, gently oscillating like pendulums -in a clockmaker's shop, and making the wooden chamber feel like the -cabin of a ship, heaving and swinging on a restless tide. - -Muriel was greeted effusively by Mrs. Bunce, who looked more fidgety -and alert than ever in that reposeful place, and then she was -presented to the sisters. Miss Susan, swathed in quilted silk and webs -of knitting, a bundle rather than a person, and immersed in her own -misery far too deeply to feel or to excite interest in a stranger, -merely bowed and shuddered at the breath of cooler air which entered -from without; but to the other, Mrs. Selby, Muriel felt strongly -drawn, and pleased in a strange and restful way to feel the gentle -eyes of the sick and rather silent lady dwelling on her with wistful -kindness. She was tall and pale, and in the cross light of windows -admitting the dazzling reflections from the snow, and among the browns -and yellows of the wainscoting, there was a lambent whiteness which -associated itself in Muriel's mind with those "shining ones" she had -read of when a child in the "Pilgrim's Progress," and filled her with -pleasant reverence. - -The lady scarcely spoke, spoke only the necessary words of welcome to -a stranger, and then withdrew from the hurry of Betsey's and Judith's -eager talk, sitting silently by and looking on the new comer with -gentle earnest eyes. In the focus of streaming daylight and backed by -russet shadows she sat and looked, wrapped in her white knitted shawl, -and with hair like frosted silver, features and hands delicate, -transparent, and colourless like wax, and eyes which had the weary -faded look which comes of sleepless nights and many tears. She found -it pleasant to sit and rest her eyes on Muriel, so elastic and freshly -bright, as she chatted with the others; she felt as when a breath of -spring comes rustling through the dead and wintry woods, through -sapless withered twigs and fallen leaves, whispering of good to come, -and sweet with springing grass and opening buds. - -She scanned the girl's face and guessed her age, and then her thoughts -went back across the years, the weary sunless years which had come and -gone since her joys had withered, and she could not but think that had -her own lost daughter been spared, she would have been nearly of that -age now, and perhaps she would have been gay and bright and sweet as -this one was before her. Her eyes grew moist, but it was with a -softer, less harrowing regret than she had hitherto known, more -plaintive and almost soothing in its sadness. The girl looked so -innocent and free of care, with low sweet laughter coming from a heart -that had never known sorrow or unkindness. It did her good to watch, -and made her feel more patient in her long and weary grief. - -For the others, they had their own affairs to make busy with, and it -was not every day they came to town. What interest, either, for them, -could there be in the emotional variations of their silent and always -sorrowful hostess? She had suffered--though it was fourteen years -since then--and of course they "felt" for her; but there is a limit to -sympathy as to all things human--if there were not, life would be -unbearable--and to see her after so many years still cherishing the -olden sorrow had grown tedious, if yet touching after a sort, and the -family had grown to disregard it as a settled melancholy or monomania, -to be pitied and passed over, like the deafness, old age, or palsy of -family friends. So Betsey and her aunt had settled themselves one on -either side of Muriel "for a good old talk," as Betsey said, and they -talked accordingly. - -"I shall come round to-morrow morning to see your aunts," said Mrs. -Bunce, "and spend a long forenoon with them," and so on _ad -infinitum_. - -A letter was brought in while the talk was in full swing. - -"An invitation!" cried Judith. "Mrs. Jordan--requests the pleasure--a -juvenile party. Well--I declare!--Betsey, we forgot to bring your -pinafores--or should it have been a certificate of the date of your -birth? A very strange way to pay attention to their rector's wife and -niece! I thought Mrs. Jordan would have known better." - -"Aunt Matilda and I are going," said Muriel in astonishment. "It was -very nice last time. More than a hundred, big and little. They had the -band, a splendid supper and lots of fun. Indeed, Aunt Penelope was -almost unwilling I should go this time; it was so late when we got -home." - -"Very proper, my dear; I quite approve. Young people should keep early -hours; but, you know, Betsey is a little older than you are. Not -much," she added, as prudence pointed to the day, only a year or two -ahead, when it would suit Betsey, if still a young lady, to be no -older than Muriel--"still she is in long dresses, and it seems odd to -invite her the first time to a child's party." - -"They are not all children. Tilly Martindale, for instance, is as old -as Betsey. So is Randolph Jordan himself and Gerald Herkimer." - -"Will _they_ be there?" cried Betsey kindling into interest. "We'd -better go, auntie, there's no slight. I see the sort of thing it is; -there are a few little girls--_big_ little girls though, all the -same--to give it the name of juvenile and take off the stiffness. Just -like the candy pulling we had at Farmer Belmore's. You know Farmer -Belmore's, Muriel? He lives just across the river and down below the -island at St. Euphrase. His son's family from Michigan were with him -in the fall, and his wife and daughters are too _devotes_ to meet -their neighbours, and are only waiting his death to go off to the -convent. However, the old man--and a good Protestant he is--was -determined the children should have a good time, so he gave--a candy -pulling and invited everybody for miles round--said it was for the -children. So we all went--drove across the river on the first ice of -the season--whether we knew Mrs. Belmore or no. And, Muriel, we had -just the most too-too time you can imagine. The daughters sat in the -back-room with one or two old French women, away from everybody, and -the eldest granddaughter received the guests. There was a fiddle, and, -oh, just a lovely time! Joe Webb and I pulled the whitest hank of -candy in the room, and we danced eight-hand reels and country dances, -till one of my shoes gave way and I had to sit out with Joe Webb. It -was something beyond, I tell you!" - -"Tush, Betsey!" said her aunt. "You are in the city now and must not -go into raptures over rustic frolics, or people will think you know no -better. I shall ask the Miss Stanleys about this, when I see them -to-morrow. They will be able to tell me if we had better go, and how -you should dress." - -"Dress! Haven't I my geranium poplin?" - -"But this is _town_, my dear, which may make a difference; one never -knows. In _my_ young days, now, I always wore white muslin and a blue -sash! And you cannot think how many civil speeches I used to get" -added the old lady, bridling, with a spot of pink on either cheek and -a toss which set the treacle-coloured curls quivering. The war-horse -is never too old to prance and champ his bit at the sound of the -trumpet, though he may be so old that no one can remember his ever -having been in action. - -"I do not remember ever seeing geranium poplin at a party," said -Muriel, looking to Betsey; but her eyes fell before the glance of -displeased superiority she met there. - -"You have not seen my dress, or you would speak more guardedly. -Besides, you are not out yet, and cannot be expected to know what goes -on at fashionable gatherings." - -"No," said Muriel, meekly, "I am only a little girl, I know that. -Still, at the juvenile parties I go to--Mrs. Jordan's, Mrs. -Herkimer's, and the rest--and at our parties at home, though _they_ -are not balls by any means--quite small affairs--the people dress very -nicely--velvet, satin, lace, and so on--but I never saw a geranium -poplin." - -"No! Poplin is only coming in! I know that from 'Godey's Magazine.' It -was just a mere chance Quiproquo of St. Euphrase having one dress -piece. I bought it, and you cannot think how rich it looks. Cut -square!--they are all cut square in the higher circles this year--with -elbow sleeves and a fall of rich lace at twenty-five cents a yard." - -Muriel held her breath at the catalogue of rustic splendour. She would -have liked to say a word in mitigation of the fright she feared Betsey -was intending to make of herself, but dreaded to have her youth flung -in her face again. The young are so ashamed of their youth while they -have it; it is only after it has fled, that, like flowers drooping in -the midday heat, they sigh for the dried-up dews of morning which -erewhile weighed down their heads with mistaken shame. - -There followed more talk of millinery, and then it was time for Muriel -to go, after effusive farewells and appointments for future meeting. -Mrs. Selby came forward last, when the more boisterous adieux were -over. She would have liked to take this young girl in her arms; she -felt so strongly drawn to her, and knew not why; but she restrained -herself, and only begged her to come often while Betsey remained, and -to be sure to come to the family room in passing, next time she came -for a music lesson. And Muriel, looking in the face of the whitened -lady, so venerable and sweet, not only promised--as in good nature she -could not avoid--but really intended to fulfil, promising herself -pleasure in doing it. - - - - - CHAPTER III. - - CONSIDINE. - - -A great rise in the world had come to Cornelius Jordan, Q C. They seem -all to be Q.C.'s, my reader, those lawyers in Canada; or more than -half of them. The Queen is so remote a centre, that the beams of her -favour are very widely, if thinly, spread, and this especial title of -honour has come to be regarded as a polite and inexpensive attention -which new prime ministers make haste to bestow upon their friends. And -there are so many prime ministers, that at last it became a ground of -dispute, between the minor premiers of the several provinces, and the -premier-major at Ottawa, as to which should have the exclusive run of -the alphabet for decorative purposes. Mr. Jordan, I repeat, had risen -since we met him last at the Misses Stanley's garden tea. Then he was -a rising man in his profession, doing well, and in comfortable -circumstances; now, he was one risen--full head and shoulders above -his fellows, living in a house of the very largest size, and with -horses and servants to equal the most prosperous of his neighbours, -and reported to be wealthy; not with the startling but evanescent -opulence of the merchant prince, which to-day is, and to-morrow is -nowhere; but with the reality which attaches to professional wealth in -the popular mind, as money actually coined from a man's own brain--the -golden fees raked in from grateful clients--without risk, and -irrespective of rising and falling markets. His name was spoken with -that slight involuntary pause before and after which carries more -distinction than any title; it is a form of respect so undefined. -"What a man he must be!" his neighbours said, "to have made so much -money, and made it so quickly!" made it at his profession, too. Nobody -doubted that, for his name was never mixed up in other affairs. - -It would have been hard guessing for a _quidnunc_ about the Court -House, had he attempted to trace how all that prosperity had been -built up out of the fairly good solicitor's and conveyancer's practice -carried on at his chambers, or from his not unusually frequent or -brilliant appearances in Court; though now that the fruits of success -were so evident, these were vastly on the increase. "Ah!" those -knowing ones would say, "he is not a brilliant speaker; but sound, -sir, sound! What a head for Law the man must have! What clearness of -understanding, to have realized such an income. What a style of living -he keeps up! How many thousands a year does it take? Quite the leading -counsel at our bar." And so clients multiplied, and the suitor whose -case failed in his hands felt surer it had had the best presentment -than he would have felt had it succeeded with any one else. "If Jordan -could not win the suit, pray who could?" - -Jordan was liked, too, as well as respected. How could he fail of -that? At his dinners, given every week all through the winter, were -found the choicest bills of fare and the best people, and every one -else was invited to share the feast. It is manifest that one cannot -talk unkindly of a man while the flavour of his wine still hovers -about the palate--so long, that is, as there is prospect of another -invitation. When the last dinner has been eaten, and the last bottle -of wine drunk, then truth is apt to come up from the bottom of her -well--disturbed, no doubt, by the pumping, when the family is forced -to resume water as a beverage--and people's memories become -wonderfully refreshed. They recollect--the women, that is--that really -the man's wife was not a lady, that things were said at the time of -the marriage, and there has been such levity and extravagance since; -while the men shake their heads in cynical wisdom. They knew it from -the first, and wonder how it has gone on so long, and how a fellow -like that could have had the effrontery to entertain their high -mightinesses so profusely. - -For the present, however, if there was any unacceptable truth at the -bottom of Jordan's well, she had the kindness to remain there, well -out of sight. The hospitalities proceeded in a genial round; every one -was proud to assist at them and spoke highly of the entertainer. - -Considine was the only man who had a misgiving, and he kept his doubts -and surmises to himself, hoping he was in error. He was associated -with this man in many ways; and nothing is gained by letting slip an -insinuation against a friend, even if good feeling did not stamp the -act as abominable. His own conscience, too, was not at rest in the -matter, for the expansion appeared to him to date from very shortly -after the change they had adopted in managing the Herkimer Estate. He -reproached himself constantly for having consented to sell out the old -man's investments, and wondered how he could have been tempted by -those miserable brokerages to smirch the honest record of a lifetime. -No doubt there had been considerable gain on the new securities -purchased with the moiety of the funds which he administered; but what -of the other half? Jordan had displayed so implicit a confidence in -his judgment, such complete beautiful and gentlemanlike faith in his -probity, waiving explanations, motioning off statements with -expressions of unbounded reliance in his ability to do what was best, -while really "in the press of other matters he had no leisure for -unnecessary examinations into matters on which he could not advise," -that Considine was completely silenced, and was left no opening to -claim reciprocal explanations as to how the moneys in Jordan's hands -had been applied. - -He heard on 'Change now and then of Jordan granting short loans at -fancy rates, and of his "doing" paper which was far from being -"gilt-edged," and he thought of that other moiety of the Herkimer -fortune. Such operations are not the way in which trust moneys are -used for the benefit of the trust; but rather one in which, while -loss, if there be any, must needs fall on the trust, the extra profit -accrues to the trustee. And what other funds could Jordan have to -operate with? Considine knew of none but those which should have been -otherwise employed, and for which, he himself would be held -responsible if any misadventure were to befall them, and the sum was -so large that in case of a catastrophe his own poor little fortune -would go but a small way to make up the loss. He could contemplate -that with comparative patience--though certainly it would be hard, -after the labours and vicissitudes of a lifetime, to see the provision -for his declining years swept into a pit, and one not of his own -digging--but disgrace would accompany the ruin; that was the -intolerable thought. - -To finish a life in which he had striven to keep his hands unsoiled -and his name without reproach as a defaulting trustee! How he had been -wont to scorn such, when they crossed his path! And to think that he -should end in being classed with them! Who would stop to inquire into -the merits? Had he ever himself stopped to sift the intricacies of a -defalcation, before declaring the defaulter to be a rogue? Had not the -money been confided to his care, and was he not responsible for it to -the heirs? Many a night when he lay awake in the darkness, with -nothing to break the stillness but the ticking of his watch at the -bed-head, the misgiving and the dread would waken in his mind, and -possess him with the restless misery of an aching tooth, which would -not be dulled or forgotten, toss and stretch himself as he might; and -he would vow in desperation to go down the first thing in the morning -and have it out with Jordan; and so, at last, he would fall into a -dose, as the grey twilight was stealing on the night. - -In the morning his resolution would be with him still. All through -dressing and shaving he would feel determined "to have it out with -Jordan," and he would run over in his mind the points of his -unanswerable argument on which his co-trustee must needs be caught, -and compelled to the fullest explanation, clearing away another -expected sophism in the defence, with each scrape of the razor on his -chin. When he descended to breakfast, however, the morning papers, the -smoke of the coffee, the greetings of his fellow-boarders in the -hotel, would gradually lead him back to the tone of every-day life and -its amenities, and then his intentions would grow less stern. The -trenchant points in his argument would grow dim before his eyes, and -he would recollect how many things there might be to say on the other -side. Perhaps, too, he might have been misinformed as to something, or -he might be under some misapprehension--for who, after all, can tell -the true inwardness of his neighbour's affairs until death or -bankruptcy overtake him?--and how very uncomfortable his position -would then be! In what an ungenerous, nay, churlish light he would be -exhibiting himself before this most open-hearted and genial of all his -friends! Indeed the prospect was not pleasant; then why should he -force an interview and place himself in a false position? Was it not a -shame in one claiming to be "high-toned," a soldier and a Southern -gentleman of _ante bellum_ times, to harbour injurious suspicions of a -friend? "He must be bilious this morning--want of exercise. He would -ride off his megrims in a two hours' gallop." - -And so the days would pass in struggles to drive away the doubts which -returned but the more persistently with darkness to spoil his sleep, -till at length, in dread of their nightly upbraidings, he would nerve -himself to the ungrateful task and stride down to Jordan's chambers, -frowningly constraining himself to anticipate the worst, if only to -keep his courage from oozing away, as it sometimes would, when he -reached the office door, leaving him to turn aside at the last moment -and retreat ignominiously into his club, there to solace his drooping -self-respect with brandy and soda. When, however, in sterner mood he -persevered, it was still not always that the much-engaged lawyer could -be seen. He was busy upon a case and could see no one; a client was -with him, and two more were waiting their turn for an audience, or he -was in court, and Considine--not altogether sorry at the respite--went -home in comparative relief. He had done what he could, at least, and -surely now the suspicions would leave him for a night or two and let -him sleep in peace. - -Once or twice, by a lucky chance, he was able to catch the busy man at -a vacant moment intrenched behind black bags bursting with briefs, -volumes of consolidated statutes, and calf-bound authorities. - -"Ha, Considine!" he would cry, in a tone almost too jolly for "the -profession" in business hours, "so glad to have been disengaged when -you called! See you so seldom. Sit down, old man, and tell me what I -can do for you. Don't hurry, I am at leisure now--that is to say, for -the next four minutes and a half," he would add, pulling out his -watch. "Am to see the judge in chambers just five minutes from now. -But take time, I can run down in thirty seconds, so you have good four -minutes and a half. So glad you dropped in when I was at leisure." - -Then Considine would hesitate and grow confused. He had charged -batteries of artillery in his day, had "difficulties" on Mississippi -steamboats, which were afterwards arranged with six shooters, "each to -go on firing till one dropped," and he had never flinched from his -task or quailed before antagonist. But how call this man antagonist? -He seemed more ready to embrace than to fight. It was grievous to see -him so friendly, and made our warrior feel but a shabby fellow with -his inquiries and questions, which would sound so like insinuations, -and might wound the genial soul which bore him so much goodwill. Being -in for it, however, he must go on. It would never do for a -Mississippian to run away, even in honour's cause. He pulled from his -pocket a list of the bonds and debentures he held under their joint -trusteeship. - -"I want you to examine this list of securities, which I keep in my box -at the Bank of Progress, and indorse your approval on the back, if you -do approve, and we can go over to the bank and compare the papers with -the memorandum any day you find convenient." - -"Tush, man! It's all perfectly right, I am quite certain. I have every -confidence in you, General," declining to receive the paper. - -"But I really wish you would look at it. I feel this irregular -responsibility unpleasant." - -"Bosh! it's all regular enough among friends. You know Ralph Herkimer -this ever so long, and I should hope you know _me!_ Imagine either of -us getting ugly, and blaming you--whom the testator trusted so -entirely--for anything you may do. No, no! And really, you must -excuse me, but I cannot afford to muddle my head with unnecessary -figures--even to please you! I need, all my clearness for the delicate -questions which arise in my practice. I abominate figures at all -times, and never tackle them unnecessarily." - -"But ought not I to affix some sort of approval to the mortgages you -have bought for the estate?" - -Jordan lifted his eyes to the other's face, in gentle wonder, as a -good man might when wounded rather than offended by an unlooked for -aspersion on his honour; and Considine, confused and abashed, stopped -short, and then floundered on again: - -"I mean it, of course, in no distrustfulness--for what should I -distrust?--but just so as fairly and fully to divide the -responsibility in case of the heirs desiring to call us to account." - -"I really do not know," answered Jordan, matching his voice to the -look of mild disappointment without reproach which the other found it -so hard to bear up under; "I really don't know. I have not considered -the point. It did not occur to me that you would wish to enter into -the intricacies of titles in this country, which is a comparatively -old one, and the tenures bear no resemblance to those of Mississippi, -where I am told you go back only to General Jackson. Our system of -law, too, is very different, being derived from the French, and not -from the common law, as with you. No! It did not occur to me that you -could possibly wish to enter into these mysteries. Our period of -trusteeship, too, is drawing near its close. Three years, I should -suppose, would conclude it; though I cannot speak precisely without -reference to the will, and the date of Mrs. Selby's marriage. Will the -study of our Quebec land-system repay you, do you think? And our -friend Ralph is so entirely satisfied. Why should you bother? - -"But we are not responsible to Ralph." - -"No, not exactly. But it will be his boy Gerald, which is much the -same thing. The lad goes into partnership with his father shortly, so -their interests are identical; and it would surprise me to be told -that Master Gerald did or knew anything but what his father told him. -A nice boy. Wish my scapegrace was as manageable." - -"I have never felt sure of that--of Ralph's boy being heir, I mean. -There has been no proof of the missing infant's death; and where there -is money the claimant seemingly never dies, but is always reappearing -when least expected. But if, as you anticipate, it is to be Ralph we -shall have to make up accounts with in the end, I am not confident -that we might not have trouble, if he saw an opening for complaint. I -have known him long, as you are aware, he is a fine man for -business--none better--and has made a handsome fortune, but I had -rather not be in his power." - -"No fear of that! I fancy I know blaster Ralph, too," pulling out his -watch, "but there are few men of mark, especially in business, whom we -lawyers cannot lay a hand on, when necessary, to keep them quiet. His -bark would be worse than his bite in our case, for I think I know -where to light on a muzzle that will keep him quiet enough. Time's up, -I see. If you are bent on overhauling those papers of mine, why not -come up to dinner some evening? We could do it far more comfortably -with the help of a glass of sherry and a good cigar. What day will you -come? Friday? Or, let me see, what are you doing this evening? Come up -to-night. Half-past seven, sharp. Good-bye, for the present. So glad -you are coming." - -And Considine would go as invited, and would find a number of other -guests assembled; and Jordan would be all geniality and pleasure at -having him; but never an allusion to business would escape his lips, -nor would they find themselves alone together, even for a moment, till -the evening was spent and it was time to go home. And so it fell that -Considine's anxieties, while seeming to himself to require but one -vigorous effort to end them, were never resolved, but hung about him -vague and undefined, like the beginning of a low fever which has not -as yet pronounced itself; causing restlessness and care, but bringing -also a habit of acceptance which enabled him to live his life in spite -of it, only with a diminished relish. His distrust wore in time out of -the acute into the chronic form; and it is remarkable, with time, how -much of anxiety a healthy man can work through, and apparently be none -the worse. Endurance brings a kind of strength to the mind like that -which persistence does to the body, when the arsenic eater, after -having consumed ounces of the deadly stuff, becomes able to swallow -with impunity more than would have killed him not so many months -before. The gouty and the rheumatic, too, how long they live!--live -and enjoy even, somewhat, through their sufferings. - -And in some such fashion Considine lived on, in moderate comfort and -prosperity, with the shadow of possible ruin in the back-ground; -always felt, but not so strongly that he must disturb the daily -furniture of his life by an effort to exorcise the demon; which is a -state of things not so very different from what the rest of us endure. -We have our threatening shadows too, loss, disease, madness, not so -very far off, and always the dismal shade of Death himself looming up -behind and dwarfing all the others; yet, like the people before the -flood, we manage pretty well to comfort and amuse ourselves in the -present. - -Considine solaced himself not unsuccessfully under his cares. He had -naturally much of the wise vegetable enjoyment of existence, and -things conducing thereto, eating, smoking and gentle exercise, which -is natural to the country bred more than to those brought up in -cities. He had 'Change through the day to gossip and lounge upon, and -his club in the evening. He had opportunities too of going into -society, even if he did not make the most of them, and very frequently -he would spend an hour in the Misses Stanley's drawing-room, sipping -tea and talking over the news. He had fallen into the way of spending -the hot months at St. Euphrase, just as those ladies spent the cold -ones in the city. Their migrations agreed pretty closely in time, and -both he and they, owing to years and circumstances, being somewhat out -of the swim of busy life, found it pleasant to sit together on the -banks, as it were, and watch the gambols and antics of those younger -and brisker, who disported themselves in mid-current. - -The ladies had come to town the first winter solely for their niece's -education, but the following year they undoubtedly had their own -solacement quite as much in view as her improvement. The tranquillity -and repose of their rural life was if anything too complete, and after -having once broken it by wintering in the city, it would have felt -like returning to bed after lunch to have remained in the country all -the following year. There is a feeling of companionship to be derived -even from the faces of our fellows as they pass us in the street, -which is pleasant to such as have been leading secluded lives, and it -takes months for this mild excitement to lose its relish; but it will -grow tame eventually, and so, too, will the morning calls among ladies -of a certain age. Humanity being in two forms, which combine with and -supplement each other to constitute the perfect whole, a social circle -composed of one kind alone must needs be incomplete, tending to -limpness if it be feminine, to hardness if all of men. - -The day for flirtation and matrimonial intentions may be over, but -still the habits and tastes formed in that brighter time survive, even -when incorrigible celibacy has caused society to pass by the offenders -as hopeless subjects. Fortune, by endowing a young lady with -competence, grants her the privilege to be unworldly or critical, so -that she lets her precious springtime pass unused. The privilege is by -no means an unalloyed boon as the years go by. She finds herself -inadmissible to the conclaves of matrons of her own age, where -husbands, doctors and children are discussed with freedom; yet her -god-daughters and nieces can scarcely be expected to accept her as a -compeer; she is a _demoiselle passee_, an outside hoverer on the -confines of social life, with the gay bachelors of earlier decades who -are still unwed, and whom society passes by as obdurate and hopelessly -unavailable for matrimonial use. - -It is pitiful to see these disappointed "have-beens," with their -relish for youthful pleasures still unslaked, flitting in a -disregarded twilight, like Homer's ghosts, while the reviving blood of -the sacrificial bull is quaffed by other lips. Well for them, is it -not, if they can make up a little party among themselves, and by -keeping each other in countenance, contrive to ruffle it without -ridicule among the younger revellers? - -And so, from mutual convenience and sympathy, Considine and the Misses -Stanley became fast comrades. In their drawing-room he could drink a -cup of tea with the ladies whenever he had a mind, and they were sure -of an escort for the evening when they so desired. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - - BETSEY EX FETE. - - -In spite of her pretence to make little of an invitation to a juvenile -party, the prospect of that gaiety took strong possession of Betsey -Bunce. Mr. Selby's lameness had prevented his taking her anywhere or -affording her opportunity to spread her plumage among strangers; -which, indeed, was all the satisfaction which could have accrued from -going out with him, she not being musical, and he very little else. -Betsey's dissipations, therefore, had been of so meagre a kind that -she might well set store by Mrs. Jordan's invitation; it would at -least, she told herself, be an opportunity to show people that she was -fit for better things. Her cousin Muriel had told her she might expect -to meet a hundred guests or more, and surely they would not all be -children, though poor Muriel was too young perhaps to know; but, at -least, both her Montreal _beaux_, as she choose to denominate Randolph -Jordan and Gerald Herkimer, would be there. So she made no doubt of -having a "good time." The image of Joe Webb rose before her mind's eye -as that idea occurred to her, and he seemed to her to look -reproachful. "Poor Joe!" she sighed to herself, glancing archly in her -glass; but Joe was fifteen miles away, and Betsey fancied herself a -heart-breaker. "A girl can't help these things," her thoughts ran on; -"and Joe has never said a word--though I can tell by the sinking of -his voice when he speaks to me, he would say plenty if I just gave him -encouragement. Poor Joe! he's too modest. The _beaux_ won't need -encouragement! I guess I shall rather have to make them stand off a -bit--at first, that is, they ain't going to think they are to have it -all their own way with an Upper Canadian, even if she _has_ moved down -to St. Euphrase. Nice fellows both; but such awful _dudes!_ When they -walk down the street of St. Euphrase in their cricketing suits, the -sidewalk don't seem broad enough to give them both room. And my! don't -the _habitants_ stare at them? I kind of like a _dude_, or I almost -think I could bring myself to like one," and as she glanced in the -glass again, she coloured half shyly before the intelligence in her -own eyes. "Their gloves and their boots do fit so splendid! Their -necks look tight like in the stiff collars, but their tongues wag -freely enough--too freely sometimes, at St. Euphrase. They're real -'sassy' sometimes. But at a large party, no doubt they'll know enough -to behave. No! Dudes ain't half bad. But these two hai'nt got the fine -manly shoulders and strong arms of Joe Webb." - -"Ah, how big he is! And how safe a girl would be with him to take care -of her! To see him gather up the reins behind that young team of his -in one hand, when they grow fractious, and lash them with the other -till they simmer down like lambs! Poor Joe!" and she took another look -at her all conquering charms in the glass. - -Her hair--how should she arrange it on the night of conquest? There -was searching of fashion magazines for something distinguished yet -chaste. Many startling novelties, with much expenditure of time and -hairpins, were attempted, with signal unsuccess; and it was only after -every florid device had been exhausted, that she had at last to -confess that a severe simplicity accorded best with her other charms; -or to speak plainly was the only hairdressing she could succeed in. - -These labours led to a more critical scrutiny of her complexion than -she had ever made before. Hitherto she had accepted it like her other -perfections in contented faith; but now, on closer observation, was -there not just a suspicion of yellowness under the eyes--tan marks on -the neck--a freckle or two across the ridge of the nose? Violet -powder! that was what she needed, and forthwith she repaired to an -apothecary, who, I fear, supplied her with other embellishments at the -same time. It is certain, at least, that on the looked-for evening, -when, after keeping her aunt long waiting, she at length came -downstairs arrayed in all her glory, with shawl and hood carried in -her hand, that the assembled family might have the privilege of a -private view, before she set out on her career of conquest, Mr. and -Mrs. Selby being in the hall and a maidservant near to open the door -and catch a glimpse of the show, she appeared in one of those -startling complexions which are affected by equestrian ladies of the -circus, in which not the lily and the rose combine, but the chalk-ball -and rouge contrast their rawness. - -Mrs. Selby's mild and weary eyes opened in amused amazement, and her -spouse coughed industriously behind his hand to stifle his laughter. -Mrs. Bunce lifted her "pinch-nose" to her eyes in dismay and -indignation. - -"What is it? Who is it?" she asked, while Betsey simpered and tossed -her head. "That I should live to see a clergyman's niece make a----" - -"Guy of herself with violet powder and druggist's red," volunteered -Mr. Selby. "It's a mistake, my dear Betsey, I assure you, attempting -to improve Nature's choicest effort, the cheek of a pretty girl. It's -like painting the lily--gilding refined gold." - -Betsey turned wrathfully round, flushing scarlet here and there where -the powder lay less thickly. "But perhaps he meant well, too," she -thought. His concluding words implied a gratifying appreciation of her -everyday looks; so she let it pass, and the angry red subsided from -her forehead. - -"Fie, Betsey!" continued the aunt. "There is scripture against such -sinful interference with the natural complexion. Think of the wicked -Hebrew queen." - -"Who painted her face and was thrown out of the window," added Selby, -with some irreverence. Poor man, he was apt to grow jocose. - -"But, auntie, the fashion magazine says brilliant complexions are all -the go, especially with simple _coiffures_; and I am sure mine is -simple enough--nothing but a bang, an Irish wisp, and--well, only -three or four pads. In Europe, it is said, they use rouge and -pearl-white quite freely. I have only put on a little powder." - -"A _little_, my dear?" muttered Selby, half aside, "you look as if you -had come out of a flour barrel--with the white flakes sticking all -over you. It ought to be a fancy ball you were going to, and you to -represent a snowstorm. The dust is flying from you every time you turn -your head." - -"Nonsense, George," said his wife. "You are vexing, and very -ridiculous. Why tease the girl? We have all made mistakes of that kind -in our day, Betsey, my dear. You should have seen Mr. Selby himself, -when he was a young man, and wanted to look his best. He could hardly -walk--he hobbled--from the tightness of his boots." - -"You are mean, Mary, to go back to that. If I did, it was only when I -hoped to walk or dance with you." - -"And you would have danced far better if your shoes had been a larger -size. But truly, Betsey, if you will try the effect of a wet sponge on -your face, you will find your own nice natural colour infinitely more -becoming." - -"I am afraid it will make me awful pale. I'd hate to look pale -alongside Muriel, her colour brightens so when she gets animated. And -there's Tilly Martindale; perhaps she'll be there, and I guess _she's_ -sure to have a colour, however she comes by it." - -"_They_ are not in the Church," said Mrs. Bunce, grandly. - -"Nor am I, auntie. It's a _party_ I'm going to." Public opinion, -however, so freely expressed, had its effect, and Betsey returned to -her room, to reappear more like her ordinary self, and accept with -little satisfaction the congratulations and praises which good-hearted -Mrs. Selby felt bound to shower upon her. - -As the aunt and niece drew near their destination they felt their hack -suddenly slow off into a walk. There was a sleigh in front of them, -and when Betsey stood up, craning her short neck to reconnoitre, there -was another in front of that, and another, and another. Then there -were gates and an illuminated mansion beyond, up to which the line of -sleighs was streaming, slowly and intermittently, as each in -succession stopped to set down its load, and then vanished. - -"I declare, auntie, we're in a procession! Ain't it cunning? and -quite grand. The company will all arrive together, and there's no -doubt they will make a grand entry, two and two with the music playing -a march--just like there was in Tullover's Circus, last year, at St. -Euphrase. Only we'll have to walk, on account of the stairs, and not -having horses. I always knew it was the stage and the pulpit gave the -law about speaking, but I didn't know before, it was the circus set -the fashion for other things. Ain't it well, now, that I was -there?--though you scarcely thought so at the time. You just keep as -near me as you can, and I'll tell you what to do--all I know. But, to -be sure, they'll be providin' us with _beaux_, and we'll have to go -wherever the gentlemen take us. Ah! When I remember the lady in the -yellow satin riding habit, with the knight in steel button armour and -the peacock plume! It was something beyond. I don't see why steel -button armour should not go quite as well with geranium poplin as -yellow satin. But knights, if there are any, won't wear their uniform -at a private party, I'm afraid. The Queen makes them keep it for -wearing at the palace, most likely; but it's mean of her, all the -same. However, black swallow-tails look real nice, with almost any -colour a girl can put on, and it's just the very thing to tone down my -geranium colour, and make it look moderate." - -There was no place for Mrs. Bunce to slip in a word as her niece ran -on in a continuous monologue--soliloquy--rather, for she was merely -thinking aloud, and her thoughts had grown so engrossing that she -probably would not have heard, had she been spoken to. Presently the -sleigh came to a final halt, and it was their own turn to alight and -follow the stream of cloaked figures up the stairs. A counter-stream -of those who had disentangled themselves, like moths escaped from the -dusky chrysalids, and were rustling their airy glories into form, -passed them on the banister side, while the arrivals not yet perfected -in the cloak-room slunk upwards by the wall. - -Betsey's breath seemed to forsake her in one little gasp of ecstasy. -She followed her aunt upwards mechanically. Her consciousness had -gathered itself into her eyes, and sat there all athirst, drinking in -impressions from the novel scene. The scent of flowers was everywhere, -and the sound of sackbut, psaltery, fiddle, and all that she could -dream of festive music. Through the open doors below, as she ascended, -appeared dancing figures, whirling and vanishing in endless -succession. Lamps and glitter seemed everywhere, and gowns of every -hue--a moving rainbow. She could only liken it to the description from -a New York pantomime in that morning's newspaper of the "Halls of -Dazzling Light." The hall-way, which she looked down on as she went -up, was filled with people in evening dress, circulating to and fro, -and a stream of people in festive array was passing her on the -stairs--velvets, satins, jewellery, lace and flowers, not to speak of -niceties in hair-dressing and general arrangement, which it had not -hitherto entered into her mind to conceive, but were still so -beautiful. She caught them all in the passage of her eye across that -serried stream as she went up a flight of stairs. She was a born -milliner, as the upper Canadiennie not very seldom is. - -Mrs. Bunce and her niece had been almost the last of the guests to -arrive, and had been long detained in the cloak-room by those -finishing touches to their adornment over which it is by no means the -young or the beautiful who spend the longest time. In the present case -it was the treacle-coloured _chevelure_ of the aunt which had come -askew under the hoods and wrappings she had worn upon her head, and -her cap secured in its place by many a hairpin required to be removed -before the other invention could be adjusted. She lingered over minor -embellishments till the other occupants had left the room, when she -found some pretext to send away the attendant also. Then she sprang to -the door and locked it, and turning to Betsey with startling -vehemence, made her promise by all she held sacred never on any -pretext to reveal or divulge what she was presently to behold. Betsey -has kept her promise. - -Whatever awful rite may have supervened has remained unknown. The maid -at the keyhole saw moving figures, but what they were doing she could -not tell, though the time allowed for observation was ample during -which she was kept outside. Eventually the door was unbarred, and Mrs. -Bunce came forth with the dignified self-possession of a well-dressed -woman, Betsey followed, looking pale and anxious, as the inquisitive -waiting-maid discerned, and with the far-off look in her eyes which -the books tell us is worn by those who have come through a new -experience. - -They were so long of getting down stairs that Mrs. Jordan had left the -doorway, in which she had been standing to receive her guests, and was -now by a fireplace with some of her friends. It was necessary for Mrs. -Bunce to cross the room, at some risk to herself from passing -dancer's, in order to pay her respects. Betsey followed as well as she -was able, but she did not reach the presence of her hostess. - -From beyond the radius of a dowager in truffle-coloured satin drifting -easily onwards in the same direction, in whose wake Betsey had found -it safe and easy to steer her course among the throng--from out of the -unknown region, which the bulk of truffle-coloured satin concealed, -there came a whirlwind of palest blue, with silver chains and bangles -tossing among curling hair, and smiles and dimples, revolving wildly -with the music, and with a shock and a little cry there came into her -arms--who but Muriel Stanley! The meeting was of the briefest. They -had scarcely time to ejaculate each other's names ere Muriel's -cavalier had his partner well in hand again, and they were gone, -Betsey looking after them with all her eyes. It was Randolph Jordan -who was dancing with Muriel, looking, as Betsey phrased it, "fit to -kill," in his evening suit. One of Betsey's _beaux!_ How engagingly -she looked at him, and after him, out of her boiled gooseberry -eyes--throwing glances of fascination which I fear fell short, or were -not understood--with a simper on her round fat cheeks, and lips parted -in smiles, displaying slab-like teeth. - -"Whoever was that we cannoned off just now?" said Randolph, when his -partner stopped for breath, "Curious looking person to meet at a -party. Who is it? You seemed to know her." - -"That was my cousin, Miss Bunce. You know her too--quite ready to know -her out at St. Euphrase you seem. In your own house I should have -thought you would know every one." - -"There, now, I've put my foot in it. She's your cousin, she's all -right of course. Don't be vexed, Muriel. But what makes her wear that -horrid gown? I never saw anything like it." - -Something stole into Muriel's eyes as she thought of the "geranium -poplin," and how very superior its wearer intended to be when she put -it on--"made with a _tablier_ and cut square"--but she checked the -impulse, and only said: "Poor Betsey must feel herself a stranger -here; I do not think she knows a soul but those she has met at St. -Euphrase. I think I shall sit down now. No! Not another turn, I feel -quite tired. Go and ask Betsey; you will do me a favour if you will, -and then introduce a few gentlemen to her. Help her to enjoy herself. -It must be dreadful to be so alone in a room full of people." - -"You are hard on me, Muriel, to deprive me half my dance and then hand -me over to--to-- If she were quietly dressed, it would not be so bad. -She used to look quite passable at St. Euphrase in her cotton gowns; -but the sumptuous apparel is really too dreadful. Every one will -observe us. And see! I do declare she is ogling somebody up in -this part of the room. Just look. Did you ever see such facial -contortions? and what a mouthful of teeth! Like an amiable hyena, or -the show-window at a tombstone factory." - -"I am fond of my cousin Betsey, Randolph. If you do not hurry away to -her she will lose this dance, and I shall be disappointed." - -It was with tardy and reluctant steps that Randolph obeyed, but he had -not to go far to meet the engaging Betsey. That young lady, watching -her _beau_ from afar, saw Muriel led to a seat, and himself, after a -few words of conversation, turn in her direction; and with the -inspiration of conquering beauty, she divined that it was to her his -steps were tending. And yet the steps seemed lagging even after they -were disencumbered of the partner. They positively seemed to falter. -Ah! poor young man, the _beau_ was diffident--needed encouragement; -and he should have it. It seemed to her tender heart to be no time for -standing on punctilio. The young man suffered; and it was for her. -That was enough. - -She turned her steps to meet him as he came--meet him half-way, I -might have said, had I been censorious--and as he came in view she -smiled, smiled like a brimming tea-cup filled with sugar and water; -and she spread her hands in welcome, spread them, that is, as to the -fingers, she did not move the wrists, for, notwithstanding the -certainty of beauty's intuitions, there is still the possibility that -one may be mistaken, as Betsey had been ere now--and she stood with -her eyes fixed on Randolph's countenance. - -The look met him full in the face as he came before her, struck him as -the jets from the fire-engines may have struck the Parisian mob which -General La Moriciere so cleverly dispersed without the help of steel -or gunpowder; and he would have run away, but he could not. Not only -was Betsey before him, but Muriel was somewhere behind, and both would -have seen his demoralization. Betsey's eyes were beaming on him with a -peculiar radiance. They swam, it seemed to him, in a shining -wateriness, and with a light in which the green rays and the yellow -blended as they do in an over-ripe gooseberry where the sun is -shining, looking luscious, and not too cool--inviting, to those whose -tastes that way incline. - -The greetings between these two were not prolonged--the one had been -ordered to give a dance, the other was eager to encourage a _beau_. -There was a bow and a word or two. Miss Betsey's head lay back on her -short neck as the gentleman's arm slid around her waist. Then, as she -laid her little fat hand on his arm, her head rolled over to the other -shoulder, and she found herself in the ecstasies of the mazy dance. -She drew a long breath of delight, and leant just a trifle heavier on -the strong encircling arm, when--crash! sharps and flats. Another -chord--the music ceased, and--oh, bathos--she found herself standing -on the train of a lady's gown, who was regarding her with a scowl, -while she herself was pinned to the ground from behind in the same -way, and she could not but dread how the hoof-marks would look on her -geranium poplin. - -It was Randolph's turn now to draw a breath of relief, and he looked -over his shoulder to where he had left his little friend--little, not -obviously in stature, but only because she still wore short frocks, -though counting for more to him than all the grown-up ladies in the -room. The feeling of holiday, however, was of short duration; he could -read disappointment on Muriel's features, and when he gazed towards -her as claiming thanks for what he had done at her behest, she looked -another way, ignoring the demand. It was little satisfaction he could -look for during the rest of the evening if Muriel were disobliged, and -her present demand was one of those disinterested ones which must be -fulfilled specifically and cannot be made up for, or "squared" by -attentiveness in other ways; therefore, as one who can not make a -better of it, he turned to Betsey, regretting that their dance had -been cut short prematurely, and begging that the next might be his. - -Betsey was nothing loth. The _beau_ must be very far gone indeed, she -thought, and she could not but cast a backward and regretful glance of -her mind to Joe Webb, Gerald Herkimer, and several others, taking them -all pell-mell and quite "promiskis," as she pronounced the word. -However, she could only have one, she knew that; and she intended to -take whoever offered first, if he was eligible, and not run risks by -"fooling" after the rest. So much for being practical-minded and not -idiotically in love, except with one's own sweet self! - -Randolph resigned himself to work out his dance conscientiously, but -without enthusiasm. Her waist was so far down that he would have to -stretch to get steering leverage upon this rather compact partner, and -as has happened before to many a tall youth with a stumpy fair one, he -had a presentiment that his arm would ache before the exercise was -concluded. In walking round the room, however, before the solemnity -commenced, he caught so pleasant a smile of thanks from Muriel over -his lady's head that he was consoled, and set himself manfully to -perform the task before him; the more so, perhaps, that Muriel was -sitting, and though he would not have owned to grudging her a -pleasure, it pleased him best when she danced with himself. He had -kept more than half his card free from engagements, that she might -have plenty of dances, and his mother was looking for an opportunity -to take him to task for the horrid way in which he was neglecting her -guests. He would have been less content could he have looked back and -seen the alacrity with which she rose a moment later when Gerald -Herkimer came forward to claim her. Of all the "fellows" in the room; -Gerald was the only one as to whose standing in Muriel's good graces -he had a misgiving. - -The dance began, and Randolph found he had not under-estimated the -work before him. Betsey was positively festive, exuberant and -unconfined, on the very top rung of her gamut of feeling, as she -bounced and caracoled along. She could dance, of course--every -Canadian woman can dance--but she possessed a solid massiveness -peculiar to herself, and really remarkable in one of her size. -Randolph found there was little he could do but merely hold on. Strain -and adjust himself as he might, the centre of their joint equilibrium -would not be brought under his control. Betsey seemed totally -inelastic, and her ballast was in her heels. "Hefty" was the word a -Vermont cattle dealer had used to describe her action after a dance at -St. Euphrase. Deviously she pranced, a filly whom no rein ever -invented could be hoped to guide; and as the rapture of the music wore -into her soul, she threw herself back on poor Randolph's arm with an -_abandon_ and an entirety which made it feel strained and paralyzed -for long after. - -"Oh, Mr. Jordan," she cried, when at last the poor fellow was -compelled to stop; "you seem fairly done up and out of breath. For me, -now, I feel fresher, I do declare, than when we started off." - -"Small wonder," thought Randolph, "after making me all but carry you -completely round the room;" but he said nothing, merely looking at the -half-paralyzed hand and finger's of his strained arm, and wondering -how long it would be before he should be able to use them. - -"You're a lovely dancer," the Syren resumed. "Reely, too--too--awfully -nice for anything. Something quite beyond! But to think of _your_ -being tired! And here's me, a fragile girl, feelin', I declare, just -as good as new, or rather better! Now, if you would like to go on -again, I'm quite ready," and she drew herself up ready to relapse on -the manly support of Randolph's arm the moment it should come behind -her. - -But it did not come. Randolph observed that it was very warm; "had -they not better walk to the other end of the room?--they might be able -to find ice there, or something to drink;" and he led her round the -outskirts of the dancers. The dancers were all intently engaged, -disporting themselves some more and some less deftly, but all as best -they could, and Betsey eyed them enviously, glancing reproachfully on -her _beau_. - -And then there passed them a pair which drew the eyes of both, it -passed them so easily, so lightly, so swiftly, like a curl of blue -smoke across a wooded hillside, and it was flown, like the crotchets -and semi-quavers in a bygone bar of the tune--a waft upon the air, -they passed so lightly, passed like the music, leaving but the memory -of glancing smiles as the music leaves a sense of sweetness when it -has ceased. - -"Was that not Muriel went by just now, and Gerald Herkimer?" asked -Betsey. - -"I think so," said Randolph, with just a tone of sulky disgust in his -voice. - -"I wonder at Penelope and Matilda bringing a child like that to a ball -like this. It's real bad for young children bringing them forward so -soon--just tempts people to think them old before their time; and if -Muriel takes after her aunts, she'll have plenty time for parties -before she marries, even if she came out three years late in place of -three years too soon. I doubt if she is fourteen yet." - -"Oh, yes, she will be sixteen next July, she told me so herself." - -"A great age. But still she shouldn't be here to-night at a grown-up -dance." - -"This is a juvenile party. Miss Bunce." - -"Muriel is the only juvenile I see, and she seems to be carrying on -just like one of the grown-ups--all but the frock. She has on a short -frock, I'll admit that, and I don't see another in the room but her -own." - -"The juveniles are in the ball-room. Perhaps you have not been there -yet. Would you like to go? This is only the drawing-room with the -carpet up, for a few grown-up friends of my mother's--a mere side -show. Let us go and see the children. You will find Miss Matilda -Stanley there, and have an opportunity to give her your views about -Miss Muriel's nurture." - -"Oh, pshaw!" cried Betsey, in deep disgust. It was really too -tantalizing to have secured a splendid partner for a round dance, to -have been checked in full career before the dance was a third part -over, to have been led away under the promise of ice cream and -something to drink; and if there was anything Betsey liked next best -to dancing, it was ice cream, with red wine after--not claret by any -means, but something sweet, warming and--if not exactly strong, it -would be so horrid to like anything strong--at least able to -communicate a sensation of strength or general betterment. To have all -these delights dangled before one's eyes, and then to be led away to -look at a parcel of children, who should have been in their beds hours -before, dancing the polka! Oh, no! Betsey felt she was being wronged. -If she were not to have her dance out, at least she should get the -bribe she had been promised. She would be so far true to herself as to -strike a blow for the ice cream. It was easily done. She observed to -Randolph that she felt a little faint, and really the rooms _were_ -warm. He acquiesced at once. So long as it was not to dance, he would -do anything for her. And so they sat down snugly enough near a -refreshment table and tried to be comfortable. - - - - - CHAPTER V. - - RANDOLPH'S TRIBULATIONS. - - -"Randolph!" hissed Cornelius Jordan in his son's ear, as they met in a -vacant doorway not long after. "You're a fool!--a pig-headed young -fool. There are plenty young duffers around to tend the children and -the wall-flowers, and yet you have done nothing else the whole -evening. Dancing three times running with a little girl, and then -towing round a curiosity, just as if you wanted to tell your mother's -guests that you didn't mind any of them, and would as soon dance with -a stitcher. What do you mean, sir?" and he shook the young man's arm -to rouse him. - -The young man moved his eyes lazily round to the other's face and -said, "Yes, sir;" whereat the other stamped his foot. - -"Well for me, father, is it not, that I'm too big to whip, or I'd -catch it now?" - -"You'll catch worse than whipping if you don't mind. You'll ruin your -prospects for life! If I'd whipped you better when it was in my power, -you'd be more sensible now." - -"Don't blame yourself, sir; you did your best in that way. I believe I -got more lickings than the five other boys on our street all put -together. You have nothing to reproach yourself with on that score. -You made me squirm, and perhaps it did good, relieving _your_ feelings -if it lacerated mine, but it's over now--forgotten and forgiven, I -suppose, as it has left no marks or effects behind it; for I fancy the -other fellows' fathers have more influence with them than we can -flatter ourselves you have with me." - -"You can come to my study to-morrow morning when I am shaving if you -want me to hear the rest of your discourse upon the evil of harshness -in bringing up a supersensitive boy; though my own belief is that it -was your mother who spoiled you. Meanwhile, use your common sense for -once, if you have any; hear me out, and then do as I say. - -"You think yourself talented, and for myself I should be pleased to -think so too, but you hate work, and will not drudge at the routine of -our profession, without which success cannot come. You think you have -a turn for politics, and could make your mark that way; and for -myself, I am bound to say I think you might become a good speaker with -practice; but success in politics wants either industry and -application at the beginning, qualities which you do not possess or -will not exercise, or else a connection with some influential -interest. This last you have not either, but with very moderate -assiduity any young man, who is also my son, may at this moment -acquire and retain it for life. Mlle. Rouget is of an age to -marry--just the right age for you. Her granduncle is archbishop, her -uncle a cabinet minister. She is an only child, and her father is -seignior of La Hache. I have been able to be useful to the old man, -and he will consider your pretensions favourably if you will only -declare yourself. In fact, I have in a manner declared on your -behalf, and a very moderate degree of attention on your part, in -confirmation, is all that is necessary. You see she is French, and -well reared--willing to let her parents bestow her hand where they see -fit. So you will not be compelled to such lavish demonstrations as I -have seen you make elsewhere, where nothing was to be got by it; only -of course, it will be good taste to discontinue the attentions in -other quarters while you are a pretender to mademoiselle's hand! - -"Why, man! with the church and the government at your back there is -not a constituency in the country you may not aspire to represent; and -with experience and my advice--which is worth more, my son, than you -in your sapiency can very well make out--there is no position whatever -which you may not rise to. Now don't be pig-headed! I see the -obstinate look gathering; but do not let us have a public row for the -entertainment of our friends. Go and dance with Mdlle. Rouget, and be -civil to her; and take in her or her mother to supper. That will not -compromise you either way, and it will save me for the present from -the false position in which my zeal for your prospects, and your own -indifference to them, seem like to land me." - -Jordan and his son were scarcely good friends, though both were -inclined to do their family duty. Like the positive poles of two -magnets, they never met without repelling each other. Jordan was -naturally diplomatic, with a pronounced turn for management, which -generally ended in his getting his own way, and therefore made him -disinclined to yield. In town he was liked for his pleasant ways, and -generally he was yielded to; but at home, his consort, whom the rest -of the world found charming, had, for him, what charming women so -often possess for the enlivenment of their nearest and dearest, and -without which, perhaps, they would soon cease to be charming at all, a -will of her own. She had an inconvenient turn for epigram, and with a -verb, or even with a laugh, could prick a bubble or a wind-bag in its -weakest place, bringing the poor high-flyer flapping to the ground; -and Jordan, doubtless, like other Benedicts, though moderate in his -flights abroad, would at times adventure to soar a little by his own -fireside. Amelia permitted no soaring there except her own--is not -home the woman's kingdom?--and perhaps it was thus that her boy -learned a disregard for paternal advice and reproof which could not -but irritate a man accustomed to guide and control in the outer world. -A boy! and his own. It would have been too humiliating to stoop to -management there, especially with mischief-loving Amelia looking on; -so he fell into a habit of commanding, and beating the boy when he -transgressed. - -The stick, however, is a sceptre little suited to the nineteenth -century or the Western Continent. For the subjects of the Khedive it -is manifestly just the thing. The people understand it, and the more -vigorously it is applied the happier are the results--for the State at -least. But then His Highness is generous even to prodigality in -administering the State medicine, without stint or exception, and on -every occasion. It is _Thorough_ which succeeds in Government. James -II. was perfectly correct when he said that it was yielding which cost -King Charles his head. It _was_ yielding, yielding after having -attempted "thorough" without the strength or the daring to work it -out. When the bad rider, inexpert with spur, whip, and bridle, strokes -the steed's neck and says "poor fellow," softly and soothingly, depend -upon it the horse understands the situation as well as his so-called -master, and goes his own way. Conciliation, reparation--what you -will--to noisy discontent, is a mistake of the same kind; the rider -may borrow a handsome name for it from the doctrinaire, but he will -not persuade the steed that anything but weakness or fright has wrung -from him his pretty behaviour. So much we may gather from recent -British history. - -But the teller of this story may well leave British history to run its -own course, and he craves pardon for his trespass. What he would -testify against, in his small way, is historical inconsistency and -hysterical interference, however well meant, with the sequence of -events. See how a ship has to tack and turn when the wind changes, if -she would continue her voyage; if the ship of state is merely to turn -her helm and scud before an altered wind of popular feeling, without -regard to whence she comes or whither she is bound, sooner or later -she will find herself among the breakers, and on a lee shore. - -Jordan had attempted the _fortiter in re_ with his son, but not -consistently, and especially not persistently. Indeed, like many -another, he would have let the brat alone during his growing years, -merely sending him out of the room when he was noisy, or tossing him -silver in moments of paternal pride, for his thoughts were kept busy -on other things; but the whelp acquired a trick of ensconsing himself -behind his mother's gown and bidding defiance to the rightful lord of -the manor, and then the latent savage, which is said still to survive -in the most cultured, would break out, and nothing but blows and howls -would appease him. On these occasions it was the lad's mother who -brought fuel to inflame the father's wrath. It pleased her so much -that her boy should come to her for protection in his troubles, and -she was so pleasing a person herself--or the world said so, and she -had got to think it--with her vivacity, her brightness, and her -satiric smile, wherewith she could goad old Slow-coach to fury; and he -being man enough, at least, to respect his wife, the fury glanced -harmless past her and fell in stinging whacks on the poor little -adventurer behind her, who had raised the storm. Yet even at his -worst, Jordan could find nothing soul-satisfying in beating a small -boy, and after a clout or two he would desist, with no harm done -except to the young one's personal dignity and the resentment bred -therefrom, and that was an evil not to be measured by the severity of -the assault, but rather inversely. The lighter the correction the -heavier the resentment and offence. - -"If you _will_ whip a child," as I once heard an American lecturess -say--she was a superior person who knew all about it, and had left her -own seven lambs at home under the care of a hired help, while she went -out into the world with her evangel of nursery tactics--"If you _will_ -whip a child, _be sure you really hurt it!_" There must be tingle -enough to overbear the indignation and resentment which the violence -you are doing to its person will naturally arouse; you must whip -enough to make it forget the outrage in the solid pain which it -suffers. It is only then that you need expect to super-impose your own -will upon that of the patient. - -I suppose Jordan had never listened to the American lecturess, if he -had, he did not lay the homily to heart. At any rate, he struck, when -he might have managed quite as well without; and striking, he struck -only enough to arouse in his son feelings of deeper rebellion than -those which he undertook to quell; and thereafter a grudge and a -suspicion came between the old man and the young, which perhaps the -mother without any evil intent, but merely from loving to be first -with her own son, his councillor and his friend, did more to aggravate -than any one else. - -Randolph went in search of Miss Rouget to secure his dance, but the -young lady's card was filled up. She had kept a vacancy for him some -time, but at length her mother sitting by, displeased at the young -man's neglect, had made her fill it up with some one else, and now -glanced at the offender with a somewhat stony reserve, which softened, -however, when he approached herself, and prayed the honour of leading -her to supper. On glancing round the company she could see no good -reason why her host had not come forward in person to perform the -office. "But then those English," as she told herself, "are so -ignorant of the _convenances_." Again, the young man might be diffident -in pursuit of his matrimonial aspirations, which was to his credit; -and also, she was getting very tired where she sat. Her English was -not fluent, and the French of the others was so indifferent, that few -dared use the little they had, whence she had not been entertained -with much conversation, and the smiling bows had grown monotonous. -Supper was the one recreation open to her, and as she looked, behold, -her husband was leading the way with his hostess. So after all there -was no ground of offence, and her features relaxed into their wonted -graciousness as she joined the procession. The younger people -continued to dance, and Randolph felt a little twinge of jealousy to -see Muriel again dancing with Gerald. He was able to whisper to her in -passing, however, which was something, begging her to linger and let -him take her to supper by-and-by. Madame ceased speaking just then, to -some one on her other side, and claimed his attention by an -observation, so that he failed to catch what Muriel said in reply. - -Madame enjoyed her supper, as was fitting. She had earned it by hours -of conscientious _chaperonage_, which had declined even the -allurements of the neighbouring card-room. She was so fortunate too as -to be placed near a gentleman who spoke French well, and now -indemnified herself for the enforced silence under which she had been -yawning so wearily. In the comings and goings, the risings and -sittings down, of some going back to dance and others coming in to -sup, a little circle of her intimates gathered round madame, and -Randolph, no way averse, found himself merely a supernumerary on its -outskirts. It was his opportunity; he availed himself of it, and stole -back to look for Muriel among the dancers. He came upon her as she -rested at the end of a dance, with still that same too constant Gerald -in attendance. - -"Now then, Miss Muriel," he cried; "if you are ready we will go at -once. The dowagers are leaving the supper-room, and after this dance -the musicians will take a rest, and there will be a crush of all the -dancers coming in at once. If you are ready we will go." - -Muriel looked up. - -"Thanks for the information. Miss Muriel is going presently. We will -get in ahead of those who are dancing now," said Gerald with a -suppressed smile. - -Randolph drew himself up just a little, and strove to look dignified -while he ignored the last speaker. "Of course there is no need to -hurry if you prefer to rest; but it is so much cooler in the -supper-room; do you not think you will be better to come at once, -Muriel?" - -"I was just rising to go with Gerald Herkimer when you spoke." - -"But I spoke some time ago--when I passed you with Madame Rouget. You -were dancing at the time." - -"That was my dance, Muriel," interjected Gerald; "you promised then to -let me take you to supper." - -Randolph drew himself up to his tallest--he was two inches taller than -Gerald--and turned his flushed face with all the dignity he could -muster in it upon his offending friend. "I have only Miss Stanley to -deal with in this matter, and I prefer to settle it with herself." - -"Bosh! man. What is the use of your putting on grand airs with me? -Haven't we gone to school together? It isn't a bit of good your trying -to play Don Fandango. If you like, we can go down to your back yard, -take off our coats, and have it out with lists in the old way; but the -people will be sure to laugh, and we shall look rather rumpled when we -get back here. We are getting old for that sort of thing, besides. -Don't you see you have made a mistake somehow, and the young lady is -engaged for supper to me?" - -"I don't! and I won't! and I do----" - -"Law, now! Mr. Jordan, ain't this just splendid? You are making up a -party for supper, I see, and I am a hungry party that will be most -pleased to join you;" and Randolph felt a fat arm slip through that -arm of his own which he had been offering so pressingly to Muriel. -There was a vision of geranium-coloured poplin flapping against him, -and when he looked round, behold, Miss Betsey had him in possession. -There was nothing for it but to submit and lead the way while the -other two followed; even though a smothered "haw, haw," which he could -hear behind him, filled his heart with fury, and made him long to face -about and brain the offender on the spot. The natural man is a savage -still, especially when his inclination to the fair is crossed; -culture, good-manners, and white kid gloves notwithstanding. - -Betsey was exuberant. Thanks to Muriel's efforts, she had danced and -eaten ice with Randolph, and Gerald, and a good many more--danced -almost continuously, and quite energetically--having, in her own -words, "a real good time." And now she was a little hungry, but in -overflowing spirits, as she trotted beside her tall cavalier, with her -chin pressed into the dimpling redundancy of her short thick neck, -where every line and crease seemed to vie with the parted lips in -smiling content. - -Randolph stalked gloomily by her side, realizing his helplessness, and -resenting the amused glances which met him as he proceeded. But what -could he do? He could only submit, and get through with the interlude -as quickly as possible. He was lucky enough to find a small table -vacant in a retired corner of the supper-room, where he placed himself -and his little companion, ignoring tugs and nods and pointings to more -conspicuous places, where the lights would have shone brighter on her -beauty and her revelry--which were just the things he wished to keep -out of sight. Betsey had the best of everything to eat, however, which -was compensatory, and her companion had at least the satisfaction of -sitting opposite Muriel. He had secured them for the rest of his own -table, and if he was unable to say much to her himself, it was -something to have prevented a _tete-a-tete_ with his rival. - -Randolph's disturbed feelings were subsiding into sullen calm. He was -eating his supper. He had filled his companion's glass and his own; -and Betsey, smiling to pledge him, held her foaming goblet in her hand -awaiting his answering glance, when a sombre body--the back and -shoulders of a man's coat--interposed itself between them. - -"Jordan! Here you are at last," it said. It was only a man's coat, so -far as Betsey could see, intruding most impertinently between herself -and her _beau_. "I have been looking for you everywhere. Now I have -found you. Madame Rouget has done supper, and is waiting for you to go -back to the dancing-room." - -Betsey made a little gulp of indignation; but no one perceived -it, or seemed to heed her. Randolph rose like a truant returning to -school, led away by the man in the coat; and she, poor Betsey! was -left--lamenting? No--finishing her supper. She held her glass across -to Gerald for a little more champagne, and thereby tacitly placed -herself under his protection for the rest of the meal. There was much -natural adaptability to circumstances in Betsey, notwithstanding her -too evident lack of polish. Like the celebrated brook, she went -tranquilly forward, however "men might come, or men might go," in a -consistent following out of what seemed the attainably best for -herself. With opportunity and culture Betsey might have gone far. - -Madame Rouget rose at Randolph's approach, and took his arm to leave -the room. She showed no displeasure or cognisance of his desertion, -but there was a distinct refrigeration of the graciousness with which -she had accepted his escort to the supper-table half-an-hour before. -In leaving the room they were stopped for an instant in front of -the little table which Randolph had risen from. Madame lifted her -eye-glass just where geranium-coloured poplin made the feature of the -view, and its wearer in much comfort held a wine-glass to her lips, -smiling across to Gerald Herkimer, a modernized suggestion of one of -Jourdain's carousing beauties, though with the flesh tints far less -delicately rendered. She dropped the eye-glass with a click, and a -French shrug, and that accompanying rise of the eyebrows so infinitely -more expressive of scorn and contempt than any word. - -"I am _desolee_, to have take Mistaire Jordain from ze plaisirs of his -soopaire. But ze demoiselle aippears herself to console ver well. Wich -rassure me ver much." - -Madame must certainly have been indignant when she used these words, -for, when quite herself, her English was grammatically correct enough -if the vocabulary was restricted and a word was sometimes used in a -wrong sense. It is a woman's right to take offence at the _formam -spretam_ by a suitor, and if the form despised be her daughter's -instead of her own, she can resent it with even better grace. - -Not long after, Mr. Jordan senior came upon Mr. Rouget leaving the -card-room, and expressed a hope that he had been able to amuse -himself. - -"I have not the good fortunes at cards this evening," that gentleman -replied; "I have won nothing; lost, rather, I fear." - -"So sorry; come have a glass of wine, and perhaps the luck may turn." - -"_N'importe_, I shall play no more to-night. The fortunes are -not _propices_. My _systeme_ does not conform to the play of -Mistaire--what you call?--Constantine." - -"Considine. Probably not. He generally plays euchre. You were playing -whist. Liable to trump his partner's best card. I know his weakness. -Let me find you some one else." - -"I thank you. No. It grows late. I go in search of madame. _M'sieur_ -himself does not succeed well in the little plan he did me the honour -to propose--to ally our families. I observe M'sieur Randolphe -withholds the--what you say?--the _petits soins_ which aire of custom -when a gentleman pretends to the hand of a demoiselle. _N'importe_, I -accept the excuses of m'sieur without saying. One knows the authority -of father counts for nothing with you English; but the more should -have been an understanding before to approach me." - -"My dear sir," Jordan began deprecatingly; but the other raised his -hand in dignified protest. - -"Enough. I make no reproach--_N'importe_. My good brother, the -ministre, has views. We will forget." - -"My dear Mr. Rouget--I beg!--I will even admit that you have ground of -offence, but pray take into account the waywardness of a head-strong -youth who resents being dictated to, and fancies he should decide his -own movements. Still, I must say for him, the boy really is steady, -and a good lad; and that, you will allow, is a qualification not -always to be met with among the eligible young men of the present day. -The mortgage upon La Hache would be a nice provision for the young -people, would save you from the possibility of instalments falling due -at inconvenient times, and I think--though perhaps I am too nearly -related to be an impartial judge--the lad has parts, and would not -discredit the Honourable the Minister of Drainage and Irrigation -either in politics or the public service. He has been bred to the law, -as perhaps you know, and passed his examinations with distinction." - -M. Rouget bowed his head and allowed the look of displeasure to relax -upon his countenance. He was most willing to push forward the -matrimonial scheme, though naturally, as being the weaker party, it -behoved him to keep that fact to himself, and to be ready, at the -first sign of backwardness on the other side, to feign offended -dignity, that he might be able to withdraw from the fruitless -negotiation with the honours of war. - -They were now leaving the supper-room together, and Considine -approached just as the Frenchman walked forward alone in search of his -ladies. - -"At last," thought Considine, "I shall catch Jordan alone, and get -over that talk I have been so long wanting to have with him;" and he -pressed his breast pocket to make sure of the documents he had carried -about so long, in hopes of catching the busy man in a moment of -leisure. Jordan noticed the movement, and was defensively on the alert -at once. - -"Considine, old fellow! Not dancing?" - -"My dancing days are over. But I say, Jordan, I wish you would give me -just a few minutes quiet----" - -"Over? What an idea! The springiest man of our set! Without the first -sign of either gout or rheumatism! And you would give up dancing, and -ticket yourself a fogy before your time? No! no! Couldn't think of it. -Yonder are a score of ladies, all your friends, sitting down after -supper, and waiting to be asked to dance. Every woman likes to be -danced with after supper, if only to show the world that men don't -look upon her as too old. Come along! Let me find you a partner, -though you know every one here." - -"But I never valse." - -"It is Lancers this time. I am going to dance myself. Mrs. Martindale. -A very old friend. Knew her before either of us were married. We -always have a dance when we meet. Come along!--Miss Stanley! Here is a -gentleman so desirous of dancing with you, and too modest to ask. Pray -take pity on him." - -Miss Matilda looked up in a little surprise, but smiled on seeing -Considine. - -"You are a sad wag, Mr. Jordan. It seems scarcely fair that we -grown-up people should crowd out the young ones. However, as Mr. -Considine is so kind----" and she rose, and taking his arm they joined -the dancers. - -Age is not a question to be decided by almanacs or the comparison of -dates. How many generations of roses have bloomed and disappeared -since the aloe was sown, a hundred years ago, which now is only -opening its flower. The willow has fallen into battered decrepitude, -while the oak, its slow-growing contemporary hard by, has barely -reached his prime. Life should not be measured by the tale of years, -but by itself--by the measure of oil unburnt, which remains within the -lamp. There be some, who, making bonfire of their store--lighting the -candle at both ends in the gusty weather--have consumed it mostly ere -the seventh lustrum has run out, and go darkling thenceforth with -nothing but a smoky wick and a guttering remnant; and there are others -who have dwelt where the winds were still, and have shaded their lamps -and trimmed them, like prudent virgins, whose light grows clearer as -they pass along, and accompanies them with a tranquil radiance far -down into the valley where the shadows are, and the inevitable end. It -is the excitements and the cares which devour our strength, the -unsatisfied greeds which eat inward, the ill-regulated pleasures which -exhaust. Work never killed a man; or, if it did, he was a weakling, or -he had mistaken his trade. - -"Only look!" cried Amelia Jordan, touching her neighbour, Martha -Herkimer, with her fan, "I think I may flatter myself that my juvenile -party is a success, when the contagious gaiety has caught even that -superannuated couple. I should feel flattered, but I confess I am not -fond of frisky grey beards. There is a time for everything, even for -sitting still and watching the young ones. I wonder at Considine; and -really Matilda might have had more sense than yield to his absurdity." - -"Do you mean the gineral and Matildy Stanley? Well now, 'pears to me, -they're about the likeliest couple on the floor. If they're old it's -their own business, their bones will ache the worse and the sooner; -but as far as looks go, I will say there ain't man or boy of them all -looks as spry as the gineral. And, as for Matildy, she looks well. I -always liked Matildy, and I admire her." - -"Oh, certainly, my dear, I quite agree with you. I am fond of -Matilda--good simple soul--I cannot think how she missed getting -married. So many worse, have established themselves well, since she -was young. But really you know it is just a little ridiculous, at her -time of life, to see her disporting herself. Why, there are her niece -and your own boy in the same set!" - -"So are Mr. Jordan and Mrs. Martindale." - -"Oh, yes, but that is nothing. Jordan must make himself useful in his -own house; and every one knows Louisa is a fool, who would like to be -thought gay, giddy, and dangerous. I would bet a box of gloves, now, -she thinks she is breaking my heart with jealousy. Just look how she -wriggles about, and how the chandelier so nearly over her head brings -out the crowsfeet and wrinkles round her eyes. I would not, for fifty -dollars, walk down the centre of the room when that thing is lighted, -if anybody were looking. - -"You don't see no crowsfeet around Matildy's eyes, I guess. She's a -fine woman, is Matildy Stanley. I wonder where the man's eyes have -been that she should have stayed Matildy Stanley so long. See how she -walks! As upright as a broomstick, and as springy as a cane." - -"Men like other things along with looks," said Amelia bridling. -"Though really Matilda looks quite nice--considering. One can scarcely -claim to be in one's first youth now-a-days, and we all came out the -same year, so our ages cannot be very far apart, Louisa Martindale, -Matilda, and I; and Louisa and I have grown up children." - -"You don't say that Mrs. Martindale is one age with Matildy? She looks -nigh on twenty years older. _You're_ different," she added quickly, as -the gathering of a look on her friend's face, which did not betoken -satisfaction, became apparent. - -"Perhaps Louisa does wear a little badly," she answered, in returning -good humour. "That light betrays everything. Louisa has so much -vivacity, and perhaps she is just the least bit in the world affected, -I believe it must be that has made her go off so. So much simpering -and smiling, when one doesn't feel so very pleased, and makes believe -a good deal, must naturally wear creases in the face. Do you not think -so? Matilda, on the other hand, as you know, is so calm and tranquil; -her face has not half the tear and wear of Louisa's, and therefore it -lasts ever so much better. But, somehow, Louisa, I should say, has got -more good out of her life. She has got more bad, too, I grant, for she -has been in the thick of everything; but I think I prefer that. -Matilda seemed never just to hit it off with the men. I do not -recollect her ever receiving any marked attentions, and she did not -betray any strong preferences to her. There are no little vignettes, -that I ever heard of, to illustrate her biography. You know what I -mean. _Passages_, people call them, which most of us like to bring out -of our memories and look at, when we feel low and a little -sentimental; just as we open the old box where our bridal wreath is -laid away, and wonder as we wrap the thing up again in its tissue -papers, if the gingerbread has really been worth all the gilding we -overlaid it with." - -Martha sniffed. It did not become an honest married woman to talk that -way, she thought; but she said nothing, and the sniff proved enough to -modulate Amelia's tone down to the narrational key again. - -"When the officers were quartered here, of course it made society -lively; and they paid a great deal of attention to us all,"--with just -a suspicion of bridling, as she said it, as though she had "vignettes" -of her own to remember, if it were worth while to count the scalps won -in such old-world encounters. "Matilda was in the thick of it all, and -got plenty of attention, but it never came to anything; and I am bound -to say she betrayed no anxiety that it should. Her father was an -Englishman, you see, and she has travelled; and she has money, and a -sister; so I suppose it comes natural to them to take things easily -and be comfortable in their own cool-blooded and retired sort of way. -Very nice women, I must admit, and always the same wherever you meet -them; but one cannot make free with them as we do amongst ourselves. -Really it is quite like long ago, to see Matilda dancing out there -with Considine. She is little changed. Fuller in the figure, perhaps, -but that is becoming as one gets up in life. Her hair is in the same -old way she always wore it--in streaming side curls. 'Books of -Beauty,' when I was a little girl, displayed ladies with hair-dressing -like that; but, except Matilda, I never saw a living woman wear it. -Though it becomes her." - -"Splendid hair! So long and thick; and not one white thread in it. -Now, what colour was Mrs. Martindale's originally? It's dun-duckety -mud colour now, or what you please," and her eyes involuntarily rested -on Amelia's head-dress, eliciting an angry red spot upon either cheek, -which was answered by a flush of ashamed confusion on her own, at the -inadvertence, and brought the conversation to an abrupt conclusion. - -The unconscious subject of her friend's criticism swam here and there -through the figures of her dance in sympathy with the music, borne up -and carried forward, like a well-trimmed yacht, upon the current of -sound. She had danced little, if at all, for years; but it came -naturally to her to dance. There was no heart-heaviness or carking -care, no malice, envy, or uncharitableness--the unadjustable ballast -which makes so many a hull roll heavily. Her health was good, as it -had always been, her nerves as well strung, and her ear as sensitive -to the spirit of sound. She looked well, and she knew it, with the -mature and realized beauty of a summer afternoon--a lady such as the -late King George admired. There was not the dewy promise of morning, -but neither were there evening's pensive shadows pointing backward in -regret--a handsome woman who had shed her girlhood, but showed no -other sign by which to count the years. It was pleasant to be brought -down off the shelf where matrons and old ladies sit and contemplate -the gambols of the young, and made her think of her first ball, and -how nice it had been, but without regret, for it was nice even now; -and there was her own little Muriel whom she had reared, almost grown -up, and marching before her just like another woman in the evolutions -of the dance. And really it was very nice to have a gentleman so -attentive, and all to one's self; like long ago, before her married -friends got their establishments, and put on their absurdly -patronizing airs, which were sometimes so provoking, though always so -ridiculous--"as if one could not have done everything _they_ succeeded -in doing if one had cared to try." - -That reflection brought perhaps a trifle more colour in her face, and -made her shake out the ringlets just a little, till she looked at her -partner before her, carefully executing with conscientious precision a -gyration in her honour. She could not but smile as she gave him her -hand to turn round, and the man looked positively grateful as he -received it. Grateful, but was it for the smile or the hand? Yet -surely he gave the hand a little squeeze. The man must be growing -audacious. And yet he was so respectful. But Mr. Considine she knew -was always respectful, and really very nice. - -Considine thought it very nice too--did not know, in fact, how long it -was since he had enjoyed anything so much. "Amazing fine woman," is -how some of his compeers would have expressed their feelings; but -Considine did not even pretend to be a _roue_, and he was not a fogy, -though quite old enough to have been one, if that had been a necessary -phase of existence to pass through. He felt happy with a respectful -enjoyment, such as he might have known thirty years earlier, in the -recognized season for such things, and he only regretted that it was -to end so soon. He wondered if he might venture to ask her to dance -again, and that smile we have mentioned, met him, and he thought he -would risk it; but alas, the programme had been arranged to suit the -younger talent, and this proved to be the last square dance. Then he -bethought him of the subscription assemblies, and wondered if Miss -Stanley attended them, and then the evolutions of the next figure -brought him back to the business in hand. - -Muriel and her partner watched him carefully solemnizing the rite with -a good deal of amusement. Youth is so graspingly exclusive, and so -intolerant. It engrosses the present and claims the future for itself, -and accords as little place to its quite recent predecessors, the have -beens, as would be given to the ancient kings at Westminster, if they -should leave their vaults in the abbey and walk across the street to -the hall or the palace over the way. - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - - A BENEVOLENT SPIDER. - - -M. Rouget de la Hache was hard up. He was a "swell," in a small way, -after the mild colonial fashion, with a seigniory whose ancient -privileges had been curtailed by advancing civilization; but -civilization had paid him a good round sum when it abolished his -rights over the persons and property of his humble neighbours--rights -which were becoming an anachronism, and always more difficult to -exercise. Being a swell, he did not work, but he was closely related -to many who did, and who exercised the most important functions in the -country, while they still looked up to him as in some sort their -chief; though, in reason, the deference should have been all the other -way. M. Rouget did not work, and therefore, not being a vegetable, it -was necessary that he should play. When circumstances, in mistaken -kindness, lay no burden on a man's shoulders, he fits one on -himself--_il faut s'amuser_--and one which often proves hard to carry. -There is a taskmaster, as the nursery saw tells us, still ready to -find occupation for idle hands, occupation in which they too often -burn their fingers. - -Guns and dogs answer well enough at a time, so do trotting horses; but -by-and-by there must be other men's horses to trot with, and give the -interest of emulation. A man cannot continue to amuse himself on his -own land; and in colonial cities people are too busy making their -fortunes to be amusing company for an idle man. However, Saratoga, in -its season, was not far away, and there was New York beyond, which -lasts all the year round--more or less. Rouget had been used to be -"of the best" at home--a personage, in a small way, wherever he -appeared--and abroad it did not occur to him to abate his pretentions. -Measured by the golden foot-rule of New York, he would have found -himself on a far back bench, and even then his neighbours would have -been able to lay down a dollar for every dime which he could produce; -but the idea of applying such a standard did not occur to him. He -believed himself a notability, and looked among the foremost for his -peers. Was he not related to several of those old French governors who -traded beads for peltry in the wake of a Jesuit Missionary, chaffering -with the simple children of the wilderness beneath the forest shade, -ere ever a vulgar common-place Englishman had arrived to cut timber, -open a shop, or make money? And the foremost accepted him at his own -valuation, as something "_ro_mantic, and quite beyond." He was ready -to put down his stakes alongside theirs, and it would not be "manners" -to ask the size of the pile from whence the stakes were drawn. -Wherefore the American heart opened genially to receive him, just as -it opens to the Lord Toms and Sir Harrys who each year enter its -hospitable gates, and remain while their money lasts, or till they are -found out. - -It is hard upon the pipkin who adventures to sail down stream with the -brazen bowls. There are eddies on the smoothest streams, and among the -eddies there will be bumping. Only the pipkins need mind that, it is -they alone who suffer. They inevitably get cracked in a collision, -while the brass goes bumping and ringing along for very sport. It can -come to no harm. Mr. Rouget got cracked--badly cracked--at last; but -the wonder is that it had not befallen him long before. His friends -did what they could for him--friends always do, when the subject is a -worthless one, while virtue gets leave to shift for itself in its -disasters, virtue being essentially prosaic, uninteresting and -unpicturesque--but even his friends ran dry at last, and he had to -mortgage his land. That occurred when Jordan began first to invest -moneys for the Herkimer estate, and it was he who had bought the -mortgage. It was a fairly profitable operation for Jordan, and had -been the beginning of a useful intimacy; but it seemed to him, ere -long, after the accruing advantages were well secured, that to sink so -large a sum in so long-winded a transaction had been a mistake, and he -might have done better in short loans, money on call, and general -usury. There was the idea, to be sure, of engrafting his son -effectually upon the dominant French interest by marriage, and if that -could be compassed, it might turn out that the money had been well -invested; but the boy was so head-strong and contrary, so like the -Irishman's pig, which insists on going the other way, in what way -soever he may be desired to go, that there was no certainty of working -out the scheme, however compliant they of the other side might be. - -Jordan was sitting in his office one day, in the week following his -wife's party, examining his diary of bills coming due, considering -where renewals might be granted, and how much he might extort in -consideration of his forebearance, what sums would be paid him, and -how they were to be employed. Rouget, overbearing the clerk who kept -the sanctum door--it was an inner room, lined with tin boxes, but free -from the professional lumber which garnished that wherein he received -his clients, the spider-hole, in fact, where he sat to devour his -flies, and very private--appeared before him. - -"Jordain! Your clerk ees not _respectueux_. I must complain. He tell -me you were gone out. Yen vid dis ear I hear you cough my ownself. -Everee body know Jordain's cough. Yet he _defend_ my entry." - -Jordan laid down his pen testily, but composed himself at once. "M. -Rouget de la Hache, eh? The young man has orders to let no one in -here. He should have said I was engaged. Those were his orders." - -"He deed say so; but I shust look heem in ze eye--so!--vit a grand -_severite_; and he fail of his word, and grow _confus_; and zen he -tell me you were gone out. And so--behold me." - -"Sim should stick to his orders. The first lie is always the best and -safest. Not that this was a lie--he had his orders to say I was -engaged, and admit no one. _You_ would have been an exception, of -course, had I expected to see you. But how should I? Nevertheless, -most pleased to see you; though really I am very busy. Pray sit down. -How can I serve you?" - -Rouget sat down, looking vacantly about him. To attempt to hurry him, -shook up his muddy wits, which needed all their accustomed rest to -clarify themselves in any measure. - -It was a bare little room, all but its wall covering of shelves, -supporting tin boxes, which were all brown japanned alike, and -garnished with gold letters and numbers enough to give one headache. -There were three chairs, on one of which he was sitting, while Jordan -had another, and the third stood waiting--for whom? It disturbed him, -this foolish question, for it was impossible to answer it. The table -was covered with black leather, and there was a book open--a big fat -book--wonder what it was about?--and a bit of paper with names and -figures, which Jordan was noting down with a pencil. Wonder what he -meant by it? Had it anything to do with him, Jean Vincent de Paul -Rouget? But yet the pencil and slip of paper looked unimportant -enough, and so, with the bold assurance of ignorance Rouget concluded -that they could not possibly be of much consequence, and Jordan was -only making believe--a humbug, in fact, as all people _la bas_ mostly -were. It takes a transatlantic "swell," who has never seen one of the -acknowledged great ones of the earth, to fully realize the vast -inferiority of the "lower orders" to his own ineffable mightiness. - -And yet it was easier to make the grand entrance he had achieved, and -even to seat himself with dignity, than to plunge at once _in medias -res_. He shuddered a little, like a bather on the brink, and looked -round the room again, but it was so bare it would not suggest -anything; and he wanted an idea--some neutral subject of talk which -could be steered and edged about, whither he would; like a boat to -waft him round the cliffs on the opposing shore, to some unguarded -inlet with sloping banks, where he could land in good order and deploy -at will toward the point he sought to gain. But this fellow was so -abrupt. The _brusquerie_ was not in good taste, and at another time he -would have let him see it; but now---- - -"How can I serve you?" said the spider again. He knew the value of -directness and dispatch. A fly must be well inmeshed in the web to be -there present. It is mercy to the poor things to come to the point -with a bound, and bleed or devour. To prolong the preliminaries is but -adding gratuitous pain. The victim will but flutter the more wildly, -and what usurer would make rich if he heeded the remonstrance of -impotence? In prolonged palaver, too, and the frantic flutterings, may -not the captive burst a gossamer bond, and be free? The bonds are all -gossamer, at first, like the rainbow-coloured rays of a sea anemone, -but they thicken and grow tense when the prey gets among them, and do -it so quietly that he is partly swallowed before he realizes his -danger, and then his struggles are apt to be in vain. Still, there are -chances, and vigour and dispatch are best. - -"How can I serve you?" and Jordan glanced into the book before him, -and then made a cross with his pencil at a name and some failures on -the list he seemed to be making out. It was manifest that he guessed -already what was going to be said. It was mortifying, and still it was -a relief to see that preliminaries were unnecessary and the subject -already opened. - -"I find I cannot meet all the interest due the day after to-morrow." - -A mere bow of the head from the spider. Not a motion of an eyebrow, -even, in token of surprise. This composure hurt M. Rouget much. Was he -not an important person, and looked upon as rich? And was it not the -duty of ordinary people to expect him to pay up? He felt almost -insulted that anybody should thus take his inability as a matter of -course. He coloured, and looked an interrogation. - -"Yes?" said Jordan. - -"I vill give a cheque for two tousand dollars. You must hold over the -rest for the present." - -"Make it three, and I will take your note for the rest at thirty -days--Sim!" touching the hand-bell at his elbow. - -"That vill not do! I shall not be able to pay so soon," said Rouget -more disturbed. What did the man mean by calling in his clerk so -quickly to increase his embarrassment? - -"Never mind, Sim! a mistake," and the door closed again. - -"Tirty days would be no use. You mus give me time. I have had looses, -and want time to retrieve myself." - -"But how? Mr. Rouget. You will say I have no right to ask such a -question, perhaps, and I dare say I appear discourteous; but in -business it is essential to understand the case clearly, and our -transactions are for such large sums that you must excuse seeming -intrusiveness. Will sixty days suit you?" - -"No. I want time! and freedom from all anxieties. I have a _systeme_ -wich is infallible in the end, and must make me rich, but it demands -time, watchfulness, and money." - -"Phew!"--Jordan whistled slowly, lying back in his chair and burying -his hands in his pockets. "That is--Well, we will not wrangle over -spilt milk, and I do not question your right to do as you choose with -your own money; but it seems to me, when you granted those large -mortgages, you made use of that same expression--referred to -something, something or other under the name of a system." - -"And what then?" said Rouget flushing. A little indignation would help -him, conversationally at least, he began to think. Not being in trade, -he was unfamiliar with the liberties which money will empower a lender -to take with the man who would borrow, or worse, who would be excused -when the time comes round for repayment. - -"Oh! nothing. Only if it has cost $150,000 already before the system -begins to work favourably, it may take as much more yet, and where is -the money to come from?" - -"It vill not! It _cannot_ take so much. It mus' be propice ver soon. I -have confidence. I have considered. There is certainty!" - -"And the first of the three repayments of $50,000 comes due in six -months." - -"I know it, and I want you to add dese few tousands to the new -mortgage you will draw--wid interests and commissions, all to be sure, -widout question;" and the poor man rallied his waning pomposity to -make one little shrug in naming the gains and perquisites of the -_roturier_; before whom, his heart misgave him, he might yet have to -quake. - -"But, my dear sir, the operation is not a profitable one, and I did -not contemplate renewing the mortgage. I can do much better with the -money on the street." - -"_Mon Dieu!_ Jourdain. What do I hear? Increase ze interests if so -mus' be--and ze security is good. Ze ministre, _mon frere_, say zey -are firs class, and zat I pay _trop_--too much." - -"Quite so, Mr. Rouget, that is just where it is. I have my feelings -and my reputation like another man. Why should I place myself in such -a position that the Minister of Drainage and Irrigation should look on -me as a usurer? I can command better terms for my money on the street, -with nothing said, than I could charge you on your mortgage even with -the loss of reputation involved in that word usurer." - -"My dear sair! But ze mortgages were to be for fortune to M. -Randolphe, in heemself marrying to Adeline, who would have the -_survivance_ of La Hashe for _dot_." - -"But if receiving interest on the mortgages is to be contingent on the -success of a 'system'--and of course a son-in-law must grant -indulgence if his wife's father gets behind--the young people might -not have much to live on. In any case, there are still the other -instalments--a very fair provision--if the young lady should -condescend, and the young man can be brought to the point--which, with -the unruly youth of the present day, is, I confess, doubtful; and the -more difficult to accomplish, the less ground of dissatisfaction there -may be, beyond mere aversion to be dictated to. Business arrangements -cannot be left open, in waiting, to accommodate the whims of boys and -girls." - -"Would you buy La Hache? How much would you give?" - -"Are you in earnest? Do you propose to hand it over in settlement of -the mortgages?" - -"How much more would you give--'to boot,' as you say in buying a -horse." - -"I didn't contemplate buying. It would not suit me to have so large a -sum tied up in unremunerative acres. If I were to buy, it could only -be that I might sell again, and that involves delays, expenses, -uncertainties, loss of interest. No! Mr. Rouget, it is not to be -thought of. If there is a default in payment all the mortgages fall -due at once, and in our small market the sum involved in the -foreclosure is as large as any buyer would be likely to bid on one -property." - -"But, my friend! Ze securities aire ample. You had it valued four -years ago." - -"Certainly. It seemed safe for the money at that time. But you were -then supposed to be well off, independently of the property; today you -have explained that you are so no longer, and cannot even attend to -the regular interest." - -"Lend me anoder fifty tousand on de property." - -"Not to be thought of." - -"Tirty----" - -"Could not do it." - -"Tventy----" - -"Sorry it cannot be." - -"Ze lands aire rich." - -"Realize them, then, Mr. Rouget. I will promise to place no -unnecessary impediments in your way." - -"Zere is vealth in ze ground itself. Richesses of minerals. See! -Behold," and he drew from under his fur gloves, cap, and muffler, -which he had thrown upon the table in a heap on entering, a small box -which he proceeded to open, and displaying a number of mineralogical -specimens, handed across to the other. There was a green incrustation -on the stones where they had been long exposed to the weather, but the -new faces made by recent hammer-fracture, shone red and metallic like -a beetle's back. - -"Ah," said Jordan. "Really very nice. I am no judge of such things, -but to my ignorant eye some of these must be nearly pure copper. Were -they found at La Hache, and does the deposit appear extensive?" - -"Dey were in de swamp, a mile back from the river, last fall. We were -shooting, I, that is, and a young _savant_ of my friend's, who studies -wit Professor Hammerstone. The professor has examined, himself, since -den, and he finds the indications ver rich and abundant. He says zere -is a fortune there beyond compute. Now! What say you? You know the -Professor Hammerstone is of great reputation. Wat you say now?" - -"Say? For one thing, Mr. Rouget, I congratulate you, and I would say -that your prospects look infinitely more hopeful from this point of -view than in connection with your 'system,' which--you must forgive my -saying it--was leading you to destruction. In heaven's name let the -'system' slide, and apply yourself to develop your property." - -"But ze money? my friend. You cannot develop wid notting. Lend me -money, and I vill give my vor d'honneur"--and he patted his palms -outstretched on the bosom of his greatcoat--"to abandon de systeme." - -"Mining matters are outside of my field; I do not understand them. You -should call on some of our leading capitalists and speculators with -your specimens. They will look into the affair, and if there is -anything in it, will make you a proposal. On one point only let me -offer a word of advice. Do not insist upon too much money down to -begin with. You cannot expect them to subscribe a capital merely to -hand it over to you. Show your willingness to take the bulk of your -price in shares and you will get something very handsome indeed. So -soon as the stock is all taken up, the shares become saleable, rising -and falling in sympathy with public talk, long before any of the ore -has been got to market, and you may be able to sell out at good prices -very soon, if the scheme happens to strike the general fancy. For -myself, as I have said, mining is not in my line, but I will do what I -can not to embarrass you. I will take your note at ninety days for -that unpaid interest, and as for the mortgage due next summer, we will -talk of it when the time comes, and, meanwhile, we shall have time to -see how the mining enterprise will prosper--Sim!" - -Sim appeared, received orders to draw a promissory note for Mr. -Rouget to sign, and withdrew, followed by that gentleman seemingly let -down from the self-satisfied attitude of feeling in which he had -entered--meeker, much meeker, but yet more hopeful for his own future -than he would have felt, perhaps, if his demands had been complied -with. - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - - IN THE RUE DES BORGNES. - - -The Banque Sangsue Pretense occupied the chief part of its own -cut-sandstone building on the Rue des Borgnes, the remainder, -conspicuous in brass and plate glass, being the offices of Ralph -Herkimer and Son, general operators, who were "in" railways, in -minerals, in finance, in whatever promised to turn an honest penny. A -smart man was that Ralph Herkimer, his neighbours said, who tried -everything, and made everything pay. Always early in the field, and -getting the cream of the speculation, while other men were pondering -its prospects, and then putting off on them the closely skimmed milk -which must always be got rid of--the shells, which the oyster-eater -must make somebody carry away if he would not be smothered in the -ruins of his former banquets. - -The bank was an enterprise originated by Ralph himself--evolved by him -when his ambition had found the local share list too narrow a field. -Why should he labour, he thought, to pull strings, and not always -efficient ones, to make established stocks jump up and down as he -desired, when he was now strong enough to build an automaton of his -own, which should obey his wishes without fail, and without outside -interference? His friends wondered at his choice of a name so little -calculated to invite business; but he was of opinion that that was of -little moment. Wherever there is money to lend, the borrowers will -scent it out, as flies discover a honey-pot, by instinct. It was small -investors whom he wished to attract, those who, having little money, -are eager to get much interest. In the general increase of wealth, and -the fall in rates of interest, these worthy people find their expenses -increasing while their incomes are falling off, and the image of a -lending bloodsucker, while unattractive to the borrower, who -nevertheless submits to the lancet, is pleasing rather than otherwise -to those who would share the spoils. - -Ralph was president and manager of the institution, "filling two -offices for one salary," as he sometimes said, "in his desire that the -bank should do well;" and benefiting largely in many ways, as he did -_not_ say, by the unsupervised control which thus fell into his hands. -The bank parlour and his own private office were only divided by a -wall, and they were connected by a very private door between the -dressing rooms pertaining to the two apartments, so that the clerks -and the business of both establishments were at all times under the -master's eye, the master was virtually in both places at the same -time, and he could at any time be in the other if an undesirable -visitor was to be evaded. - -Ralph was in his office. He had been presiding at a meeting of the St. -Laurence, Gattineau and Hudson's Bay Railway, consisting of himself -and a couple of others, at which they had granted a contract to -construct another fifty miles running north. They had also arranged to -hold a demonstration on the occasion, with speeches and champagne, to -be followed on the morrow by placing a quantity of the stock on the -market. As soon as he was left alone he took from a drawer some -specimens of plumbago brought from lands of his which the road he had -been assisting to place under construction would open up. Lumps of -lustrous purple blackness, like a raven's plumage, which he lingered -admiringly, muttering to himself, "They will bring value soon now, but -we must wait till the road is nearly built. If they were brought out -now they would be half forgot before we could take people up to look -at them. Revivals generally fall flat, people just remember enough of -what they heard before to make it harder to interest them with it -again. We must wait till just before the road is going to open, and -then spring tracts A and B upon the public. Rich deposit, rare -mineral, joint stock company, limited liability, unlimited profit, and -so forth. When these are disposed of, and the company is just going to -work upon them, tracts C and D can be discovered to be as rich as the -others, and offered likewise. That will be enough to attempt for some -years. By the time C and D are in working order, the owners of A and B -will be doing something foolish, and having discouragement, and then -it will be no use to offer E and F for ever so long. Yet it would not -improve prospects to offer all at once, it would only bring down the -value and send other people prospecting. We can then fall back on the -phosphate beds," and he glanced at some other specimens in his drawer. -"By that time the second fifty miles of rail will be built, and we -will be able to issue debentures. Our stockholders will have had no -dividends, so they will be sure to take the bonds and new preference -shares to get something out of the old enterprise--no operation so -popular as throwing good money after bad--and then, to secure traffic -for the far-away end of the line, they will buy my phosphate beds, and -work them. That will answer well enough. I shall have unloaded the -last of my railway shares ere then. I wonder why the contractors -agreed to take so much stock in payment? They must have more faith in -our enterprise than I have, or can they have got hold of tracts G, K, -L, and Q? But they have never named plumbago once. Can that be -slyness? In any case they want watching. I'll keep my eyes peeled." - -A card was brought in by a clerk with a timid--"Would like to see you, -sir." - -"I told you, Stinson, to say I was engaged, whoever called." - -"The gentleman was so positive you would see him, I was afraid he -might have reason for what he said." - -"Who is it?--Rouget--Hm--Who wants to be bothered with Rouget in -business hours? Say I shall be pleased to see him at half-past three. -I am occupied till then. Let no one in, now, but Mattock the builder, -and Calcimine the architect, and bring over that roll of plans, and -the maps marked 'proposed St. Hypolite suburb,' and spread them out -upon the table. Ha! Bank bell? What do they want in there? Who can it -be? Bid those men wait, Stinson, if they arrive before I get back from -the bank. Tell them you expect me every moment. At the same time, if -any cheques have to be signed, send them into the bank; I do not know -how long I may be detained. Any one in the outer office besides -Rouget? You go first; send him away and then tell me. I like going -into the bank by the front door." - -"The Bishop of Anticosti is waiting, and two sisters of charity with a -subscription list, waiting till you are disengaged." - -"They can wait, then. I shall go the other way," and so saying he -disappeared by way of the dressing-room. - -It was half-past four instead of half-past three when Rouget was at -last admitted to the presence. His consequence was a good deal ruffled -at being kept waiting, and he gave Stinson to understand that he did -not like it; whereupon the clerk suggested that he should call another -day, and was altogether so callous and unimpressed, that, after -failing to get him to carry in another card with messages scrawled -across, Mr. Rouget desisted, submitted, and sat down in a chair like -any humble person awaiting an audience. - -"Ha! Mr. Rouget!" was his reception when at last the moment of -admission arrived. "So sorry that you should have had to wait; but -business--you know. How do things go on at St. Euphrase? I have been -meaning to drive over there, some day, now the ice and the sleighing -are so good; but have been so busy." - -"We have been making discoveries at St. Euphrase, Misterre -Herkimaire--discoveries of mines and metals. Wat do you tink of dat, -for instance, Misterre Herkimaire?" and he laid some lumps of nearly -pure copper, each about the size of an egg, and a piece of rock, green -with exposure to the weather, and veined with metallic bands upon the -table. The window, as it happened, faced the west, catching the last -of the daylight from the radiant sky. A gleam, grown ruddy, and -struggling with the gathering shadows, seemed drawn to the polished -faces of the ore, and made them shine with enhancing lustre. - -"What?" cried Ralph, thrown off his guard at the unexpected sight, -which made him forget the cool and critical attitude of a business -mind. "Copper! Virgin copper, or I'm a Dutchman! Specimens sent in by -his explorers to the Minister of Irrigation? Kind of you to bring them -to me, Mr. Rouget, and give me a chance to bid for the lands. Many -thanks. I have been turning my attention to minerals lately, I doubt -not but with the minister's goodwill we may arrange something to our -mutual advantage--yours and mine. Where do they come from? Up the -Ottawa? Or, perhaps the Gattineau? Yes! that must be it, the -Gattineau. I am interested in Gattineau lands already, and we have -indications of copper; but I am free to confess I did not dream of -anything so fine as this. If the government wants a company formed to -develop minerals on the Gattineau, I'm their man. It will help us to -build our railway at once. I did not calculate on extending so far out -for a year or two, but the mines will require an outlet, and they will -bring the road into notice, and enable us to make an increased issue -of stock. The government will have to increase our land-grant, -however." - -Rouget stood regarding the "promoter" with a smile. How he did run on, -to be sure! - -"W'ere you say dey come from?" - -"The Gattineau, I have no doubt. I never saw a Lake Superior specimen -half as rich." - -"Eet ees not Lake Superior, you aire right. W'at you say eef I tell -you it come from sout' of de Saint Laurence?" - -"It will be a fortune for the owner if it does. Freight and expenses -there will be so light in comparison with Fond du Lae." - -"Dese specimens aire from La Hache." - -"You don't----" - -"Fact. Here is Professor Hammerstone's report." - -"Hammerstone? I see him constantly, but he has never mentioned it. He -spent a week with me at St. Euphrase last summer. My son Gerald reads -with him several times a week, but he has heard nothing of this or he -would have told me." - -"Hammerstone was employed by me--a private survey--confidential -affair." - -"Ah?" said Ralph, looking at his friend the personage and man of -pleasure with newborn respect. Who could have supposed it? A man he -had always looked on as a fool--spending his days in losing money on -race-courses, his nights in poker!--to think that such a one should -have taken up with science, economies, and the intelligent development -of his property! - -"You see it arrived to me all unexpected to make the discovery. The -young Richaud, of the Crown Lands Department, is of the relatives of -madame the most intimate. He made a _sejour_ wid us the last -Septembre, and one day we go for the _chasse aux oiseaux_, and we stop -to repose ourselves in the svamp by the river not far from Saint -Euphrase--the svamp is dried up as you may know in Septembre--and -Richaud, he cry out, and he say, 'M. Rouget,' he say, 'how you aire -_riche!_--more _riche_ as the dreams of avarice.' 'Behold!' he cry, -and frappe wid a large stone ze rock laid bare by the uprooting of a -fallen tree, w'ere I myself had seated. And truly the fragment broken -off did shine wid a lustre as of the metals. Richaud has information -of such tings in the department, and he advised me to consult the -Professeur Hammerstone, w'ich, by-and-by, w'en the frosts have -wizzered the herbage, I do, and you behold his report rendered." - -Ralph took the report and read it through, while recovering at the -same time his self-possession. It was an injudicious display of -eagerness which he had been betrayed into, and he felt heartily -ashamed as well as sorry that his nerves should have relaxed from that -critical calm which becomes a proposing buyer while the bargain is -incomplete. How many thousands, he wondered, would his lack of -circumspection cost him? Yet who could have associated the ass Rouget -with anything to sell? It was most provoking. - -He sniffed a depreciating sniff as he read through the report, raised -his eyebrows and pursed his lips; and in concluding read aloud the -saving clause in which the worthy scientist guarded his reputation for -infallibility by reminding his readers of the impossibility of -ascertaining the depth to which the outcropping lodes extended, by -mere surface observations, and without sinking an experimental shaft, -and the chances of faults, breaks, and interruptions in the vein at -any depth below that to which his examination had extended. - -"You want to sell this, then, Mr. Rouget? this parcel of, say a -thousand acres, with its metalliferous indications? What value do you -put upon it?" - -Had Rouget come there the day before, ere he had had speech with -Jordan, or had slept and dreamed upon the encouraging visions which -that conversation had bred, and which had been expanding themselves -ever since, as is the way with visions, there is no doubt he would -have jumped at once, named a sum, and been thankful to take half of -it; but he had spent the night in building castles, and storing them -with the uncounted riches which other men were to dig out of his land -and pay over to him, and the idea of a fixed sum even if far larger -than he had yet named, was now cold and unattractive. - -"I vish not to compromise my interests in zis land. I vill not sell." - -"Then what do you come to me for?" - -"I vish to inaugurate a company to develop ze mines." - -"But the mines, if there are any, are yours, Mr. Rouget. It is for the -proprietor to develop his property." - -"I have hoped since three months to do so. Money is ze difficulty; I -need money." - -"Then sell! Those who have the money are likely to give a good price. -It will be pure gain to you, for this thousand acres, I dare assert, -has never yielded you one cent. Sell to wealthy men who can afford to -develop the property, it will bring in population, perhaps originate a -town, and in any case create a new market for your tenants, and -increase the value of all your lands." - -"If it vould be good for dose vealthy men to buy, it vill be my affair -not to sell. I shall keep my interests in ze mines." - -"How much good will they do you if you have no capital to work them?" - -"I have come to you to get ze capital." - -"And how would you purpose to pay for the accommodation?" - -"Your bank lends, does it not? I would borrow!" - -"What security?" - -"My own. Is that not enough? And now there will be dis mine also." - -"You would mortgage it then to get an advance? Can you give a first -mortgage?--No?--mortgaged already, eh? Then sell, Mr. Rouget. Sell to -a company. If your ideas are reasonable I may be able to help you; but -a large outlay will be required to start the enterprise, and getting -up a company is an expensive process. However, I think I am safe in -saying you can sell your unproductive swamp for the price of the best -agricultural land in the province, or double what any cleared land -round St. Euphrase would bring. Yes! I will even risk giving you fifty -dollars the _arpent_ myself, and take all the risk and expense, while -you will have the prospective advantage when population comes -streaming in to work the mines." - -"You are kind, Mr. Herkimaire. I thank you. But either you are not -serious, or you believe me more fool than is the case. Messieurs -Pyrites and Sulphuret may be willing to put me in the way to develop -my property. I am told they do large business in metals. I shall wish -you a good evening, Mr. Herkimaire." - -"No, no! Mr. Rouget. Stop a moment! Just tell me plainly what it is -you want, and I shall be pleased to promote your views if I can. I -have asked you how much you would take for your property, or what you -wish to do with it. You have made no answer. I then made you an offer -for the land, which of course you were quite at liberty to refuse; but -surely your refusing to take my price does not necessitate your taking -offence, especially seeing that you have not yet said what value you -put on the property yourself--and I am sure there is no arrangement -which Pyrites and Sulphuret would make with you which I am not quite -as able to carry out. Since you have been good enough to give me the -first chance, pray do not go before we have had time to understand -each other. What is your own idea in the matter?" - -"Mr. Jordain, he say----" - -"Jordan is in it, then, is he?" muttered Ralph. "Worse luck." - -"He says I should place myself in the hands of some capitalist, who -would form a company, paying me some in money and the rest in stock. -Is not that the fashion to speak of in the language of commerce." - -"Quite so, Mr. Rouget. That is the usual way of fixing things. And -your figures?" - -And here there arose much altercation and argument, as was inevitable -where each wanted to get as much and give as little as possible. The -dialogue need not be recorded. Its like can be heard in any market -place, between hucksters and old women, chaffering and wrangling over -a copper cent as if their lives depended on having it, though the one -must sell and the other will buy, in any wise, and they both know it. - -It was settled at last. Ralph was to arrange and bring out the -company, with all perquisites thereto accruing, Rouget got a fifth -part of the stock as his price, and a few thousand dollars, wherewith -he hurried to New York in a fever of restlessness until he should have -dropped them all into the same abyss which had swallowed so much -already, in obedience to the infallible _systeme_. Jordan being first -mortgagee, with power to become troublesome, was made solicitor of the -concern, with a handsome block of stock allotted, the calls on which, -it was understood, were not to be pressed. Ralph, as promoter, kept -still, acquiesced, and said not much while the other two preferred -their extravagant demands. It was he who was to issue the stock and -handle the funds, and as the venture progressed he was sure of -abundant profit. Meanwhile, it was best that his mates should have -their way, be kept sanguine and in good humour, if only that they -might innoculate the public mind with their brilliant anticipations. - -The prospectus was a work of art, and it was fortified by certificates -from the greatest authorities. True, these authorities had not seen -the metalliferous deposits--indeed no one could see them just then, -buried as they were under drifts of frozen snow--but they were allowed -to see Hammerstone's survey, and Hammerstone was a man of knowledge -and character, whom even the most distinguished felt safe in -endorsing, if the fee were sufficient. As the mind of practical -science puts it--practical science is the science of making as much -money out of as little knowledge as possible--to express another man's -observations in finer and more taking language, is surely the highest -compliment one can pay him, and the most emphatic manner of granting -him our valuable indorsation. Hammerstone was immensely gratified to -read in the prospectus the opinions of Professor Sesquioxide, of -Boston, and other luminaries, his bigger brothers among the sons of -knowledge, so minutely confirmatory of his own; but he wondered much -as to when they had been called in, and he felt a little hurt that -they should have been so near to him and Montreal without visiting -him. - -The public mind was judiciously educated up to the receptive point by -a series of graduated rumours and paragraphs of ascending interest. -One may come to believe anything if it seems in sequence with what -went before; therefore, when an assertion seems corroborated by others -already accepted, and which yet appear to be in no way connected with -it, the natural man accepts it at once. The newspapers swarmed with -clippings from the latest mining sensations in Colorado, and following -them would appear rumours of important mineralogical discoveries -"nearer home." By-and-by there were descriptions of California -bonanzas, followed by more rumours of vast metallic wealth at the very -doors. Then an imaginative reporter received confidential information -which he was not at liberty to divulge, but which he felt it a duty to -his beloved public to hint at in various picturesque ways. He -described gigantic masses of virgin copper quarried from their beds -with pre-historic wedges which still lay beside them in witness, and -discussed the civilization of the ancient Mound-builders in the -popular archaeological manner, still ringing the changes on the wealth -of copper so near at hand. Finally, when people's minds were ready to -believe, the prospectus of the Mining Association of St. Euphrase -appeared. - -After the association's subscription lists had remained open only a -few days they were suddenly closed, and it was announced that the -capital was all subscribed. Then all the dilatory who had contemplated -investing in a general sort of way, but had not done it, grew eager to -hold shares, which they hurried to buy at a premium. It was afterwards -said that in every instance it was Ralph Herkimer who was the seller, -and that he only subscribed for the shares which he sold, after he had -touched the premiums. But people are uncharitable, and if a man ever -ceases to be rich, they are sure to recollect naughty things which -they say he did in his time of prosperity. - -Before the snow was gone, material and machinery had been collected on -the ground, and there was a rise in the price of the stock. - -When the snow went, operations began, and the stock rose higher, with -inquiries for it from distant places, which sent the price bounding -still higher and higher still. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - - THE TIE OF KINDRED. - - -In those days--the days of Judith's visit--George Selby and his wife -were always punctual in coming down to breakfast. It was their hour -for undisturbed conversation and intercourse. The guests, unaccustomed -to city gaiety and late hours, were still in their soundest sleep, -when the clang of the breakfast bell would wake them to the knowledge -that another day had begun, and they must drag themselves from between -the blankets. As for Susan, owing to neuralgia or laziness, she always -breakfasted in bed. - -"Mary!" cried George eagerly, when they met one morning, about a week -after Betsey's first ball. "It is needless to ask you if you have -slept well. You look refreshed and revived as I have not seen you look -for years and years. I have noticed a change for the better going on -for these last two weeks, and this morning it almost seems as if the -Mary of long ago were coming back again. The clouds are lifting, -dearest, I do believe, and we shall know peace and quiet happiness yet -again. It is wearing on to afternoon with us both now, and ours has -been a sad, black, rainy day; but at least we have been together -through it all, and that has been more than sunshine. And now if the -rain but cease and the clouds break up, we may be blessed with a -peaceful sunset and the serene twilight of old age, with the clear, -pure brightness far off behind the hills waiting for us till we enter -the eternal day." - -George was a worthy, gentle soul, with yearnings true, if not -powerful, towards the spiritual and poetic. Who, condemned to hammer -scales into stupid little girls without ear or fingers, through all -the years, could be expected to carry more of the golden but -unpractical gift into hum-drum middle life? - -Mary laid her hand upon his shoulder, leant her head upon his cheek, -and her eyes grew moist. They were grey-haired people both, those two, -but people do not cease to be foolish, my dear young friends--if it -_is_ foolish, which I deny--when they cease to be young and handsome; -that is, if they have not ceased to be good. Goodness is the salt, the -preserver, the eternal spring, which can keep a heart from ever -growing old. Egotism in youth, when all is fair, may shine and glitter -like a dainty varnish, but it dulls and hardens and cracks as the -years go on, and becomes but the sorriest item in the general break-up -and decay, when that sets in. Love only is immortal, a giver of life -to the failing forces, like the olive tree in the prophet's vision, -which supplied in continuous flow the oil to furnish the perpetual -lamp. - -Mary leaned up against her husband in a mute caress, and then drawing -a long breath, sat down at the table to pour out his coffee. She was -not accustomed to put her feelings into words. She had suffered far -too long and too terribly for that. Had she been a woman of emotional -utterance, she must have exhausted her sorrow or her life, whichever -of the two were the weaker, long ago; but voice was wanting. She had -held her peace, had borne and lived and suffered, till those about her -had trembled for her reason; trembled, and yet in pity, at times, had -almost hoped for her the fearful anodyne of madness; but she was -strong of body as well as mind, she agonized in silence and lived on. - -She poured out her husband's coffee, and, handing it, met his eyes -still fastened on her face in earnest, happy love. "Yes," she said, -replying to his still unanswered observation, "I have had a long -delicious sleep, without a dream, or only one short sweet fancy before -I woke, as if our baby were lying in my arms, as she lay that very -last morning before we lost her. Oh, George! The delightfulness of the -sound oblivious sleep I have enjoyed of late! No one can conceive it -who has not gone through all these weary years. I had forgotten what -refreshing sleep was like. It was dreadful to me to lie down at night -and give myself up to cruel horrible dreams. You know how constantly I -have wakened with a cry--always the same bad dream, yet always with a -cruel difference in the horrors. Always the child in danger or in -pain, destruction in every fearful shape impending, and I unable to -reach, incapable of protecting her. I have always felt that she was -alive and needed my care, and how I have yearned and prayed to get to -her, God only knows. And now, George, it seems to me that God must -have heard, and taken pity on me. It is well with her now. I seem to -feel it. She is with God I do believe, and perhaps He lets her spirit -come down and comfort me. At least I am very sure now that she is -happy, and I feel resigned as a Christian woman should, in a way I -have never been able to feel before." - -"The company of your sister Judith has done you good, Mary. I have -been wrong, and judged her harshly, I am afraid. She is a good woman I -believe now, for all her queerness, and I should have thought of -having her to stay with you long ere now. A fellow is so unthinkingly -selfish, and I suppose I judged of your feelings by my own. You are my -all, you see, and I fear I grudge sharing you with others. But it was -selfish in me to forget that you and she are sisters, and must have -many feelings in common. In any case I owe her a debt now, and I shall -never think a thought against her again as long as I live." - -"You have no occasion to blame yourself, George. I do not imagine it -is owing to her visit that I feel so calmed; though certainly I am -happy to have her. We never had much sympathy, she and I. The -difference in our age and disposition was too great. I was always -fonder of Susan. No! It is not that. Her coming brought me no -consolation, I am sure. I do not think I ever passed more miserable -nights than those two first after her coming. But then there came a -change, a peace and consolation which I cannot describe or explain, -and I do not understand. It is just a blind unreasoned certainty that -all is well, and I want no more. The Good God has heard me at last, -and taken pity on a miserable mother. He has taken my darling to -Himself, I surely believe, and she is safe at last in the Everlasting -Arms. Oh George, I have been wicked to repine, and distress you as I -have done, with my ignorant complainings. She is safer far, I -recognize it now, than she could have been had she been left in such -care as mine. No! It is the Great Consoler who has pitied me and sent -me comfort; such distraction as poor Judith could have brought would -have been of little avail. That little girl, Betsey's cousin, seems to -bring a far more soothing influence with her than Judith or Susan, or -any one I ever met, but you. There seems a peacefulness in the air -when she is by, that rests my weary, hungry heart. It does me good to -sit and look when she comes in, and to hear her talk. She is a darling -little girl, and I could feel it in my heart to envy the people she -belongs to. She is an orphan, poor thing, they tell me. She must be -very near the age our Edith would have been if she had been spared to -us," and the poor lady wiped her eyes and sighed. - -"You mean Muriel Stanley. Yes, she is a dear little girl, or at least -she was till very lately; but she is opening out into young womanhood -now, as they all do, the pretty buds that I am so fond of. I see the -dawning woman more clearly every week, and I shall soon be losing her. -She is so pretty, you see, and those wretched boys see it, too, and -tell her it. Why is there not a Herod in Montreal to kill off the -sprouting striplings? They spoil all my little maids for me, just as I -get fond of them, when they are at their freshest and sweetest; turn -their pretty heads with nonsense and make them think themselves -grown up; and then good-bye to the poor music-master. Your young -nephew--Ralph's son--has something to answer for in this case, the -rogue. I have noticed him lurking round our gate more than once, and -have kept her an extra fifteen minutes out of pure malice. There is -always some one, and they make one feel so old." - -Mary smiled, as her husband meant she should, and then the door -opened, and Judith and her niece appeared together. The scenes was -changed into one of bustle and small talk, fumigated with the smoke of -coffee and hot broiled fish. - -"You were late of getting home last night," said George. "I was so -blind sleepy that I could scarcely see you when I let you in. But pray -don't apologize. I am glad of it. One wants to see one's country -friends entertained when they come to town, and, what with my sprains, -I feel conscience-stricken at having been able to do nothing to amuse -you myself. I hope you spent a pleasant evening?" - -"Oh, yes, Martha always does that kind of thing well. She's a good -hostess." - -"And, Miss Betsey? Were you much admired?" - -Betsey gave her head a little toss with a Venus Victrix glance--_a la_ -Bunce, that is. The marble goddess in the Louvre looks straight out of -level eyes, too proud for petty wiles; but Betsy's glance came from -the corners. She was arch, you see, or thought so, and the certainty -of conquest was all that she had in common with her divine prototype. - -"I wore a nice new dress, Mr. Selby, a present from Aunt -Martha--cousin, I suppose I should call her, seeing she is auntie's -niece; but she is too old to be a cousin to _me_. I think I shall call -her simply Martha, I am sure she will not mind. She would like it, I -do believe, only----" and Betsey began to change colour. - -"Only?" said George, who had been looking her in the face, with -a laugh. "Only it would be awkward to be heard calling one's -mother-in-law by her Christian name, and it is not easy to get out of -a habit of speaking--is that it?" - -Betsey grew crimson and bent over her plate. - -"George! You are too bad altogether," said Mary. - -"Mr. Selby, you are a dreadful quiz," said Betsey, not at all -displeased. "But about my dress. I was quite disappointed to find you -were not at hand as we went out, I wanted you to admire it. -Beautifully made. It must have cost a lot of money. Black _tulle_, -with any quantity of Marshal Niell roses, and just a morsel of scarlet -salvia here and there to light it up. The salvia was my own idea, and -an immense improvement. The dressmaker said all she could against it, -and a deal about severe simplicity; but I hate simpletons of all -kinds, and I fear my taste is not severe at all. However, it was I who -was to wear the gown, so I had my way. I would not have chosen black -myself, but M----" (with a returning flush) "Mrs. Herkimer said black, -so what could I do? I am fond of warm colouring myself, and a good -deal of it. That is why I got my geranium poplin; but one wants a -change, and the _tulle_ is that. Only it is so quiet, nobody would -guess how expensive it is." - -"I would pin a card with the price on behind. People who wear -ready-made clothing have been known to appear in public so decorated, -when the shopman forgot to remove his ticket. It attracts a good deal -of attention. All for $15 say, or your choice for $20." - -"It cost a great deal more than that, Mr. Selby," answered Betsey, -with just a touch of crossness in the tone, as she began to recognize -that she was being chaffed. "Shows how little _you_ know about ladies' -wear," she added, as Selby rose to go into another room and give her -music lesson to Muriel Stanley, who could be heard arriving. - -The ladies gathered round the fire and proceeded to talk over the -events of the party. Betsey sat in the middle in front of the blaze, -and as opportunity offered, strove to enlighten the inexperience of -her elders in matters of "style" and good behaviour, with items drawn -chiefly from her recollections of "Godey's Magazine," which were -copious, and sometimes startling, and illustrated by reminiscences of -festivity at St. Euphrase, in which a certain Mr. Joe Webb appeared to -have borne a prominent part. She was still in full career when Selby -returned, introducing Muriel Stanley, whom for his wife's sake he had -persuaded to come and shake hands with her cousin at that early hour. -Mary was leaning back in her chair, and had armed herself with -patience to endure the torrent of Betsey's talk, which needed only an -occasional exclamation of dissent, easily overborne, from Judith, to -keep it running in the full turbulence of its muddy flow. No word of -hers was needed, and her thoughts had drifted away into their -accustomed channels. Her husband noted the flush of pleasure and the -kindling of her eye at sight of the stranger, who also seemed drawn to -the invalid, and who, in the rearranging of the party, dropped into a -low seat by her side. Unconsciously, as it seemed, Mary's hand was -laid on the girl's shoulder, and then, as recollecting itself, drew -back, to steal again involuntarily towards her, and touch her hair. - -Muriel, too, unwittingly seemed to lean towards the other, and accept -contentedly the unconscious caress; and George, regarding them, could -not but wonder how the girl seemed drawn to his wife, so nearly a -stranger to her, even in the presence of the others whom she saw so -constantly in the country. It showed the tenderness of a womanly -heart, he thought, and its overflowing sympathy, thus silently to go -out to the stricken invalid, and he loved and admired his favourite -pupil more than he had ever done before. - -The loquacious Betsey had other things to think of, things to speak -about, and to speak about a great deal. The subject of the party was -taken up again from the beginning, to be gone all over once more, -while Judith held her hands out to the blaze to shield her eyes, and -Mary sat mutely happy, she knew not why, gently stroking the hair -plait with her finger. - -"You were not at Mrs. Herkimer's party last night, Muriel? and I did -not see your aunts." - -"No, they were not there. Aunt Matilda rarely goes to a dance, except -a juvenile one, when I am invited. I am not out yet, you know." - -"To be sure not, Muriel; I know it. Time enough, my dear," said this -experienced woman of the world. "Your time will come quite soon -enough, and I hope you will enjoy it. Ah!----" and she heaved an -ecstatic sigh, "It was a lovely party. So many gentlemen! And such a -floor! I put in a heavenly time, Muriel. I wish you could have seen -it. I wish you could have seen me in my new ball-dress--a present, you -know--from auntie's niece--by Mme. Jupon! no less--just too elegant -for anything. Quite subdued, you know--black _tulle_--much draped. -Too subdued, if anything, for my taste--you know I like things -cheerful--but awfully sweet. Garnitures of roses--large Marshal Niell -roses--dollars and dollars' worth of them--frightfully expensive--and -real chaste. I saw the people asking each other who that -elegantly-dressed person could be, and my card was filled up just like -winking. There was, let me see, there was Mr.---- But what of that? -You are not out yet. You could not be expected to know any of them. -But it was lovely. Oh, how some of those dear men do valse!" - -"Betsey!" said Judith reprovingly, "how you do run on. It is scarcely -feminine." - -Betsey looked not well pleased, and a retort was rising to her lips, -when she caught sight of Selby watching her, and the twinkle of -"impertinent" amusement, as she thought it, in his eye was too much. -It scattered her forces and snapped the thread of her discourse. - -"There is a tobogganing party to-night, Betsey" said Muriel, now that -there came a lull; "that is, there is always one these moonlight -nights; but we are going to-night. Would you care to come? Aunt -Penelope will be so pleased if you and Betsey will dine with us, Mrs. -Bunce, and she can go in our party. Aunt Matilda is going. You will -meet all your St. Euphrase friends, Betsey. Mdlle. Rouget will be -there, I understand." - -"I scarcely know the girl, and she don't want to know me, so that is -no inducement. However, we'll go, auntie? I think we had better go. -It's home to St. Euphrase tomorrow, you know, with lots of time for -sedateness and parish duties. Let's enjoy ourselves all we can while -we're here." - -And so it was agreed. - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - - TOBOGGANING. - - -The moon was at the full, and she hung, still tending upwards, high in -the transparent vault where all the host of heaven were burning and -blinking like tapers in a fitful wind, so brilliant was their -scintillating lustre seen through that clear dry atmosphere where the -moonlight shows the red and the green of brick wall and painted -verandah, colours which are but modulated greys where insular -moistness thickens and dims the air. It was bright as day over the -snow-covered landscape, with even a trace of the yellowness of -sunshine in the light, but with an uncertainty in distances, and a -liquid idealizing of objects and their shadows, sublimating reality -out of commonplace, and lifting it into the likeness of what is seen -in dreams. - -The thermometer stood at zero, but the air was still, for all the -fantastic flicker of the stars overhead; and it was so dry with the -frost, which had precipitated all moisture, that it did not feel cold -on emerging from heated houses. It was bright and exhilarating to -breathe--like something to drink--and sent the blood dancing more -briskly than before down to the tips of the thickly-gloved fingers -Sounds of laughter and frolic were about, every one who was young and -strong was abroad in the intoxicating lustre, arrayed in blanket-coat -and moccasins, with _toque_ and sash of blue or scarlet. - -It was a steep snow-covered bank in the suburbs, with a long meadow -spreading out below. Steps and footpaths were worn up the face on -either hand, and in the middle was the slide polished into glass, down -which the toboggans, pushed past the brink of the descent, a girl or -even two seated in front with a man behind to steer, shot with the -celerity of an arrow from above, slackening in speed when the steepest -of the declivity was past, and travelling far out across the level -meadow on the spending impulse they had gathered on their way. With -steering and good luck the crew reach a standstill as they started, -the damsel gets up, the swain draws his vehicle by the cord, and both -mount again to the summit, once more to precipitate themselves down -the slope, and if there be no miscarriage, resulting in shipwreck, -with toboggan overturned or broken, and crew shot out promiscuously -with ugly cuts and bruises, to repeat the experience a score of times, -till at length the weary limbs shall refuse to scale the slippery -height again. - -"Miss Stanley," said Randolph Jordan, addressing Miss Matilda, "won't -you trust yourself to me. I promise to steer carefully, and I can say -what every one cannot, that I have never spilled my cargo yet." - -"Thanks, Mr. Randolph, I do not mistrust you in the least; but -really--it is so long since I got upon a toboggan--that I--I shall -just stay here with Mr. Considine, now I have got to the top of the -hill, and watch you young people like a sedate chaperon. But here is -my cousin, Betsey Bunce; I am sure she will be delighted. They do not -toboggan at St. Euphrase, and I am sure she never saw one in Upper -Canada. Oh!"--with a little scream--"It really is quite frightful to -see them start. And that is Muriel, I declare, and Gerald Herkimer. He -will break the child's neck, I do believe; he is so heedless. I wish -we were home again." - -"Oh, law!" cried Betsey; "are you sure it is quite safe? I used to -coast with my hand-sled, like the rest of the kids, when I was little, -but it kind of frightens one to see the go-off. Are you quite sure you -can protect my bones, Mr. Jordan?"--looking clingingly in his face in -search of encouragement--"I feel awful frightened." - -"Well, perhaps you are right," said Randolph, impervious to the cling; -"it is a good plan to watch the others for a while first, it gives one -confidence," and he was gone. He had paid his duty invitation to the -head of the party, and, not having bargained for Betsey as a -substitute, availed himself at once of the simulated dread which was -intended merely to make him urgent and assiduous. Betsey felt foolish, -and turned round to Matilda, but she, supposing she had provided for -her charge, had taken Considine's arm and strolled away. Betsey was -pretty well able to do for herself, however, and ere long she descried -a bachelor, unprovided with a maid, and whom she had danced with the -evening before; he, on her recognizing him, was not averse to taking -her on his conveyance _faute de mieux_, it being "kind o' lonesome," -as he told himself, to ride alone, "when every other fellow was -provided with his bit of muslin." - -Randolph was at Miss Rouget's side in a moment, tendering his -respectful services, which she at once accepted with the grave bow of -a maiden obedient to her parents, who feels gratified in her -conscience with the sense of a duty fulfilled, in doing what she knows -they would approve--the superior satisfaction of a well-regulated -mind, higher, because a moral pleasure, than the indulgence of mere -personal preference, but by no means so gratifying to the gentleman, -if he only knew it, which, fortunately, he seldom does. Randolph's -feelings, too, might perhaps be considered as of that same higher -moral sort, which dispenses with good honest attachment of the natural -kind; more exactly to be described as indifference touched with filial -piety and flavoured with a pinch of self-interest. - -Old Jordan had been immensely impressed by the mining discoveries at -La Hache, and although it was a damper to recognize in the desired -father-in-law of his son a rapid and an unsuccessful gambler, still, -the man's interest in the mine could be saved, he thought, by settling -it upon his daughter as _dot_, if the old man were permitted to enjoy -the usufruct during his life; besides, was there not a certain -institution where troublesome old gentlemen had been locked up ere -then, at the instance of wives or heirs? and was not monsieur the -seignior eccentric enough for any purpose, with skilful counsel to lay -it properly before a jury? Randolph was the impediment himself; he was -like a badly-ridden colt, whom the horseman, armed with whip and spur, -which he has not the judgment to use, vexes into rebellion which he -cannot overbear. - -It was humiliating, but his sight was clear enough to see that Amelia, -in opposition to whom all his dealings with his son hitherto had been -taken, must now be called in to use the very influence which had -hitherto made the lad so unruly, and render him tractable for once. -Amelia, for a wonder, lent a favourable ear. She recognized it as a -tribute, and an admission, in arranging the most important -circumstance in her son's life, that the arrogant block-head, who had -attempted to lord it with so high a hand over herself and the boy, had -come to see his impotence at last. The sense of victory soothed her, -and made her gentle, as a filly has been known to become under -coaxings with lump sugar and carrots, when rougher means had failed. -She agreed to take the youth in hand, and she moulded him without his -knowledge, as she had done all his life before, like wax between her -fingers. - -He had as yet--whatever later years might bring him--no very -pronounced faculty of love for other than himself; his attachment to -herself, as she saw full well, being due chiefly to what she could do -for him and give him in the way of flattery, sympathy, and help to -assist himself, and so forth. She saw it without much pain, though she -was his mother, for she was a practical-minded person who indulged in -the affections but sparingly as being too luscious and apt to pall; -"it was just," she thought, "the way of the coarser sex--brutal, -selfish, stupid--overbearing in the rude strength of their muscle, the -delicate nerve-power of the women." "But brain-fibre was more than a -match in the long run for such fibre as theirs," she told herself; and -after all the boy was her own, to be proud of among other women, and -to make do in the long run, as she only could make him, by delicately -pulling the strings she wot of in his being, pretty much as she would. - -She was aware, of course, of his kindness for Muriel, but she divined -that its roots did not go deep, and when she now took him in hand to -direct his attachments, his own description confessed the truth when -he spoke of her as "a jolly little girl, and awfully pretty, whom the -fellows were crazy after, and he meant to take the cake from them -all." - -"I am not so sure that you can, my boy; having been a girl myself I am -likely to guess nearer the truth than you can; girls are such goosy -little things, and I should say your friend Gerald has the best chance -there." - -"Gerald!" said the young man, drawing himself up to the full of that -one-inch advantage he had over his friend; but then he remembered how -Gerald had taken her in to supper the evening or two before, and he -felt a doubt; but it only made him angry and more obstinate to win the -prize. - -"I think, Randolph," his mother went on, reading his thoughts, "your -cake, as you call her, you gluttonous boy, is hardly worth the eating; -leave it for your friends, and make them welcome. Muriel Stanley is no -match for you, and no great catch for anybody. She will get her aunt's -money, I suppose--a comfortable little sum--when they die, which is -not likely to happen for twenty years; but she has no connections -whatever, and a good connection is so very advantageous for a young -man. You will realize that more and more as you get on." - -"But she is awfully pretty, the prettiest little thing in Montreal, -and the nicest." - -"I grant you that, if you think so; but she is only fifteen, and her -aunts will not let her marry for five years yet. She will be stout at -twenty; that kind of girl whose figure forms so early, always gets -stout, and you will think her a little coarse--men of taste always -think that of plump girls, I have observed--but you will sacrifice -yourself all the same, like a man of honour, if you are already -engaged. That will not be the worst, however; five years more and she -will be positively fat! Imagine yourself with a wife like that! You -will be about thirty then, just in your prime, with your nice slim -figure merely improved from what it is now, the shoulders a little -broader, of course, which will be no disadvantage, and your moustache -a trifle heavier, but otherwise scarcely changed--in fact, at your -very best. How will you like then walking down St. James's Street on -the circumference of a copious wife?--a sprig of lavender tied to a -marigold! Does the picture attract you?" - -When you drive together or have stalls at the theatre, imagine -yourself protruding from among your spouse's cloaks and flounces. The -buggy could be built of extra size, to be sure, but all the stall -chairs are alike. It is a subject for your own consideration -exclusively. Personally, I am fond of Muriel. She is a nice little -thing, and I should welcome her as a daughter; but it is not I who -should have to appear in public with her for the remainder of my days; -and if a man means to go into society, he is wise to choose a wife who -will group well with him. - -"Now, there are our neighbours at St. Euphrase. Think of an only -daughter!--heiress to a seigniory, and connected with all the best -people in the province. You will say she has not a good complexion; -but how short a time complexion lasts in this climate! and those who -have had one, and lost it, always look haggard and older than those -who never had any. A man married to an old-looking woman, whether fat -or lean, always strikes me as a melancholy spectacle--like a sapling -sprouting from a crumbling wall, as the poet says--and the world is -seldom respectful. It is apt to look on him as the man who broke the -commandments and married his grandmama, because nobody of his own age -would have him. There is no fear of that with Adeline Rouget; she will -improve every year she lives. She is distinguished looking now, though -she is not pretty. Every year she will improve, that is the advantage -of having plenty of bone. She will look stately in middle life, and be -beautiful--the rarest kind of beauty--in old age. Look forward always, -my boy, when you think about marrying, it is an experiment which -generally can be tried but once, so bought experience can do you no -good." - -Mother and son had a long conversation, in which she plied him with so -many flatteries, that finally of his own free choice he promised to -"go in" for Miss Rouget, yet at the same time felt himself magnanimous -and dutiful in yielding his own wish to the gratification of his -parent; and she encouraged the delusion as likely to hold him to her -point. Self-denial is a heroic sort of virtue, and rather above the -purchase of most folks; therefore, to be self-denying, and so, -admirable to his seldom gratified moral sense, while still pleasing -himself, was exaltedly delightful. If a man is not a hero, it pleases -him the more to see himself in a heroic light. It is new, and it may -not occur again, therefore he will do his best to retain the gallant -attitude in which he finds himself; and Randolph set himself to _live -up to his ideal_. - -It was in ceremonious and most well-behaved fashion that the young -lady placed herself on the toboggan, and permitted her cavalier to -wrap the outflowing draperies more compactly about her in gracious -quietude. The gentleman gave the equipage a push beyond the brink, -jumped in behind with a parting kick against the shore, and they were -away; swiftly, and with ever-accelerating speed as the hill grew -steeper--"shooting Niagara." The _bienseances_ of the convent, with -their modest tranquillity, are scarcely maintainable in a toboggan -shooting down a glassy incline of fifty degrees or more, at the rate -of miles in a minute, with the certainty that dislodgment from the -quarter-inch board one is seated on may hurl one anywhere, bruised or -maimed, but assuredly ridiculous. - -Adeline caught her breath with a gasp as she found they were off, and, -as the pace quickened down hill, she clenched her teeth tightly and -closed her eyes; and then there came a jolt as they sped across some -swelling in the ice, and she felt herself thrown backwards, and gave a -little scream; and Randolph was there behind to support her, with a -laugh, as she bumped against his chest, a laugh she could not but join -in, though a little hysterically, perhaps, at first. And then the pace -began to slacken as they reached the level of the meadow below, and -still it slackened, and finally they stopped, and stood up, and shook -themselves from adhering snow, and found, the experience was over, -that they were both safe, and that it had been a little thrilling, but -"_awfully jolly_." The ice was broken between the two young people -forthwith, and the Lady Superior with her nuns, who had taken such -pains in the formation of Adeline's character and manners, would -scarcely have recognized her, or been able to distinguish her from one -of those dreadful, fast, heretical English girls, they had been wont -to hold up to her and her companions as models to avoid, as she caught -Randolph's arm to climb to the top of the bank again, and vowed it had -been delightful. - -Conventional mannerisms are like mud in a slough, when the animal -which has floundered through gets out into the sunshine, it dries and -peels off and falls away very quickly. These two were average young -people who had been comfortably reared, with warm clothes and -nourishing victuals imagination, sentiment, "yearnings" of any kind -had been omitted from their composition, but they were unconscious of -the deficiency, so were perfectly content. They were both healthy and -strong, and the physical surroundings of the moment were exhilarating -in the highest degree--bright clear air and exciting exercise. The -quickening of their pulses, caused by their romp upon the snow, was as -high a delight as either was capable of knowing, and they clung closer -together each time they re-climbed the steep to shoot again from the -summit, and laughed more joyously with each succeeding jolt, and -persuaded themselves even, perhaps, that they were really falling in -love--it is a delusion which often has no more substantial foundation. - -And Muriel, too, was careering merrily down the slope, with Gerald for -steersman. It was a sport in which they frequently indulged, and many -a chilly promenade upon the frozen snow, on the top of the hill, had -it cost Aunt Matilda that winter, though she never dropped a complaint -which might check or damp her darling's pleasure. Perhaps, too, she -may have found the _chaperonage_ not altogether an infliction in every -aspect. By some happy concurrence of circumstances Considine was -always of the party. He might have dropped in to visit the ladies -before the hour for setting out, or else he would accompany young -Gerald when he called to persuade them to go; assuredly he was always -there, and freighted with rugs of the thickest and warmest. When the -ground was reached, he was curious in his selection of the snuggest -nooks and corners sheltered from the wind to rest in; and when his -rugs were heaped on the sealskins she already wore, Miss Matilda found -she was not one bit cold in the world, and Considine in attendance, -who on these occasions was invited to smoke, was perfectly happy, and -blessed the inventor of the toboggan. - -Muriel and Gerald were experienced voyagers who slid down and -clambered up again in calm familiarity with what they were about, -without transports of timidity or delight, but in thorough enjoyment. -Muriel sat motionless like a part of the outfit, and Gerald was able -to steer their way intricately and securely between others more -laggard or awkward who got in the way and would have brought grief to -a less skilful pilot. And then it was so pleasant to be together, -though neither said so, they were so used to it--had been used to it -for three or four winters now--and it had grown on them so quietly -that they said and perhaps thought nothing about it. There were no -speeches; there was no opportunity for them, for there had been no -breaks in their intimacy. A boy and girl companionship at first, it -had strengthened and progressed with themselves, till, while it was -possible neither might have confessed an attachment to the other, it -was certain they could never, now, attach themselves to any one else. -They were comrades, at least in their winter exercises, but without -the rough familiarity which sometimes arises in that relation. -Muriel's virginal rearing by those worthy gentlewomen, her aunts, had -made that impossible on her side; and Gerald had been his mother -Martha's "vineyard," tended and weeded and cared for assiduously as to -his moral nature, brought up in manliness to scorn evil and reverence -women, as only that quaint daughter of the solitary places in "Noo -Hampshire" could have done. - -The moon hung in the highest heaven, the snow near by was aglitter in -its sheen, the distance was dim with hazy brightness, and many -tobogganers had come in from around to join the sport. The place was -not inclosed, it was a bare hill-face at other times, and somewhat out -of the way; but it suited, and when once a few had used it into shape, -all the tobogganing world was glad to avail itself of it. Its -out-of-the-way-ness alone preserved it to the use of its quieter -frequenters from the gamins and "roughs" of the more densely-peopled -streets; but this night was so gloriously still and bright and -exhilarating that those who had tasted its brightness could not tear -themselves away, and as the shop-lights were extinguished they -wandered farther afield instead of creeping under dusky shelter and -going to sleep. The snow was dotted with groups of a dozen or a score, -streaming out from the town and coming to the snow slide. All were on -foot, a few on snow shoes, and many dragging hand-sleds behind -them--those devices of the enemy which make the winter street of -America so dangerous for an elderly gentleman. He will look around for -a policeman to stop urchins coasting in mid-highway, at the hazard of -their skulls, from passing horse-kicks; he will not find one, but with -a roar and a sweep another coaster will rush down the pavement, -bruising his shins, over-turning him, and passing on its career of -devastation before he can gather himself up to box the audacious ears -of the offenders. - -"What a crowd of people are gathering down here at the end of the -track," observed Muriel, as she stepped off the toboggan at the -journey's end to re-climb the hill. - -"Yes," said Gerald, "a great many. I do not mind their standing down -here, they seem peaceable. They are only looking on, and soon they -will find it cold, and go away. But look at the crowd up there at the -top! They seem a more unruly crew. I fear there will be a row. Ah!" he -added, "there it is! Our pleasure is over for to-night. There is a -rowdy with a hand-sled, starting down the course. Hsh! what a -pace--and another--and a third. The third has upset, however, and -rolled down the hill. I could almost wish he would get in front of -number four. It would certainly hurt him, and spill number four as -well, and both deserve it. It will not be safe to launch a toboggan -now. The iron shod runners of the sleds travel as fast again as a flat -toboggan board. We shall get run into and smashed. I fear we must -knock off for to-night. I am awfully sorry, but really it is not safe, -with a parcel of roughs in possession of the slide." - -"Don't say so," said Muriel. They were climbing the bank, she leaned -on his arm, and she pressed on it just a shade heavier as she said it. - -"No doubt," he answered; "they must soon give it up. The ground is too -steep for runners. See how they shoot, and how far they are carried -beyond where we stopped. And there is a ditch there too. The least -thing will upset them coming down at such a bat, and somebody will get -hurt. They will all get hurt in time, but we shall have too long to -wait for it, I fear." - -"Don't you think we might have just one or two more? The evening is -only beginning, and it is so lovely. I do not feel one bit afraid, you -steer so beautifully." - -And what could Gerald do but yield when so appealed to, and so -flattered? - -They made another descent in safety, and then another, in which Gerald -performed prodigies of steering which elicited the lively applause of -the onlookers, and filled himself and his companion with confidence -and pride. For now the sled-riding invaders were in possession of the -field, the tobogganers having withdrawn, all save Gerald, who, in the -new position of affairs, appeared as the intruder, and whom the -majority in possession now set themselves deliberately to molest and -chase from the ground; shooting down after him, and endeavouring to -run into him from different sides, when he would suddenly veer out of -his course and leave the chasers to run into each other, with bruises -and scatterings, and derision from the onlookers. - -Each descent they made Gerald begged might be their last, but Muriel -more eagerly pleaded they might have yet another. It was so splendid, -she thought, to see the rowdies, balked in their malice, run -thundering into each other, while Gerald received rounds of applause. -What taskmaster ever drove so hard as does the female partizan, who -desires nothing for herself but merely the glory of her champion? - -They made the descent again. It was to be really the last time. "Just -this once more;" but it proved the once too often. They started -immediately behind a sled which shot down like lightning, and insured -a clear course at the going off; but presently one slid by on their -right, and they had to swerve to avoid it, and then there passed one -on their left which almost grazed them. They had scarcely escaped when -another came thundering down behind them. Gerald veered aside as well -as he could, but still as it came on it was only by flinging himself -against the foremost passenger that he avoided being run over, and it -cost him his balance. In the instant, while he was still in poise, he -was able to lay a goodly stroke with his guiding stick across the head -of the steersman of the buccaneer, and then he fell out of his seat -and rolled down the steep. The sled had turned cross-wise to the -incline, and rolled over with the three who were its crew; and Muriel -startled, alarmed, and with the toboggan turned aslant, fell out -likewise, and slid downward with the toboggan atop. - -Gerald reached the bottom pell-mell among the brawling, kicking, and -swearing cargo of the sled, who set on him in concert ere yet he had -well reached his feet, when Muriel's falling amidst them, covered by -the over-turned toboggan, dispersed the combatants for an instant, and -gave Gerald time to recover his guard. Then with a howl the three -rushed upon the one, or rather on the two, for they knocked down -Muriel, half risen, and trampled the toboggan to pieces in rushing -over her. Gerald was ready with one from the shoulder, delivered -squarely in the jaw, to knock down the first, but the other two sprang -on him together, and he would have fared ill if one from the crowd had -not leaped into the fray with blazing eye, clenched fist, and gnashing -teeth, and a growl of _sssacrrre_ and _chien_, as he felled one -ruffian with a blow under the ear and attacked the other. The first -was now up again, assaulting Gerald with foot and fist, and calling -his fellows in the crowd to come and help him, when the ministers of -the law appeared in the persons of two burly constables, who caught -Gerald and his succourer by the collar, and stood over the last felled -of the assailants while the other two ran away. - -It was a "brache of the pace," they declared, and all must come to the -station, stretching out a hand to seize Muriel by the muffler--an act -which nearly upset Gerald's composure, and brought him into collision -with the police; but fortunately at that moment Considine intervened. - -He had been spending an enchanted hour near the top of the hill with -Miss Matilda, swathed in rugs--all but her head--looking down upon the -sports, and chatting pleasantly while he buzzed round her, near enough -to hear and answer, but far enough off to let the fumes of his cigar -travel elsewhere. Something said in the crowd hard by had drawn their -attention to the slide. "Is not that Muriel?" Matilda had exclaimed, -jumping to her feet; and then the collision had come, and the upset, -and they both hurried down the bank to arrive on the scene at the same -moment as the police. - -"You need not take the young lady into custody, my man," said -Considine, assuming his grand military manner--learned in "the -war"--so effective with policemen, who, like other disciplined beings, -seem to love being spoken down to. "Here is my card, and I write the -lady's address on the back. She will appear before the magistrate -whenever he desires." - -"Roight, yur haunur!" said the man, coming to "attention," and -saluting. - -"And this gentleman will give you his card, too, and promise to appear -when wanted," a suggestion which was also complied with, and Gerald -was liberated from custody. - -"And this young fellow, who has behaved like a man, can I do nothing -for him?" - -"This is Pierre Bruneau," cried Matilda, "our farmer's son at St. -Euphrase. So good of you, Pierre, to come to Miss Muriel's rescue. I -did not know you were in Montreal." - -Pierre pulled off his _toque_ and made a shame-faced bow, smiling -gratification all over his countenance to find his service -appreciated. - -"The Frinchman must com wid us, sorr. He kin hilp to dhraw the sled -wid the chap he knocked down--an' roight nately he did that same--for -a Frinchman. We'll thrate him well, sorr, but we'll have to lock him -up. Ye kin spake a worrd to his haunor to-morrow maurnin', sorr." - -Pierre started, and looked piteously to Miss Matilda, and then his -manly heart gave way--he was not very old--he stuffed his fists into -his eyes and wept sore. To prison! To be locked up! It was dreadful, -and it was shame; and yet, even then, if it had had to be done over -again, he would have done it just the same. It was for Muriel he had -fought, and for her sake he was content to suffer. - - - - - CHAPTER X. - - ANNETTE. - - -"Poor Pierre!" was the natural burden of the conversation round the -Misses Stanley's supper table that night. - -"Did not think it was in him," said Considine. "A quiet, fat, -soft-eyed, soft-spoken boy--just like some of my mulatto -table-niggers at home, in the old time. Never struck me there was man -in him at all." - -"He struck out splendidly," cried Gerald. "Straight from the -shoulder--just one almighty drive, and the rowdy fell in his -tracks--felled like an ox--without a struggle. Hope, for Pierre's -sake, he has not killed him. He had not moved up to the time we left -the ground. There could not have been a prettier stroke. We must not -let him get into trouble about it. It would have gone roughly with me -if he had not run in just then. One on either side, and I dared not -hit out at the one, for laying myself open to the other." - -"You did very well, Gerald. Your own man was not at all badly floored, -though he recovered more quickly than the other. 'Pon honour, I felt -my old blood warming at sight of the fray. I should have been at your -side in another instant, when I saw that ruffian get on his feet -again, with musket clubbed--walking stick, I should say--a rather -ridiculous object, I fear; but the old war-horse, you know"--and he -turned to Matilda as if he had made a happy quotation from the poets, -and she responded with an approving smile as in duty bound--"pricks up -his ears at the noise of battle. However, the policeman appeared, and -saved me from making a show of myself. That is one of the troubles of -getting old. A man is more likely to get laughed at for showing his -mettle than admired." - -"Nobody would have laughed, Mr. Considine," said Matilda. "It was kind -of you to mean it. But about Pierre. I can think of nothing but poor -Pierre being taken up for trying to protect Muriel from a gang of -ruffians. How came he to be there? He might have dropped from the -clouds, I was so surprised." - -"There were some beef cattle at the farm," said Miss Penelope. "Pierre -drove them into town. He was here in the afternoon. I gave him money -to stay in town overnight and go home by the cars to-morrow. So that -is explained." - -"Mr. Considine, may we commission you to engage the very best advice -for Pierre?" said Matilda. "Being our servant we should feel bound to -help him out of a difficulty in any case; but when he was assisting to -protect Muriel, we must do more still. Spare no expense. See Mr. -Jordan, or whomever you think the best. We would have sent word to Mr. -Jordan by Randolph to act for us, but Randolph has not come back here. -He will have walked home with Miss Rouget, I dare say. They seemed to -enjoy each other's company immensely, which rather surprised me. -Adeline is a nice girl, but rather inanimate, and Randolph is a lazy -fellow, who prefers to sit still and let a lady amuse him. So they -struck me, when they went off together, as being not a well-assorted -pair, and yet they seemed to hit it off together uncommonly well. In -fact, I have quite come to the conclusion that in such cases one never -knows." - -"Jean Bruneau will be anxious about his boy if he does not get home by -to-morrow evening," said Penelope; "but how to send him word? I need -not write, for he never goes to the post-office, and a letter to him -would lie there till the postmaster happened to see him in the -village. Telegraphing is the same; the message might lie a week at the -post-office." - -"We are going home to-morrow, Betsey and I," said Mrs. Bunce. "Can we -assist you, Miss Stanley?" - -"Indeed you can, Mrs. Bunce; if it is not too much trouble. If you -would walk out to Bruneau's cottage and explain to them the detention -of their boy. Tell them how well he has behaved, how indebted we feel -to him, and how willingly we will go to every expense to send him home -as soon as possible. You will indeed do us a favour. We will write you -to-morrow, after Mr. Considine has spoken to the magistrate, so as to -give the very latest news." - - -The Rev. Dionysius had eaten his morning rasher, and was consuming his -second plateful of buckwheat cakes and maple syrup--there is nothing -like a copious breakfast for enabling one to resist the cold--and was -basking in his regained domesticity. He had been dwelling alone for -three or four weeks, and though at first he had plunged with -enthusiasm into his books, secure of freedom from interruption, he -soon found the unbroken stillness grow oppressive. He wanted to speak, -but there was no one to listen. He had felt himself, like the -psalmist's solitary sparrow on the housetop, desolate and forlorn, and -now he enjoyed even his wife's wordy narrations with a zest which -surprised himself as much as it gratified her. - -She was pouring forth a continuous stream of ecclesiastical tittle -tattle, about curates, choirs, congregations and preferments, which -would have been idle talk and a sinful waste of time in her serious -eyes if it had related to politics or the public offices, but seeing -it was not the State which it remotely touched on, but the Church, she -believed it both important and improving; for with her, Church, like -charity, covered anything, and transmuted even back-biting into -holiness. - -Dionysius listened and ate his cakes. Human speech of any sort was -much, after three whole weeks of silence, broken only by the heavy -foot of his domestic, or the clatter of delf-breaking in the kitchen. -Judith, again, was a good woman, he knew, and it was his duty to bear -with her infirmities--and bear up under them, too, at times, which was -a heavier task. Perhaps she was not in all respects as much to be -admired and respected as he had persuaded himself when he married her, -but at least he knew that she admired and respected _him_, which was -much more important, and very soothing. - -Miss Betsey had breakfasted, and being in haste to divulge her -experiences of travel, gaiety, and _beaux_, had walked along the -village street to the post-office in hopes of meeting a gossip. She -now returned with the family letters. - -"Here you are, uncle! Four letters for you, and one of them -registered--that means money. And here is one for you, auntie; -everybody is in luck but me." - -"Did you expect a letter, my dear?" - -"Well--yes, I kind of thought I should have heard;" and her colour -deepened. Two nights before she had striven so hard to impress her -address on the memory of her cavalier of the tobogganing. They had -parted such good friends--on her side at least--that she had been -promising herself a letter from him all the day before. It would come, -however, sooner or later, she told herself, and thereby found strength -to possess her soul in patience. - -"My letter is from Penelope Stanley," said Mrs. Bunce. "Dionysius, can -you drive me out to the Miss Stanley's place, in the cutter[1] to-day? -She asked me to deliver a message to their man, and he should get it -to-day." - -"I was not going in that direction to-day, but it does not matter. I -will take you; but you must arrange either to stay a few minutes only, -or else to wait a few hours, as I have an appointment elsewhere." - -"Here is Bruneau's wife coming down the hill, auntie; carrying a fat -goose and a pair of ducks. Be sure you make a trade with her for the -ducks; I believe in roast duck." - -"A _brace_ of ducks, my dear," - -"A pair of ducks, uncle. They're farmyard ducks. Think I went to -Ellora Female College for nothing?" - -"Call her in, Betsey, and let us take your erudition for granted." - -"She won't come, auntie. Remember we're heretics. She wouldn't let -herself be seen coming into a Protestant parson's house." - -"Oh, yes, she will, if you ask her the price of her ducks. Money can -do anything." - -Annette Bruneau was called in as she passed; and came, looking -distrustfully to light and left. The parson beat a retreat, which -augmented her confidence somewhat, but still she seemed not much at -her ease. A question as to the price of ducks, however, reassured her. -Ducks were food for Christians, and it was the souls of men and the -flesh of little children on which the nameless person she dreaded to -see was believed to subsist. What price for the ducks? Oh, yes, she -was herself at once, and did a very fair stroke of business, too, -extracting some twelve or twenty cents more from the misbelievers than -she would have had the assurance to ask from the storekeeper for whom -they had been destined. - -"I have a letter from Miss Stanley this morning," said Mrs. Bunce. - -"_Ah oui, madame?_ I hope she goes well." - -"She is so pleased with your boy Pierre. Feels really indebted to him, -and says he has behaved so well." - -"But yes, madame? And is it upon the affairs of Mees Stanlee zat he is -not of the return?" - -"He was taken up by the police. He behaved--oh! remarkably well. Miss -Stanley feels under the greatest obligations to him, and will do her -very utmost to have him well defended and brought off." - -"Police, madame? My Pierre _chez_ ze police!--_a la prison?_ But vy? -Is it as he have _casse la tete de personne?_ Ah! _le pauvre garcon_," -and she wiped her eyes. - -"I feel deeply indebted to him myself--under the very greatest -obligations--which will console you, I hope. Mr. Bunce has many -friends in town, and I shall make him use his influence with them; so -calm yourself, my poor woman. I owe it to your boy and also to myself -to console you. Take comfort. Your son has behaved extremely well. -Indeed, he has shown himself a fine manly youth; you may be proud of -him, you may indeed, Mrs. Bruneau; and who knows but his arrest--the -man he knocked down was still unconscious when Miss Stanley wrote. The -inquiry was adjourned yesterday in case it should involve a charge of -manslaughter. He must have struck a fearful blow!" - -"Manslaughter? Meurtre, _assassinat?_ In_croyable!_--_My_ Pierre?" The -tears ran down her quivering face, and she clasped her hands. "But -perhaps I do not _comprend_, ze English is _dificille_. Say it again." - -"Be comforted, my poor woman?" and Judith wiped her own eyes--she was -sympathetic and even kind, after a sort, notwithstanding her -absurdity. "We must submit, you know, to the dispensations of -Providence; and who knows but, after all, your son's confinement may -prove a precious blessing in disguise. He may have opportunities of -coming in contact with the truth there. The jail chaplain is an -admirable man, and I am sure will do his utmost to bring him to an -appreciation of doctrinal truth, especially if Mr. Bunce were to write -to him, as I shall see that he does. With a blessing that might induce -the sweetest uses of adversity, as the hymn says--though, to be sure, -you cannot be expected to understand that just yet--and when I come to -think of it, the lad will be confined in the police cells at present, -not the jail. However, I shall always feel bound to say a good word -for your son, after his manly assistance to my nephew; and Gerald's -father--Mr. Herkimer, you know--is bound to exert himself, and he has -a great deal of influence. No; there can nothing happen to your son -worse than a short detention. Keep up your heart, my friend," and she -patted her gingerly on the shoulder. - -"But I do not _comprend_, madame; you say Mistaire Herkimaire and M. -Gerald--I know him--vat say you of dem?" - -"Why, you know--but, to be sure, you don't know, I have not had time -to tell you anything yet. These interruptions make it so difficult for -me to tell my story. You must know that two nights ago Mr. Gerald, my -nephew, was attacked by a number of ruffians, and your son came -gallantly to his assistance, and helped him to beat them off." - -"Ah! mon brave. Ze good Pierre!" - -"And one of the roughs seems to have been hurt; he was taken to the -hospital, and is still unconscious. The police interfered, and I -suppose it was necessary to make arrests. The roughs made their -escape; it was proper to take some one into custody, so they took your -son to found a prosecution upon, as I am told the proceedings they -mean to institute are called. They will found their prosecution, and -then the truth will be found out--you see? Ingenious, is it not? and I -have no hesitation in saying your son will he honourably acquitted; -acquitted and, perhaps, even complimented by the bench. Think of that. -What an honour!" - -"Ze bench? I do not know him. He vill not know my poor Pierre. But M. -Gerald? Is he also arrest?" - -"He gave his card, and he promised to appear." - -"All! and my poor Pierre have not ze carte. But he give ze promesse, -and he keep it." - -"It could not be taken, unfortunately. You see the others had run -away, and the law must be vindicated. What else are the police for?" - -"Ah!--_La loi!_ She take ze poor vich have not ze carte, ze riches -_echappent_. It is not but ze good God who have pity on ze poor," and -she sat down rocking herself in hopeless woe. - -"You must bear up, my good woman. There is really no ground for -despondency. Miss Stanley has engaged the very best lawyers in -Montreal to see that the young man is brought safely through his -difficulty. She feels most grateful to him." - -"Mees Stanley is ver good. I have say so always. But it was to M. -Gerald Pierre bring ze _secours_. Does he notting? Go all his money to -buy _la carte?_"--with a shrug which rather outraged Mrs. Bunce, who -claimed much deference from the lower orders. - -"My nephew will see your son comes to no harm," she said. Just a -little loftily. "Set your mind at rest as to that; but Miss Stanley -insists on bearing all the expense. She looks on your son as having -got into difficulty through defending her niece; and indeed the young -man himself, as he was being led away, said he would have done far -more than that for the sake of Miss Muriel. We talked about him all -through supper, when they got home--I did not go to the tobogganing -myself--and we all said it was so nice of him. Depend on it, he will -be no loser in the end----" - -"For Mees Muriel? Always Mees Muriel! My Pierre shut up for _her!_ -Sainte Vierge! Have pity on a wife and mother _malheureuse!_--ah!--And -was it me who brought her there! _Serpenteau! Que tu m'as broui les -yeux par ta vue! Que tu as niaise le c[oe]ur de ton frere legitime!_" - -"Speak English, my good woman. What is it you say? You seem to have -some ground of complaint against Miss Stanley's niece." - -"She is not niece of Mees Stanley. She is _enfante trouvee_." - -"What sort of an infant? But why do you say she is not Miss Stanley's -niece? She is the daughter of Miss Stanley's brother. Surely a lady -like Miss Stanley must know who are members of her own family. Why! -Mr. Bunce is her first cousin." - -"_Vous vous trompez, madame. Vous vous l'imaginez la niece_----" - -"Speak English, please." - -"You imagine yourself the niece----" - -"I do nothing of the kind. Betsey! I think this poor soul is losing -her wits with grief for her boy. What shall we do?--Call your uncle." - -"Not a bit of it, auntie. She is as peart as you or I; but she knows -something about Muriel, and we'd better hear it. Designing little -monkey! It is just scandalous the way that girl goes on with Gerald -and all the young fellows who will mind her. I have long suspected -there was something, and Uncle Dionysius always said he never knew -that the Stanleys had had a brother at all, till he was shown this -daughter." - -"Surely that was sufficient." - -"I don't know. Let's hear her, any way," and she drew her chair -forward, smirking and nodding her head by way of introduction to the -French woman. - -"_Vous avez raison, Mademoiselle_." - -"I told you so, auntie. She says I have reason. That means sense, of -course, and I believe her; though some people"--and she sighed--"don't -seem to see it. She is evidently a person of penetration and sagacity, -this--a superior person. We'd better hear what she has to say. Wee, -wee, ma bong fam," turning to the stranger; "but speak English. Parley -Onglay, you know, we haven't much French here." - -Annette knitted her dark brows and coughed determinedly; and then she -stopped, and as another thought seemed to strike her, the frown -cleared itself away before the propitiatory smile which she turned -on her interviewers, as the night police cast the gleam of their -bull's-eye on those who accost them. - -"Since madame and mademoiselle are of ze parents of Mees Stanley, it -is of their right, it is able to be of their advantage to know." - -"Parents? Betsey. Penelope must be every day as old as I am. I told -you the poor creature's wits were unsettled." - -"Tush! auntie. Be quiet. Wee, wee; but speak English, Mrs. Bruneau. To -be sure we wish to hear something to our advantage. Go on." - -"But madame and mademoiselle must promesse not never to say zat the -_connaissance_ have come from me. My man vould lose his _emploi chez_ -Mees Stanley for sure." - -"We'll promise you," cried Betsey, in eager curiosity. "Go ahead." - -"_Cela etant_----" - -"No French now, please. Take your time, but put it all into English." - -Annette settled herself in her chair, clasping her hands in her lap -with a long breath; while her eyes rolled abstractedly in her head in -search, no doubt, of the English words to convey her meaning. "Madame -is _mariee_ as me. She will know _la jalousie_, which carries ze good -vife for _son epoux_." - -"Auntie!" cried Betsey in uncontrollable hilarity. "Were you ever so -jealous of Uncle Dionysius that you had to carry him about with you? -It would be more likely to be the other way. It is you, I should say, -would want watching. He! he!" - -"Betsey," said Aunt Judy austerely, for in truth her sense of -propriety was outraged, "you surprise me. No! Mrs. Bruneau, I am not -jealous. I have no occasion." - -"Madame ees _heureuse_; but me--_l'epouse_ who loves as me, vill have -_des doutes_ from time in time. Zere arrive von night--it was a hot -night of summer, ven ze vindow ver leff open, and I do not sleep well, -and zen sound _au dessous de la fenetre_--" - -"Say window, and go on." - -"I hear ze cry of a _bebe_, I raise myself and go down, and behold! on -ze stoop it were laid. And _la jalousie_ she demand of me '_pour-quoi_ -at ze door of my Jean Bruneau?' And I _reponds qu'oui_, it is too -evident. And I say in myself that no! It shall not be that the -_enfante d'autrui_ shall eat the _croute_ of _mes enfants_; and for -Jean Bruneau, he shall of it never know. And then I carry to the -_porte_ of Mees Stanley, and I sound, and hide myself till I shall see -it carried in ze house. And now, behold, the reward of my -_bienfaisance!_ Pierre, _a la prison!_ And he has loffe her since long -time. _Peut-etre sa s[oe]ur!_ Oh! My boy so innocent, in sin so -mortal, and not to know! But how to hinder?" - -"And the child is no relation to them at all? Well--I call it -_ou_dacious. Auntie, did you ever hear anything like it? A brat like -Muriel, not a drop's blood to them in the world, to be pampered up -there in sealskin and velvet, while I, their own cousin, am glad to -dress myself in a suit of homespun." - -"Yes, my dear, it seems wrong. I wonder at a correct person like -Penelope Stanley compromising herself in a thing so contrary to all -rule. But then, Matilda is flighty; I always thought her flighty. -Beware of flightiness, Betsey, and yielding to the momentary impulses -of an ill-regulated mind. It never answers. In the touching language -of--of--the Psalmist, I suppose--and be sure your impulses will find -you out! No, that isn't just it, but it might be; that is the -intention of it. But, Mrs. Bruneau, I feel for you"--she rose as she -said so, to intimate that the interview was ended--"I feel for you -deeply. Be sure of my kindest consideration. When we hear further -about your son, we will let you know, and all my influence I promise -you to exert on his behalf. Good morning. You may rely on our not -making an improper use of what you have told us." - -"Madame have give her promesse to be silent. I confide;" and she -curtsied herself out, with a confidence which was fast wearing into a -misgiving that she would have done more wisely to hold her tongue. A -secret shared with two others, who have no interest in maintaining it, -has ceased almost to be a secret at all. - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - - BLUFF. - - -The mines brought a rush of trade to St. Euphrase. The drowsy little -place, of late years, under the patronage of the railway, had been -growing into a sort of sequestered rustic suburb, or at least a rural -outlet for dust-stifled townspeople during the dog days, where such as -could buy a house might pick their own strawberries, or cut their -melon with the dew still on it, for breakfast. It was now breaking -into the "live-village" stage of growth, raising its own dust in most -respectable clouds, exhaling its own smoke--the villagers had burnt -only wood in their golden age, and their atmosphere had been -pure--with brawling navvies at the lane corners to disturb the night, -and the glare of illuminated saloons, now for the first time able to -outface the disapproval of M. le Cure, who hitherto had been able to -fend off such dangerous allurements from his simple flock. - -As spring advanced things progressed with a rush, and everybody in the -district expected to make his fortune forthwith. The cautious -_habitants_, who would not risk their savings in a bank (remembering -how once upon a time a bank had broke, and a grandfather had lost some -dollars), but hid them away in crannies below the roof or underneath -the oven, took courage now, and bought shares. Were not the mines -there? visible to the naked eye. Did not Baptiste and Jean earn wages -there? paid regularly every Saturday night. The whistle of their steam -engine could be heard for miles around, and clouds of smoke drifted -across the country, dropping flakes of soot on the linen hung out to -dry. It was very real, this--definite and tangible. Had it not raised -even the price of hay, which now could be sold at home, for the mine -teams, at more than could be got for it in Montreal? - -The rustics crowded into town to buy shares, and the price rose higher -and higher, till they became so valuable that no one would sell. -Still, however, shares were to be got, with exertion, and at a good -price, at the offices of the company, which were also those of the -Messrs. Herkimer, whose senior partner was president of the company. - -The board of directors was so composed as to conciliate the local -interests of St. Euphrase--M. Podevin the hotelkeeper, Joseph Webb, -Esquire--Esquire meaning J.P.--Farmer Belmore, and Stinson, Ralph's -favourite clerk. These met periodically to accept five dollars apiece -for their attendance, sanction such proposals as their president might -make, and sign the minutes. None of them had an opinion upon the -matters to be considered, and even if they had had one, they would -have felt it to be indelicate to question the decisions of the city -magnate who was making their fortunes; but that mattered little; it -was pleasant to sit upon a board, and be paid for sitting, especially -when their decision upon the points on which they came to be consulted -was already framed, to save them the trouble of consideration, and -required only a mute assent. They found their consequence vastly -augmented among their neighbours, who all prayed them for advice and -private information; which, not having, they found it difficult to -give, and had to fall back on their habit, learned at the "board," of -looking as wise and saying as little as possible. - -It was delightful, for the time being, thus to play at Lord Burleigh, -and be thought only the wiser the more they held their tongues; but -they little imagined the responsibility they were building up for -themselves, when issues of stock unregistered in the company's books, -funds not accounted for, and other irregularities had to be explained -to infuriated shareholders. The storm was yet in the future, for the -present the heavens were shining. - -That year both Herkimer and Jordan removed their families to St. -Euphrase quite early in the spring, instead of waiting for the -summer heats. It was a demonstration of the importance they attached -to the mining operations, and their desire to be on the spot. -Directly, it was whispered among their acquaintance that fresh -discoveries were being made, and cultured persons, who combined -science with money-making, hastened to bespeak a summer residence in -the favoured village, whence they might scour the neighbourhood on -holidays, hammer in hand, rummaging for minerals, and picking up -information about the remarkable find already made at La Hache. Every -house, and even every shanty, to be let, was secured for the hot -months, and some impatient prospectors, unwilling to wait so long, -arrived at once, and established themselves with the Pere Podevin, -whose house had never been so full before, and who, feeling that his -fortune was as good as made, began to prepare his family to adorn the -great position they were about to fill, withdrew his eldest daughter -from the kitchen, where she had been wont to assist, and sent her off -to the celebrated convent of St. Cecilia, at Quebec, that she might -learn to play the piano, and be turned into a lady. - -The influx of city men had scarcely become apparent--it was the middle -of May now--when a new phenomenon met the explorer's eye. A board -fence was of a sudden run up around the property of the mining -company, and watchers were stationed at intervals to see that no -inquisitive stranger should scale the barrier. Excitement among the -speculators grew intense. It was immediately inferred that silver, or -perhaps even gold, had been found, else why this jealousy? and the -crowds who came from town to scour the adjacent lands were so great -that the Pere Podevin had to use his stable and poultry house as -sleeping quarters, and sold permission to two gentlemen to sleep on -the floor under his billiard table on the same terms as he had been -wont to charge for an entire chamber. - -There was constant hurry in the offices in the Rue des Borgnes, by -gaslight as well as by day. The jaded clerks seemed always at work, -save when they crept home at night to sum up the endless figure -columns over again in their sleep, and hurry back to business next -morning. The president seemed as hardly driven as his servants. The -street--where hitherto he had been a prominent figure, notebook in -hand, making bargains, picking up information, and distributing it in -passing, because it could be done so much more quickly than on -'Change, where some contrive to make a little business go so far in -the way of talk and time-killing--the street knew him no more, and he -was beset by people all day long, in his office, on every imaginable -errand. - -Hitherto he had been so cool, and so quick, and so strong--a very -steam engine for doing business--so confident and so clear, perceiving -all the bearings of a question at once--deciding on his course and -completing an agreement in a few incisive sentences, while another man -would still be figuring up with pencil and paper the preliminary -calculations. Now there were signs of fatigue in the robust figure, a -stoop of the shoulders, a flush about the temples. His temper, too--in -time past he had had no temper, or at least it had been impossible to -ruffle it, except where anger was made to serve a business end--his -temper had grown irritable, as the luckless clerks too frequently -found out, and he suffered from sensations of faintness which led to -his withdrawing momentarily into his dressing-room, where there now -stood a decanter of sherry, a thing which theretofore he would have -scorned to permit on his premises. His habit till then had been to -drink a couple of glasses of sherry at the club by way of luncheon, -but the idea of keeping a "pick-me-up" at his elbow, to be referred to -at uncertain intervals, had never occurred to him, because, till then, -he had found his own strength sufficient for the day's work. - -That may have been because things had gone well always, and there is -no tonic in the pharmacop[oe]ia like a habit of succeeding; but now -there were so many things, mines of copper, plumbago, phosphate, a -railway, a suburb, and a bank, besides--besides everything else; for -Ralph's greed grew with his success, the more he secured the more he -still desired, and he could not see an opportunity go by without -wishing to have a fling at it. A few months before, when money was -flowing in for copper shares, there had seemed to be an opportunity in -railways on New York market, and Ralph went in. It fretted him to see -money lie idle when work could be found for it. He went in, but the -unforeseen had happened, as it always will some time, and h found he -could not come out again without loss, such as was not to be thought -of, and therefore he must go in deeper still. - -His own railway, too, the St. Lawrence, Gattineau, and Hudson's Bay -had been suffering a check in the shape of a swamp it had to cross, in -which it went on burying itself as fast as it could be built above the -morass. A contractor had already failed. No other would undertake the -work. The company was compelled to do it itself, under pain of being -cut in two, with sections built to the south and north, and this gap -in the middle, which made both ends useless. Ralph was largely -interested in the road, which indeed he had both projected and -promoted, to connect his plumbago mines and his phosphate lands with -"the front," _i.e_., with civilization and a market. - -The plumbago mines were at work, gangs of men digging into the ground -and dragging out riches which were barrelled up to await transport; -but, until that swamp could be bridged over, of no more present value -to the owners than so many tons of gravel. The workmen could not eat -it, and would not accept it in payment of their wages; and to haul it -to market over distances of corduroy road was to end by disposing of -it for something less than it had cost to bring it there. - -The public were aware of the trouble, and the shares would not sell. -The bank, of course, could be brought to the rescue up to a certain -point, but that, he began to realize, was nearly reached. There were -signs of failing confidence at the board meetings, whisperings, and -averted glances betokening incipient opposition, though mistrustful as -yet of strength to declare itself, which in time past, when he could -defy it, he would easily have browbeaten into submission; but now he -dared not attempt to browbeat, the consequences of unsuccess would -have been too serious. He tried to conciliate and persuade, where he -had been wont to command, and when the master tries to conciliate the -pupil, it is a sign the whip has gone from him, and the subject -divines that he has a master no longer than he cares to accept one. - -Again, the success of St. Hypolite Suburb was hanging fire. The suburb -had been a tract of waste ground some years before, when Ralph picked -it up on easy terms, as being unfit for agriculture and useless for -anything else, and his scheme was to build on it a new and improved -quarter of the town. He had sunk great sums in draining, levelling, -and filling up. He had laid out a park, with a fountain, overlooked by -semi-detached villas, and approached by residence streets of a -superior kind. A few houses had become tenanted the year before, and a -great sale of houses in June of the current year had been written up -in a series of ingenious paragraphs in the local newspapers; when, on -the arrival of warm weather, a visitation of ague and typhoid fever -fell upon the pioneer settlers in the district, and frightened the -public out of all the interest which it had cost so much money and -pains to instil into its mind. The sale came off as advertised, but -the half-dozen dwellings first offered--"replete with every modern -improvement and convenience"--fetching barely enough to pay the -advances of the Proletarian Loan and Mortgage Company, the rest were -withdrawn for the present. - -In a house of cards, though one card may be in doubtful equilibrium, -if those other cards it leans against are moderately steady, it may -stand. Nay, it may even contribute a measure of support to its -supporters; but if all are shakey at the same time, it is a task of -infinite dexterity to balance the several weaknesses each upon each. -Even then the balance is but temporary; a flutter in the surrounding -air will disturb the equipoise, and, when that befalls, the structure -holding together only by weaknesses which balance each other will -tumble to the ground a heap of ruin. And this was the fate Ralph saw -impending. He was in so many ventures, and up to his full strength in -each. If only one of them had weakened he could have propped it with -the others in such wise as he had done before, but when everything -grew shakey at the same time, it seemed as if the pillars of the -universe itself were giving way; and worse, he felt the giving way -within himself, a nodding to that frightful fall which was -approaching, a yielding such as he had never known before. Hitherto -each difficulty had called out latent strength to overcome it, but now -there seemed a torpor in himself which would not be thrown off. His -mind would, not, as hitherto, answer to his call with new expedients -to circumvent each new check; he felt benumbed, and sought to that -decanter--in his dressing-room for the strength, ingenuity, and -courage he had theretofore found within himself. - -It was a morning in the beginning of July--Ralph had remained in town -overnight, not so much for the sake of doing anything as merely to be -beside his business. In time past, when his affairs flourished, he had -rather prided himself on the determination with which he could dismiss -"shop" from his mind at five minutes past four, when he walked out of -his office, and his promptitude in resuming it, exactly where he had -left off, at a quarter before ten next morning. But now, when it -would have been a relief to his jaded mind to lay cares by for a time, -they clung to him all the while, disturbing sleep, even, with confused -and harassing visions. To be away from business aggravated his -anxiety--filled him with doubts as to what might occur in his absence, -and he found his mind easier in the office than anywhere else. Even so -the mother of a sick child will sit by the bed for hours, though the -child be in sleep the most undisturbed, and she can do nothing more. -There is assurance in being present, if she were away she would -imagine things were happening, and be miserable. - -After the hot night in town, with its unrefreshing sleep, and the -untasted breakfast which followed, Ralph sat in his office listless -and limp, with nothing to brace him but that hateful sherry in the -dressing-room. It was ten o'clock. The train from St. Euphrase must -have arrived, but his son had not yet appeared, when Jordan hurried -in, closing the door behind him, and fastening it. - -"You were not on the train this morning, Herkimer. Were you trying to -give a man the slip?--and unload before any one else knew?" - -"Unload? Slip? I remained in town last night. What do you mean? Is -anything wrong?" - -"Podevin tells me he heard some of the men, who were drinking in his -bar, talking. They were telling each other that our lode was no true -vein, that every bit of metal would be out in three months' time, and -they would all be thrown idle. They were the only people in the place -at the time; Podevin took them in hand, and made them promise to hold -their tongues; but it's all coming out, can only be a question of a -day or two. He came to me in a d--l of a funk--says he will be ruined, -as everything he has is in it. To tell you the truth, I shall be hard -hit myself--have never sold a share, and I have been buying. I do -think you might have given me a hint." - -"My dear sir, I am a heavier holder than you and Podevin both put -together. The price has been going up so steadily I did not care to -sell; it might have injured the property for the rest of you; and this -is the first I have heard of a threatening collapse. We must sell at -once, that is all." - -"Too late, I fear, though I am now on my way to my broker. You will be -selling, too? Wish I had known enough to hold my tongue till after I -had unloaded," he added with a nervous pretence of hilarity. "Well! -I'm off." - -"Don't be a fool, Jordan. Of course I don't blame you for wishing to -save yourself, I do the same; but perhaps it is just as well you came -in and told me first. I mean those shares to go higher yet before I -sell. I have all along known there was a possibility of what you tell -me coming to pass, though I had hoped to get shut of the thing before -it took place, and I would have preferred to slip out quietly. There -will be a row, now, perhaps; but what of that? If it must be, we can -weather it, so long as we save our money. It was to provide against -such a contingency that I had that fence built round the operations, -to keep prying fools on the outside; and you know how well that has -answered. I see by the _Journal_ they have been finding indications of -silver; if we inclose another hundred acres it will be taken to -indicate gold and diamonds. But no, that would be too slow, and some -one would blab in the meantime. I must telegraph the superintendent to -work over-time, and contrive that the men do not go into the village. -I shall telegraph to the directors, too, and hold a board meeting. It -is handy having men so easily within call, and yet so innocent of -business. You had better be present as solicitor, and convince -yourself that we are not stealing a march. _And then_----" - -"You wish me, then, not to offer my stock to-day?" said Jordan -dubiously. The saw tells us there is honour among thieves, and -perhaps there sometimes is, but there is seldom confidence among the -over-sharp. - -"As to that," cried Ralph scornfully, "you can please yourself. Go to -your brokers, by all means, if you think well. Or, if you would like -to save brokerage, you can just speak to Stinson as you go out. Tell -him what you want to sell, and I shall buy at yesterday's quotation;" -and he lay back in his chair with a cheerful smile, and twiddled his -gold chain exactly like the prosperous millionaire his neighbours -thought him. - -Jordan looked and hesitated, and bit his nails, and then his brow -cleared, and he drew a long sigh of supreme relief. "Well!" he said, -smiling effusively, "you know more about it than I do. I'll trust your -advice, and hold on till to-morrow." - -"I gave you no advice whatever, sir. Please to remember that;" and he -sat up in his chair with a suggestion of dignified offence on his -features which made Jordan feel contrite and ashamed, and thoroughly -satisfied that he had better not disturb his shares for the next -twenty-four hours at any rate. "You can tell Stinson about your shares -if you have a mind to; but whatever you do, I must beg that you will -not only not circulate, but that you will put down any foolish report -such as that you have just mentioned." - -"You may depend on me for that, old fellow," cried Jordan, nodding -adieu, and walking out with a sense of disburdenment from the cares he -had been carrying, which made his middle-aged gait positively elastic. - -Ralph rose, and watched through a convenient chink his retreating -figure off the premises, and then he drew a breath, and stretched -himself with a sardonic twitch of the eyebrows. "There's nothing like -bluff after all! Yet where should I have been if he had concluded to -take my offer? A fine rumpus those white-livered directors next door -would have raised over the cheque. However, _that's_ weathered. Now -for the mines," and he sat down and wrote his telegrams. He felt -better and stronger than he had done for weeks. There was something to -do now, action, work, combat with circumstances. He was a man once -more with a fund of strength within, which needed only to be drawn on -to come forth. The sherry decanter diffused its topaz radiance in vain -all that day, for never once came Ralph within sight of the seductive -lustre. He had something to do and think of, and in doing he found the -best tonic for his system. It is waiting and looking forward to -uncertain evil, distant as yet, and impossible to be struggled with, -which racks the nerves to pieces with its strain, and drives the -victim to artificial supports, which they from whose coarser -construction a nervous system seems to have been omitted, and who -cannot comprehend such needs, brand as intemperance and dissipation. - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - - A BOARD MEETING. - - -It was not yet eight o'clock on a summer morning at the little railway -station of St. Euphrase. The sweetness from the dew on the ripening -hay fields still hung on the drowsy breezes which came laggingly -athwart the dusty platform, growing fainter each moment in the waxing -heat. - -Farmer Belmore was the earliest intending passenger to appear on the -platform. The ticket office was not yet open, and he flopped about -impatiently in his clean linen coat, mopping his brow with a vast -handkerchief drawn from the crown of his broad-leafed Panama hat. His -grand-daughter had arranged a poppy and a branch of southern-wood in -his button-hole by way of embellishment, his cravat was of the -fiercest blue, fastened with a gold horse-shoe of the largest size. He -felt himself, as director in a great company, to be a man of mark, -appropriately and becomingly arrayed on the present occasion, and it -disappointed him that none of the general public should be there to -see him. - -Joe Webb appeared ere long; compact, well knit, athletic; an example -of the very satisfactory result to be looked for by-and-by, when the -Teutonic and Gallic stocks shall have joined and blended to form the -specialized type of a new nationality; swarthy and black-eyed, with -the nose short, but prominent and aquiline, marking affinity to the -high-spirited and vivacious French, while the level eyebrows and -forward balancing of the head showed equal kinship with the reflective -Saxon. - -"Ha!" cried both men simultaneously. "For town? Board meeting?" -Simultaneously, too, they answered, as if there could be any doubt. -"Yes. Thought I might as well go this morning as another, and be -present at the meeting. And draw my five dollars," added Belmore. -"This special meeting will be just so much pure gain, if we do -not do too much business, as I hope we shall not, and make the next -regular meeting unnecessary. But to be sure the monthly meetings are -obliged to be held, according to the bye-laws, or the charter, or -something--so Mr. Stinson tells me--therefore, this is quite an extry -five dollars to the good, and better than a poke in the eye with a -burnt stick. You think so, too, squire, I guess." - -The distant whistle of the approaching train was now heard, and the -opening of the ticket office with a bang. There were only three or -four other intending passengers, and all had soon bought their -tickets, and stood awaiting the train. - -"What can have come to old Podevin?" said Webb. "If he waits for the -train at 9.30 he may miss the meeting altogether, and his fee. He will -have been watching to see the president go by before starting himself -for the station, and the president stayed in Montreal last night. I -happen to know that. Podevin will miss his train." - -"So much the better for us. There will be the more for you and me. I'd -love to finger a dollar that should have been coming to Podevin more'n -fifty of my own. He's that near, it's like drawing teeth to get a -_sou_ out of him. He hain't paid me yet for the cord-wood that kept -him warm last winter, and now he wants me to take out the price in -white Yankee beans. 'No, sir,' says I; but I let him show me the -truck, and, squire, if you'll believe me, the weevils were that thick, -you could see them quarrelling together who was to get the next sound -bean, and they were that big you could see them looking out of their -holes at the buyer, and warning him like, against the trade." - -The brother directors, however, were mistaken in supposing Podevin was -minded to forego or endanger the emoluments of his directorship. He -was in waiting, though they did not see him, behind a convenient -cattle-car on the siding, anxious only to avoid speech with them till -all were in presence of the president, that his own misgivings might -be resolved without prejudice; for he dreaded that his _confreres_ -might elicit something from him before he had learned the right way to -view or state it himself, and so his undigested words might get abroad -and do him harm. Wherefore he waited till he saw the couple step on -the train, and then clambered quietly into the carriage behind, -avoiding the platform and the ticket office, and paying his fare to -the conductor on the train, who charged him ten cents extra, wringing -his heart with the thought that two per cent of his director's fee was -thereby lost to himself and his heirs for ever. - -The board of directors of the Mining Association of St. Euphrase -assembled at the appointed place and time. The president was in the -chair, and Jordan, the company's solicitor, sat by his side. Podevin -sat beside Stinson, whispering anxiously, and striving to draw support -and encouragement from the involuntary exclamations of the man he was -alarming with his tales and forebodings, while Belmore and Webb -awaited the opening of the proceedings in the placid tranquillity of -perfect ignorance. Nothing disturbing had as yet come into their -knowledge, or even their dreams, and they sat by the leather-covered -table contemplating the minute book and the inkstand, and wondering -how long it would be before they should sign their names, draw their -fee, and take their departure. - -The president tapped the table with his ruler. Stinson read the -minutes of the previous meeting, and the board was in session and -ready to proceed to business. The president stated that he had been -made the recipient of singular information affecting the value and -prospects of their property only the day before, and he had lost no -time in calling them together, that the matter might be inquired into. -"And our worthy solicitor, Mr. Jordan, will now kindly repeat to the -board the statements he has already made to me in private." - -"I know nothing, gentlemen," said Jordan, "but what was mentioned to -me by one of your own number, here present. He is now, I doubt not, -ready to repeat his statements at length for your united -consideration. I allude to my respected friend, Mr. Podevin." - -The Pere Podevin coughed behind his hand, looking disgust from under -his eyelids for a solicitor who could thus betray a confidential -conversation. "Was the man a fool or a rogue?" he asked himself. If he -had not actually paid him a fee on addressing him, had he not given -information worth thousands, if properly used?--given it freely for -the sake of consulting him--and Jordan had promised advice in the -morning--the morning now come--and here, instead of a friendly hint -how he might save himself, the treacherous adviser, having already had -twenty-four hours' exclusive use of the news, was calling on him to -divulge everything before the whole board, giving an equal start to -the others with himself in the race to save something, or rather -letting himself be ruined with the rest. However, all eyes were on him -now, and there was no escape. - -"It was on yesterday," he said, "zat I hear of ze men to say, ver -_secretement_ to ze ozers, as they have dig out all ze _cuivre_ of ze -mine. I Lfive zose men to drink in retirement from ze rest, and I ask, -and zey confirm zat of ze _cuivre_ is no more. _Mon Dieu!_ Misterre -Herkimair--to tink of ze moneys to nourish my _vieillesse_, and ze -_dots_ of my daughtairs _innocentes!_ All sunk in ze mines----" - -"Well?" asked Ralph a little testily; "and pray who did it? Who sunk -your money? You are of lawful age, Mr. Podevin, and believed to be of -sound mind. You are privileged to act for yourself, and you must bear -the consequences of your own acts. If your shares had risen to double -the price you paid for them, you would have taken the profit as the -reward of your own smartness; if it turns out the other way, why -should you come grumbling to me? _I_ did not make you risk your money -or throw it away." - -"You say, Misterre Herkimair, zere were fortunes in ze rocks of La -Hache svamp, and I believe ze _riche_ Misterre Herkimair, and I give -ze little _bourse_ made up _sou_ by _sou_ in all zese year vit so much -of care----" - -"Yes, and thought to make your fortune, Mr. Podevin? and now you think -you are going to lose it--the chance every man is liable to who -speculates or plays poker. You throw a sprat expecting to catch a -herring, and at times the herring is _not_ caught, and the sprat is -thrown away. You must accept the chances of the game, or else you -should not play. Look at me! Think of the thousands I stand to lose if -our enterprise miscarries! What are your few hundreds compared to -that? Yet I make no lament." - -"M'sieur ees so _riche_ and _distingue!_ He vill not see a poor man -lose ze sparings of his life," and he bowed cringingly to the chair. - -Farmer Belmore vied with him in a gaze of pathetic sweetness and -tremulous hungry adoration before the great man who had brought his -savings into jeopardy and who yet, if any one could, could bring them -safely out. The disclosure made by Podevin had been as unexpected by -him as it was sudden. He had fancied himself growing rich, and now to -be told that he was stripped of his savings! He would have been -furious had he dared--talked of fraud, trickery, and the law; but when -he saw Podevin prostrate himself in spirit before the chair, and cry -for succour from the hand which had inaugurated the ill, he controlled -himself and lay back in his chair, constraining his lips into -sugar-coated smiles which the doubtful and hungry gleaning of his eyes -deprived of any seductiveness they might otherwise have carried. - -"This is simply, gentlemen," said the president, coughing and -raising his voice, "one of those circumstances to which every -enterprise--especially every enterprise dealing with minerals--is -liable. As business men you calculated the risks and counted the cost -before you embarked your money. The likelihood of profit appeared -sufficient to us all to warrant our running the risk." - -"M'sieur did not mention risks ven he so kindly undertook to improve -my fortunes. I confide my case to ze generous _souvenirs_ of m'sieur. -He vill not permit to suffer ze man who place _confiance_ and dollars -in his _recommande_." - -Ralph snorted. "Let us talk business, gentlemen," he cried. "We are -not here to scold like old women, or to lament like children. You are -men of understanding, who would not have dropped your money but where -you saw good promise of a large return. Whether you gain or lose, -therefore, you have only yourselves to thank. You know as well as I do -that where money is to be made it is also to be lost. If it were not -so, all the world would crowd in to make its fortune every time, and -there would be nothing for anybody. Therefore, I object to expressions -such as have fallen from my friend, Podevin. He regrets them already -himself, I am sure, now I mention it, and he brings his clear good -sense to bear on the point. Gentlemen! we went in to win. Of course we -did! It goes without saying. But, if we have to lose, let us behave -like men of business and common sense; let us not cry over spilt milk, -but let us make the best of it. And first, let us look the matter in -the face. What is it that has happened to us?----" - -"Ze _cuivre_ is not zere!" cried Podevin, eager to rally his -self-respect and preen the rumpled plumage on which Ralph had sat down -so unceremoniously. If his plea for help and relief must be set aside, -at least a partial satisfaction might be taken out in scolding, and -there seemed an opening here. - -"To put it shortly, gentlemen," said Ralph with a shrug, "that would -appear to be about the state of the case just at this moment; but I -would recommend you not to say it that way out of doors, unless you -want to write off every cent you have invested in the undertaking as -dead loss. That would not be all either, gentlemen. You, the -directors, conjointly and severally, would be liable to suit by each -individual stockholder for misrepresenting the value of the property. -Is that not so, Jordan?" - -"Clearly, they might claim to have their subscribed stock made good. -Whether they would secure a verdict, would depend a good deal, of -course, on the management of the case on both sides. But that is not -all. It is possible that a criminal information might be laid for -obtaining money under false pretences, and when commercial -miscarriages are fresh in the public mind, there is a proneness in -juries to find against the defendants. It is really a serious -consideration--a penetentiary offence." - -"_Mon Dieu!_" gasped Podevin with folded hands, gazing at the ceiling -with eyes whose watery sorrow threatened momentarily to overflow. -Belmore pulled the posy from his button-hole and flung it on the -ground, its festive hue and fragrance irritated his senses in the -gloom which had fallen on him. If he could but have cast his -speculation from him as easily, or hurled the man before him, who had -led him into it, to the ground in like fashion, how good it would have -been! - -"But, gentlemen," cried Ralph, pleased at the impression which his -words had made, "things have not come to that pass yet, nor will they, -if I can help it. There is always life for a living man; that is, if -he is willing and able to use it sensibly for his own preservation. -What is this which has fallen on us after all? It may prove to be -nothing but a fault in the lode. Such things occur frequently, and the -recovered vein, when it is found again deeper down, is generally -richer than it was before. It is true that what we have been working -on may prove to be mere pockets of the metal, unconnected with other -deposits, but we cannot say for certain until we have carefully -examined, and that will require time. Meanwhile, idle tales may get -abroad, which would shake public confidence, injure and discredit the -property, and destroy the value of the stock. We must forestall -mischievous rumours, gentlemen, and I now propose--Stinson! enter on -the minutes, 'proposed and carried _nem. con_. that this board now -declare a dividend of one dollar per share.'" - -"That will be five per cent on the paid-up capital?" said Joe Webb. -"All the earnings, so far, have gone in working expenses. It seems a -big dividend to declare out of nothing." - -"--sh!" muttered Belmore, pulling his sleeve. "--sh, man! It will be -so much saved out of all that has gone to the dogs." - -"But, Mr. President," Webb continued, "where is the money to come from -to pay the dividend?" - -"Never fear for that, squire. Declare your dividend, and up go your -shares. We have still stock which has not been issued yet. We can sell -it then at the advanced price, and shall be in plenty of funds to pay -anything." - -"But is that right? Mr. Herkimer. Is it honest?" - -"Right? Honest? Sir! What do you mean? Your words require -explanation," and Ralph pushed out his chest, making the diamond studs -flash scornful fire on the farmer's inexpensive raiment, while his -brow gloomed and his cheeks grew purple like an angry gobbler. - -"Mr. Webb is more familiar with the procedure at quarter sessions, and -the operations of agriculture, I suspect, than with the practice of -the financial world," observed Jordan soothingly. He loved to lift his -placid head, like Neptune, above the troubled waves, and still a -rising storm. He used his smoothest, oil-pouring tones, enjoying them -himself, and calming those who heard him. "I feel confident he had no -intention of reflecting on our worthy president, who, on my thus -explaining--with Mr. Webb's manifest concurrence--will refrain from -viewing as unfriendly any unadvised expression he may have used. And, -my dear Mr. Webb, you will permit me to say that the impulse which -unadvisedly prompted still does you infinite honour. It would be well -for our commercial community if the noble sentiments which flourish in -the rural districts were to obtain in the busy marts of trade. In the -present instance, however, my young friend will perhaps permit me to -say that his scruples appear to be--well, to be just, a little -over-strained. As Mr. Webb states the case, it may indeed be said that -there is a seeming impropriety in the time chosen for declaring this -dividend." - -"It is not the time, it is the dividend I object to. It has not been -earned, and it is to be paid out of the subscriptions of the new -shareholders." - -"My good man," cried Ralph, "can you make a better of it? You would -not throw up the sponge--stop the workings--before it has been proved -whether it is not merely a temporary check we are suffering. You do -not want to lose all the money you have put in, and perhaps be sued by -disappointed shareholders besides, till you are stripped bare of every -cent you have in the world?" - -"I do not want to take the money of misled subscribers, and divide it -among ourselves on pretence of a dividend which we have not earned." - -"That is a question of book-keeping, sir, allow me to tell you. -Certain debit entries are merely deferred, to be charged later on, -leaving a present surplus. It is easily done. Besides, you must admit -that we--that the present shareholders--actually _have_ earned the -premiums at which the stock stands, or may stand hereafter. That is a -profit which the company and the older proprietors have fairly earned -by holding the stock in time past, before it grew popular, and the -price rose. Trust the management, Mr. Webb. The rest of us are more -deeply interested even than you are in things going right." - -"I don't like it. It does not seem to be the honest thing to do." - -"Mr. Webb, Mr. Webb, you are letting yourself grow warm again, are you -not?" said Jordan. "What other method would you propose? This one will -give time for examining the property and striking the vein again, and, -if we cannot do that, we shall have time to sell out and wash our -hands of the whole operation without loss, or even at a small profit." - -"But how, as honest men, could we sell property, knowing it to be -worthless, at the same price as if it were of real value?" - -"_Caveat emptor_, my dear sir, to quote a legal maxim. The buyers are -business men, well able to take care of themselves, and they will do -it, you may rest assured. They will satisfy themselves that they are -not paying too dear. Your scruples are honourable, no doubt, but do -you not think they must be over-strained, seeing they run counter to -the general practice? I can assure you it is nothing unusual which has -been proposed--nothing but what has frequently taken place in most -respectably managed concerns. There was the Porpoise and Dolphin Oil -Company, Limited, for instance--since gone into liquidation, but that -is neither here nor there--its management was in the hands of a body -of directors, than whom no gentlemen in the community stand higher, -among others the Rev. Mr. Demas, of Little Bethel, in the Rue des -Borgnes--you will have heard him preach, no doubt--a most evangelical -man, and surely you will not take upon you to find fault with -proceedings such as _he_ has sanctioned by participating in." - -"I really could not bring myself to declare a dividend, that is, as I -understand it, to profess that we have earned money when I know for a -fact that we have not earned it at all." - -"Tush, man!" whispered Belmore; "sit down. Let's get through, sign the -minutes, and draw our pay. I have coal oil to buy, and nails, and I -shall miss my train if you do not sit down and let us finish up." - -"Proposed," cried Ralph, "that the board declare a dividend of one -dollar per share, payable on the first of next month. Gentlemen in -favour of the motion will hold up their hands. Carried! _nem. con_." - -"Gentlemen!" began Webb, in a faltering voice, which was overborne and -drowned in the rush and stream of the president's words, which grew -loud and rapid at this point, and who went on as though unconscious of -interruption. "Any other business to bring forward, Stinson? No? Then -this meeting stands adjourned to the second Monday of next month. Sign -the minutes, gentlemen, and draw your honorarium." - -Webb requested Stinson to record his dissent from the vote in the -minutes, but was informed that the meeting was closed, and nothing -could be added to its proceedings. He then demurred to signing, but -Belmore, heated up to the point of speaking out in meeting for once, -declared that he must, or he should not have his dollars--that himself -and Podevin earned them by signing their names, and Webb must do -likewise. - -"The dollars may slide!" cried Joe, growing indignant, and tossing on -his hat. - -"But, Mr. Webb," said Stinson, speaking most respectfully, "will you -sign the minutes to show that I have done my duty, and they are -correct. You have been present, and the law says so;" and poor Joe -Webb, unable to bear up against a city man's polite address, though he -would have maintained his point against all the blustering farmers in -his township, yielded, and placed himself under the same moral -condemnation with the rest, as sanctioning for stock-jobbing purposes -a fraudulent dividend to be paid out of capital. - - - - FOOTNOTE: - -[Footnote 1: A one-seated sleigh, intended to carry two persons.] - - - - END OF VOL. II. - - - - PRINTED BY - KELLY AND CO., GATE STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS; - AND MIDDLE MILL KINGSTON-ON-THAMES. - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Rich Man's Relatives (Vol. 2 of 3), by -Robert Cleland - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A RICH MAN'S RELATIVES *** - -***** This file should be named 40332.txt or 40332.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/3/3/40332/ - -Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the -Web Archive (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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