The Gilded Age ....................................................................................................................................................1

Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner ................................................................................................1

PREFACE. ...............................................................................................................................................2

CHAPTER I. ............................................................................................................................................3

CHAPTER II. ...........................................................................................................................................7

CHAPTER III..........................................................................................................................................9

CHAPTER IV........................................................................................................................................12

CHAPTER V.........................................................................................................................................19

CHAPTER VI........................................................................................................................................23

CHAPTER VII. ......................................................................................................................................29

CHAPTER VIII.....................................................................................................................................32

CHAPTER IX........................................................................................................................................36

CHAPTER X.........................................................................................................................................39

CHAPTER XI........................................................................................................................................43

CHAPTER XII .......................................................................................................................................46

CHAPTER XIII.....................................................................................................................................50

CHAPTER XIV.....................................................................................................................................54

CHAPTER XV......................................................................................................................................58

CHAPTER XVI.....................................................................................................................................63

CHAPTER XVII. ...................................................................................................................................67

CHAPTER XVIII. ..................................................................................................................................70

CHAPTER XIX.....................................................................................................................................75

CHAPTER XX......................................................................................................................................79

CHAPTER XXI.....................................................................................................................................83

CHAPTER XXII. ...................................................................................................................................86

CHAPTER XXIII. ..................................................................................................................................91

CHAPTER XXIV..................................................................................................................................92

CHAPTER XXV. ...................................................................................................................................96

CHAPTER XXVI..................................................................................................................................99

CHAPTER XXVII. ..............................................................................................................................103

CHAPTER XXVIII. .............................................................................................................................106

CHAPTER XXIX................................................................................................................................112

CHAPTER XXX. .................................................................................................................................116

CHAPTER XXXI................................................................................................................................118

CHAPTER XXXII. ..............................................................................................................................122

CHAPTER XXXIII. .............................................................................................................................125

CHAPTER XXXIV.............................................................................................................................134

CHAPTER XXXV. ..............................................................................................................................137

CHAPTER XXXVI.............................................................................................................................141

CHAPTER XXXVII............................................................................................................................144

CHAPTER XXXVIII. ..........................................................................................................................146

CHAPTER XXXIX.............................................................................................................................151

CHAPTER XL. ....................................................................................................................................153

CHAPTER XLI. ...................................................................................................................................156

CHAPTER XLII..................................................................................................................................161

CHAPTER XLIII. ................................................................................................................................170

CHAPTER XLIV. ................................................................................................................................173

CHAPTER XLV..................................................................................................................................176

CHAPTER XLVI. ................................................................................................................................182

CHAPTER XLVII...............................................................................................................................186

CHAPTER XLVIII..............................................................................................................................190

CHAPTER XLIX. ................................................................................................................................194

CHAPTER L. .......................................................................................................................................199

CHAPTER LI......................................................................................................................................203

CHAPTER LII.....................................................................................................................................207

CHAPTER LIII. ...................................................................................................................................208

CHAPTER LIV. ...................................................................................................................................211

CHAPTER LV. ....................................................................................................................................216

CHAPTER LVI. ...................................................................................................................................220

CHAPTER LVII..................................................................................................................................225

CHAPTER LVIII. ................................................................................................................................229

CHAPTER LIX. ...................................................................................................................................233

CHAPTER LX. ....................................................................................................................................238

CHAPTER LXI. ...................................................................................................................................242

CHAPTER LXII..................................................................................................................................246

CHAPTER LXIII. ................................................................................................................................248

This book was not written for private circulation among friends; it was not written to cheer and instruct a

diseased relative of the author's; it was not thrown off during intervals of wearing labor to amuse an idle hour.

It was not written for any of these reasons, and therefore it is submitted without the usual apologies.

It will be seen that it deals with an entirely ideal state of society; and the chief embarrassment of the writers

in this realm of the imagination has been the want of illustrative examples. In a State where there is no fever

of speculation, no inflamed desire for sudden wealth, where the poor are all simpleminded and contented,

and the rich are all honest and generous, where society is in a condition of primitive purity and politics is the

occupation of only the capable and the patriotic, there are necessarily no materials for such a history as we

No apology is needed for following the learned custom of placing attractive scraps of literature at the heads

of our chapters. It has been truly observed by Wagner that such headings, with their vague suggestions of the

matter which is to follow them, pleasantly inflame the reader's interest without wholly satisfying his

Our quotations are set in a vast number of tongues; this is done for the reason that very few foreign nations

among whom the book will circulate can read in any language but their own; whereas we do not write for a

We do not object to criticism; and we do not expect that the critic will read the book before writing a notice

of it: We do not even expect the reviewer of the book will say that he has not read it. No, we have no

anticipations of anything unusual in this age of criticism. But if the Jupiter, Who passes his opinion on the

novel, ever happens to peruse it in some weary moment of his subsequent life, we hope that he will not be the

One word more. This iswhat it pretends to be a joint production, in the conception of the story, the

exposition of the characters, and in its literal composition. There is scarcely a chapter that does not bear the

June 18. Squire Hawkins sat upon the pyramid of large blocks, called the "stile," in front of his house,

The locality was Obedstown, East Tennessee. You would not know that Obedstown stood on the top of a

mountain, for there was nothing about the landscape to indicate itbut it did: a mountain that stretched

abroad over whole counties, and rose very gradually. The district was called the "Knobs of East Tennessee,"

and had a reputation like Nazareth, as far as turning out any good thing was concerned.

The Squire's house was a double log cabin, in a state of decay; two or three gaunt hounds lay asleep about the

threshold, and lifted their heads sadly whenever Mrs. Hawkins or the children stepped in and out over their

bodies. Rubbish was scattered about the grassless yard; a bench stood near the door with a tin wash basin on

it and a pail of water and a gourd; a cat had begun to drink from the pail, but the exertion was overtaxing her

energies, and she had stopped to rest. There was an ash hopper by the fence, and an iron pot, for

This dwelling constituted onefifteenth of Obedstown; the other fourteen houses were scattered about among

the tall pine trees and among the corn fields in such a way that a man might stand in the midst of the city

and not know but that he was in the country if he only depended on his eyes for information.

"Squire" Hawkins got his title from being postmaster of Obedstownnot that the title properly belonged to

the office, but because in those regions the chief citizens always must have titles of some sort, and so the

usual courtesy had been extended to Hawkins. The mail was monthly, and sometimes amounted to as much

as three or four letters at a single delivery. Even a rush like this did not fill up the postmaster's whole month,

The Squire was contemplating the morning. It was balmy and tranquil, the vagrant breezes were laden with

the odor of flowers, the murmur of bees was in the air, there was everywhere that suggestion of repose that

summer woodlands bring to the senses, and the vague, pleasurable melancholy that such a time and such

Presently the United States mail arrived, on horseback. There was but one letter, and it was for the

postmaster. The longlegged youth who carried the mail tarried an hour to talk, for there was no hurry; and in

a little while the male population of the village had assembled to help. As a general thing, they were dressed

in homespun "jeans," blue or yellowhere were no other varieties of it; all wore one suspender and

sometimes twoyarn ones knitted at home,some wore vests, but few wore coats. Such coats and vests as

did appear, however, were rather picturesque than otherwise, for they were made of tolerably fanciful

patterns of calicoa fashion which prevails thereto this day among those of the community who have tastes

above the common level and are able to afford style. Every individual arrived with his hands in his pockets; a

hand came out occasionally for a purpose, but it always went back again after service; and if it was the head

that was served, just the cant that the dilapidated straw hat got by being uplifted and rooted under, was

retained until the next call altered the inclination; many' hats were present, but none were erect and no two

were canted just alike. We are speaking impartially of men, youths and boys. And we are also speaking of

these three estates when we say that every individual was either chewing natural leaf tobacco prepared on his

own premises, or smoking the same in a corncob pipe. Few of the men wore whiskers; none wore

moustaches; some had a thick jungle of hair under the chin and hiding the throatthe only pattern

recognized there as being the correct thing in whiskers; but no part of any individual's face had seen a razor

These neighbors stood a few moments looking at the mail carrier reflectively while he talked; but fatigue

soon began to show itself, and one after another they climbed up and occupied the top rail of the fence,

humpshouldered and grave, like a company of buzzards assembled for supper and listening for the

"Cain't tell for sartin; some thinks he's gwyne to be 'long toreckly, and some thinks 'e hain't. Russ Mosely he

"Well, I wisht I knowed. I got a 'prime sow and pigs in the, cotehouse, and I hain't got no place for to put

'em. If the jedge is a gwyne to hold cote, I got to roust 'em out, I reckon. But tomorrer'll do, I 'spect."

The speaker bunched his thick lips together like the stemend of a tomato and shot a bumblebee dead that

had lit on a weed seven feet away. One after another the several chewers expressed a charge of tobacco juice

"Well, I dunno, skasely. Ole, Drake Higgins he's ben down to Shelby las' week. Tuck his crap down; couldn't

git shet o' the most uv it; hit wasn't no time for to sell, he say, so he 'fotch it back agin, 'lowin' to wait tell fall.

Talks 'bout goin' to Mozourilots uv 'ems talkin' that away down thar, Ole Higgins say. Cain't make a

livin' here no mo', sich times as these. Si Higgins he's ben over to Kaintuck n' married a high toned gal thar,

outen the fust families, an' he's come back to the Forks with jist a hell'smint o' whoopjamboree notions,

folks says. He's tuck an' fixed up the ole house like they does in Kaintuck, he say, an' tha's ben folks come

cler from Turpentine for to see it. He's tuck an gawmed it all over on the inside with plarsterin'."

"I dono. Hit's what he calls it. 'Ole Mam Higgins, she tole me. She say she wasn't gwyne to hang out in no

sich a dern hole like a hog. Says it's mud, or some sich kind o' nastiness that sticks on n' covers up everything.

This marvel was discussed at considerable length; and almost with animation. But presently there was a

dogfight over in the neighborhood of the blacksmith shop, and the visitors slid off their perch like so many

turtles and strode to the battlefield with an interest bordering on eagerness. The Squire remained, and read

"I believe I'll do it.A man will just rot, here. My house my yard, everything around me, in fact, shows' that

He was not more than thirtyfive, but he had a worn look that made him seem older. He left the stile, entered

that part of his house which was the store, traded a quart of thick molasses for a coonskin and a cake of

beeswax, to an old dame in linseywoolsey, put his letter away, an went into the kitchen. His wife was there,

constructing some dried apple pies; a slovenly urchin of ten was dreaming over a rude weathervane of his

own contriving; his small sister, close upon four years of age, was sopping cornbread in some gravy left in

the bottom of a fryingpan and trying hard not to sop over a fingermark that divided the pan through the

middlefor the other side belonged to the brother, whose musings made him forget his stomach for the

moment; a negro woman was busy cooking, at a vast fireplace. Shiftlessness and poverty reigned in the

"Nancy, I've made up my mind. The world is done with me, and perhaps I ought to be done with it. But no

matterI can wait. I am going to Missouri. I won't stay in this dead country and decay with it. I've had it on

my mind sometime. I'm going to sell out here for whatever I can get, and buy a wagon and team and put you

"Anywhere that suits you, suits me, Si. And the children can't be any worse off in Missouri than, they are

Motioning his wife to a private conference in their own room, Hawkins said: "No, they'll be better off. I've

looked out for them, Nancy," and his face lighted. "Do you see these papers? Well, they are evidence that I

have taken up Seventyfive Thousand Acres of Land in this county think what an enormous fortune it will

be some day! Why, Nancy, enormous don't express itthe word's too tame! I tell your Nancy"

"Wait, Nancy, waitlet me finishI've been secretly bailing and fuming with this grand inspiration for

weeks, and I must talk or I'll burst! I haven't whispered to a soulnot a wordhave had my countenance

under lock and key, for fear it might drop something that would tell even these animals here how to discern

the gold mine that's glaring under their noses. Now all that is necessary to hold this land and keep it in the

family is to pay the trifling taxes on it yearlyfive or ten dollars the whole tract would not sell for over a

third of a cent an acre now, but some day people wild be glad to get it for twenty dollars, fifty dollars, a

hundred dollars an acre! What should you say to" [here he dropped his voice to a whisper and looked

anxiously around to see that there were no eavesdroppers,] "a thousand dollars an acre!

"Well you may open your eyes and stare! But it's so. You and I may not see the day, but they'll see it. Mind I

tell you; they'll see it. Nancy, you've heard of steamboats, and maybe you believed in themof course you

did. You've heard these cattle here scoff at them and call them lies and humbugs,but they're not lies and

humbugs, they're a reality and they're going to be a more wonderful thing some day than they are now.

They're going to make a revolution in this world's affairs that will make men dizzy to contemplate. I've been

"Even you and I will see the day that steamboats will come up that little Turkey river to within twenty miles

of this land of oursand in high water they'll come right to it! And this is not all, Nancyit isn't even half!

There's a bigger wonderthe railroad! These worms here have never even heard of itand when they do

they'll not believe in it. But it's another fact. Coaches that fly over the ground twenty miles an hourheavens

and earth, think of that, Nancy! Twenty miles an hour. It makes a main's brain whirl. Some day, when you

and I are in our graves, there'll be a railroad stretching hundreds of milesall the way down from the cities

of the Northern States to New Orleansand its got to run within thirty miles of this landmay be even

touch a corner of it. Well; do you know, they've quit burning wood in some places in the Eastern States? And

what do you suppose they burn? Coal!" [He bent over and whispered again:] "There's worldworlds of it on

this land! You know that black stuff that crops out of the bank of the branch?well, that's it. You've taken it

for rocks; so has every body here; and they've built little dams and such things with it. One man was going to

build a chimney out of it. Nancy I expect I turned as white as a sheet! Why, it might have caught fire and told

everything. I showed him it was too crumbly. Then he was going to build it of copper oresplendid yellow

fortypercent. ore! There's fortunes upon fortunes of copper ore on our land! It scared me to death, the idea

of this fool starting a smelting furnace in his house without knowing it, and getting his dull eyes opened. And

then he was going to build it of iron ore! There's mountains of iron ore here, Nancywhole mountains of it.

I wouldn't take any chances. I just stuck by himI haunted himI never let him alone till he built it of mud

and sticks like all the rest of the chimneys in this dismal country. Pine forests, wheat land, corn land, iron,

copper, coalwait till the railroads come, and the steamboats! We'll never see the day, Nancynever in the

worldnever, never, never, child. We've got to drag along, drag along, and eat crusts in toil and poverty,

all hopeless and forlornbut they'll ride in coaches, Nancy! They'll live like the princes of the earth; they'll

be courted and worshiped; their names will be known from ocean to ocean! Ah, wella day! Will they ever

come back here, on the railroad and the steamboat, and say, 'This one little spot shall not be touchedthis

hovel shall be sacredfor here our father and our mother suffered for us, thought for us, laid the foundations

"You are a great, good, noble soul, Si Hawkins, and I am an honored woman to be the wife of such a

man"and the tears stood in her eyes when she said it. "We will go to Missouri. You are out of your place,

here, among these groping dumb creatures. We will find a higher place, where you can walk with your own

kind, and be understood when you speaknot stared at as if you were talking some foreign tongue. I would

go anywhere, anywhere in the wide world with you I would rather my body would starve and die than your

"Spoken like yourself, my child! But we'll not starve, Nancy. Far from it. I have a letter from Beriah

He flew out of the room. A shadow blurred the sunlight in Nancy's face there was uneasiness in it, and

disappointment. A procession of disturbing thoughts began to troop through her mind. Saying nothing aloud,

she sat with her hands in her lap; now and then she clasped them, then unclasped them, then tapped the ends

of the fingers together; sighed, nodded, smiledoccasionally paused, shook her head. This pantomime was

the elocutionary expression of an unspoken soliloquy which had something of this shape:

"I was afraid of itwas afraid of it. Trying to make our fortune in Virginia, Beriah Sellers nearly ruined us

and we had to settle in Kentucky and start over again. Trying to make our fortune in Kentucky he crippled us

again and we had to move here. Trying to make our fortune here, he brought us clear down to the ground,

nearly. He's an honest soul, and means the very best in the world, but I'm afraid, I'm afraid he's too flighty.

He has splendid ideas, and he'll divide his chances with his friends with a free hand, the good generous soul,

but something does seem to always interfere and spoil everything. I never did think he was right well

balanced. But I don't blame my husband, for I do think that when that man gets his head full of a new notion,

he can outtalk a machine. He'll make anybody believe in that notion that'll listen to him ten minuteswhy I

do believe he would make a deaf and dumb man believe in it and get beside himself, if you only set him

where he could see his eyes tally and watch his hands explain. What a head he has got! When he got up that

idea there in Virginia of buying up whole loads of negroes in Delaware and Virginia and Tennessee, very

quiet, having papers drawn to have them delivered at a place in Alabama and take them and pay for them,

away yonder at a certain time, and then in the meantime get a law made stopping everybody from selling

negroes to the south after a certain day it was somehow that waymercy how the man would have made

money! Negroes would have gone up to four prices. But after he'd spent money and worked hard, and

traveled hard, and had heaps of negroes all contracted for, and everything going along just right, he couldn't

get the laws passed and down the whole thing tumbled. And there in Kentucky, when he raked up that old

numskull that had been inventing away at a perpetual motion machine for twentytwo years, and Beriah

Sellers saw at a glance where just one more little cogwheel would settle the business, why I could see it as

plain as day when he came in wild at midnight and hammered us out of bed and told the whole thing in a

whisper with the doors bolted and the candle in an empty barrel. Oceans of money in it anybody could see

that. But it did cost a deal to buy the old numskull outand then when they put the new cog wheel in they'd

overlooked something somewhere and it wasn't any usethe troublesome thing wouldn't go. That notion he

got up here did look as handy as anything in the world; and how him and Si did sit up nights working at it

with the curtains down and me watching to see if any neighbors were about. The man did honestly believe

there was a fortune in that black gummy oil that stews out of the bank Si says is coal; and he refined it

himself till it was like water, nearly, and it did burn, there's no two ways about that; and I reckon he'd have

been all right in Cincinnati with his lamp that he got made, that time he got a house full of rich speculators to

see him exhibit only in the middle of his speech it let go and almost blew the heads off the whole crowd. I

haven't got over grieving for the money that cost yet. I am sorry enough Beriah Sellers is in Missouri, now,

but I was glad when he went. I wonder what his letter says. But of course it's cheerful; he's never

downheartednever had any trouble in his lifedidn't know it if he had. It's always sunrise with that man,

and fine and blazing, at thatnever gets noon; thoughleaves off and rises again. Nobody can help liking

the creature, he means so wellbut I do dread to come across him again; he's bound to set us all crazy, of

coarse. Well, there goes old widow Hopkinsit always takes her a week to buy a spool of thread and trade a

"Widow Hopkins kept meI haven't any patience with such tedious people. Now listen, Nancyjust listen

"Yes, I think there's a little of the old sound about his voice yet. I suppose youyou'll still go, Si?"

"Go! Well, I should think so, Nancy. It's all a chance, of course, and, chances haven't been kind to us, I'll

And with an activity and a suddenness that bewildered Obedstown and almost took its breath away, the

Hawkinses hurried through with their arrangements in four short months and flitted out into the great

Toward the close of the third day's journey the wayfarers were just beginning to think of camping, when they

came upon a log cabin in the woods. Hawkins drew rein and entered the yard. A boy about ten years old was

sitting in the cabin door with his face bowed in his hands. Hawkins approached, expecting his footfall to

With a tired expression the small face came up out of the hands,a face down which tears were flowing.

The boy signified with a scarcely perceptible gesture that the trouble was in the, house, and made room for

Hawkins to pass. Then he put his face in his hands again and rocked himself about as one suffering a grief

that is too deep to find help in moan or groan or outcry. Hawkins stepped within. It was a poverty stricken

place. Six or eight middle aged country people of both sexes were grouped about an object in the middle of

the room; they were noiselessly busy and they talked in whispers when they spoke. Hawkins uncovered and

approached. A coffin stood upon two backless chairs. These neighbors had just finished disposing the body of

a woman in ita woman with a careworn, gentle face that had more the look of sleep about it than of death.

"His mother, po' thing. Died of the fever, last night. Tha warn't no sich thing as saving of her. But it's better

for herbetter for her. Husband and the other two children died in the spring, and she hain't ever hilt up her

head sence. She jest went around brokenhearted like, and never took no intrust in anything but Claythat's

the boy thar. She jest worshiped Clayand Clay he worshiped her. They didn't 'pear to live at all, only when

they was together, looking at each other, loving one another. She's ben sick three weeks; and if you believe

me that child has worked, and kep' the run of the med'cin, and the times of giving it, and sot up nights and

nussed her, and tried to keep up her sperits, the same as a grownup person. And last night when she kep' a

sinking and sinking, and turned away her head and didn't know him no mo', it was fitten to make a body's

heart break to see him climb onto the bed and lay his cheek agin hern and call her so pitiful and she not

answer. But bymeby she roused up, like, and looked around wild, and then she see him, and she made a great

cry and snatched him to her breast and hilt him close and kissed him over and over agin; but it took the last

po' strength she had, and so her eyelids begin to close down, and her arms sort o' drooped away and then we

see she was gone, po' creetur. And Clay, heOh, the po' motherless thingI cain't talk abort itI cain't

Clay had disappeared from the door; but he came in, now, and the neighbors reverently fell apart and made

way for him. He leaned upon the open coffin and let his tears course silently. Then he put out his small hand

and smoothed the hair and stroked the dead face lovingly. After a bit he brought his other hand up from

behind him and laid three or four fresh wild flowers upon the breast, bent over and kissed the unresponsive

lips time and time again, and then turned away and went out of the house without looking at any of the

"She always loved that kind o' flowers. He fetched 'em for her every morning, and she always kissed him.

They was from away north somersshe kep' school when she fust come. Goodness knows what's to become

o' that po' boy. No father, no mother, no kin folks of no kind. Nobody to go to, nobody that k'yers for

"Friends, I am not very well provided for, myself, but still I would not turn my back on a homeless orphan. If

he will go with me I will give him a home, and loving regardI will do for him as I would have another do

One after another the people stepped forward and wrung the stranger's hand with cordial good will, and their

"It's bread cast upon the watersit'll return after many days," said the old lady whom we have heard speak

"You got to camp in my house as long as you hang out here," said one. "If tha hain't room for you and yourn

A few minutes afterward, while the preparations for the funeral were being concluded, Mr. Hawkins arrived

at his wagon leading his little waif by the hand, and told his wife all that had happened, and asked her if he

"If you've done wrong, Si Hawkins, it's a wrong that will shine brighter at the judgment day than the rights

that many' a man has done before you. And there isn't any compliment you can pay me equal to doing a thing

like this and finishing it up, just taking it for granted that I'll be willing to it. Willing? Come to me; you poor

When the child awoke in the morning, it was as if from a troubled dream. But slowly the confusion in his

mind took form, and he remembered his great loss; the beloved form in the coffin; his talk with a generous

stranger who offered him a home; the funeral, where the stranger's wife held him by the hand at the grave,

and cried with him and comforted him; and he remembered how this, new mother tucked him in his bed in

the neighboring farm house, and coaxed him to talk about his troubles, and then heard him say his prayers

and kissed him good night, and left him with the soreness in his heart almost healed and his bruised spirit at

And now the new mother came again, and helped him to dress, and combed his hair, and drew his mind away

by degrees from the dismal yesterday, by telling him about the wonderful journey he was going to take and

the strange things he was going to see. And after breakfast they two went alone to the grave, and his heart

went out to his new friend and his untaught eloquence poured the praises of his buried idol into her ears

without let or hindrance. Together they planted roses by the headboard and strewed wild flowers upon the

grave; and then together they went away, hand in hand, and left the dead to the long sleep that heals all

Whatever the lagging dragging journey may have been to the rest of the emigrants, it was a wonder and

delight to the children, a world of enchantment; and they believed it to be peopled with the mysterious dwarfs

and giants and goblins that figured in the tales the negro slaves were in the habit of telling them nightly by

At the end of nearly a week of travel, the party went into camp near a shabby village which was caving,

house by house, into the hungry Mississippi. The river astonished the children beyond measure. Its

milebreadth of water seemed an ocean to them, in the shadowy twilight, and the vague riband of trees on the

further shore, the verge of a continent which surely none but they had ever seen before.

"Uncle Dan'l"(colored,) aged 40; his wife, "aunt Jinny," aged 30, "Young Miss" Emily Hawkins, "Young

Mars" Washington Hawkins and "Young Mars" Clay, the new member of the family, ranged themselves on a

log, after supper, and contemplated the marvelous river and discussed it. The moon rose and sailed aloft

through a maze of shredded cloudwreaths; the sombre river just perceptibly brightened under the veiled

light; a deep silence pervaded the air and was emphasized, at intervals, rather than broken, by the hooting of

an owl, the baying of a dog, or the muffled crash of a raving bank in the distance.

The little company assembled on the log were all children (at least in simplicity and broad and

comprehensive ignorance,) and the remarks they made about the river were in keeping with the character; and

so awed were they by the grandeur and the solemnity of the scene before then, and by their belief that the air

was filled with invisible spirits and that the faint zephyrs were caused by their passing wings, that all their

talk took to itself a tinge of the supernatural, and their voices were subdued to a low and reverent tone.

A deep coughing sound troubled the stillness, way toward a wooded cape that jetted into the stream a mile

distant. All in an instant a fierce eye of fire shot out froth behind the cape and sent a long brilliant pathway

quivering athwart the dusky water. The coughing grew louder and louder, the glaring eye grew larger and still

larger, glared wilder and still wilder. A huge shape developed itself out of the gloom, and from its tall

duplicate horns dense volumes of smoke, starred and spangled with sparks, poured out and went tumbling

away into the farther darkness. Nearer and nearer the thing came, till its long sides began to glow with spots

of light which mirrored themselves in the river and attended the monster like a torchlight procession.

It was not necessary to say it twice. They were all kneeling, in a moment. And then while the mysterious

coughing rose stronger and stronger and the threatening glare reached farther and wider, the negro's voice

"O Lord', we's ben mighty wicked, an' we knows dat we 'zerve to go to de bad place, but good Lord, deah

Lord, we ain't ready yit, we ain't ready let dese po' chilen hab one mo' chance, jes' one mo' chance. Take de

ole niggah if you's, got to hab somebody.Good Lord, good deah Lord, we don't know whah you's a gwyne

to, we don't know who you's got yo' eye on, but we knows by de way you's a comin', we knows by de way

you's a tiltin' along in yo' charyot o' fiah dat some po' sinner's a gwyne to ketch it. But good Lord, dose chilen

don't b'long heah, dey's f'm Obedstown whah dey don't know nuffin, an' you knows, yo' own sef, dat dey ain't

'sponsible. An' deah Lord, good Lord, it ain't like yo' mercy, it ain't like yo' pity, it ain't like yo' longsufferin'

lovin' kindness for to take dis kind o' 'vantage o' sick little chil'en as dose is when dey's so many ornery

grown folks chuck full o' cussedness dat wants roastin' down dah. Oh, Lord, spah de little chil'en, don't tar de

little chil'en away f'm dey frens, jes' let 'em off jes' dis once, and take it out'n de ole nibgah. HEAH I IS,

The flaming and churning steamer was right abreast the party, and not twenty steps away. The awful thunder

of a mudvalve suddenly burst forth, drowning the prayer, and as suddenly Uncle Dan'l snatched a child

under each arm and scoured into the woods with the rest of the pack at his heels. And then, ashamed of

There was a moment of throbbing suspense, and then, to the surprise and the comfort of the party, it was plain

that the august presence had gone by, for its dreadful noises were receding. Uncle Dan'l headed a cautious

reconnaissance in the direction of the log. Sure enough "the Lord" was just turning a point a short distance up

the river, and while they looked the lights winked out and the coughing diminished by degrees and presently

"H'wsh! Well now dey's some folks says dey ain't no 'ficiency in prah. Dis Chile would like to know whah

"Does I reckon? Don't I know it! Whah was yo' eyes? Warn't de Lord jes' a cumin' chow! chow! CHOW! an'

a goin' on turriblean' do de Lord carry on dat way 'dout dey's sumfin don't suit him? An' warn't he a lookin'

right at dis gang heah, an' warn't he jes' a reachin' for 'em? An' d'you spec' he gwyne to let 'em off 'dout

"No sah! When a man is 'gaged in prah, he ain't fraid o' nuffindey can't nuffin tetch him."

"Well, IImars Clay, when a man is under de influence ob de sperit, he dono, what he's 'boutno sah;

dat man dono what he's 'bout. You mout take an' tah de head off'n dat man an' he wouldn't scasely fine it

out. Date's de Hebrew chil'en dat went frough de fiah; dey was burnt considableob coase dey was; but dey

didn't know nuffin 'bout itheal right up agin; if dey'd ben gals dey'd missed dey long haah, (hair,) maybe,

"Now mars Clay, you knows bettern dat. Sometimes a body can't tell whedder you's a sayin' what you means

or whedder you's a sayin' what you don't mean, 'case you says 'em bofe de same way."

"Goodness sakes, mars Clay, don't de Good Book say? 'Sides, don't it call 'em de HEbrew chil'en? If dey

was gals wouldn't dey be de SHEbrew chil'en? Some people dat kin read don't 'pear to take no notice when

"Well, Uncle Dan'l, I think that My! here comes another one up the river! There can't be two!"

"We gone dis timewe done gone dis time, sho'! Dey ain't two, mars Claydays de same one. De Lord kin

'pear eberywhah in a second. Goodness, how do fiah and de smoke do belch up! Dat mean business, honey.

He comin' now like he fo'got sumfin. Come 'long, chil'en, time you's gwyne to roos'. Go 'long wid youole

Uncle Daniel gwyne out in de woods to rastle in prahde ole nigger gwyne to do what he kin to sabe you

He did go to the woods and pray; but he went so far that he doubted, himself, if the Lord heard him when He

Seventhly, Before his Voyage, He should make his peace with God, satisfie his Creditors if he be in debt;

Pray earnestly to God to prosper him in his Voyage, and to keep him from danger, and, if he be 'sui juris' he

should make his last will, and wisely order all his affairs, since many that go far abroad, return not home.

(This good and Christian Counsel is given by Martinus Zeilerus in his Apodemical Canons before his

Early in the morning Squire Hawkins took passage in a small steamboat, with his family and his two slaves,

and presently the bell rang, the stageplank; was hauled in, and the vessel proceeded up the river. The

children and the slaves were not much more at ease after finding out that this monster was a creature of

human contrivance than they were the night before when they thought it the Lord of heaven and earth. They

started, in fright, every time the gaugecocks sent out an angry hiss, and they quaked from head to foot when

the mudvalves thundered. The shivering of the boat under the beating of the wheels was sheer misery to

But of course familiarity with these things soon took away their terrors, and then the voyage at once became a

glorious adventure, a royal progress through the very heart and home of romance, a realization of their rosiest

wonderdreams. They sat by the hour in the shade of the pilot house on the hurricane deck and looked out

over the curving expanses of the river sparkling in the sunlight. Sometimes the boat fought the mid stream

current, with a verdant world on either hand, and remote from both; sometimes she closed in under a point,

where the dead water and the helping eddies were, and shaved the bank so closely that the decks were swept

by the jungle of overhanging willows and littered with a spoil of leaves; departing from these "points" she

regularly crossed the river every five miles, avoiding the "bight" of the great binds and thus escaping the

strong current; sometimes she went out and skirted a high "bluff" sandbar in the middle of the stream, and

occasionally followed it up a little too far and touched upon the shoal water at its headand then the

intelligent craft refused to run herself aground, but "smelt" the bar, and straightway the foamy streak that

streamed away from her bows vanished, a great foamless wave rolled forward and passed her under way, and

in this instant she leaned far over on her side, shied from the bar and fled square away from the danger like a

frightened thingand the pilot was lucky if he managed to "straighten her up" before she drove her nose into

the opposite bank; sometimes she approached a solid wall of tall trees as if she meant to break through it, but

all of a sudden a little crack would open just enough to admit her, and away she would go plowing through

the "chute" with just barely room enough between the island on one side and the main land on the other; in

this sluggish water she seemed to go like a racehorse; now and then small log cabins appeared in little

clearings, with the neverfailing frowsy women and girls in soiled and faded linseywoolsey leaning in the

doors or against woodpiles and rail fences, gazing sleepily at the passing show; sometimes she found shoal

water, going out at the head of those "chutes" or crossing the river, and then a deckhand stood on the bow

and hove the lead, while the boat slowed down and moved cautiously; sometimes she stopped a moment at a

landing and took on some freight or a passenger while a crowd of slouchy white men and negroes stood on

the bank and looked sleepily on with their hands in their pantaloons pockets,of coursefor they never

took them out except to stretch, and when they did this they squirmed about and reached their fists up into the

When the sun went down it turned all the broad river to a national banner laid in gleaming bars of gold and

purple and crimson; and in time these glories faded out in the twilight and left the fairy archipelagoes

At night the boat forged on through the deep solitudes of the river, hardly ever discovering a light to testify to

a human presencemile after mile and league after league the vast bends were guarded by unbroken walls of

forest that had never been disturbed by the voice or the footfall of man or felt the edge of his sacrilegious

An hour after supper the moon came up, and Clay and Washington ascended to the hurricane deck to revel

again in their new realm of enchantment. They ran races up and down the deck; climbed about the bell; made

friends with the passengerdogs chained under the lifeboat; tried to make friends with a passengerbear

fastened to the vergestaff but were not encouraged; "skinned the cat" on the hogchains; in a word,

exhausted the amusementpossibilities of the deck. Then they looked wistfully up at the pilot house, and

finally, little by little, Clay ventured up there, followed diffidently by Washington. The pilot turned presently

to "get his sternmarks," saw the lads and invited them in. Now their happiness was complete. This cosy little

house, built entirely of glass and commanding a marvelous prospect in every direction was a magician's

They sat them down on a high bench and looked miles ahead and saw the wooded capes fold back and reveal

the bends beyond; and they looked miles to the rear and saw the silvery highway diminish its breadth by

A spark appeared, close to the water, several miles down the river. The pilot took his glass and looked at it

"It can't be the Blue Wing. She couldn't pick us up this way. It's the Amaranth, sure!"

"Good! You want to stir your stumps, now, Harrythe Amaranth's just turned the pointand she's just

The pilot took hold of a rope that stretched out forward, jerked it twice, and two mellow strokes of the big

"No, I don't want the lead," said the pilot, "I want you. Roust out the old mantell him the Amaranth's

The "old man" was the captainhe is always called so, on steamboats and ships; "Jim" was the other pilot.

Within two minutes both of these men were flying up the pilothouse stairway, three steps at a jump. Jim was

"Don't appear to be any nighthawk on the jackstaffit's the Amaranth, dead sure!"

"Call the mate. Tell him to call all hands and get a lot of that sugar forrardput her ten inches by the head.

A riot of shouting and trampling floated up from below, presently, and the uneasy steering of the boat soon

The three men in the pilot house began to talk in short, sharp sentences, low and earnestly. As their

excitement rose, their voices went down. As fast as one of them put down the spyglass another took it

"A hundred and fortytwo, sir! But she's getting hotter and hotter all the time."

The boat was straining and groaning and quivering like a monster in pain. Both pilots were at work now, one

on each side of the wheel, with their coats and vests off, their bosoms and collars wide open and the

perspiration flowing down heir faces. They were holding the boat so close to the shore that the willows swept

The boat sprang away, from the bank like a deer, and darted in a long diagonal toward the other shore. She

closed in again and thrashed her fierce way along the willows as before. The captain put down the glass:

"Jim," said George, looking straight ahead, watching the slightest yawing of the boat and promptly meeting it

"Well, it'sit's taking chances. How was the cottonwood stump on the false point below Boardman's Island

"Well it's pretty close work. That gives six feet scant in the head of Murderer's Chute. We can just barely rub

through if we hit it exactly right. But it's worth trying. She don't dare tackle it!"meaning the Amaranth.

In another instant the Boreas plunged into what seemed a crooked creek, and the Amaranth's approaching

lights were shut out in a moment. Not a whisper was uttered, now, but the three men stared ahead into the

shadows and two of them spun the wheel back and forth with anxious watchfulness while the steamer tore

along. The chute seemed to come to an end every fifty yards, but always opened out in time. Now the head of

it was at hand. George tapped the big bell three times, two leadsmen sprang to their posts, and in a moment

their weird cries rose on the night air and were caught up and repeated by two men on the upper deck:

Davis pulled a couple of ropesthere was a jingling of small bells far below, the boat's speed slackened, and

Another jingling of little bells and the wheels ceased turning altogether. The whistling of the steam was

The, boat hesitated seemed to hold her breath, as did the captain and pilotsand then she began to fall away

The wheel flew to port so fast that the spokes blended into a spiderweb the swing of the boat

Powwowchow! The escapepipes belched snowy pillars of steam aloft, the boat ground and surged and

"And away she went, flying up the willow shore, with the whole silver sea of the Mississippi stretching

And just at that moment a red glare appeared in the head of the chute and the Amaranth came springing after

"I'll tell you what's the meaning of it. That hail we had at Napoleon was Wash Hastings, wanting to come to

Cairoand we didn't stop. He's in that pilot house, now, showing those mud turtles how to hunt for easy

"That's it! I thought it wasn't any slouch that was running that middle bar in Hogeye Bend. If it's Wash

Hastingswell, what he don't know about the river ain't worth knowinga regular goldleaf, kidglove,

diamond breastpin pilot Wash Hastings is. We won't take any tricks off of him, old man!"

The Amaranth was within three hundred yards of the Boreas, and still gaining. The "old man" spoke through

Soon the boat was plunging and quivering and screaming more madly than ever. But the Amaranth's head

"Break up the casks of bacon in the forrard hold! Pile it in! Levy on that turpentine in the fantaildrench

"A hundred and ninetysix and still aswelling!water, below the middle gaugecocks!carrying every

"Bully! Every time a nigger heaves a stick of wood into the furnace he goes out the chimney, with it!"

The Amaranth drew steadily up till her jackstaff breasted the Boreas's wheelhouseclimbed along inch

by inch till her chimneys breasted it crept along, further and further, till the boats were wheel to

wheeland then they, closed up with a heavy jolt and locked together tight and fast in the middle of the big

river under the flooding moonlight! A roar and a hurrah went up from the crowded decks of both

steamersall hands rushed to the guards to look and shout and gesticulatethe weight careened the vessels

over toward each otherofficers flew hither and thither cursing and storming, trying to drive the people

amidshipsboth captains were leaning over their railings shaking their fists, swearing and

threateningblack volumes of smoke rolled up and canopied the scene,delivering a rain of sparks upon

the vesselstwo pistol shots rang out, and both captains dodged unhurt and the packed masses of passengers

surged back and fell apart while the shrieks of women and children soared above the intolerable din

And then there was a booming roar, a thundering crash, and the riddled Amaranth dropped loose from her

Instantly the firedoors of the Boreas were thrown open and the men began dashing buckets of water into the

furnacesfor it would have been death and destruction to stop the engines with such a head of steam on.

As soon as possible the Boreas dropped down to the floating wreck and took off the dead, the wounded and

the unhurtat least all that could be got at, for the whole forward half of the boat was a shapeless ruin, with

the great chimneys lying crossed on top of it, and underneath were a dozen victims imprisoned alive and

wailing for help. While men with axes worked with might and main to free these poor fellows, the Boreas's

And now a new horror presented itself. The wreck took fire from the dismantled furnaces! Never did men

work with a heartier will than did those stalwart braves with the axes. But it was of no use. The fire ate its

way steadily, despising the bucket brigade that fought it. It scorched the clothes, it singed the hair of the

axemenit drove them back, foot by footinch by inchthey wavered, struck a final blow in the teeth of

the enemy, and surrendered. And as they fell back they heard prisoned voices saying:

"I am Henry Worley, striker of the Amaranth! My mother lives in St. Louis. Tell her a lie for a poor devil's

sake, please. Say I was killed in an instant and never knew what hurt methough God knows I've neither

scratch nor bruise this moment! It's hard to burn up in a coop like this with the whole wide world so near.

The Boreas stood away out of danger, and the ruined steamer went drifting down the stream an island of

wreathing and climbing flame that vomited clouds of smoke from time to time, and glared more fiercely and

sent its luminous tongues higher and higher after each emission. A shriek at intervals told of a captive that

had met his doom. The wreck lodged upon a sandbar, and when the Boreas turned the next point on her

When the boys came down into the main saloon of the Boreas, they saw a pitiful sight and heard a world of

pitiful sounds. Eleven poor creatures lay dead and forty more lay moaning, or pleading or screaming, while a

score of Good Samaritans moved among them doing what they could to relieve their sufferings; bathing their

chinless faces and bodies with linseed oil and lime water and covering the places with bulging masses of raw

A little wee French midshipman of fourteen lay fearfully injured, but never uttered a sound till a physician of

"Help those that can get well! It is, not for me to be a girl. I carry the blood of eleven generations of soldiers

The physicianhimself a man who had seen service in the navy in his timetouched his hat to this little

The head engineer of the Amaranth, a grand specimen of physical manhood, struggled to his feet a ghastly

spectacle and strode toward his brother, the second engineer, who was unhurt. He said:

"You were on watch. You were boss. You would not listen to me when I begged you to reduce your steam.

Take that!take it to my wife and tell her it comes from me by the hand of my murderer! Take itand take

my curse with it to blister your heart a hundred yearsand may you live so long!"

And he tore a ring from his finger, stripping flesh and skin with it, threw it down and fell dead!

But these things must not be dwelt upon. The Boreas landed her dreadful cargo at the next large town and

delivered it over to a multitude of eager hands and warm southern heartsa cargo amounting by this time to

39 wounded persons and 22 dead bodies. And with these she delivered a list of 96 missing persons that had

A jury of inquest was impaneled, and after due deliberation and inquiry they returned the inevitable American

verdict which has been so familiar to our ears all the days of our lives"NOBODY TO BLAME."

**[The incidents of the explosion are not invented. They happened just as they are told.The Authors.]

When the Boreas backed away from the land to continue her voyage up the river, the Hawkinses were richer

by twentyfour hours of experience in the contemplation of human suffering and in learning through honest

hard work how to relieve it. And they were richer in another way also. In the early turmoil an hour after the

explosion, a little blackeyed girl of five years, frightened and crying bitterly, was struggling through the

throng in the Boreas' saloon calling her mother and father, but no one answered. Something in the face of Mr.

Hawkins attracted her and she came and looked up at him; was satisfied, and took refuge with him. He petted

her, listened to her troubles, and said he would find her friends for her. Then he put her in a stateroom with

his children and told them to be kind to her (the adults of his party were all busy with the wounded) and

It was fruitless. But all day he and his wife made inquiries, and hoped against hope. All that they could learn

was that the child and her parents came on board at New Orleans, where they had just arrived in a vessel from

Cuba; that they looked like people from the Atlantic States; that the family name was Van Brunt and the

child's name Laura. This was all. The parents had not been seen since the explosion. The child's manners

were those of a little lady, and her clothes were daintier and finer than any Mrs. Hawkins had ever seen

As the hours dragged on the child lost heart, and cried so piteously for her mother that it seemed to the

Hawkinses that the moanings and the wailings of the mutilated men and women in the saloon did not so

strain at their heartstrings as the sufferings of this little desolate creature. They tried hard to comfort her;

and in trying, learned to love her; they could not help it, seeing how she clung, to them and put her arms

about their necks and foundno solace but in their kind eyes and comforting words: There was a question in

both their heartsa question that rose up and asserted itself with more and more pertinacity as the hours

wore onbut both hesitated to give it voiceboth kept silence andwaited. But a time came at last

when the matter would bear delay no longer. The boat had landed, and the dead and the wounded were being

conveyed to the shore. The tired child was asleep in the arms of Mrs. Hawkins. Mr. Hawkins came into their

presence and stood without speaking. His eyes met his wife's; then both looked at the childand as they

looked it stirred in its sleep and nestled closer; an expression of contentment and peace settled upon its face

that touched the mother heart; and when the eyes of husband and wife met again, the question was asked

When the Boreas had journeyed some four hundred miles from the time the Hawkinses joined her, a long

rank of steamboats was sighted, packed side by side at a wharf like sardines, in a box, and above and beyond

them rose the domes and steeples and general architectural confusion of a citya city with an imposing

umbrella of black smoke spread over it. This was St. Louis. The children of the Hawkins family were playing

about the hurricane deck, and the father and mother were sitting in the lee of the pilot house essaying to keep

"My own sentiments every time. It is true we are not richbut still you are not sorryyou haven't any

"Not for anything in the world. I love them just the same as I love my own: They pet me and spoil me even

"Oh yes, it will all come out right, old mother. I wouldn't be afraid to adopt a thousand children if I wanted

to, for there's that Tennessee Land, you knowenough to make an army of them rich. A whole army, Nancy!

You and I will never see the day, but these little chaps will. Indeed they will. One of these days it will be the

rich Miss Emily Hawkinsand the wealthy Miss Laura Van Brunt Hawkinsand the Hon. George

Washington Hawkins, millionaireand Gov. Henry Clay Hawkins, millionaire! That is the way the world

will word it! Don't let's ever fret about the children, Nancynever in the world. They're all right. Nancy,

The children had stopped playing, for the moment, and drawn near to listen. Hawkins said:

"Washington, my boy, what will you do when you get to be one of the richest men in the world?"

"I don't know, father. Sometimes I think I'll have a balloon and go up in the air; and sometimes I think I'll

have ever so many books; and sometimes I think I'll have ever so many weathercocks and waterwheels; or

have a machine like that one you and Colonel Sellers bought; and sometimes I think I'll havewell,

"The same old chap!always just a little bit divided about things.And what will you do when you get to

"I don't know, sir. My mothermy other mother that's gone awayshe always told me to work along and

not be much expecting to get rich, and then I wouldn't be disappointed if I didn't get rich. And so I reckon it's

better for me to wait till I get rich, and then by that time maybe I'll know what I'll wantbut I don't now,

"Careful old head!Governor Henry Clay Hawkins!that's what you'll be, Clay, one of these days. Wise

old head! weighty old head! Go on, now, and playall of you. It's a prime lot, Nancy; as the Obedstown folk

A smaller steamboat received the Hawkinses and their fortunes, and bore them a hundred and thirty miles still

higher up the Mississippi, and landed them at a little tumbledown village on the Missouri shore in the

The next morning they harnessed up their team and for two days they wended slowly into the interior through

almost roadless and uninhabited forest solitudes. And when for the last time they pitched their tents,

By the muddy roadside stood a new log cabin, one story highthe store; clustered in the neighborhood were

In the sad light of the departing day the place looked homeless enough. Two or three coatless young men sat

in front of the store on a drygoods box, and whittled it with their knives, kicked it with their vast boots, and

shot tobaccojuice at various marks. Several ragged negroes leaned comfortably against the posts of the

awning and contemplated the arrival of the wayfarers with lazy curiosity. All these people presently managed

to drag themselves to the vicinity of the Hawkins' wagon, and there they took up permanent positions, hands

in pockets and resting on one leg; and thus anchored they proceeded to look and enjoy. Vagrant dogs came

wagging around and making inquiries of Hawkins's dog, which were not satisfactory and they made war on

him in concert. This would have interested the citizens but it was too many on one to amount to anything as a

fight, and so they commanded the peace and the foreign dog coiled his tail and took sanctuary under the

wagon. Slatternly negro girls and women slouched along with pails deftly balanced on their heads, and joined

the group and stared. Little half dressed white boys, and little negro boys with nothing whatever on but

towlinen shirts with a fine southern exposure, came from various directions and stood with their hands

locked together behind them and aided in the inspection. The rest of the population were laying down their

employments and getting ready to come, when a man burst through the assemblage and seized the

newcomers by the hands in a frenzy of welcome, and exclaimedindeed almost shouted:

"Well who could have believed it! Now is it you sure enoughturn around! hold up your heads! I want to

look at you good! Well, well, well, it does seem most too good to be true, I declare! Lord, I'm so glad to see

you! Does a body's whole soul good to look at you! Shake hands again! Keep on shaking hands! Goodness

gracious alive. What will my wife say?Oh yes indeed, it's so!married only last weeklovely, perfectly

lovely creature, the noblest woman that everyou'll like her, Nancy! Like her? Lord bless me you'll love

heryou'll dote on her you'll be twins! Well, well, well, let me look at you again! Same old why bless

my life it was only jest this very morning that my wife says, 'Colonel'she will call me Colonel spite of

everything I can doshe says 'Colonel, something tells me somebody's coming!' and sure enough here you

are, the last people on earth a body could have expected. Why she'll think she's a prophetessand hanged if I

don't think so too and you know there ain't any, country but what a prophet's an honor to, as the proverb

says. Lord bless me and here's the children, too! Washington, Emily, don't you know me? Come, give us a

kiss. Won't I fix you, though!ponies, cows, dogs, everything you can think of that'll delight a child's

heartand Why how's this? Little strangers? Well you won't be any strangers here, I can tell you. Bless

your souls we'll make you think you never was at home before'deed and 'deed we will, I can tell you!

Come, now, bundle right along with me. You can't glorify any hearth stone but mine in this camp, you

knowcan't eat anybody's bread but minecan't do anything but just make yourselves perfectly at home

and comfortable, and spread yourselves out and rest! You hear me! HereJim, Tom, Pete, Jake, fly around!

Take that team to my placeput the wagon in my lotput the horses under the shed, and get out hay and

oats and fill them up! Ain't any hay and oats? Well get somehave it charged to mecome, spin around,

now! Now, Hawkins, the procession's ready; mark time, by the left flank, forwardmarch!"

And the Colonel took the lead, with Laura astride his neck, and the newlyinspired and very grateful

immigrants picked up their tired limbs with quite a spring in them and dropped into his wake.

Presently they were ranged about an oldtime fireplace whose blazing logs sent out rather an unnecessary

amount of heat, but that was no mattersupper was needed, and to have it, it had to be cooked. This

apartment was the family bedroom, parlor, library and kitchen, all in one. The matronly little wife of the

Colonel moved hither and thither and in and out with her pots and pans in her hands', happiness in her heart

and a world of admiration of her husband in her eyes. And when at last she had spread the cloth and loaded it

with hot corn bread, fried chickens, bacon, buttermilk, coffee, and all manner of country luxuries, Col. Sellers

modified his harangue and for a moment throttled it down to the orthodox pitch for a blessing, and then

instantly burst forth again as from a parenthesis and clattered on with might and main till every stomach in

the party was laden with all it could carry. And when the newcomers ascended the ladder to their

comfortable feather beds on the second floorto wit the garretMrs. Hawkins was obliged to say:

"Hang the fellow, I do believe he has gone wilder than ever, but still a body can't help liking him if they

wouldand what is more, they don't ever want to try when they see his eyes and hear him talk."

Within a week or two the Hawkinses were comfortably domiciled in a new log house, and were beginning to

feel at home. The children were put to school; at least it was what passed for a school in those days: a place

where tender young humanity devoted itself for eight or ten hours a day to learning incomprehensible rubbish

by heart out of books and reciting it by rote, like parrots; so that a finished education consisted simply of a

permanent headache and the ability to read without stopping to spell the words or take breath. Hawkins

bought out the village store for a song and proceeded to reap the profits, which amounted to but little more

The wonderful speculation hinted at by Col. Sellers in his letter turned out to be the raising of mules for the

Southern market; and really it promised very well. The young stock cost but a trifle, the rearing but another

trifle, and so Hawkins was easily persuaded to embark his slender means in the enterprise and turn over the

All went well: Business prospered little by little. Hawkins even built a new house, made it two full stories

high and put a lightning rod on it. People came two or three miles to look at it. But they knew that the rod

attracted the lightning, and so they gave the place a wide berth in a storm, for they were familiar with

marksmanship and doubted if the lightning could hit that small stick at a distance of a mile and a half oftener

than once in a hundred and fifty times. Hawkins fitted out his house with "store" furniture from St. Louis, and

the fame of its magnificence went abroad in the land. Even the parlor carpet was from St. Louisthough the

other rooms were clothed in the "rag" carpeting of the country. Hawkins put up the first "paling" fence that

had ever adorned the village; and he did not stop there, but whitewashed it. His oilcloth windowcurtains

had noble pictures on them of castles such as had never been seen anywhere in the world but on

windowcurtains. Hawkins enjoyed the admiration these prodigies compelled, but he always smiled to think

how poor and, cheap they were, compared to what the Hawkins mansion would display in a future day after

the Tennessee Land should have borne its minted fruit. Even Washington observed, once, that when the

Tennessee Land was sold he would have a "store" carpet in his and Clay's room like the one in the parlor.

This pleased Hawkins, but it troubled his wife. It did not seem wise, to her, to put one's entire earthly trust in

Hawkins took a weekly Philadelphia newspaper and a semiweekly St. Louis journalalmost the only

papers that came to the village, though Godey's Lady's Book found a good market there and was regarded as

the perfection of polite literature by some of the ablest critics in the place. Perhaps it is only fair to explain

that we are writing of a by gone agesome twenty or thirty years ago. In the two newspapers referred to lay

the secret of Hawkins's growing prosperity. They kept him informed of the condition of the crops south and

east, and thus he knew which articles were likely to be in demand and which articles were likely to be

unsalable, weeks and even months in advance of the simple folk about him. As the months went by he came

to be regarded as a wonderfully lucky man. It did not occur to the citizens that brains were at the bottom of

His title of "Squire" came into vogue again, but only for a season; for, as his wealth and popularity

augmented, that title, by imperceptible stages, grew up into "Judge;" indeed' it bade fair to swell into

"General" bye and bye. All strangers of consequence who visited the village gravitated to the Hawkins

Hawkins had learned to like the people of his section very much. They were uncouth and not cultivated, and

not particularly industrious; but they were honest and straightforward, and their virtuous ways commanded

respect. Their patriotism was strong, their pride in the flag was of the old fashioned pattern, their love of

country amounted to idolatry. Whoever dragged the national honor in the dirt won their deathless hatred.

They still cursed Benedict Arnold as if he were a personal friend who had broken faithbut a week gone by.

Judge Hawkins and Col. Sellers have made and lost two or three moderate fortunes in the meantime and are

now pinched by poverty. Sellers has two pairs of twins and four extras. In Hawkins's family are six children

of his own and two adopted ones. From time to time, as fortune smiled, the elder children got the benefit of it,

spending the lucky seasons at excellent schools in St. Louis and the unlucky ones at home in the chafing

Neither the Hawkins children nor the world that knew them ever supposed that one of the girls was of alien

blood and parentage: Such difference as existed between Laura and Emily is not uncommon in a family. The

girls had grown up as sisters, and they were both too young at the time of the fearful accident on the

And yet any one who had known the secret of Laura's birth and had seen her during these passing years, say

at the happy age of twelve or thirteen, would have fancied that he knew the reason why she was more

Philosophers dispute whether it is the promise of what she will be in the careless schoolgirl, that makes her

attractive, the undeveloped maidenhood, or the mere natural, careless sweetness of childhood. If Laura at

twelve was beginning to be a beauty, the thought of it had never entered her head. No, indeed. Her mind wad

filled with more important thoughts. To her simple schoolgirl dress she was beginning to add those

mysterious little adornments of ribbonknots and earrings, which were the subject of earnest consultations

When she tripped down the street on a summer's day with her dainty hands propped into the

ribbonbroidered pockets of her apron, and elbows consequently more or less akimbo with her wide Leghorn

hat flapping down and hiding her face one moment and blowing straight up against her fore head the next and

making its revealment of fresh young beauty; with all her pretty girlish airs and graces in full play, and that

sweet ignorance of care and that atmosphere of innocence and purity all about her that belong to her gracious

time of life, indeed she was a vision to warm the coldest heart and bless and cheer the saddest.

Willful, generous, forgiving, imperious, affectionate, improvident, bewitching, in shortwas Laura at this

period. Could she have remained there, this history would not need to be written. But Laura had grown to be

almost a woman in these few years, to the end of which we have now comeyears which had seen Judge

When the judge's first bankruptcy came upon him, a homely human angel intruded upon him with an offer of

$1,500 for the Tennessee Land. Mrs. Hawkins said take it. It was a grievous temptation, but the judge

withstood it. He said the land was for the childrenhe could not rob them of their future millions for so

paltry a sum. When the second blight fell upon him, another angel appeared and offered $3,000 for the land.

He was in such deep distress that he allowed his wife to persuade him to let the papers be drawn; but when

his children came into his presence in their poor apparel, he felt like a traitor and refused to sign.

But now he was down again, and deeper in the mire than ever. He paced the floor all day, he scarcely slept at

night. He blushed even to acknowledge it to himself, but treason was in his mindhe was meditating, at last,

the sale of the land. Mrs. Hawkins stepped into the room. He had not spoken a word, but he felt as guilty as if

"Si, I do not know what we are going to do. The children are not fit to be seen, their clothes are in such a

state. But there's something more serious still. There is scarcely a bite in the house to eat"

"Johnson indeed! You took that man's part when he hadn't a friend in the world, and you built him up and

made him rich. And here's the result of it: He lives in our fine house, and we live in his miserable log cabin.

He has hinted to our children that he would rather they wouldn't come about his yard to play with his

children,which I can bear, and bear easy enough, for they're not a sort we want to associate with

muchbut what I can't bear with any quietness at all, is his telling Franky our bill was running pretty high

this morning when I sent him for some meal and that was all he said, toodidn't give him the

mealturned off and went to talking with the Hargrave girls about some stuff they wanted to cheapen."

"And so it is, I warrant you. I've kept still, Si, as long as ever I could. Things have been getting worse and

worse, and worse and worse, every single day; I don't go out of the house, I feel so down; but you had trouble

enough, and I wouldn't say a wordand I wouldn't say a word now, only things have got so bad that I don't

know what to do, nor where to turn." And she gave way and put her face in her hands and cried.

"Poor child, don't grieve so. I never thought that of Johnson. I am clear at my wit's end. I don't know what in

the world to do. Now if somebody would come along and offer $3,000Uh, if somebody only would come

Mrs. Hawkins was out of the room in a moment. Within a minute she was back again with a

businesslooking stranger, whom she seated, and then she took her leave again. Hawkins said to himself, "

How can a man ever lose faith? When the blackest hour comes, Providence always comes with itah, this is

the very timeliest help that ever poor harried devil had; if this blessed man offers but a thousand I'll embrace

"I am aware that you own 75,000 acres, of land in East Tennessee, and without sacrificing your time, I will

come to the point at once. I am agent of an iron manufacturing company, and they empower me to offer you

Hawkins's heart bounded within him. His whole frame was racked and wrenched with fettered hurrahs. His

But a something flitted through his mind, and his opened lips uttered nothing. The enthusiasm faded away

from his eyes, and the look of a man who is thinking took its place. Presently, in a hesitating, undecided way,

"Well, Iit don't seem quite enough. Thatthat is a very valuable propertyvery valuable. It's brim full of

ironore, sirbrim full of it! And copper, coal,everythingeverything you can think of! Now, I'll tell

you what I'll, do. I'll reserve everything except the iron, and I'll sell them the iron property for $15,000 cash, I

to go in with them and own an undivided interest of onehalf the concernor the stock, as you may say. I'm

out of business, and I'd just as soon help run the thing as not. Now how does that strike you?"

"Well, I am only an agent of these people, who are friends of mine, and I am not even paid for my services.

To tell you the truth, I have tried to persuade them not to go into the thing; and I have come square out with

their offer, without throwing out any feelersand I did it in the hope that you would refuse. A man pretty

much always refuses another man's first offer, no matter what it is. But I have performed my duty, and will

Hawkins thought again. And the substance of his thought was: "This is a deep man; this is a very deep man; I

don't like his candor; your ostentatiously candid business man's a deep foxalways a deep fox; this man's

that iron company himselfthat's what he is; he wants that property, too; I am not so blind but I can see that;

he don't want the company to go into this thing O, that's very good; yes, that's very good indeedstuff!

he'll be back here tomorrow, sure, and take my offer; take it? I'll risk anything he is suffering to take it now;

hereI must mind what I'm about. What has started this sudden excitement about iron? I wonder what is in

the wind? just as sure as I'm alive this moment, there's something tremendous stirring in iron speculation"

[here Hawkins got up and began to pace the floor with excited eyes and with gesturing hands]"something

enormous going on in iron, without the shadow of a doubt, and here I sit mousing in the dark and never

knowing anything about it; great heaven, what an escape I've made! this underhanded mercenary creature

might have taken me upand ruined me! but I have escaped, and I warrant me I'll not put my foot into

"I have made you a proposition, you have not accepted it, and I desire that you will consider that I have made

none. At the same time my conscience will not allow me to. Please alter the figures I named to thirty

thousand dollars, if you will, and let the proposition go to the companyI will stick to it if it breaks my

heart!" The stranger looked amused, and there was a pretty well defined touch of surprise in his expression,

too, but Hawkins never noticed it. Indeed he scarcely noticed anything or knew what he was about. The man

left; Hawkins flung himself into a chair; thought a few moments, then glanced around, looked frightened,

Too latetoo late! He's gone! Fool that I am! always a fool! Thirty thousandass that I am! Oh, why didn't I

He plunged his hands into his hair and leaned his elbows on his knees, and fell to rocking himself back and

"Tell me, tell me, tell me! Don't keep a body in such suspense. Didn't he buy, after all? Didn't he make an

"Thank the good providence from the very bottom of my heart of hearts! What sort of ruin do you call that,

"Nancy, do you suppose I listened to such a preposterous proposition? No! Thank fortune I'm not a

simpleton! I saw through the pretty scheme in a second. It's a vast iron speculation!millions upon millions

in it! But fool as I am I told him he could have half the iron property for thirty thousandand if I only had

him back here he couldn't touch it for a cent less than a quarter of a million!"

"You threw away this chance, you let this man go, and we in this awful trouble? You don't mean it, you can't

"Throw it away? Catch me at it! Why woman, do you suppose that man don't know what he is about? Bless

"Never, never, never. He never will comeback. I don't know what is to become of us. I don't know what in the

"Believe it, indeed? I know it, Si. And I know that we haven't a cent in the world, and we've sent ten thousand

"Nancy, you frighten me. Now could that manis it possible that I hanged if I don't believe I have missed

a chance! Don't grieve, Nancy, don't grieve. I'll go right after him. I'll takeI'll takewhat a fool I am!I'll

The next instant he left the house on a run. But the man was no longer in the town. Nobody knew where he

belonged or whither he had gone. Hawkins came slowly back, watching wistfully but hopelessly for the

stranger, and lowering his price steadily with his sinking heart. And when his foot finally pressed his own

threshold, the value he held the entire Tennessee property at was five hundred dollarstwo hundred down

There was a sad gathering at the Hawkins fireside the next night. All the children were present but Clay. Mr.

"Washington, we seem to be hopelessly fallen, hopelessly involved. I am ready to give up. I do not know

where to turnI never have been down so low before, I never have seen things so dismal. There are many

mouths to feed; Clay is at work; we must lose you, also, for a little while, my boy. But it will not be

He stopped, and was conscious of a blush. There was silence for a moment, and then Washingtonnow a

"If Col. Sellers would come for me, I would go and stay with him a while, till the Tennessee land is sold. He

"I'm afraid he can't well come for you, Washington. From what I can hearnot from him of course, but from

othershe is not far from as bad off as we areand his family is as large, too. He might find something for

you to do, maybe, but you'd better try to get to him yourself, Washingtonit's only thirty miles."

"And if there were, stages require money. A stage goes from Swansea, five miles from here. But it would be

"Father, they must know you there, and no doubt they would credit you in a moment, for a little stage ride

"Couldn't you, Washingtonseeing it's you that wants the ride? And what do you think you'll do,

Washington, when you get to Hawkeye? Finish your invention for making windowglass opaque?"

"No, sir, I have given that up. I almost knew I could do it, but it was so tedious and troublesome I quit it."

"I was afraid of it, my boy. Then I suppose you'll finish your plan of coloring hen's eggs by feeding a peculiar

"No, sir. I believe I have found out the stuff that will do it, but it kills the hen; so I have dropped that for the

present, though I can take it up again some day when I learn how to manage the mixture better."

"Yes, sir, three or four things. I think they are all good and can all be done, but they are tiresome, and besides

Yes, sir. If you are willing, I will go to St. Louis. That will make another mouth less to feed. Mrs. Buckner

"Why I think she would send it, if you would write herand I know she would wait for her pay till"

Emily and Laura were about the same agebetween seventeen and eighteen. Emily was fair and pretty,

girlish and diffidentblue eyes and light hair. Laura had a proud bearing, and a somewhat mature look; she

had fine, cleancut features, her complexion was pure white and contrasted vividly with her black hair and

"I will go to St. Louis, too, sir. I will find a way to get there. I will make a way. And I will find a way to help

She spoke it like a princess. Mrs. Hawkins smiled proudly and kissed her, saying in a tone of fond reproof:

"So one of my girls is going to turn out and work for her living! It's like your pluck and spirit, child, but we

The girl's eyes beamed affection under her mother's caress. Then she straightened up, folded her white hands

in her lap and became a splendid iceberg. Clay's dog put up his brown nose for a little attention, and got it.

He retired under the table with an apologetic yelp, which did not affect the iceberg.

Judge Hawkins had written and asked Clay to return home and consult with him upon family affairs. He

arrived the evening after this conversation, and the whole household gave him a rapturous welcome. He

brought sadly needed help with him, consisting of the savings of a year and a half of worknearly two

It was a ray of sunshine which (to this easy household) was the earnest of a clearing sky.

Bright and early in the morning the family were astir, and all were busy preparing Washington for his

journeyat least all but Washington himself, who sat apart, steeped in a reverie. When the time for his

departure came, it was easy to see how fondly all loved him and how hard it was to let him go,

notwithstanding they had often seen him go before, in his St. Louis schooling days. In the most

matterofcourse way they had borne the burden of getting him ready for his trip, never seeming to think of

his helping in the matter; in the same matterofcourse way Clay had hired a horse and cart; and now that the

goodbyes were ended he bundled Washington's baggage in and drove away with the exile.

At Swansea Clay paid his stage fare, stowed him away in the vehicle, and saw him off. Then he returned

Clay remained at home several days. He held many consultations with his mother upon the financial

condition of the family, and talked once with his father upon the same subject, but only once. He found a

change in that quarter which was distressing; years of fluctuating fortune had done their work; each reverse

had weakened the father's spirit and impaired his energies; his last misfortune seemed to have left hope and

ambition dead within him; he had no projects, formed no plansevidently he was a vanquished man. He

looked worn and tired. He inquired into Clay's affairs and prospects, and when he found that Clay was doing

pretty well and was likely to do still better, it was plain that he resigned himself with easy facility to look to

the son for a support; and he said, "Keep yourself informed of poor Washington's condition and movements,

The younger children, also, seemed relieved of all fears and distresses, and very ready and willing to look to

Clay for a livelihood. Within three days a general tranquility and satisfaction reigned in the household. Clay's

hundred and eighty or ninety, dollars had worked a wonder. The family were as contented, now, and as free

from care as they could have been with a fortune. It was well that Mrs. Hawkins held the purse otherwise the

It took but a trifle to pay Hawkins's outstanding obligations, for he had always had a horror of debt.

When Clay bade his home goodbye and set out to return to the field of his labors, he was conscious that

henceforth he was to have his father's family on his hands as pensioners; but he did not allow himself to chafe

at the thought, for he reasoned that his father had dealt by him with a free hand and a loving one all his life,

and now that hard fortune had broken his spirit it ought to be a pleasure, not a pain, to work for him. The

younger children were born and educated dependents. They had never been taught to do anything for

The girls would not have been permitted to work for a living under any circumstances whatever. It was a

southern family, and of good blood; and for any person except Laura, either within or without the household

to have suggested such an idea would have brought upon the suggester the suspicion of being a lunatic.

Bearing Washington Hawkins and his fortunes, the stagecoach tore out of Swansea at a fearful gait, with

horn tooting gaily and half the town admiring from doors and windows. But it did not tear any more after it

got to the outskirts; it dragged along stupidly enough, thentill it came in sight of the next hamlet; and then

the bugle tooted gaily again and again the vehicle went tearing by the horses. This sort of conduct marked

every entry to a station and every exit from it; and so in those days children grew up with the idea that

stagecoaches always tore and always tooted; but they also grew up with the idea that pirates went into action

in their Sunday clothes, carrying the black flag in one hand and pistolling people with the other, merely

because they were so represented in the picturesbut these illusions vanished when later years brought their

disenchanting wisdom. They learned then that the stagecoach is but a poor, plodding, vulgar thing in the

solitudes of the highway; and that the pirate is only a seedy, unfantastic "rough," when he is out of the

Toward evening, the stagecoach came thundering into Hawkeye with a perfectly triumphant

ostentationwhich was natural and proper, for Hawkey a was a pretty large town for interior Missouri.

Washington, very stiff and tired and hungry, climbed out, and wondered how he was to proceed now. But his

difficulty was quickly solved. Col. Sellers came down the street on a run and arrived panting for breath. He

"Lord bless youI'm glad to see you, Washingtonperfectly delighted to see you, my boy! I got your

message. Been on the lookout for you. Heard the stage horn, but had a party I couldn't shake offman

that's got an enormous thing on handwants me to put some capital into itand I tell you, my boy, I could

do worse, I could do a deal worse. No, now, let that luggage alone; I'll fix that. Here, Jerry, got anything to

do? All rightshoulder this plunder and follow me. Come along, Washington. Lord I'm glad to see you! Wife

and the children are just perishing to look at you. Bless you, they won't know you, you've grown so. Folks all

well, I suppose? That's goodglad to hear that. We're always going to run down and see them, but I'm into

so many operations, and they're not things a man feels like trusting to other people, and so somehow we keep

putting it off. Fortunes in them! Good gracious, it's the country to pile up wealth in! Here we arehere's

where the Sellers dynasty hangs out. Hump it on the doorstep, Jerrythe blackest niggro in the State,

Washington, but got a good heartmighty likely boy, is Jerry. And now I suppose you've got to have ten

cents, Jerry. That's all rightwhen a man works for mewhen a manin the other pocket, I

reckonwhen a man why, where the mischief as that portmonnaie!when awell now that's oddOh,

now I remember, must have left it at the bank; and b'George I've left my checkbook, tooPolly says I

ought to have a nursewell, no matter. Let me have a dime, Washington, if you've gotah, thanks. Now

clear out, Jerry, your complexion has brought on the twilight half an hour ahead of time. Pretty fair

jokepretty fair. Here he is, Polly! Washington's come, children! come now, don't eat him upfinish him

in the house. Welcome, my boy, to a mansion that is proud to shelter the son of the best man that walks on

the ground. Si Hawkins has been a good friend to me, and I believe I can say that whenever I've had a chance

to put him into a good thing I've done it, and done it pretty cheerfully, too. I put him into that sugar

True enough; but holding on too long had utterly ruined both of them; and the saddest part of it was, that they

never had had so much money to lose before, for Sellers's sale of their mule crop that year in New Orleans

had been a great financial success. If he had kept out of sugar and gone back home content to stick to mules it

would have been a happy wisdom. As it was, he managed to kill two birds with one stonethat is to say, he

killed the sugar speculation by holding for high rates till he had to sell at the bottom figure, and that calamity

killed the mule that laid the golden eggwhich is but a figurative expression and will be so understood.

Sellers had returned home cheerful but emptyhanded, and the mule business lapsed into other hands. The

sale of the Hawkins property by the Sheriff had followed, and the Hawkins hearts been torn to see Uncle

Dan'l and his wife pass from the auctionblock into the hands of a negro trader and depart for the remote

South to be seen no more by the family. It had seemed like seeing their own flesh and blood sold into

Washington was greatly pleased with the Sellers mansion. It was a two storyandahalf brick, and much

more stylish than any of its neighbors. He was borne to the family sitting room in triumph by the swarm of

little Sellerses, the parents following with their arms about each other's waists.

The whole family were poorly and cheaply dressed; and the clothing, although neat and clean, showed many

evidences of having seen long service. The Colonel's "stovepipe" hat was napless and shiny with much

polishing, but nevertheless it had an almost convincing expression about it of having been just purchased

new. The rest of his clothing was napless and shiny, too, but it had the air of being entirely satisfied with

itself and blandly sorry for other people's clothes. It was growing rather dark in the house, and the evening air

"Lay off your overcoat, Washington, and draw up to the stove and make yourself at homejust consider

yourself under your own shingles my boy I'll have a fire going, in a jiffy. Light the lamp, Polly, dear, and

let's have things cheerful just as glad to see you, Washington, as if you'd been lost a century and we'd found

By this time the Colonel was conveying a lighted match into a poor little stove. Then he propped the stove

door to its place by leaning the poker against it, for the hinges had retired from business. This door framed a

small square of isinglass, which now warmed up with a faint glow. Mrs. Sellers lit a cheap, showy lamp,

which dissipated a good deal of the gloom, and then everybody gathered into the light and took the stove into

The children climbed all over Sellers, fondled him, petted him, and were lavishly petted in return. Out from

this tugging, laughing, chattering disguise of legs and arms and little faces, the Colonel's voice worked its

way and his tireless tongue ran blithely on without interruption; and the purring little wife, diligent with her

knitting, sat near at hand and looked happy and proud and grateful; and she listened as one who listens to

oracles and, gospels and whose grateful soul is being refreshed with the bread of life. Bye and bye the

children quieted down to listen; clustered about their father, and resting their elbows on his legs, they hung

A dreary old haircloth sofa against the wall; a few damaged chairs; the small table the lamp stood on; the

crippled stovethese things constituted the furniture of the room. There was no carpet on the floor; on the

wall were occasional squareshaped interruptions of the general tint of the plaster which betrayed that there

used to be pictures in the housebut there were none now. There were no mantel ornaments, unless one

might bring himself to regard as an ornament a clock which never came within fifteen strokes of striking the

right time, and whose hands always hitched together at twentytwo minutes past anything and traveled in

"Remarkable clock!" said Sellers, and got up and wound it. "I've been offeredwell, I wouldn't expect you

to believe what I've been offered for that clock. Old Gov. Hager never sees me but he says, 'Come, now,

Colonel, name your priceI must have that clock!' But my goodness I'd as soon think of selling my wife. As

I was saying to silence in the court, now, she's begun to strike! You can't talk against heryou have to

just be patient and hold up till she's said her say. Ah well, as I was saying, whenshe's beginning again!

Nineteen, twenty, twentyone, twentytwo, twen ah, that's all.Yes, as I was saying to old Judge

go it, old girl, don't mind me.Now how is that? isn't that a good, spirited tone? She can wake the

dead! Sleep? Why you might as well try to sleep in a thunderfactory. Now just listen at that. She'll strike a

hundred and fifty, now, without stopping,you'll see. There ain't another clock like that in Christendom."

Washington hoped that this might be true, for the din was distracting though the family, one and all,

seemed filled with joy; and the more the clock "buckled down to her work" as the Colonel expressed it, and

the more insupportable the clatter became, the more enchanted they all appeared to be. When there was

silence, Mrs Sellers lifted upon Washington a face that beamed with a childlike pride, and said:

The look and the tone were a plain call for admiring surprise, and therefore Washington said (it was the only

"Yes, it did, didn't it father!" exclaimed one of the twins. "She was my greatgrandmotherand George's

too; wasn't she, father! You never saw her, but Sis has seen her, when Sis was a babydidn't you, Sis! Sis has

seen her most a hundred times. She was awful deefshe's dead, now. Aint she, father!"

All the children chimed in, now, with one general Babel of information about deceasednobody offering to

read the riot act or seeming to discountenance the insurrection or disapprove of it in any waybut the head

"It's our clock, nowand it's ,got wheels inside of it, and a thing that flatters every time she strikesdon't it,

father! Greatgrandmother died before hardly any of us was bornshe was an OldSchool Baptist and had

warts all over heryou ask father if she didn't. She had an uncle once that was baldheaded and used to have

fits; he wasn't our uncle, I don't know what he was to ussome kin or another I reckonfather's seen him a

thousand timeshain't you, father! We used to have a calf that et apples and just chawed up dishrags like

nothing, and if you stay here you'll see lots of funeralswon't he, Sis! Did you ever see a house afire? I

But Sellers began to speak now, and the storm ceased. He began to tell about an enormous speculation he was

thinking of embarking some capital ina speculation which some London bankers had been over to consult

with him aboutand soon he was building glittering pyramids of coin, and Washington was presently

growing opulent under the magic of his eloquence. But at the same time Washington was not able to ignore

the cold entirely. He was nearly as close to the stove as he could get, and yet he could not persuade himself,

that he felt the slightest heat, notwithstanding the isinglass' door was still gently and serenely glowing. He

tried to get a trifle closer to the stove, and the consequence was, he tripped the supporting poker and the

stovedoor tumbled to the floor. And then there was a revelationthere was nothing in the stove but a

lighted tallowcandle! The poor youth blushed and felt as if lie must die with shame. But the Colonel was

"A little idea of my own, Washingtonone of the greatest things in the world! You must write and tell your

father about itdon't forget that, now. I have been reading up some European Scientific reportsfriend of

mine, Count Fugier, sent them to mesends me all sorts of things from Parishe thinks the world of me,

Fugier does. Well, I saw that the Academy of France had been testing the properties of heat, and they came to

the conclusion that it was a nonconductor or something like that, and of course its influence must necessarily

be deadly in nervous organizations with excitable temperaments, especially where there is any tendency

toward rheumatic affections. Bless you I saw in a moment what was the matter with us, and says I, out goes

your fires! no more slow torture and certain death for me, sir. What you want is the appearance of heat, not

the heat itselfthat's the idea. Well how to do it was the next thing. I just put my head, to work, pegged

away, a couple of days, and here you are! Rheumatism? Why a man can't any more start a case of rheumatism

in this house than he can shake an opinion out of a mummy! Stove with a candle in it and a transparent

doorthat's itit has been the salvation of this family. Don't you fail to write your father about it,

Washington. And tell him the idea is mineI'm no more conceited than most people, I reckon, but you know

Washington said with his blue lips that he would, but he said in his secret heart that he would promote no

such iniquity. He tried to believe in the healthfulness of the invention, and succeeded tolerably well; but after

all he could not feel that good health in a frozen, body was any real improvement on the rheumatism.

The supper at Col. Sellers's was not sumptuous, in the beginning, but it improved on acquaintance. That is to

say, that what Washington regarded at first sight as mere lowly potatoes, presently became aweinspiring

agricultural productions that had been reared in some ducal garden beyond the sea, under the sacred eye of

the duke himself, who had sent them to Sellers; the bread was from corn which could be grown in only one

favored locality in the earth and only a favored few could get it; the Rio coffee, which at first seemed

execrable to the taste, took to itself an improved flavor when Washington was told to drink it slowly and not

hurry what should be a lingering luxury in order to be fully appreciatedit was from the private stores of a

Brazilian nobleman with an unrememberable name. The Colonel's tongue was a magician's wand that turned

dried apples into figs and water into wine as easily as it could change a hovel into a palace and present

Washington slept in a cold bed in a carpetless room and woke up in a palace in the morning; at least the

palace lingered during the moment that he was rubbing his eyes and getting his bearingsand then it

disappeared and he recognized that the Colonel's inspiring talk had been influencing his dreams. Fatigue had

made him sleep late; when he entered the sitting room he noticed that the old haircloth sofa was absent;

when he sat down to breakfast the Colonel tossed six or seven dollars in bills on the table, counted them over,

said he was a little short and must call upon his banker; then returned the bills to his wallet with the

indifferent air of a man who is used to money. The breakfast was not an improvement upon the supper, but

the Colonel talked it up and transformed it into an oriental feast. Bye and bye, he said:

"I intend to look out for you, Washington, my boy. I hunted up a place for you yesterday, but I am not

referring to that,nowthat is a mere livelihoodmere bread and butter; but when I say I mean to look out

for you I mean something very different. I mean to put things in your way than will make a mere livelihood a

trifling thing. I'll put you in a way to make more money than you'll ever know what to do with. You'll be right

here where I can put my hand on you when anything turns up. I've got some prodigious operations on foot;

but I'm keeping quiet; mum's the word; your old hand don't go around powwowing and letting everybody

see his k'yards and find out his little game. But all in good time, Washington, all in good time. You'll see.

Now there's an operation in corn that looks well. Some New York men are trying to get me to go into itbuy

up all the growing crops and just boss the market when they matureah I tell you it's a great thing. And it

only costs a trifle; two millions or two and a half will do it. I haven't exactly promised yetthere's no

hurrythe more indifferent I seem, you know, the more anxious those fellows will get. And then there is the

hog speculation that's bigger still. We've got quiet men at work," [he was very impressive here,] "mousing

around, to get propositions out of all the farmers in the whole west and northwest for the hog crop, and other

agents quietly getting propositions and terms out of all the manufactoriesand don't you see, if we can get

all the hogs and all the slaughter horses into our hands on the dead quietwhew! it would take three ships to

carry the money.I've looked into the thingcalculated all the chances for and all the chances against, and

though I shake my head and hesitate and keep on thinking, apparently, I've got my mind made up that if the

thing can be done on a capital of six millions, that's the horse to put up money on! Why Washingtonbut

what's the use of talking about itany man can see that there's whole Atlantic oceans of cash in it, gulfs and

Why Colonel, you can't want anything bigger!" said Washington, his eyes blazing. "Oh, I wish I could go into

either of those speculationsI only wish I had moneyI wish I wasn't cramped and kept down and fettered

with poverty, and such prodigious chances lying right here in sight! Oh, it is a fearful thing to be poor. But

don't throw away those things they are so splendid and I can see how sure they are. Don't throw them away

for something still better and maybe fail in it! I wouldn't, Colonel. I would stick to these. I wish father were

here and were his old self againOh, he never in his life had such chances as these are. Colonel; you can't

A sweet, compassionate smile played about the Colonel's features, and he leaned over the table with the air of

"Why Washington, my boy, these things are nothing. They look large of coursethey look large to a novice,

but to a man who has been all his life accustomed to large operationsshaw! They're well enough to while

away an idle hour with, or furnish a bit of employment that will give a trifle of idle capital a chance to earn its

bread while it is waiting for something to do, butnow just listen a momentjust let me give you an idea of

what we old veterans of commerce call 'business.' Here's the Rothschild's propositionthis is between you

Washington nodded three or four times impatiently, and his glowing eyes said, "Yes, yeshurryI

"for I wouldn't have it get out for a fortune. They want me to go in with them on the slyagent was

here two weeks ago about itgo in on the sly" [voice down to an impressive whisper, now,] "and buy up a

hundred and thirteen wild cat banks in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois and Missourinotes of these banks

are at all sorts of discount nowaverage discount of the hundred and thirteen is fortyfour per centbuy

them all up, you see, and then all of a sudden let the cat out of the bag! Whiz! the stock of every one of those

wildcats would spin up to a tremendous premium before you could turn a handspringprofit on the

speculation not a dollar less than forty millions!" [An eloquent pause, while the marvelous vision settled into

W.'s focus.] "Where's your hogs now? Why my dear innocent boy, we would just sit down on the front

"Oh, it is perfectly wonderful! Why couldn't these things have happened in father's day? And Iit's of no

usethey simply lie before my face and mock me. There is nothing for me but to stand helpless and see

"Never mind, Washington, don't you worry. I'll fix you. There's plenty of chances. How much money have

In the presence of so many millions, Washington could not keep from blushing when he had to confess that

"Well, all rightdon't despair. Other people have been obliged to begin with less. I have a small idea that

may develop into something for us both, all in good time. Keep your money close and add to it. I'll make it

breed. I've been experimenting (to pass away the time,) on a little preparation for curing sore eyesa kind of

decoction ninetenths water and the other tenth drugs that don't cost more than a dollar a barrel; I'm still

experimenting; there's one ingredient wanted yet to perfect the thing, and somehow I can't just manage to hit

upon the thing that's necessary, and I don't dare talk with a chemist, of course. But I'm progressing, and

before many weeks I wager the country will ring with the fame of Beriah Sellers' Infallible Imperial Oriental

Optic Liniment and Salvation for Sore Eyesthe Medical Wonder of the Age! Small bottles fifty cents, large

The first year sell, say, ten thousand bottles in Missouri, seven thousand in Iowa, three thousand in Arkansas,

four thousand in Kentucky, six thousand in Illinois, and say twentyfive thousand in the rest of the country.

Total, fifty five thousand bottles; profit clear of all expenses, twenty thousand dollars at the very lowest

calculation. All the capital needed is to manufacture the first two thousand bottles say a hundred and fifty

dollarsthen the money would begin to flow in. The second year, sales would reach 200,000 bottlesclear

profit, say, $75,000and in the meantime the great factory would be building in St. Louis, to cost, say,

$100,000. The third year we could, easily sell 1,000,000 bottles in the United States and"

"1,000,000 bottles in the United Statesprofit at least $350,000 and then it would begin to be time

"Stuff! Why what an infant you are, Washingtonwhat a guileless, short sighted, easilycontented

innocent you, are, my poor little countrybred knownothing! Would I go to all that trouble and bother for

the poor crumbs a body might pick up in this country? Now do I look like a man who does my history

suggest that I am a man who deals in trifles, contents himself with the narrow horizon that hems in the

common herd, sees no further than the end of his nose? Now you know that that is not mecouldn't be me.

You ought to know that if I throw my time and abilities into a patent medicine, it's a patent medicine whose

field of operations is the solid earth! its clients the swarming nations that inhabit it! Why what is the republic

of America for an eyewater country? Lord bless you, it is nothing but a barren highway that you've got to

cross to get to the true eyewater market! Why, Washington, in the Oriental countries people swarm like the

sands of the desert; every square mile of ground upholds its thousands upon thousands of struggling human

creaturesand every separate and individual devil of them's got the ophthalmia! It's as natural to them as

noses areand sin. It's born with them, it stays with them, it's all that some of them have left when they die.

Three years of introductory trade in the orient and what will be the result? Why, our headquarters would be in

Constantinople and our hindquarters in Further India! Factories and warehouses in Cairo, Ispahan, Bagdad,

Damascus, Jerusalem, Yedo, Peking, Bangkok, Delhi, Bombayand Calcutta! Annual incomewell, God

Washington was so dazed, so bewilderedhis heart and his eyes had wandered so far away among the

strange lands beyond the seas, and such avalanches of coin and currency had fluttered and jingled confusedly

down before him, that he was now as one who has been whirling round and round for a time, and, stopping

all at once, finds his surroundings still whirling and all objects a dancing chaos. However, little by little the

Sellers family cooled down and crystalized into shape, and the poor room lost its glitter and resumed its

poverty. Then the youth found his voice and begged Sellers to drop everything and hurry up the eyewater;

and he got his eighteen dollars and tried to force it upon the Colonelpleaded with him to take itimplored

him to do it. But the Colonel would not; said he would not need the capital (in his native magnificent way he

called that eighteen dollars Capital) till the eyewater was an accomplished fact. He made Washington easy

in his mind, though, by promising that he would call for it just as soon as the invention was finished, and he

added the glad tidings that nobody but just they two should be admitted to a share in the speculation.

When Washington left the breakfast table he could have worshiped that man. Washington was one of that

kind of people whose hopes are in the very, clouds one day and in the gutter the next. He walked on air, now.

The Colonel was ready to take him around and introduce him to the employment he had found for him, but

Washington begged for a few moments in which to write home; with his kind of people, to ride today's new

interest to death and put off yesterday's till another time, is nature itself. He ran up stairs and wrote

glowingly, enthusiastically, to his mother about the hogs and the corn, the banks and the eyewaterand

added a few inconsequential millions to each project. And he said that people little dreamed what a man Col.

Sellers was, and that the world would open its eyes when it found out. And he closed his letter thus:

"So make yourself perfectly easy, motherin a little while you shall have everything you want, and more. I

am not likely to stint you in anything, I fancy. This money will not be for me, alone, but for all of us. I want

all to share alike; and there is going to be far more for each than one person can spend. Break it to father

cautiouslyyou understand the need of thatbreak it to him cautiously, for he has had such cruel hard

fortune, and is so stricken by it that great good news might prostrate him more surely than even bad, for he is

used to the bad but is grown sadly unaccustomed to the other. Tell Lauratell all the children. And write to

Clay about it if he is not with you yet. You may tell Clay that whatever I get he can freely share infreely. He

knows that that is truethere will be no need that I should swear to that to make him believe it.

Goodbyeand mind what I say: Rest perfectly easy, one and all of you, for our troubles are nearly at an

Poor lad, he could not know that his mother would cry some loving, compassionate tears over his letter and

put off the family with a synopsis of its contents which conveyed a deal of love to then but not much idea of

his prospects or projects. And he never dreamed that such a joyful letter could sadden her and fill her night

with sighs, and troubled thoughts, and bodings of the future, instead of filling it with peace and blessing it

When the letter was done, Washington and the Colonel sallied forth, and as they walked along Washington

learned what he was to be. He was to be a clerk in a real estate office. Instantly the fickle youth's dreams

forsook the magic eyewater and flew back to the Tennessee Land. And the gorgeous possibilities of that

great domain straightway began to occupy his imagination to such a degree that he could scarcely manage to

keep even enough of his attention upon the Colonel's talk to retain the general run of what he was saying. He

The Colonel said that General Boswell was a rich man and had a good and growing business; and that

Washington's work world be light and he would get forty dollars a month and be boarded and lodged in the

General's familywhich was as good as ten dollars more; and even better, for he could not live as well even

at the "City Hotel" as he would there, and yet the hotel charged fifteen dollars a month where a man had a

General Boswell was in his office; a comfortable looking place, with plenty of outline maps hanging about

the walls and in the windows, and a spectacled man was marking out another one on a long table. The office

was in the principal street. The General received Washington with a kindly but reserved politeness.

Washington rather liked his looks. He was about fifty years old, dignified, well preserved and well dressed.

After the Colonel took his leave, the General talked a while with Washingtonhis talk consisting chiefly of

instructions about the clerical duties of the place. He seemed satisfied as to Washington's ability to take care

of the books, he was evidently a pretty fair theoretical bookkeeper, and experience would soon harden theory

into practice. By and by dinnertime came, and the two walked to the General's house; and now Washington

noticed an instinct in himself that moved him to keep not in the General's rear, exactly, but yet not at his

sidesomehow the old gentleman's dignity and reserve did not inspire familiarity.

Washington dreamed his way along the street, his fancy flitting from grain to hogs, from hogs to banks, from

banks to eyewater, from eyewater to Tennessee Land, and lingering but a feverish moment upon each of

these fascinations. He was conscious of but one outward thing, to wit, the General, and he was really not

Arrived at the finest dwelling in the town, they entered it and were at home. Washington was introduced to

Mrs. Boswell, and his imagination was on the point of flitting into the vapory realms of speculation again,

when a lovely girl of sixteen or seventeen came in. This vision swept Washington's mind clear of its chaos of

glittering rubbish in an instant. Beauty had fascinated him before; many times he had been in love even for

weeks at a time with the same object but his heart had never suffered so sudden and so fierce an assault as

Louise Boswell occupied his mind and drifted among his multiplication tables all the afternoon. He was

constantly catching himself in a reveriereveries made up of recalling how she looked when she first burst

upon him ; how her voice thrilled him when she first spoke; how charmed the very air seemed by her

presence. Blissful as the afternoon was, delivered up to such a revel as this, it seemed an eternity, so

impatient was he to see the girl again. Other afternoons like it followed. Washington plunged into this love

affair as he plunged into everything elseupon impulse and without reflection. As the days went by it

seemed plain that he was growing in favor with Louise,not sweepingly so, but yet perceptibly, he fancied.

His attentions to her troubled her father and mother a little, and they warned Louise, without stating

particulars or making allusions to any special person, that a girl was sure to make a mistake who allowed

Some instinct taught Washington that his present lack of money would be an obstruction, though possibly not

a bar, to his hopes, and straightway his poverty became a torture to him which cast all his former sufferings

under that held into the shade. He longed for riches now as he had ever longed for them before.

He had been once or twice to dine with Col. Sellers, and had been discouraged to note that the Colonel's bill

of fare was falling off both in quantity and qualitya sign, he feared, that the lacking ingredient in the

eyewater still remained undiscoveredthough Sellers always explained that these changes in the family

diet had been ordered by the doctor, or suggested by some new scientific work the Colonel had stumbled

upon. But it always turned out that the lacking ingredient was still lackingthough it always appeared, at the

Every time the Colonel came into the real estate office Washington's heart bounded and his eyes lighted with

hope, but it always turned out that the Colonel was merely on the scent of some vast, undefined landed

speculationalthough he was customarily able to say that he was nearer to the allnecessary ingredient than

ever, and could almost name the hour when success would dawn. And then Washington's heart world sink

About this time a letter came, saying that Judge Hawkins had been ailing for a fortnight, and was now

considered to be seriously ill. It was thought best that Washington should come home. The news filled him

with grief, for he loved and honored his father; the Boswells were touched by the youth's sorrow, and even

the General unbent and said encouraging things to him.There was balm in this; but when Louise bade him

good bye, and shook his hand and said, "Don't be cast downit will all come out rightI know it will all

come out right," it seemed a blessed thing to be in misfortune, and the tears that welled up to his eyes were

the messengers of an adoring and a grateful heart; and when the girl saw them and answering tears came into

her own eyes, Washington could hardly contain the excess of happiness that poured into the cavities of his

All the way home he nursed his woe and exalted it. He pictured himself as she must be picturing him: a

noble, struggling young spirit persecuted by misfortune, but bravely and patiently waiting in the shadow of a

dread calamity and preparing to meet the blow as became one who was all too used to hard fortune and the

pitiless buffetings of fate. These thoughts made him weep, and weep more brokenheartedly than ever; and

There was nothing significant in the fact that Louise, dreamy and distraught, stood at her bedroom bureau that

night, scribbling "Washington" here and there over a sheet of paper. But there was something significant in

the fact that she scratched the word out every time she wrote it; examined the erasure critically to see if

anybody could guess at what the word had been; then buried it under a maze of obliterating lines; and finally,

When Washington reached home, he recognized at once how serious his father's case was. The darkened

room, the labored breathing and occasional moanings of the patient, the tiptoeing of the attendants and their

whispered consultations, were full of sad meaning. For three or four nights Mrs. Hawkins and Laura had been

watching by the bedside; Clay had arrived, preceding Washington by one day, and he was now added to the

corps of watchers. Mr. Hawkins would have none but these three, though neighborly assistance was offered

by old friends. From this time forth threehour watches were instituted, and day and night the watchers kept

their vigils. By degrees Laura and her mother began to show wear, but neither of them would yield a minute

of their tasks to Clay. He ventured once to let the midnight hour pass without calling Laura, but he ventured

no more; there was that about her rebuke when he tried to explain, that taught him that to let her sleep when

she might be ministering to her father's needs, was to rob her of moments that were priceless in her eyes; he

perceived that she regarded it as a privilege to watch, not a burden. And, he had noticed, also, that when

midnight struck, the patient turned his eyes toward the door, with an expectancy in them which presently

grew into a longing but brightened into contentment as soon as the door opened and Laura appeared. And he

"Clay is not good, fatherhe did not call me. I would not have treated him so. How could you do it, Clay?"

Clay begged forgiveness and promised not to break faith again; and as he betook him to his bed, he said to

himself: "It's a steadfast little soul; whoever thinks he is doing the Duchess a kindness by intimating that she

is not sufficient for any undertaking she puts her hand to, makes a mistake; and if I did not know it before, I

know now that there are surer ways of pleasing her than by trying to lighten her labor when that labor

A week drifted by, and all the while the patient sank lower and lower. The night drew on that was to end all

suspense. It was a wintry one. The darkness gathered, the snow was falling, the wind wailed plaintively about

the house or shook it with fitful gusts. The doctor had paid his last visit and gone away with that dismal

remark to the nearest friend of the family that he "believed there was nothing more that he could do" a

remark which is always overheard by some one it is not meant for and strikes a lingering halfconscious hope

dead with a withering shock; the medicine phials had been removed from the bedside and put out of sight,

and all things made orderly and meet for the solemn event that was impending; the patient, with closed eyes,

lay scarcely breathing; the watchers sat by and wiped the gathering damps from his forehead while the silent

tears flowed down their faces; the deep hush was only interrupted by sobs from the children, grouped about

After a timeit was toward midnight nowMr. Hawkins roused out of a doze, looked about him and was

evidently trying to speak. Instantly Laura lifted his head and in a failing voice he said, while something of the

"Wifechildrencome nearernearer. The darkness grows. Let me see you all, once more."

The group closed together at the bedside, and their tears and sobs came now without restraint.

"I am leaving you in cruel poverty. I have beenso foolishso short sighted. But courage! A better day

isis coming. Never lose sight of the Tennessee Land! Be wary. There is wealth stored up for you there

wealth that is boundless! The children shall hold up their heads with the best in the land, yet. Where are the

Under his strong excitement his voice had gathered power and his last sentences were spoken with scarcely a

perceptible halt or hindrance. With an effort he had raised himself almost without assistance to a sitting

posture. But now the fire faded out of his eyes and be fell back exhausted. The papers were brought and held

before him, and the answering smile that flitted across his face showed that he was satisfied. He closed his

eyes, and the signs of approaching dissolution multiplied rapidly. He lay almost motionless for a little while,

then suddenly partly raised his head and looked about him as one who peers into a dim uncertain light. He

The voice died out in a whisper; the sentence was never finished. The emaciated fingers began to pick at the

coverlet, a fatal sign. After a time there were no sounds but the cries of the mourners within and the gusty

turmoil of the wind without. Laura had bent down and kissed her father's lips as the spirit left the body; but

she did not sob, or utter any ejaculation; her tears flowed silently. Then she closed the dead eyes, and crossed

the hands upon the breast; after a season, she kissed the forehead reverently, drew the sheet up over the face,

and then walked apart and sat down with the look of one who is done with life and has no further interest in

its joys and sorrows, its hopes or its ambitions. Clay buried his face in the coverlet of the bed; when the other

children and the mother realized that death was indeed come at last, they threw themselves into each others'

Only two or three days had elapsed since the funeral, when something happened which was to change the

drift of Laura's life somewhat, and influence in a greater or lesser degree the formation of her character.

Major Lackland had once been a man of note in the Statea man of extraordinary natural ability and as

extraordinary learning. He had been universally trusted and honored in his day, but had finally, fallen into

misfortune; while serving his third term in Congress, and while upon the point of being elevated to the

Senatewhich was considered the summit of earthly aggrandizement in those dayshe had yielded to

temptation, when in distress for money wherewith to save his estate; and sold his vote. His crime was

discovered, and his fall followed instantly. Nothing could reinstate him in the confidence of the people, his

ruin was irretrievablehis disgrace complete. All doors were closed against him, all men avoided him. After

years of skulking retirement and dissipation, death had relieved him of his troubles at last, and his funeral

followed close upon that of Mr. Hawkins. He died as he had latterly livedwholly alone and friendless. He

had no relativesor if he had they did not acknowledge him. The coroner's jury found certain memoranda

upon his body and about the premises which revealed a fact not suspected by the villagers beforeviz., that

The gossips were soon at work. They were but little hampered by the fact that the memoranda referred to

betrayed nothing but the bare circumstance that Laura's real parents were unknown, and stopped there. So far

from being hampered by this, the gossips seemed to gain all the more freedom from it. They supplied all the

missing information themselves, they filled up all the blanks. The town soon teemed with histories of Laura's

origin and secret history, no two versions precisely alike, but all elaborate, exhaustive, mysterious and

interesting, and all agreeing in one vital particulartowit, that there was a suspicious cloud about her birth,

Laura began to encounter cold looks, averted eyes and peculiar nods and gestures which perplexed her

beyond measure; but presently the pervading gossip found its way to her, and she understood themthen.

Her pride was stung. She was astonished, and at first incredulous. She was about to ask her mother if there

was any truth in these reports, but upon second thought held her peace. She soon gathered that Major

Lackland's memoranda seemed to refer to letters which had passed between himself and Judge Hawkins. She

That night she sat in her room till all was still, and then she stole into the garret and began a search. She

rummaged long among boxes of musty papers relating to business matters of no, interest to her, but at last she

found several bundles of letters. One bundle was marked "private," and in that she found what she wanted.

She selected six or eight letters from the package and began to devour their contents, heedless of the cold.

By the dates, these letters were from five to seven years old. They were all from Major Lackland to Mr.

Hawkins. The substance of them was, that some one in the east had been inquiring of Major Lackland about a

lost child and its parents, and that it was conjectured that the child might be Laura.

Evidently some of the letters were missing, for the name of the inquirer was not mentioned; there was a

casual reference to "this handsome featured aristocratic gentleman," as if the reader and the writer were

In one letter the Major said he agreed with Mr. Hawkins that the inquirer seemed not altogether on the wrong

track; but he also agreed that it would be best to keep quiet until more convincing developments were

Another letter said that "the poor soul broke completely down when be saw Laura's picture, and declared it

That was all. Random remarks here and there, being pieced together gave Laura a vague impression of a man

of fine presence, abort fortythree or fortyfive years of age, with dark hair and eyes, and a slight limp in his

walkit was not stated which leg was defective. And this indistinct shadow represented her father. She made

an exhaustive search for the missing letters, but found none. They had probably been burned; and she doubted

not that the ones she had ferreted out would have shared the same fate if Mr. Hawkins had not been a

dreamer, void of method, whose mind was perhaps in a state of conflagration over some bright new

She sat long, with the letters in her lap, thinkingand unconsciously freezing. She felt like a lost person who

has traveled down a long lane in good hope of escape, and, just as the night descends finds his progress

barred by a bridgeless river whose further shore, if it has one, is lost in the darkness. If she could only have

found these letters a month sooner! That was her thought. But now the dead had carried their secrets with

them. A dreary, melancholy settled down upon her. An undefined sense of injury crept into her heart. She

She had just reached the romantic agethe age when there is a sad sweetness, a dismal comfort to a girl to

find out that there is a mystery connected with her birth, which no other piece of good luck can afford. She

had more than her rightful share of practical good sense, but still she was human; and to be human is to have

one's little modicum of romance secreted away in one's composition. One never ceases to make a hero of

one's self, (in private,) during life, but only alters the style of his heroism from time to time as the drifting

years belittle certain gods of his admiration and raise up others in their stead that seem greater.

The recent wearing days and nights of watching, and the wasting grief that had possessed her, combined with

the profound depression that naturally came with the reaction of idleness, made Laura peculiarly susceptible

at this time to romantic impressions. She was a heroine, now, with a mysterious father somewhere. She could

not really tell whether she wanted to find him and spoil it all or not; but still all the traditions of romance

pointed to the making the attempt as the usual and necessary, course to follow; therefore she would some day

Now a former thought struck hershe would speak to Mrs. Hawkins. And naturally enough Mrs. Hawkins

She said she knew allshe knew that Laura had discovered the secret that Mr. Hawkins, the elder children,

Col. Sellers and herself had kept so long and so faithfully; and she cried and said that now that troubles had

begun they would never end; her daughter's love would wean itself away from her and her heart would break.

Her grief so wrought upon Laura that the girl almost forgot her own troubles for the moment in her

"Speak to me, childdo not forsake me. Forget all this miserable talk. Say I am your mother!I have loved

you so long, and there is no other. I am your mother, in the sight of God, and nothing shall ever take you

All barriers fell, before this appeal. Laura put her arms about her mother's neck and said:

"You are my mother, and always shall be. We will be as we have always been; and neither this foolish talk

nor any other thing shall part us or make us less to each other than we are this hour."

There was no longer any sense of separation or estrangement between them. Indeed their love seemed more

perfect now than it had ever been before. By and by they went down stairs and sat by the fire and talked long

and earnestly about Laura's history and the letters. But it transpired that Mrs. Hawkins had never known of

this correspondence between her husband and Major Lackland. With his usual consideration for his wife, Mr.

Laura went to bed at last with a mind that had gained largely in tranquility and had lost correspondingly in

morbid romantic exaltation. She was pensive, the next day, and subdued; but that was not matter for remark,

for she did not differ from the mournful friends about her in that respect. Clay and Washington were the same

loving and admiring brothers now that they had always been. The great secret was new to some of the

younger children, but their love suffered no change under the wonderful revelation.

It is barely possible that things might have presently settled down into their old rut and the mystery have lost

the bulk of its romantic sublimity in Laura's eyes, if the village gossips could have quieted down. But they

could not quiet down and they did not. Day after day they called at the house, ostensibly upon visits of

condolence, and they pumped away at the mother and the children without seeming to know that their

questionings were in bad taste. They meant no harm they only wanted to know. Villagers always want to

The family fought shy of the questionings, and of course that was high testimony "if the Duchess was

respectably born, why didn't they come out and prove it?why did they, stick to that poor thin story about

Under this ceaseless persecution, Laura's morbid selfcommuning was renewed. At night the day's

contribution of detraction, innuendo and malicious conjecture would be canvassed in her mind, and then she

would drift into a course of thinking. As her thoughts ran on, the indignant tears would spring to her eyes,

and she would spit out fierce little ejaculations at intervals. But finally she would grow calmer and say some

"But who are they?Animals! What are their opinions to me? Let them talkI will not stoop to be affected

by it. I could hate. Nonsensenobody I care for or in any way respect is changed toward me, I fancy."

She may have supposed she was thinking of many individuals, but it was not soshe was thinking of only

one. And her heart warmed somewhat, too, the while. One day a friend overheard a conversation like this:

"Well, I don't; but I tell you it's not because I don't want to and it's not because I think it is any matter who her

father was or who he wasn't, either; it's only on account of this talk, talk, talk. I think she is a fine girl every

way, and so would you if you knew her as well as I do; but you know how it is when a girl once gets talked

"Then it appears that if this trouble had not occurred I could have had the happiness of Mr. Ned Thurston's

serious attentions. He is well favored in person, and well liked, too, I believe, and comes of one of the first

families of the village. He is prosperous, too, I hear; has been a doctor a year, now, and has had two

patientsno, three, I think; yes, it was three. I attended their funerals. Well, other people have hoped and

been disappointed; I am not alone in that. I wish you could stay to dinner, Mariawe are going to have

sausages; and besides, I wanted to talk to you about Hawkeye and make you promise to come and see us

But Maria could not stay. She had come to mingle romantic tears with Laura's over the lover's defection and

had found herself dealing with a heart that could not rise to an appreciation of affliction because its interest

"The coward! Are all books lies? I thought he would fly to the front, and be brave and noble, and stand up for

me against all the world, and defy my enemies, and wither these gossips with his scorn! Poor crawling thing,

And then, with small consistency, she cried a little, and patted her foot more indignantly than ever.

Two months had gone by and the Hawkins family were domiciled in Hawkeye. Washington was at work in

the real estate office again, and was alternately in paradise or the other place just as it happened that Louise

was gracious to him or seemingly indifferentbecause indifference or preoccupation could mean nothing

else than that she was thinking of some other young person. Col. Sellers had asked him several times, to dine

with him, when he first returned to Hawkeye, but Washington, for no particular reason, had not accepted. No

particular reason except one which he preferred to keep to himselfviz. that he could not bear to be away

from Louise. It occurred to him, now, that the Colonel had not invited him latelycould he be offended? He

resolved to go that very day, and give the Colonel a pleasant surprise. It was a good idea; especially as Louise

had absented herself from breakfast that morning, and torn his heart; he would tear hers, now, and let her see

The Sellers family were just starting to dinner when Washington burst upon them with his surprise. For an

instant the Colonel looked nonplussed, and just a bit uncomfortable; and Mrs. Sellers looked actually

distressed; but the next moment the head of the house was himself again, and exclaimed:

"All right, my boy, all rightalways glad to see youalways glad to hear your voice and take you by the

hand. Don't wait for special invitationsthat's all nonsense among friends. Just come whenever you can, and

come as often as you canthe oftener the better. You can't please us any better than that, Washington; the

little woman will tell you so herself. We don't pretend to style. Plain folks, you knowplain folks. Just a

plain family dinner, but such as it is, our friends are always welcome, I reckon you know that yourself,

Washington. Run along, children, run along; Lafayette,[**In those old days the average man called his

children after his most revered literary and historical idols; consequently there was hardly a family, at least in

the West, but had a Washington in itand also a Lafayette, a Franklin, and six or eight sounding names from

Byron, Scott, and the Bible, if the offspring held out. To visit such a family, was to find one's self confronted

by a congress made up of representatives of the imperial myths and the majestic dead of all the ages. There

was something thrilling about it, to a stranger, not to say awe inspiring.]stand off the cat's tail, child, can't

you see what you're doing?Come, come, come, Roderick Dhu, it isn't nice for little boys to hang onto

young gentlemen's coat tails but never mind him, Washington, he's full of spirits and don't mean any harm.

Children will be children, you know. Take the chair next to Mrs. Sellers, Washingtontut, tut, Marie

Antoinette, let your brother have the fork if he wants it, you are bigger than he is."

Washington contemplated the banquet, and wondered if he were in his right mind. Was this the plain family

dinner? And was it all present? It was soon apparent that this was indeed the dinner: it was all on the table: it

consisted of abundance of clear, fresh water, and a basin of raw turnipsnothing more.

Washington stole a glance at Mrs. Sellers's face, and would have given the world, the next moment, if he

could have spared her that. The poor woman's face was crimson, and the tears stood in her eyes. Washington

did not know what to do. He wished he had never come there and spied out this cruel poverty and brought

pain to that poor little lady's heart and shame to her cheek; but he was there, and there was no escape. Col.

Sellers hitched back his coat sleeves airily from his wrists as who should say "Now for solid enjoyment!"

seized a fork, flourished it and began to harpoon turnips and deposit them in the plates before him "Let me

help you, WashingtonLafyette pass this plate Washingtonah, well, well, my boy, things are looking

pretty bright, now, I tell you. Speculationmy! the whole atmosphere's full of money. I would'nt take three

fortunes for one little operation I've got on hand nowhave anything from the casters? No? Well, you're

right, you're right. Some people like mustard with turnips, butnow there was Baron Poniatowski Lord,

but that man did know how to live!true Russian you know, Russian to the back bone; I say to my wife,

give me a Russian every time, for a table comrade. The Baron used to say, 'Take mustard, Sellers, try the

mustard,a man can't know what turnips are in perfection without, mustard,' but I always said, 'No, Baron,

I'm a plain man and I want my food plainnone of your embellishments for Beriah Sellersno made dishes

for me! And it's the best wayhigh living kills more than it cures in this world, you can rest assured of

that.Yes indeed, Washington, I've got one little operation on hand thattake some more waterhelp

yourself, won't you?help yourself, there's plenty of it. You'll find it pretty good, I guess. How does that

Washington said he did not know that he had ever tasted better. He did not add that he detested turnips even

when they were cooked loathed them in their natural state. No, he kept this to himself, and praised the turnips

"I thought you'd like them. Examine themexamine themthey'll bear it. See how perfectly firm and juicy

they arethey can't start any like them in this part of the country, I can tell you. These are from New Jersey

I imported them myself. They cost like sin, too; but lord bless me, I go in for having the best of a thing,

even if it does cost a little moreit's the best economy, in the long run. These are the Early Malcolmit's a

turnip that can't be produced except in just one orchard, and the supply never is up to the demand. Take some

more water, Washingtonyou can't drink too much water with fruitall the doctors say that. The plague

"What plague, indeed? Why the Asiatic plague that nearly depopulated London a couple of centuries ago."

"Sh! I've let it out! Well, never mindjust keep it to yourself. Perhaps I oughtn't said anything, but its bound

to come out sooner or later, so what is the odds? Old McDowells wouldn't like me toto bother it all, I'll

jest tell the whole thing and let it go. You see, I've been down to St. Louis, and I happened to run across old

Dr. McDowellsthinks the world of me, does the doctor. He's a man that keeps himself to himself, and well

he may, for he knows that he's got a reputation that covers the whole earthhe won't condescend to open

himself out to many people, but lord bless you, he and I are just like brothers; he won't let me go to a hotel

when I'm in the citysays I'm the only man that's company to him, and I don't know but there's some truth in

it, too, because although I never like to glorify myself and make a great todo over what I am or what I can

do or what I know, I don't mind saying here among friends that I am better read up in most sciences, maybe,

than the general run of professional men in these days. Well, the other day he let me into a little secret,

"You see it's booming right along in our directionfollows the Gulf Stream, you know, just as all those

epidemics do, and within three months it will be just waltzing through this land like a whirlwind! And

whoever it touches can make his will and contract for the funeral. Well you can't cure it, you know, but you

can prevent it. How? Turnips! that's it! Turnips and water! Nothing like it in the world, old McDowells says,

just fill yourself up two or three times a day, and you can snap your fingers at the plague. Sh!keep mum,

but just you confine yourself to that diet and you're all right. I wouldn't have old McDowells know that I told

about it for anythinghe never would speak to me again. Take some more water, Washingtonthe more

water you drink, the better. Here, let me give you some more of the turnips. No, no, no, now, I insist. There,

now. Absorb those. They're, mighty sustainingbrim full of nutrimentall the medical books say so. Just

eat from four to seven goodsized turnips at a meal, and drink from a pint and a half to a quart of water, and

then just sit around a couple of hours and let them ferment. You'll feel like a fighting cock next day."

Fifteen or twenty minutes later the Colonel's tongue was still chattering awayhe had piled up several future

fortunes out of several incipient "operations" which he had blundered into within the past week, and was now

soaring along through some brilliant expectations born of late promising experiments upon the lacking

ingredient of the eyewater. And at such a time Washington ought to have been a rapt and enthusiastic

listener, but he was not, for two matters disturbed his mind and distracted his attention. One was, that he

discovered, to his confusion and shame, that in allowing himself to be helped a second time to the turnips, he

had robbed those hungry children. He had not needed the dreadful "fruit," and had not wanted it; and when he

saw the pathetic sorrow in their faces when they asked for more and there was no more to give them, he hated

himself for his stupidity and pitied the famishing young things with all his heart. The other matter that

disturbed him was the dire inflation that had begun in his stomach. It grew and grew, it became more and

more insupportable. Evidently the turnips were "fermenting." He forced himself to sit still as long as he

He rose in the midst of the Colonel's talk and excused himself on the plea of a previous engagement. The

Colonel followed him to the door, promising over and over again that he would use his influence to get some

of the Early Malcolms for him, and insisting that he should not be such a stranger but come and take potluck

with him every chance he got. Washington was glad enough to get away and feel free again. He immediately

In bed he passed an hour that threatened to turn his hair gray, and then a blessed calm settled down upon him

that filled his heart with gratitude. Weak and languid, he made shift to turn himself about and seek rest and

sleep; and as his soul hovered upon the brink of unconciousness, he heaved a long, deep sigh, and said to

himself that in his heart he had cursed the Colonel's preventive of rheumatism, before, and now let the plague

come if it musthe was done with preventives; if ever any man beguiled him with turnips and water again,

If he dreamed at all that night, no gossiping spirit disturbed his visions to whisper in his ear of certain matters

just then in bud in the East, more than a thousand miles away that after the lapse of a few years would

develop influences which would profoundly affect the fate and fortunes of the Hawkins family.

"Well, why don't you go into something? You'll never dig it out of the Astor Library."

If there be any place and time in the world where and when it seems easy to "go into something" it is in

Broadway on a spring morning, when one is walking cityward, and has before him the long lines of

palaceshops with an occasional spire seen through the soft haze that lies over the lower town, and hears the

To the young American, here or elsewhere, the paths to fortune are innumerable and all open; there is

invitation in the air and success in all his wide horizon. He is embarrassed which to choose, and is not

unlikely to waste years in dallying with his chances, before giving himself to the serious tug and strain of a

single object. He has no traditions to bind him or guide him, and his impulse is to break away from the

Philip Sterling used to say that if he should seriously set himself for ten years to any one of the dozen projects

that were in his brain, he felt that he could be a rich man. He wanted to be rich, he had a sincere desire for a

fortune, but for some unaccountable reason he hesitated about addressing himself to the narrow work of

getting it. He never walked Broadway, a part of its tide of abundant shifting life, without feeling something of

the flush of wealth, and unconsciously taking the elastic step of one welltodo in this prosperous world.

Especially at night in the crowded theatrePhilip was too young to remember the old Chambers' Street box,

where the serious Burton led his hilarious and pagan crewin the intervals of the screaming comedy, when

the orchestra scraped and grunted and tooted its dissolute tunes, the world seemed full of opportunities to

Philip, and his heart exulted with a conscious ability to take any of its prizes he chose to pluck.

Perhaps it was the swimming ease of the acting, on the stage, where virtue had its reward in three easy acts,

perhaps it was the excessive light of the house, or the music, or the buzz of the excited talk between acts,

perhaps it was youth which believed everything, but for some reason while Philip was at the theatre he had

Delightful illusion of paint and tinsel and silk attire, of cheap sentiment and high and mighty dialogue! Will

Do we not all like the maudlin hero, who is sneaking round the right entrance, in wait to steal the pretty wife

of his rich and tyrannical neighbor from the pasteboard cottage at the left entrance? and when he advances

down to the footlights and defiantly informs the audience that, "he who lays his hand on a woman except in

the way of kindness," do we not all applaud so as to drown the rest of the sentence?

Philip never was fortunate enough to hear what would become of a man who should lay his hand on a woman

with the exception named; but he learned afterwards that the woman who lays her hand on a man, without

The fact was, though Philip Sterling did not know it, that he wanted several other things quite as much as he

wanted wealth. The modest fellow would have liked fame thrust upon him for some worthy achievement; it

might be for a book, or for the skillful management of some great newspaper, or for some daring expedition

like that of Lt. Strain or Dr. Kane. He was unable to decide exactly what it should be. Sometimes he thought

he would like to stand in a conspicuous pulpit and humbly preach the gospel of repentance; and it even

crossed his mind that it would be noble to give himself to a missionary life to some benighted region, where

the datepalm grows, and the nightingale's voice is in tune, and the bulbul sings on the off nights. If he were

good enough he would attach himself to that company of young men in the Theological Seminary, who were

Philip was a New England boy and had graduated at Yale; he had not carried off with him all the learning of

that venerable institution, but he knew some things that were not in the regular course of study. A very good

use of the English language and considerable knowledge of its literature was one of them; he could sing a

song very well, not in time to be sure, but with enthusiasm; he could make a magnetic speech at a moment's

notice in the class room, the debating society, or upon any fence or drygoods box that was convenient; he

could lift himself by one arm, and do the giant swing in the gymnasium; he could strike out from his left

shoulder; he could handle an oar like a professional and pull stroke in a winning race. Philip had a good

appetite, a sunny temper, and a clear hearty laugh. He had brown hair, hazel eyes set wide apart, a broad but

not high forehead, and a fresh winning face. He was six feet high, with broad shoulders, long legs and a

swinging gait; one of those loosejointed, capable fellows, who saunter into the world with a free air and

After he left college Philip took the advice of friends and read law. Law seemed to him well enough as a

science, but he never could discover a practical case where it appeared to him worth while to go to law, and

all the clients who stopped with this new clerk in the anteroom of the law office where he was writing,

Philip invariably advised to settleno matter how, but settlegreatly to the disgust of his employer, who

knew that justice between man and man could only be attained by the recognized processes, with the

attendant fees. Besides Philip hated the copying of pleadings, and he was certain that a life of "whereases"

[Note: these few paragraphs are nearly an autobiography of the life of Charles Dudley Warner whose

His pen therefore, and whereas, and not as aforesaid, strayed off into other scribbling. In an unfortunate hour,

he had two or three papers accepted by firstclass magazines, at three dollars the printed page, and, behold,

Life has no moment so sweet as that in which a young man believes himself called into the immortal ranks of

the masters of literature. It is such a noble ambition, that it is a pity it has usually such a shallow foundation.

At the time of this history, Philip had gone to New York for a career. With his talent he thought he should

have little difficulty in getting an editorial position upon a metro politan newspaper; not that he knew

anything about news paper work, or ,had the least idea of journalism; he knew he was not fitted for the

technicalities of the subordinate departments, but he could write leaders with perfect ease, he was sure. The

drudgery of the newspaper office was too distaste ful, and besides it would be beneath the dignity of a

graduate and a successful magazine writer. He wanted to begin at the top of the ladder.

To his surprise he found that every situation in the editorial department of the journals was full, always had

been full, was always likely to be full. It seemed to him that the newspaper managers didn't want genius, but

mere plodding and grubbing. Philip therefore read diligently in the Astor library, planned literary works that

should compel attention, and nursed his genius. He had no friend wise enough to tell him to step into the

Dorking Convention, then in session, make a sketch of the men and women on the platform, and take it to the

One day he had an offer from some country friends, who believed in him, to take charge of a provincial daily

newspaper, and he went to consult Mr. GringoGringo who years ago managed the Atlasabout taking the

"Well, make it that. That party is going to succeed, it's going to elect the next president."

"I don't believe it," said Philip, stoutly, "its wrong in principle, and it ought not to succeed, but I don't see

"O, very well," said Gringo, turning away with a shade of contempt, "you'll find if you are going into

But Philip did afford it, and he wrote, thanking his friends, and declining because he said the political scheme

would fail, and ought to fail. And he went back to his books and to his waiting for an opening large enough

It was in this time of rather impatient waiting that Philip was one morning walking down Broadway with

Henry Brierly. He frequently accompanied Henry part way down town to what the latter called his office in

Broad Street, to which he went, or pretended to go, with regularity every day. It was evident to the most

casual acquaintance that he was a man of affairs, and that his time was engrossed in the largest sort of

operations, about which there was a mysterious air. His liability to be suddenly summoned to Washington, or

Boston or Montreal or even to Liverpool was always imminent. He never was so summoned, but none of his

acquaintances would have been surprised to hear any day that he had gone to Panama or Peoria, or to hear

The two were intimate at that time,they had been class, matesand saw a great deal of each other. Indeed,

they lived together in Ninth Street, in a boardinghouse, there, which had the honor of lodging and partially

feeding several other young fellows of like kidney, who have since gone their several ways into fame or into

It was during the morning walk to which reference has been made that Henry Brierly suddenly said, "Philip,

"I think I should like it of all things," replied Philip, with some hesitation, "but what for."

"Oh, it's a big operation. We are going, a lot of us, railroad men, engineers, contractors. You know my uncle

is a great railroad man. I've no doubt I can get you a chance to go if you'll go."

"Field engineer, civil engineer. You can begin by carrying a rod, and putting down the figures. It's easy

"Why don't you see? We lay out a line, spot the good land, enter it up, know where the stations are to be, spot

"No, its not too soon. I've been ready to go anywhere for six months. The fact is, Henry, that I'm about tired

of trying to force myself into things, and am quite willing to try floating with the stream for a while, and see

The two young men who were by this time full of the adventure, went down to the Wall street office of

Henry's uncle and had a talk with that wily operator. The uncle knew Philip very well, and was pleased with

his frank enthusiasm, and willing enough to give him a trial in the western venture. It was settled therefore, in

the prompt way in which things are settled in New York, that they would start with the rest of the company

On the way up town these adventurers bought books on engineering, and suits of Indiarubber, which they

supposed they would need in a new and probably damp country, and many other things which nobody ever

The night was spent in packing up and writing letters, for Philip would not take such an important step

without informing his friends. If they disapprove, thought he, I've done my duty by letting them know. Happy

youth, that is ready to pack its valise, and start for Cathay on an hour's notice.

"Never mind the map. We will find the place itself. I was afraid it was nearer home."

Philip wrote a long letter, first of all, to his mother, full of love and glowing anticipations of his new opening.

He wouldn't bother her with business details, but he hoped that the day was not far off when she would see

him return, with a moderate fortune, and something to add to the comfort of her advancing years.

To his uncle he said that he had made an arrangement with some New York capitalists to go to Missouri, in a

land and railroad operation, which would at least give him a knowledge of the world and not unlikely offer

him a business opening. He knew his uncle would be glad to hear that he had at last turned his thoughts to a

It was to Ruth Bolton that Philip wrote last. He might never see her again; he went to seek his fortune. He

well knew the perils of the frontier, the savage state of society, the lurking Indians and the dangers of fever.

But there was no real danger to a person who took care of himself. Might he write to her often and, tell her of

his life. If he returned with a fortune, perhaps and perhaps. If he was unsuccessful, or if he never

returnedperhaps it would be as well. No time or distance, however, would ever lessen his interest in her.

In the soft beginning of a Spring morning, long before New York had breakfasted, while yet the air of

expectation hung about the wharves of the metropolis, our young adventurers made their way to the Jersey

City railway station of the Erie road, to begin the long, swinging, crooked journey, over what a writer of a

In the party of which our travelers found themselves members, was Duff Brown, the great railroad contractor,

and subsequently a wellknown member of Congress; a bluff, jovial Bost'n man, thickset, close shaven,

with a heavy jaw and a low foreheada very pleasant man if you were not in his way. He had government

contracts also, custom houses and dry docks, from Portland to New Orleans, and managed to get out of

congress, in appropriations, about weight for weight of gold for the stone furnished.

Associated with him, and also of this party, was Rodney Schaick, a sleek New York broker, a man as

prominent in the church as in the stock exchange, dainty in his dress, smooth of speech, the necessary

complement of Duff Brown in any enterprise that needed assurance and adroitness.

It would be difficult to find a pleasanter traveling party one that shook off more readily the artificial restraints

of Puritanic strictness, and took the world with goodnatured allowance. Money was plenty for every

attainable luxury, and there seemed to be no doubt that its supply would continue, and that fortunes were

about to be made without a great deal of toil. Even Philip soon caught the prevailing spirit; Barry did not

need any inoculation, he always talked in six figures. It was as natural for the dear boy to be rich as it is for

The elders of the party were not long in discovering the fact, which almost all travelers to the west soon find

out; that the water was poor. It must have been by a lucky premonition of this that they all had brandy flasks

with which to qualify the water of the country; and it was no doubt from an uneasy feeling of the danger of

being poisoned that they kept experimenting, mixing a little of the dangerous and changing fluid, as they

passed along, with the contents of the flasks, thus saving their lives hour by hour. Philip learned afterwards

that temperance and the strict observance of Sunday and a certain gravity of deportment are geographical

Our travelers stopped in Chicago long enough to see that they could make their fortunes there in two week's

tine, but it did not seem worth while; the west was more attractive; the further one went the wider the

They took railroad to Alton and the steamboat from there to St. Louis, for the change and to have a glimpse

"Isn't this jolly?" cried Henry, dancing out of the barber's room, and coming down the deck with a one, two,

"What's jolly?" asked Philip, looking out upon the dreary and monotonous waste through which the shaking

"Why, the whole thing; it's immense I can tell you. I wouldn't give that to be guaranteed a hundred thousand

"He is in the saloon, playing poker with Schaick and that long haired party with the striped trousers, who

scrambled aboard when the stage plank was half hauled in, and the big Delegate to Congress from out west."

"That's a fine looking fellow, that delegate, with his glossy, black whiskers; looks like a Washington man; I

"But I shouldn't think a representative in Congress would play poker any way in a public steamboat."

"Nonsense, you've got to pass the time. I tried a hand myself, but those old fellows are too many for me. The

Delegate knows all the points. I'd bet a hundred dollars he will ante his way right into the United States

"He has the grave and thoughtful manner of expectoration of a public man, for one thing," added Philip.

"Harry," said Philip, after a pause, "what have you got on those big boots for; do you expect to wade ashore?"

The fact was Harry had got himself up in what he thought a proper costume for a new country, and was in

appearance a sort of compromise between a dandy of Broadway and a backwoodsman. Harry, with blue eyes,

fresh complexion, silken whiskers and curly chestnut hair, was as handsome as a fashion plate. He wore this

morning a soft hat, a short cutaway coat, an open vest displaying immaculate linen, a leathern belt round his

waist, and topboots of soft leather, well polished, that came above his knees and required a string attached

to his belt to keep them up. The light hearted fellow gloried in these shining encasements of his well shaped

legs, and told Philip that they were a perfect protection against prairie rattlesnakes, which never strike above

The landscape still wore an almost wintry appearance when our travelers left Chicago. It was a genial spring

day when they landed at St. Louis; the birds were singing, the blossoms of peach trees in city garden plots,

made the air sweet, and in the roar and tumult on the long river levee they found an excitement that accorded

The party went to the Southern Hotel, where the great Duff Brown was very well known, and indeed was a

man of so much importance that even the office clerk was respectful to him. He might have respected in him

also a certain vulgar swagger and insolence of money, which the clerk greatly admired.

The young fellows liked the house and liked the city; it seemed to them a mighty free and hospitable town.

Coming from the East they were struck with many peculiarities. Everybody smoked in the streets, for one

thing, they noticed; everybody "took a drink" in an open manner whenever he wished to do so or was asked,

as if the habit needed no concealment or apology. In the evening when they walked about they found people

sitting on the doorsteps of their dwellings, in a manner not usual in a northern city; in front of some of the

hotels and saloons the side walks were filled with chairs and benchesParis fashion, said Harryupon

which people lounged in these warm spring evenings, smoking, always smoking; and the clink of glasses and

Harry at once found on landing that his backwoods custom would not be needed in St. Louis, and that, in

fact, he had need of all the resources of his wardrobe to keep even with the young swells of the town. But this

did not much matter, for Harry was always superior to his clothes. As they were likely to be detained some

time in the city, Harry told Philip that he was going to improve his time. And he did. It was an

encouragement to any industrious man to see this young fellow rise, carefully dress himself, eat his breakfast

deliberately, smoke his cigar tranquilly, and then repair to his room, to what he called his work, with a grave

Harry would take off his coat, remove his cravat, roll up his shirt sleeves, give his curly hair the right touch

before the glass, get out his book on engineering, his boxes of instruments, his drawing paper, his profile

paper, open the book of logarithms, mix his India ink, sharpen his pencils, light a cigar, and sit down at the

table to "lay out a line," with the most grave notion that he was mastering the details of engineering. He

would spend half a day in these preparations without ever working out a problem or having the faintest

conception of the use of lines or logarithms. And when he had finished, he had the most cheerful confidence

It made no difference, however, whether Harry was in his room in a hotel or in a tent, Philip soon found, he

was just the same. In camp he would get himself, up in the most elaborate toilet at his command, polish his

long boots to the top, lay out his work before him, and spend an hour or longer, if anybody was looking at

him, humming airs, knitting his brows, and "working" at engineering; and if a crowd of gaping rustics were

"You see," he says to Philip one morning at the hotel when he was thus engaged, "I want to get the theory of

"Not many times, if the court knows herself. There's better game. Brown and Schaick have, or will have, the

control for the whole line of the Salt Lick Pacific Extension, forty thousand dollars a mile over the prairie,

with extra for hardpanand it'll be pretty much all hardpan I can tell you; besides every alternate section of

land on this line. There's millions in the job. I'm to have the subcontract for the first fifty miles, and you can

"I'll tell you what you do, Philip," continued Larry, in a burst of generosity, "if I don't get you into my

contract, you'll be with the engineers, and you jest stick a stake at the first ground marked for a depot, buy the

land of the farmer before he knows where the depot will be, and we'll turn a hundred or so on that. I'll

advance the money for the payments, and you can sell the lots. Schaick is going to let me have ten thousand

"Wait till you are used to handling money. I didn't come out here for a bagatelle. My uncle wanted me to stay

East and go in on the Mobile custom house, work up the Washington end of it; he said there was a fortune in

it for a smart young fellow, but I preferred to take the chances out here. Did I tell you I had an offer from

Bobbett and Fanshaw to go into their office as confidential clerk on a salary of ten thousand?"

"Why didn't you take it ?" asked Philip, to whom a salary of two thousand would have seemed wealth, before

"Take it? I'd rather operate on my own hook;" said Harry, in his most airy manner.

A few evenings after their arrival at the Southern, Philip and Harry made the acquaintance of a very agreeable

gentleman, whom they had frequently seen before about the hotel corridors, and passed a casual word with.

The precipitating of this casual intercourse into the more substantial form of an acquaintanceship was the

work of the gentleman himself, and occurred in this wise. Meeting the two friends in the lobby one evening,

"Excuse me, gentlemenstrangers in St. Louis? Ali, yesyes. From the East, perhaps? Ah; just so, just so.

Ah! by the wayNew York, did you say? That reminds me; just met some gentlemen from your State, a

week or two agovery prominent gentlemen in public life they are; you must know them, without doubt.

Let me see let me see. Curious those names have escaped me. I know they were from your State, because I

remember afterward my old friend Governor Shackleby said to mefine man, is the Governorone of the

finest men our country has producedsaid he, Colonel, how did you like those New York gentlemen?not

many such men in the world,Colonel Sellers,' said the Governoryes, it was New York he saidI

remember it distinctly. I can't recall those names, somehow. But no matter. Stopping here,

In shaping their reply in their minds, the title "Mr." had a place in it; but when their turn had arrived to speak,

They said yes, they were abiding at the Southern, and thought it a very good house.

"Yes, yes, the Southern is fair. I myself go to the Planter's, old, aristocratic house. We Southern gentlemen

don't change our ways, you know. I always make it my home there when I run down from Hawkeyemy

plantation is in Hawkeye, a little up in the country. You should know the Planter's."

Philip and Harry both said they should like to see a hotel that had been so famous in its daya cheerful

hostelrie, Philip said it must have been where duels were fought there across the diningroom table.

And the three strolled along the streets, the Colonel talking all the way in the most liberal and friendly

"Yes, born East myself, raised all along, know the Westa great country, gentlemen. The place for a young

fellow of spirit to pick up a fortune, simply pick it up, it's lying round loose here. Not a day that I don't put

aside an opportunity; too busy to look into it. Management of my own property takes my time. First visit?

"Ah, here we are. You'd rather sit here in front than go to my apartments? So had I. An opening eh?"

The Colonel's eyes twinkled. "Ah, just so. The country is opening up, all we want is capital to develop it. Slap

down the rails and bring the land into market. The richest land on God Almighty's footstool is lying right out

"Well, partly, sir, partly. I'm down here now with reference to a little operationa little side thing merely.

The Colonel paused, but as no movement of his acquaintances followed this plain remark, he added, in an

Even this open declaration of his hospitable intention not being understood the Colonel politely said,

Col. Sellers led the way to a saloon on Fourth street under the hotel, and the young gentlemen fell into the

"Not that," said the Colonel to the barkeeper, who shoved along the counter a bottle of apparently

cornwhiskey, as if he had done it before on the same order; "not that," with a wave of the hand. "That Otard

if you please. Yes. Never take an inferior liquor, gentlemen, not in the evening, in this climate. There. That's

The hospitable gentleman, having disposed of his liquor, remarking that it was not quite the thing"when a

man has his own cellar to go to, he is apt to get a little fastidious about his liquors"called for cigars. But

the brand offered did not suit him; he motioned the box away, and asked for some particular Havana's, those

"I always smoke this sort, gentlemen; they are a little more expensive, but you'll learn, in this climate, that

Having imparted this valuable piece of information, the Colonel lighted the fragrant cigar with satisfaction,

and then carelessly put his fingers into his right vest pocket. That movement being without result, with a

shade of disappointment on his face, he felt in his left vest pocket. Not finding anything there, he looked up

with a serious and annoyed air, anxiously slapped his right pantaloon's pocket, and then his left, and

"By George, that's annoying. By George, that's mortifying. Never had anything of that kind happen to me

before. I've left my pocketbook. Hold! Here's a bill, after all. No, thunder, it's a receipt."

"Allow me," said Philip, seeing how seriously the Colonel was annoyed, and taking out his purse.

The Colonel protested he couldn't think of it, and muttered something to the barkeeper about "hanging it up,"

but the vender of exhilaration made no sign, and Philip had the privilege of paying the costly shot; Col.

As soon as Beriah Sellers had bade his friends good night and seen them depart, he did not retire apartments

in the Planter's, but took his way to his lodgings with a friend in a distant part of the city.

The letter that Philip Sterling wrote to Ruth Bolton, on the evening of setting out to seek his fortune in the

west, found that young lady in her own father's house in Philadelphia. It was one of the pleasantest of the

many charming suburban houses in that hospitable city, which is territorially one of the largest cities in the

world, and only prevented from becoming the convenient metropolis of the country by the intrusive strip of

Camden and Amboy sand which shuts it off from the Atlantic ocean. It is a city of steady thrift, the arms of

which might well be the deliberate but delicious terrapin that imparts such a royal flavor to its feasts.

It was a spring morning, and perhaps it was the influence of it that made Ruth a little restless, satisfied neither

with the outdoors nor the in doors. Her sisters had gone to the city to show some country visitors

Independence Hall, Girard College and Fairmount Water Works and Park, four objects which Americans

cannot die peacefully, even in Naples, without having seen. But Ruth confessed that she was tired of them,

and also of the Mint. She was tired of other things. She tried this morning an air or two upon the piano, sang a

simple song in a sweet but slightly metallic voice, and then seating herself by the open window, read Philip's

letter. Was she thinking about Philip, as she gazed across the fresh lawn over the tree tops to the Chelton

Hills, or of that world which his entrance, into her traditionbound life had been one of the means of opening

to her? Whatever she thought, she was not idly musing, as one might see by the expression of her face. After

a time she took up a book ; it was a medical work, and to all appearance about as interesting to a girl of

eighteen as the statutes at large; but her face was soon aglow over its pages, and she was so absorbed in it that

"Mother; thee knows I couldn't stand it at Westfield; the school stifled me, it's a place to turn young people

"I know," said Margaret Bolton, with a half anxious smile, thee chafes against all the ways of Friends, but

With a look half of pain and half of pity, her mother answered, "I am sure thee is little interfered with; thee

dresses as thee will, and goes where thee pleases, to any church thee likes, and thee has music. I had a visit

yesterday from the society's committee by way of discipline, because we have a piano in the house, which is

"I hope thee told the elders that father and I are responsible for the piano, and that, much as thee loves music,

thee is never in the room when it is played. Fortunately father is already out of meeting, so they can't

discipline him. I heard father tell cousin Abner that he was whipped so often for whistling when he was a boy

"Thy ways greatly try me, Ruth, and all thy relations. I desire thy happiness first of all, but thee is starting out

on a dangerous path. Is thy father willing thee should go away to a school of the world's people?"

"I have not asked him," Ruth replied with a look that might imply that she was one of those determined little

bodies who first made up her own mind and then compelled others to make up theirs in accordance with hers.

"And when thee has got the education thee wants, and lost all relish for the society of thy friends and the

Ruth turned square round to her mother, and with an impassive face and not the slightest change of tone, said,

"Thee, study medicine! A slight frail girl like thee, study medicine! Does thee think thee could stand it six

months? And the lectures, and the dissecting rooms, has thee thought of the dissecting rooms?"

"Mother," said Ruth calmly, "I have thought it all over. I know I can go through the whole, clinics, dissecting

room and all. Does thee think I lack nerve? What is there to fear in a person dead more than in a person

"But thy health and strength, child; thee can never stand the severe application. And, besides, suppose thee

"I hope at least, Ruth, thee will let us know when thee opens an office," said her mother, with an approach to

Ruth sat quite still for a tine, with face intent and flushed. It was out now. She had begun her open battle.

The sightseers returned in high spirits from the city. Was there any building in Greece to compare with

Girard College, was there ever such a magnificent pile of stone devised for the shelter of poor orphans? Think

of the stone shingles of the roof eight inches thick! Ruth asked the enthusiasts if they would like to live in

such a sounding mausoleum, with its great halls and echoing rooms, and no comfortable place in it for the

accommodation of any body? If they were orphans, would they like to be brought up in a Grecian temple?

And then there was Broad street! Wasn't it the broadest and the longest street in the world? There certainly

was no end to it, and even Ruth was Philadelphian enough to believe that a street ought not to have any end,

But neither St. Girard, nor Broad street, neither wonders of the Mint nor the glories of the Hall where the

ghosts of our fathers sit always signing the Declaration; impressed the visitors so much as the splendors of

the Chestnut street windows, and the bargains on Eighth street. The truth is that the country cousins had come

to town to attend the Yearly Meeting, and the amount of shopping that preceded that religious event was

"I have nothing to wear," replied that demure person. "If thee wants to see new bonnets, orthodox to a shade

and conformed to the letter of the true form, thee must go to the Arch Street Meeting. Any departure from

either color or shape would be instantly taken note of. It has occupied mother a long time, to find at the shops

the exact shade for her new bonnet. Oh, thee must go by all means. But thee won't see there a sweeter woman

"Why should I? I've been again and again. If I go to Meeting at all I like best to sit in the quiet old house in

Germantown, where the windows are all open and I can see the trees, and hear the stir of the leaves. It's such

a crush at the Yearly Meeting at Arch Street, and then there's the row of sleeklooking young men who line

That evening Ruth and her father sat late by the drawingroom fire, as they were quite apt to do at night. It

"He doesn't say, but it's on the frontier, and on the map everything beyond it is marked 'Indians' and 'desert,'

"Humph. It was time for him to do something. Is he going to start a daily newspaper among the

"He doesn't say exactly what it is," said Ruth a little dubiously, "but it's something about land and railroads,

and thee knows, father, that fortunes are made nobody knows exactly how, in a new country."

"I should think so, you innocent puss, and in an old one too. But Philip is honest, and he has talent enough, if

he will stop scribbling, to make his way. But thee may as well take care of theeself, Ruth, and not go

dawdling along with a young man in his adventures, until thy own mind is a little more settled what thee

This excellent advice did not seem to impress Ruth greatly, for she was looking away with that abstraction of

vision which often came into her grey eyes, and at length she exclaimed, with a sort of impatience,

"I wish I could go west, or south, or somewhere. What a box women are put into, measured for it, and put in

young; if we go anywhere it's in a box, veiled and pinioned and shut in by disabilities. Father, I should like to

"Thee will no doubt break things enough when thy time comes, child; women always have; but what does

"I want to be something, to make myself something, to do something. Why should I rust, and be stupid, and

sit in inaction because I am a girl? What would happen to me if thee should lose thy property and die? What

one useful thing could I do for a living, for the support of mother and the children? And if I had a fortune,

"Somewhat that depends upon whether her children amount to anything," retorted the sharp little disputant.

Friend Eli, who had long ago laid aside the Quaker dress, and was out of Meeting, and who in fact after a

youth of doubt could not yet define his belief, nevertheless looked with some wonder at this fierce young

"Has thee consulted thy mother about a career, I suppose it is a career thee wants?"

Ruth did not reply directly; she complained that her mother didn't understand her. But that wise and placid

woman understood the sweet rebel a great deal better than Ruth understood herself. She also had a history,

possibly, and had sometime beaten her young wings against the cage of custom, and indulged in dreams of a

new social order, and had passed through that fiery period when it seems possible for one mind, which has

Ruth replied to Philip's letter in due time and in the most cordial and unsentimental manner. Philip liked the

letter, as he did everything she did; but he had a dim notion that there was more about herself in the letter

than about him. He took it with him from the Southern Hotel, when he went to walk, and read it over and

again in an unfrequented street as he stumbled along. The rather commonplace and unformed handwriting

seemed to him peculiar and characteristic, different from that of any other woman.

Ruth was glad to hear that Philip had made a push into the world, and she was sure that his talent and courage

would make a way for him. She should pray for his success at any rate, and especially that the Indians, in St.

Philip looked rather dubious at this sentence, and wished that he had written nothing about Indians.

Eli Bolton and his wife talked over Ruth's case, as they had often done before, with no little anxiety. Alone of

all their children she was impatient of the restraints and monotony of the Friends' Society, and wholly

indisposed to accept the "inner light" as a guide into a life of acceptance and inaction. When Margaret told

her husband of Ruth's newest project, he did not exhibit so much surprise as she hoped for. In fact he said that

he did not see why a woman should not enter the medical profession if she felt a call to it.

"But," said Margaret, "consider her total inexperience of the world, and her frail health. Can such a slight

little body endure the ordeal of the preparation for, or the strain of, the practice of the profession?"

"Did thee ever think, Margaret, whether, she can endure being thwarted in an, object on which she has so set

her heart, as she has on this? Thee has trained her thyself at home, in her enfeebled childhood, and thee

knows how strong her will is, and what she has been able to accomplish in selfculture by the simple force of

her determination. She never will be satisfied until she has tried her own strength."

"I wish," said Margaret, with an inconsequence that is not exclusively feminine, "that she were in the way to

fall in love and marry by and by. I think that would cure her of some of her notions. I am not sure but if she

went away, to some distant school, into an entirely new life, her thoughts would be diverted."

Eli Bolton almost laughed as he regarded his wife, with eyes that never looked at her except fondly, and

"Perhaps thee remembers that thee had notions also, before we were married, and before thee became a

member of Meeting. I think Ruth comes honestly by certain tendencies which thee has hidden under the

Margaret could not say no to this, and while she paused, it was evident that memory was busy with

"Why not let Ruth try the study for a time," suggested Eli; "there is a fair beginning of a Woman's Medical

College in the city. Quite likely she will soon find that she needs first a more general culture, and fall, in with

There really seemed to be nothing else to be done, and Margaret consented at length without approving. And

it was agreed that Ruth, in order to spare her fatigue, should take lodgings with friends near the college and

make a trial in the pursuit of that science to which we all owe our lives, and sometimes as by a miracle of

That day Mr. Bolton brought home a stranger to dinner, Mr. Bigler of the great firm of Pennybacker, Bigler

Small, railroad contractors. He was always bringing home somebody, who had a scheme; to build a road, or

open a mine, or plant a swamp with cane to grow paperstock, or found a hospital, or invest in a patent

shadbone separator, or start a college somewhere on the frontier, contiguous to a land speculation.

The Bolton house was a sort of hotel for this kind of people. They were always coming. Ruth had known

them from childhood, and she used to say that her father attracted them as naturally as a sugar hogshead does

flies. Ruth had an idea that a large portion of the world lived by getting the rest of the world into schemes.

Mr. Bolton never could say "no" to any of them, not even, said Ruth again, to the society for stamping oyster

Mr. Bigler's plan this time, about which he talked loudly, with his mouth full, all dinner time, was the

building of the Tunkhannock, Rattlesnake and Youngwomanstown railroad, which would not only be a

great highway to the west, but would open to market inexhaustible coalfields and untold millions of lumber.

"We'll buy the lands," explained he, "on long time, backed by the notes of good men; and then mortgage them

for money enough to get the road well on. Then get the towns on the line to issue their bonds for stock, and

sell their bonds for enough to complete the road, and partly stock it, especially if we mortgage each section as

we complete it. We can then sell the rest of the stock on the prospect of the business of the road through an

improved country, and also sell the lands at a big advance, on the strength of the road. All we want,"

continued Mr. Bigler in his frank manner, "is a few thousand dollars to start the surveys, and arrange things in

the legislature. There is some parties will have to be seen, who might make us trouble."

"It will take a good deal of money to start the enterprise," remarked Mr. Bolton, who knew very well what

"seeing" a Pennsylvania Legislature meant, but was too polite to tell Mr. Bigler what he thought of him,

Mr. Bigler smiled a hard kind of smile, and said, "You'd be inside, Mr. Bolton, and you'd have the first

This was rather unintelligible to Ruth, who was nevertheless somewhat amused by the study of a type of

character she had seen before. At length she interrupted the conversation by asking,

"You'd sell the stock, I suppose, Mr. Bigler, to anybody who was attracted by the prospectus?"

"O, certainly, serve all alike," said Mr. Bigler, now noticing Ruth for the first time, and a little puzzled by the

"Well, what would become of the poor people who had been led to put their little money into the speculation,

It would be no more true to say of Mr. Bigler that he was or could be embarrassed, than to say that a brass

counterfeit dollarpiece would change color when refused; the question annoyed him a little, in Mr. Bolton's

"Why, yes, Miss, of course, in a great enterprise for the benefit of the community there will little things

occur, which, whichand, of course, the poor ought to be looked to; I tell my wife, that the poor must be

looked to; if you can tell who are poorthere's so many impostors. And then, there's so many poor in the

legislature to be looked after," said the contractor with a sort of a chuckle, "isn't that so, Mr. Bolton?"

"Yes," continued this public benefactor, "an uncommon poor lot this year, uncommon. Consequently an

expensive lot. The fact is, Mr. Bolton, that the price is raised so high on United States Senator now, that it

affects the whole market; you can't get any public improvement through on reasonable terms. Simony is what

Mr. Bigler went on and gave some very interesting details of the intimate connection between railroads and

politics, and thoroughly entertained himself all dinner time, and as much disgusted Ruth, who asked no more

"I wish," said Ruth to her father, after the guest had gone, "that you wouldn't bring home any more such

horrid men. Do all men who wear big diamond breastpins, flourish their knives at table, and use bad

"O, child, thee mustn't be too observing. Mr. Bigler is one of the most important men in the state; nobody has

more influence at Harrisburg. I don't like him any more than thee does, but I'd better lend him a little money

"Father, I think thee'd better have his illwill than his company. Is it true that he gave money to help build the

pretty little church of St. James the Less, and that he is, one of the vestrymen?"

"Yes. He is not such a bad fellow. One of the men in Third street asked him the other day, whether his was a

high church or a low church? Bigler said he didn't know; he'd been in it once, and he could touch the ceiling

"I think he's just horrid," was Ruth's final summary of him, after the manner of the swift judgment of women,

with no consideration of the extenuating circumstances. Mr. Bigler had no idea that he had not made a good

impression on the whole family; he certainly intended to be agreeable. Margaret agreed with her daughter,

and though she never said anything to such people, she was grateful to Ruth for sticking at least one pin into

Such was the serenity of the Bolton household that a stranger in it would never have suspected there was any

opposition to Ruth's going to the Medical School. And she went quietly to take her residence in town, and

began her attendance of the lectures, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She did not heed, if she

heard, the busy and wondering gossip of relations and acquaintances, gossip that has no less currency among

the Friends than elsewhere because it is whispered slyly and creeps about in an undertone.

Ruth was absorbed, and for the first time in her life thoroughly happy; happy in the freedom of her life, and in

the keen enjoyment of the investigation that broadened its field day by day. She was in high spirits when she

came home to spend First Days; the house was full of her gaiety and her merry laugh, and the children wished

that Ruth would never go away again. But her mother noticed, with a little anxiety, the sometimes flushed

face, and the sign of an eager spirit in the kindling eyes, and, as well, the serious air of determination and

The college was a small one and it sustained itself not without difficulty in this city, which is so conservative,

and is yet the origin of so many radical movements. There were not more than a dozen attendants on the

lectures all together, so that the enterprise had the air of an experiment, and the fascination of pioneering for

those engaged in it. There was one woman physician driving about town in her carriage, attacking the most

violent diseases in all quarters with persistent courage, like a modern Bellona in her war chariot, who was

popularly supposed to gather in fees to the amount ten to twenty thousand dollars a year. Perhaps some of

these students looked forward to the near day when they would support such a practice and a husband

besides, but it is unknown that any of them ever went further than practice in hospitals and in their own

nurseries, and it is feared that some of them were quite as ready as their sisters, in emergencies, to "call a

If Ruth had any exaggerated expectations of a professional life, she kept them to herself, and was known to

her fellows of the class simply as a cheerful, sincere student, eager in her investigations, and never impatient

at anything, except an insinuation that women had not as much mental capacity for science as men.

"They really say," said one young Quaker sprig to another youth of his age, "that Ruth Bolton is really going

to be a sawbones, attends lectures, cuts up bodies, and all that. She's cool enough for a surgeon, anyway."

He spoke feelingly, for he had very likely been weighed in Ruth's calm eyes sometime, and thoroughly scared

by the little laugh that accompanied a puzzling reply to one of his conversational nothings. Such young

gentlemen, at this time, did not come very distinctly into Ruth's horizon, except as amusing circumstances.

About the details of her student life, Ruth said very little to her friends, but they had reason to know,

afterwards, that it required all her nerve and the almost complete exhaustion of her physical strength, to carry

her through. She began her anatomical practice upon detached portions of the human frame, which were

brought into the demonstrating roomdissecting the eye, the ear, and a small tangle of muscles and

nervesan occupation which had not much more savor of death in it than the analysis of a portion of a plant

out of which the life went when it was plucked up by the roots. Custom inures the most sensitive persons to

that which is at first most repellant; and in the late war we saw the most delicate women, who could not at

home endure the sight of blood, become so used to scenes of carnage, that they walked the hospitals and the

margins of battlefields, amid the poor remnants of torn humanity, with as perfect selfpossession as if they

It happened that Ruth was one evening deep in a line of investigation which she could not finish or

understand without demonstration, and so eager was she in it, that it seemed as if she could not wait till the

next day. She, therefore, persuaded a fellow student, who was reading that evening with her, to go down to

the dissecting room of the college, and ascertain what they wanted to know by an hour's work there. Perhaps,

also, Ruth wanted to test her own nerve, and to see whether the power of association was stronger in her mind

The janitor of the shabby and comfortless old building admitted the girls, not without suspicion, and gave

them lighted candles, which they would need, without other remark than "there's a new one, Miss," as the

They climbed to the third story, and paused before a door, which they unlocked, and which admitted them

into a long apartment, with a row of windows on one side and one at the end. The room was without light,

save from the stars and the candles the girls carried, which revealed to them dimly two long and several small

tables, a few benches and chairs, a couple of skeletons hanging on the wall, a sink, and clothcovered heaps

The windows were open, and the cool night wind came in strong enough to flutter a white covering now and

then, and to shake the loose casements. But all the sweet odors of the night could not take from the room a

The young ladies paused a moment. The room itself was familiar enough, but night makes almost any

chamber eerie, and especially such a room of detention as this where the mortal parts of the unburied

mightalmost be supposed to be, visited, on the sighing night winds, by the wandering spirits of their late

Opposite and at some distance across the roofs of lower buildings, the girls saw a tall edifice, the long upper

story of which seemed to be a dancing hall. The windows of that were also open, and through them they

heard the scream of the jiggered and tortured violin, and the pump, pump of the oboe, and saw the moving

"I wonder," said Ruth, "what the girls dancing there would think if they saw us, or knew that there was such a

She did not speak very loud, and, perhaps unconsciously, the girls drew near to each other as they approached

the long table in the centre of the room. A straight object lay upon it, covered with a sheet. This was

doubtless "the new one" of which the janitor spoke. Ruth advanced, and with a not very steady hand lifted the

white covering from the upper part of the figure and turned it down. Both the girls started. It was a negro. The

black face seemed to defy the pallor of death, and asserted an ugly lifelikeness that was frightful.

Ruth was as pale as the white sheet, and her comrade whispered, "Come away, Ruth, it is awful."

Perhaps it was the wavering light of the candles, perhaps it was only the agony from a death of pain, but the

repulsive black face seemed to wear a scowl that said, "Haven't you yet done with the outcast, persecuted

black man, but you must now haul him from his grave, and send even your women to dismember his body?"

Who is this dead man, one of thousands who died yesterday, and will be dust anon, to protest that science

Ruth could have had no such thought, for with a pity in her sweet face, that for the moment overcame fear

and disgust, she reverently replaced the covering, and went away to her own table, as her companion did to

hers. And there for an hour they worked at their several problems, without speaking, but not without an awe

of the presence there, "the new one," and not without an awful sense of life itself, as they heard the pulsations

When, at length, they went away, and locked the dreadful room behind them, and came out into the street,

where people were passing, they, for the first time, realized, in the relief they felt, what a nervous strain they

While Ruth was thus absorbed in her new occupation, and the spring was wearing away, Philip and his

friends were still detained at the Southern Hotel. The great contractors had concluded their business with the

state and railroad officials and with the lesser contractors, and departed for the East. But the serious illness of

one of the engineers kept Philip and Henry in the city and occupied in alternate watchings.

Philip wrote to Ruth of the new acquaintance they had made, Col. Sellers, an enthusiastic and hospitable

gentleman, very much interested in the development of the country, and in their success. They had not had an

opportunity to visit at his place "up in the country" yet, but the Colonel often dined with them, and in

confidence, confided to them his projects, and seemed to take a great liking to them, especially to his friend

Harry. It was true that he never seemed to have ready money, but he was engaged in very large operations.

The correspondence was not very brisk between these two young persons, so differently occupied; for though

Philip wrote long letters, he got brief ones in reply, full of sharp little observations however, such as one

Ruth's proposed occupation astonished Philip immensely, but while he argued it and discussed it, he did not

dare hint to her his fear that it would interfere with his most cherished plans. He too sincerely respected

Ruth's judgment to make any protest, however, and he would have defended her course against the world.

This enforced waiting at St. Louis was very irksome to Philip. His money was running away, for one thing,

and he longed to get into the field, and see for himself what chance there was for a fortune or even an

occupation. The contractors had given the young men leave to join the engineer corps as soon as they could,

but otherwise had made no provision for them, and in fact had left them with only the most indefinite

Harry was entirely happy; in his circumstances. He very soon knew everybody, from the governor of the state

down to the waiters at the hotel. He had the Wall street slang at his tongue's end; he always talked like a

capitalist, and entered with enthusiasm into all the land and railway schemes with which the air was thick.

Col. Sellers and Harry talked together by the hour and by the day. Harry informed his new friend that he was

going out with the engineer corps of the Salt Lick Pacific Extension, but that wasn't his real business.

"I'm to have, with another party," said Harry, "a big contract in the road, as soon as it is let; and, meantime,

"It's everything," suggested' the Colonel, "in knowing where to invest. I've known people throwaway their

money because they were too consequential to take Sellers' advice. Others, again, have made their pile on

taking it. I've looked over the ground; I've been studying it for twenty years. You can't put your finger on a

spot in the map of Missouri that I don't know as if I'd made it. When you want to place anything," continued

"Oh, I haven't got much in ready money I can lay my hands on now, but if a fellow could do anything with

fifteen or twenty thousand dollars, as a beginning, I shall draw for that when I see the right opening."

"Well, that's something, that's something, fifteen or twenty thousand dollars, say twentyas an advance,"

said the Colonel reflectively, as if turning over his mind for a project that could be entered on with such a

"I'll tell you what it isbut only to you Mr. Brierly, only to you, mind; I've got a little project that I've been

keeping. It looks small, looks small on paper, but it's got a big future. What should you say, sir, to a city, built

up like the rod of Aladdin had touched it, built up in two years, where now you wouldn't expect it any more

than you'd expect a lighthouse on the top of Pilot Knob? and you could own the land! It can be done, sir. It

The Colonel hitched up his chair close to Harry, laid his hand on his knee, and, first looking about him, said

in a low voice, "The Salt Lick Pacific Extension is going to run through Stone's Landing! The Almighty

never laid out a cleaner piece of level prairie for a city; and it's the natural center of all that region of hemp

"What makes you think the road will go there? It's twenty miles, on the map, off the straight line of the road?"

"You can't tell what is the straight line till the engineers have been over it. Between us, I have talked with Jeff

Thompson, the division engineer. He understands the wants of Stone's Landing, and the claims of the

inhabitantswho are to be there. Jeff says that a railroad is for the accommodation of the people and not

for the benefit of gophers; and if, he don't run this to Stone's Landing he'll be damned! You ought to know

Jeff; he's one of the most enthusiastic engineers in this western country, and one of the best fellows that ever

The recommendation was not undeserved. There was nothing that Jeff wouldn't do, to accommodate a friend,

from sharing his last dollar with him, to winging him in a duel. When he understood from Col. Sellers. how

the land lay at Stone's Landing, he cordially shook hands with that gentleman, asked him to drink, and fairly

roared out, "Why, God bless my soul, Colonel, a word from one Virginia gentleman to another is 'nuff ced.'

There's Stone's Landing been waiting for a railroad more than four thousand years, and damme if she shan't

Philip had not so much faith as Harry in Stone's Landing, when the latter opened the project to him, but Harry

Harry thoroughly believed in all his projects and inventions, and lived day by day in their golden atmosphere.

Everybody liked the young fellow, for how could they help liking one of such engaging manners and large

fortune? The waiters at the hotel would do more for him than for any other guest, and he made a great many

acquaintances among the people of St. Louis, who liked his sensible and liberal views about the development

of the western country, and about St. Louis. He said it ought to be the national capital. Harry made partial

arrangements with several of the merchants for furnishing supplies for his contract on the Salt Lick Pacific

Extension; consulted the maps with the engineers, and went over the profiles with the contractors, figuring

out estimates for bids. He was exceedingly busy with those things when he was not at the bedside of his sick

Meantime the days went along and the weeks, and the money in Harry's pocket got lower and lower. He was

just as liberal with what he had as before, indeed it was his nature to be free with his money or with that of

others, and he could lend or spend a dollar with an air that made it seem like ten. At length, at the end of one

week, when his hotel bill was presented, Harry found not a cent in his pocket to meet it. He carelessly

remarked to the landlord that he was not that day in funds, but he would draw on New York, and he sat down

and wrote to the contractors in that city a glowing letter about the prospects of the road, and asked them to

advance a hundred or two, until he got at work. No reply came. He wrote again, in an unoffended business

like tone, suggesting that he had better draw at three days. A short answer came to this, simply saying that

money was very tight in Wall street just then, and that he had better join the engineer corps as soon as he

But the bill had to be paid, and Harry took it to Philip, and asked him if he thought he hadn't better draw on

his uncle. Philip had not much faith in Harry's power of "drawing," and told him that he would pay the bill

himself. Whereupon Harry dismissed the matter then and thereafter from his thoughts, and, like a

lighthearted good fellow as he was, gave himself no more trouble about his boardbills. Philip paid them,

swollen as they were with a monstrous list of extras; but he seriously counted the diminishing bulk of his own

hoard, which was all the money he had in the world. Had he not tacitly agreed to share with Harry to the last

in this adventure, and would not the generous fellow divide; with him if he, Philip, were in want and Harry

The fever at length got tired of tormenting the stout young engineer, who lay sick at the hotel, and left him,

very thin, a little sallow but an "acclimated" man. Everybody said he was "acclimated" now, and said it

cheerfully. What it is to be acclimated to western fevers no two persons exactly agree.

Some say it is a sort of vaccination that renders death by some malignant type of fever less probable. Some

regard it as a sort of initiation, like that into the Odd Fellows, which renders one liable to his regular dues

thereafter. Others consider it merely the acquisition of a habit of taking every morning before breakfast a

dose of bitters, composed of whiskey and assafoetida, out of the acclimation jug.

Jeff Thompson afterwards told Philip that he once asked Senator Atchison, then acting VicePresident: of the

United States, about the possibility of acclimation; he thought the opinion of the second officer of our great

government would be, valuable on this point. They were sitting together on a bench before a country tavern,

"Well," said the VicePresident, crossing his legs, pulling his wide awake down over his forehead, causing

a passing chicken to hop quickly one side by the accuracy of his aim, and speaking with senatorial

deliberation, "I think I have. I've been here twentyfive years, and dash, dash my dash to dash, if I haven't

entertained twentyfive separate and distinct earthquakes, one a year. The niggro is the only person who can

The convalescence of the engineer was the signal for breaking up quarters at St. Louis, and the young

fortunehunters started up the river in good spirits. It was only the second time either of them had been upon

a Mississippi steamboat, and nearly everything they saw had the charm of novelty. Col. Sellers was at the

"I shall send you up that basket of champagne by the next boat; no, no; no thanks; you'll find it not bad in

camp," he cried out as the plank was hauled in. "My respects to Thompson. Tell him to sight for Stone's. Let

me know, Mr. Brierly, when you are ready to locate; I'll come over from Hawkeye. Goodbye."

And the last the young fellows saw of the Colonel, he was waving his hat, and beaming prosperity and good

The voyage was delightful, and was not long enough to become monotonous. The travelers scarcely had time

indeed to get accustomed to the splendors of the great saloon where the tables were spread for meals, a

marvel of paint and gilding, its ceiling hung with fancifully cut tissuepaper of many colors, festooned and

arranged in endless patterns. The whole was more beautiful than a barber's shop. The printed bill of fare at

dinner was longer and more varied, the proprietors justly boasted, than that of any hotel in New York. It must

have been the work of an author of talent and imagination, and it surely was not his fault if the dinner itself

was to a certain extent a delusion, and if the guests got something that tasted pretty much the same whatever

dish they ordered; nor was it his fault if a general flavor of rose in all the dessert dishes suggested that they

The travelers landed at a little settlement on the left bank, and at once took horses for the camp in the interior,

carrying their clothes and blankets strapped behind the saddles. Harry was dressed as we have seen him once

before, and his long and shining boots attracted not a little the attention of the few persons they met on the

road, and especially of the bright faced wenches who lightly stepped along the highway, picturesque in their

colored kerchiefs, carrying light baskets, or riding upon mules and balancing before them a heavier load.

Harry sang fragments of operas and talked abort their fortune. Philip even was excited by the sense of

freedom and adventure, and the beauty of the landscape. The prairie, with its new grass and unending acres of

brilliant flowerschiefly the innumerable varieties of phloxbore the look of years of cultivation, and the

occasional open groves of white oaks gave it a parklike appearance. It was hardly unreasonable to expect to

see at any moment, the gables and square windows of an Elizabethan mansion in one of the well kept groves.

Towards sunset of the third day, when the young gentlemen thought they ought to be near the town of

Magnolia, near which they had been directed to find the engineers' camp, they descried a log house and drew

up before it to enquire the way. Half the building was store, and half was dwelling house. At the door of the

It was true. This log horse was the compactly built town, and all creation was its suburbs. The engineers'

"You's boun' to find it," directed auntie, "if you don't keah nuffin 'bout de road, and go fo' de sundown."

A brisk gallop brought the riders in sight of the twinkling light of the camp, just as the stars came out. It lay

in a little hollow, where a small stream ran through a sparse grove of young white oaks. A half dozen tents

were pitched under the trees, horses and oxen were corraled at a little distance, and a group of men sat on

camp stools or lay on blankets about a bright fire. The twang of a banjo became audible as they drew nearer,

and they saw a couple of negroes, from some neighboring plantation, "breaking down" a juba in approved

Mr. Jeff Thompson, for it was the camp of this redoubtable engineer, gave the travelers a hearty welcome,

offered them ground room in his own tent, ordered supper, and set out a small jug, a drop from which he

"I never saw an Eastern man," said Jeff, "who knew how to drink from a jug with one hand. It's as easy as

lying. So." He grasped the handle with the right hand, threw the jug back upon his arm, and applied his lips to

the nozzle. It was an act as graceful as it was simple. "Besides," said Mr. Thompson, setting it down, "it puts

Early to turn in was the rule of the camp, and by nine o'clock everybody was under his blanket, except Jeff

himself, who worked awhile at his table over his fieldbook, and then arose, stepped outside the tent door

and sang, in a strong and not unmelodious tenor, the Star Spangled Banner from beginning to end. It proved

to be his nightly practice to let off the unexpended seam of his conversational powers, in the words of this

It was a long time before Philip got to sleep. He saw the fire light, he saw the clear stars through the

treetops, he heard the gurgle of the stream, the stamp of the horses, the occasional barking of the dog which

followed the cook's wagon, the hooting of an owl; and when these failed he saw Jeff, standing on a

battlement, mid the rocket's red ,glare, and heard him sing, "Oh, say, can you see?", It was the first time he

Nobody dressed more like an engineer than Mr. Henry Brierly. The completeness of his appointments was

the envy of the corps, and the gay fellow himself was the admiration of the camp servants, axemen, teamsters

"I reckon you didn't git them boots no wher's this side o' Sent Louis?" queried the tall Missouri youth who

"Yas, I've heern o' New York," continued the butternut lad, attentively studying each item of Harry's dress,

and endeavoring to cover his design with interesting conversation. "'N there's Massachusetts.",

"I've heern Massachusetts was a of a place. Les, see, what state's Massachusetts in?"

Harry shouldered his rod and went to the field, tramped over the prairie by day, and figured up results at

night, with the utmost cheerfulness and industry, and plotted the line on the profile paper, without, however,

the least idea of engineering practical or theoretical. Perhaps there was not a great deal of scientific

knowledge in the entire corps, nor was very much needed. They were making, what is called a preliminary

survey, and the chief object of a preliminary survey was to get up an excitement about the road, to interest

every town in that part of the state in it, under the belief that the road would run through it, and to get the aid

Mr. Jeff Thompson was the most popular engineer who could be found for this work. He did not bother

himself much about details or practicabilities of location, but ran merrily along, sighting from the top of one

divide to the top of another, and striking "plumb" every town site and big plantation within twenty or thirty

This course gave Harry an opportunity, as he said, to learn the practical details of engineering, and it gave

Philip a chance to see the country, and to judge for himself what prospect of a fortune it offered. Both he and

Harry got the "refusal" of more than one plantation as they went along, and wrote urgent letters to their

eastern correspondents, upon the beauty of the land and the certainty that it would quadruple in value as soon

as the road was finally located. It seemed strange to them that capitalists did not flock out there and secure

They had not been in the field over two weeks when Harry wrote to his friend Col. Sellers that he'd better be

on the move, for the line was certain to go to Stone's Landing. Any one who looked at the line on the map, as

it was laid down from day to day, would have been uncertain which way it was going; but Jeff had declared

that in his judgment the only practicable route from the point they then stood on was to follow the divide to

Stone's Landing, and it was generally understood that that town would be the next one hit.

And make it they did In less than a week, this indomitable engineer had carried his moving caravan over

slues and branches, across bottoms and along divides, and pitched his tents in the very heart of the city of

"Well, I'll be dashed," was heard the cheery voice of Mr. Thompson, as he stepped outside the tent door at

sunrise next morning. "If this don't get me. I say, yon, Grayson, get out your sighting iron and see if you can

find old Sellers' town. Blame me if we wouldn't have run plumb by it if twilight had held on a little longer.

Oh! Sterling, Brierly, get up and see the city. There's a steamboat just coming round the bend." And Jeff

The fellows turned out of the tents, rubbing their eyes, and stared about them. They were camped on the

second bench of the narrow bottom of a crooked, sluggish stream, that was some five rods wide in the present

good stage of water. Before them were a dozen log cabins, with stick and mud chimneys, irregularly disposed

on either side of a not very well defined road, which did not seem to know its own mind exactly, and, after

straggling through the town, wandered off over the rolling prairie in an uncertain way, as if it had started for

nowhere and was quite likely to reach its destination. Just as it left the town, however, it was cheered and

The road had never been made except by the travel over it, and at this seasonthe rainy Juneit was a way

of ruts cut in the black soil, and of fathomless mudholes. In the principal street of the city, it had received

more attention; for hogs; great and small, rooted about in it and wallowed in it, turning the street into a liquid

About the chief cabin, which was the store and grocery of this mart of trade, the mud was more liquid than

elsewhere, and the rude platform in front of it and the drygoods boxes mounted thereon were places of

refuge for all the loafers of the place. Down by the stream was a dilapidated building which served for a

hemp warehouse, and a shaky wharf extended out from it, into the water. In fact a flatboat was there moored

by it, it's setting poles lying across the gunwales. Above the town the stream was crossed by a crazy wooden

bridge, the supports of which leaned all ways in the soggy soil; the absence of a plank here and there in the

flooring made the crossing of the bridge faster than a walk an offense not necessary to be prohibited by law.

"This, gentlemen," said Jeff, "is Columbus River, alias Goose Run. If it was widened, and deepened, and

straightened, and made, long enough, it would be one of the finest rivers in the western country."

As the sun rose and sent his level beams along the stream, the thin stratum of mist, or malaria, rose also and

dispersed, but the light was not able to enliven the dull water nor give any hint of its apparently fathomless

depth. Venerable mudturtles crawled up and roosted upon the old logs in the stream, their backs glistening

in the sun, the first inhabitants of the metropolis to begin the active business of the day.

It was not long, however, before smoke began to issue from the city chimnies; and before the engineers, had

finished their breakfast they were the object of the curious inspection of six or eight boys and men, who

lounged into the camp and gazed about them with languid interest, their hands in their pockets every one.

"Good mawning," drawled out the spokesman of the party. "I allow thish yers the railroad, I heern it was

"I reckon you kin git all the rails you want oaten my white oak timber over, thar," replied the first speaker,

"You'll have to negotiate with the contractors about the rails, sir," said Jeff; "here's Mr. Brierly, I've no doubt

"O," said the man, "I thought maybe you'd fetch the whole bilin along with you. But if you want rails, I've got

"Well," said Mr. Thompson, rising from his seat and moving towards his tent, "the railroad has come to

The proposal met with universal favor. Jeff gave prosperity to Stone's Landing and navigation to Goose Run,

and the toast was washed down with gusto, in the simple fluid of corn; and with the return compliment that a

About ten o'clock a horse and wagon was descried making a slow approach to the camp over the prairie. As it

drew near, the wagon was seen to contain a portly gentleman, who hitched impatiently forward on his seat,

shook the reins and gently touched up his horse, in the vain attempt to communicate his own energy to that

dull beast, and looked eagerly at the tents. When the conveyance at length drew up to Mr. Thompson's door,

the gentleman descended with great deliberation, straightened himself up, rubbed his hands, and beaming

satisfaction from every part of his radiant frame, advanced to the group that was gathered to welcome him,

"Welcome to Napoleon, gentlemen, welcome. I am proud to see you here Mr. Thompson. You are, looking

well Mr. Sterling. This is the country, sir. Right glad to see you Mr. Brierly. You got that basket of

champagne? No? Those blasted river thieves! I'll never send anything more by 'em. The best brand, Roederer.

The last I had in my cellar, from a lot sent me by Sir George Goretook him out on a buffalo hunt, when he

visited our, country. Is always sending me some trifle. You haven't looked about any yet, gentlemen? It's in

the rough yet, in the rough. Those buildings will all have to come down. That's the place for the public

square, Court House, hotels, churches, jailall that sort of thing. About where we stand, the deepo. How

does that strike your engineering eye, Mr. Thompson? Down yonder the business streets, running to the

wharves. The University up there, on rising ground, sightly place, see the river for miles. That's Columbus

river, only fortynine miles to the Missouri. You see what it is, placid, steady, no current to interfere with

navigation, wants widening in places and dredging, dredge out the harbor and raise a levee in front of the

town; made by nature on purpose for a mart. Look at all this country, not another building within ten miles,

no other navigable stream, lay of the land points right here; hemp, tobacco, corn, must come here. The

"Don't now evidently," said Philip aside to Harry. "Have you breakfasted Colonel?"

"Hastily. Cup of coffee. Can't trust any coffee I don't import myself. But I put up a basket of

provisions,wife would put in a few delicacies, women always will, and a half dozen of that Burgundy, I

was telling you of Mr. Briefly. By the way, you never got to dine with me." And the Colonel strode away to

Apparently it was not there. For the Colonel raised up the flap, looked in front and behind, and then

"Confound it. That comes of not doing a thing yourself. I trusted to the women folks to set that basket in the

The camp cook speedily prepared a savory breakfast for the Colonel, broiled chicken, eggs, cornbread, and

coffee, to which he did ample justice, and topped off with a drop of Old Bourbon, from Mr. Thompson's

private store, a brand which he said he knew well, he should think it came from his own sideboard.

While the engineer corps went to the field, to run back a couple of miles and ascertain, approximately, if a

road could ever get down to the Landing, and to sight ahead across the Run, and see if it could ever get out

again, Col. Sellers and Harry sat down and began to roughly map out the city of Napoleon on a large piece of

"I've got the refusal of a mile square here," said the Colonel, "in our names, for a year, with a quarter interest

They laid out the town liberally, not lacking room, leaving space for the railroad to come in, and for the river

The engineers reported that the railroad could come in, by taking a little sweep and crossing the stream on a

high bridge, but the grades would be steep. Col. Sellers said he didn't care so much about the grades, if the

road could only be made to reach the elevators on the river. The next day Mr. Thompson made a hasty survey

of the stream for a mile or two, so that the Colonel and Harry were enabled to show on their map how nobly

that would accommodate the city. Jeff took a little writing from the Colonel and Harry for a prospective share

but Philip declined to join in, saying that he had no money, and didn't want to make engagements he couldn't

The next morning the camp moved on, followed till it was out of sight by the listless eyes of the group in

front of the store, one of whom remarked that, "he'd be doggoned if he ever expected to see that railroad any

Harry went with the Colonel to Hawkeye to complete their arrangements, a part of which was the preparation

of a petition to congress for the improvement of the navigation of Columbus River.

Eight years have passed since the death of Mr. Hawkins. Eight years are not many in the life of a nation or

the history of a state, but they maybe years of destiny that shall fix the current of the century following. Such

years were those that followed the little scrimmage on Lexington Common. Such years were those that

followed the doubleshotted demand for the surrender of Fort Sumter. History is never done with inquiring

of these years, and summoning witnesses about them, and trying to understand their significance.

The eight years in America from 1860 to 1868 uprooted institutions that were centuries old, changed the

politics of a people, transformed the social life of half the country, and wrought so profoundly upon the entire

national character that the influence cannot be measured short of two or three generations.

As we are accustomed to interpret the economy of providence, the life of the individual is as nothing to that

of the nation or the race; but who can say, in the broader view and the more intelligent weight of values, that

the life of one man is not more than that of a nationality, and that there is not a tribunal where the tragedy of

one human soul shall not seem more significant than the overturning of any human institution whatever?

When one thinks of the tremendous forces of the upper and the nether world which play for the mastery of

the soul of a woman during the few years in which she passes from plastic girlhood to the ripe maturity of

What capacities she has of purity, tenderness, goodness; what capacities of vileness, bitterness and evil.

Nature must needs be lavish with the mother and creator of men, and centre in her all the possibilities of life.

And a few critical years can decide whether her life is to be full of sweetness and light, whether she is to be

the vestal of a holy temple, or whether she will be the fallen priestess of a desecrated shrine. There are

women, it is true, who seem to be capable neither of rising much nor of falling much, and whom a

But Laura was not one of them. She had the fatal gift of beauty, and that more fatal gift which does not

always accompany mere beauty, the power of fascination, a power that may, indeed, exist without beauty.

She had will, and pride and courage and ambition, and she was left to be very much her own guide at the age

when romance comes to the aid of passion, and when the awakening powers of her vigorous mind had little

The tremendous conflict that was fought in this girl's soul none of those about her knew, and very few knew

Those were troublous days in Hawkeye as well as in most other Missouri towns, days of confusion, when

between Unionist and Confederate occupations, sudden maraudings and bushwhackings and raids,

individuals escaped observation or comment in actions that would have filled the town with scandal in quiet

Fortunately we only need to deal with Laura's life at this period historically, and look back upon such

portions of it as will serve to reveal the woman as she was at the time of the arrival of Mr. Harry Brierly in

The Hawkins family were settled there, and had a hard enough struggle with poverty and the necessity of

keeping up appearances in accord with their own family pride and the large expectations they secretly

cherished of a fortune in the Knobs of East Tennessee. How pinched they were perhaps no one knew but

Clay, to whom they looked for almost their whole support. Washington had been in Hawkeye off and on,

attracted away occasionally by some tremendous speculation, from which he invariably returned to Gen.

Boswell's office as poor as he went. He was the inventor of no one knew how many useless contrivances,

which were not worth patenting, and his years had been passed in dreaming and planning to no purpose; until

he was now a man of about thirty, without a profession or a permanent occupation, a tall, brownhaired,

dreamy person of the best intentions and the frailest resolution. Probably however the, eight years had been

happier to him than to any others in his circle, for the time had been mostly spent in a blissful dream of the

He went out with a company from Hawkeye to the war, and was not wanting in courage, but be would have

been a better soldier if he had been less engaged in contrivances for circumventing the enemy by strategy

It happened to him to be captured in one of his selfappointed expeditions, but the federal colonel released

him, after a short examination, satisfied that he could most injure the confederate forces opposed to the

Unionists by returning him to his regiment. Col. Sellers was of course a prominent man during the war. He

was captain of the home guards in Hawkeye, and he never left home except upon one occasion, when on the

strength of a rumor, he executed a flank movement and fortified Stone's Landing, a place which no one

"Gad," said the Colonel afterwards, "the Landing is the key to upper Missouri, and it is the only place the

enemy never captured. If other places had been defended as well as that was, the result would have been

The Colonel had his own theories about war as he had in other things. If everybody had stayed at home as he

did, he said, the South never would have been conquered. For what would there have been to conquer? Mr.

Jeff Davis was constantly writing him to take command of a corps in the confederate army, but Col. Sellers

said, no, his duty was at home. And he was by no means idle. He was the inventor of the famous air torpedo,

which came very near destroying the Union armies in Missouri, and the city of St. Louis itself.

His plan was to fill a torpedo with Greek fire and poisonous and deadly missiles, attach it to a balloon, and

then let it sail away over the hostile camp and explode at the right moment, when the timefuse burned out.

He intended to use this invention in the capture of St. Louis, exploding his torpedoes over the city, and

raining destruction upon it until the army of occupation would gladly capitulate. He was unable to procure the

Greek fire, but he constructed a vicious torpedo which would have answered the purpose, but the first one

prematurely exploded in his woodhouse, blowing it clean away, and setting fire to his house. The neighbors

helped him put out the conflagration, but they discouraged any more experiments of that sort.

The patriotic old gentleman, however, planted so much powder and so many explosive contrivances in the

roads leading into Hawkeye, and then forgot the exact spots of danger, that people were afraid to travel the

highways, and used to come to town across the fields, The Colonel's motto was, "Millions for defence but not

When Laura came to Hawkeye she might have forgotten the annoyances of the gossips of Murpheysburg and

have out lived the bitterness that was growing in her heart, if she had been thrown less upon herself, or if the

surroundings of her life had been more congenial and helpful. But she had little society, less and less as she

grew older that was congenial to her, and her mind preyed upon itself; and the mystery of her birth at once

chagrined her and raised in her the most extravagant expectations. She was proud and she felt the sting of

poverty. She could not but be conscious of her beauty also, and she was vain of that, and came to take a sort

of delight in the exercise of her fascinations upon the rather loutish young men who came in her way and

There was another world opened to hera world of books. But it was not the best world of that sort, for the

small libraries she had access to in Hawkeye were decidedly miscellaneous, and largely made up of romances

and fictions which fed her imagination with the most exaggerated notions of life, and showed her men and

women in a very false sort of heroism. From these stories she learned what a woman of keen intellect and

some culture joined to beauty and fascination of manner, might expect to accomplish in society as she read of

it; and along with these ideas she imbibed other very crude ones in regard to the emancipation of woman.

There were also other bookshistories, biographies of distinguished people, travels in far lands, poems,

especially those of Byron, Scott and Shelley and Moore, which she eagerly absorbed, and appropriated

therefrom what was to her liking. Nobody in Hawkeye had read so much or, after a fashion, studied so

diligently as Laura. She passed for an accomplished girl, and no doubt thought herself one, as she was,

During the war there came to Hawkeye a confederate officer, Col. Selby, who was stationed there for a time,

in command of that district. He was a handsome, soldierly man of thirty years, a graduate of the University of

Virginia, and of distinguished family, if his story might be believed, and, it was evident, a man of the world

To find in such an out of the way country place a woman like Laura was a piece of good luck upon which

Col. Selby congratulated himself. He was studiously polite to her and treated her with a consideration to

which she was unaccustomed. She had read of such men, but she had never seen one before, one so

highbred, so noble in sentiment, so entertaining in conversation, so engaging in manner.

It is a long story; unfortunately it is an old story, and it need not be dwelt on. Laura loved him, and believed

that his love for her was as pure and deep as her own. She worshipped him and would have counted her life a

little thing to give him, if he would only love her and let her feed the hunger of her heart upon him.

The passion possessed her whole being, and lifted her up, till she seemed to walk on air. It was all true, then,

the romances she had read, the bliss of love she had dreamed of. Why had she never noticed before how

blithesome the world was, how jocund with love; the birds sang it, the trees whispered it to her as she passed,

When the Colonel went away they were engaged to be married, as soon as he could make certain

arrangements which he represented to be necessary, and quit the army. He wrote to her from Harding, a small

town in the southwest corner of the state, saying that he should be held in the service longer than he had

expected, but that it would not be more than a few months, then he should be at liberty to take her to Chicago

where he had property, and should have business, either now or as soon as the war was over, which he

thought could not last long. Meantime why should they be separated? He was established in comfortable

quarters, and if she could find company and join him, they would be married, and gain so many more months

Was woman ever prudent when she loved? Laura went to Harding, the neighbors supposed to nurse

Washington who had fallen ill there. Her engagement was, of course, known in Hawkeye, and was indeed a

matter of pride to her family. Mrs. Hawkins would have told the first inquirer that. Laura had gone to be

married; but Laura had cautioned her; she did not want to be thought of, she said, as going in search of a

So she traveled to Harding on the pretence we have mentioned, and was married. She was married, but

something must have happened on that very day or the next that alarmed her. Washington did not know then

or after what it was, but Laura bound him not to send news of her marriage to Hawkeye yet, and to enjoin her

mother not to speak of it. Whatever cruel suspicion or nameless dread this was, Laura tried bravely to put it

Communication that summer, as may be imagined, was neither regular nor frequent between the remote

confederate camp at Harding and Hawkeye, and Laura was in a measure lost sight ofindeed, everyone had

Laura had given herself utterly to her husband, and if he had faults, if he was selfish, if he was sometimes

coarse, if he was dissipated, she did not or would not see it. It was the passion of her life, the time when her

whole nature went to flood tide and swept away all barriers. Was her husband ever cold or indifferent? She

Three months passed. One morning her husband informed her that he had been ordered South, and must go

"Can'ttakeme?" Laura asked, with wonder in her eyes. "I can't live without you. You said "

"O bother what I said,"and the Colonel took up his sword to buckle it on, and then continued coolly, "the

Laura heard, but she did not comprehend. She caught his arm and cried, "George, how can you joke so

cruelly? I will go any where with you. I will wait any where. I can't go back to Hawkeye."

"Well, go where you like. Perhaps," continued he with a sneer, "you would do as well to wait here, for

Laura's brain whirled. She did not yet comprehend. "What does this mean? Where are you going?"

"It means," said the officer, in measured words, "that you haven't anything to show for a legal marriage, and

"It's a lie, George, it's a lie. I am your wife. I shall go. I shall follow you to New Orleans."

Laura raised her head, her eyes flamed with fire, she tried to utter a cry, and fell senseless on the floor.

When she came to herself the Colonel was gone. Washington Hawkins stood at her bedside. Did she come to

herself? Was there anything left in her heart but hate and bitterness, a sense of an infamous wrong at the

She returned to Hawkeye. With the exception of Washington and his mother, no one knew what had

happened. The neighbors supposed that the engagement with Col. Selby had fallen through. Laura was ill for

a long time, but she recovered; she had that resolution in her that could conquer death almost. And with her

health came back her beauty, and an added fascination, a something that might be mistaken for sadness. Is

there a beauty in the knowledge of evil, a beauty that shines out in the face of a person whose inward life is

transformed by some terrible experience? Is the pathos in the eyes of the Beatrice Cenci from her guilt or her

Laura was not much changed. The lovely woman had a devil in her heart. That was all.

Mr. Harry Brierly drew his pay as an engineer while he was living at the City Hotel in Hawkeye. Mr.

Thompson had been kind enough to say that it didn't make any difference whether he was with the corps or

not; and although Harry protested to the Colonel daily and to Washington Hawkins that he must go back at

once to the line and superintend the layout with reference to his contract, yet he did not go, but wrote

instead long letters to Philip, instructing him to keep his eye out, and to let him know when any difficulty

Meantime Harry blossomed out in the society of Hawkeye, as he did in any society where fortune cast him

and he had the slightest opportunity to expand. Indeed the talents of a rich and accomplished young fellow

like Harry were not likely to go unappreciated in such a place. A land operator, engaged in vast speculations,

a favorite in the select circles of New York, in correspondence with brokers and bankers, intimate with public

men at Washington, one who could play the guitar and touch the banjo lightly, and who had an eye for a

pretty girl, and knew the language of flattery, was welcome everywhere in Hawkeye. Even Miss Laura

Hawkins thought it worth while to use her fascinations upon him, and to endeavor to entangle the volatile

"Gad," says Harry to the Colonel, "she's a superb creature, she'd make a stir in New York, money or no

money. There are men I know would give her a railroad or an opera house, or whatever she wantedat least

Harry had a way of looking at women as he looked at anything else in the world he wanted, and he half

resolved to appropriate Miss Laura, during his stay in Hawkeye. Perhaps the Colonel divined his thoughts, or

"No nonsense, Mr. Brierly. Nonsense won't do in Hawkeye, not with my friends. The Hawkins' blood is good

blood, all the way from Tennessee. The Hawkinses are under the weather now, but their Tennessee property

"Of course, Colonel. Not the least offense intended. But you can see she is a fascinating woman. I was only

thinking, as to this appropriation, now, what such a woman could do in Washington. All correct, too, all

correct. Common thing, I assure you in Washington; the wives of senators, representatives, cabinet officers,

all sorts of wives, and some who are not wives, use their influence. You want an appointment? Do you go to

Senator X? Not much. You get on the right side of his wife. Is it an appropriation? You'd go 'straight to the

Committee, or to the Interior office, I suppose? You'd learn better than that. It takes a woman to get any thing

through the Land Office: I tell you, Miss Laura would fascinate an appropriation right through the Senate and

the House of Representatives in one session, if she was in Washington, as your friend, Colonel, of course as

Harry laughed. "Women don't get anything by petitioning Congress; nobody does, that's for form. Petitions

are referred somewhere, and that's the last of them; you can't refer a handsome woman so easily, when she is

The petition however was elaborately drawn up, with a glowing description of Napoleon and the adjacent

country, and a statement of the absolute necessity to the prosperity of that region and of one of the stations on

the great through route to the Pacific, of the, immediate improvement of Columbus River; to this was

appended a map of the city and a survey of the river. It was signed by all the people at Stone's Landing who

could write their names, by Col. Beriah Sellers, and the Colonel agreed to have the names headed by all the

senators and representatives from the state and by a sprinkling of exgovernors and exmembers of congress.

When completed it was a formidable document. Its preparation and that of more minute plots of the new city

consumed the valuable time of Sellers and Harry for many weeks, and served to keep them both in the

In the eyes of Washington Hawkins, Harry was a superior being, a man who was able to bring things to pass

in a way that excited his enthusiasm. He never tired of listening to his stories of what he had done and of

what he was going to do. As for Washington, Harry thought he was a man of ability and comprehension, but

"too visionary," he told the Colonel. The Colonel said he might be right, but he had never noticed anything

"He's got his plans, sir. God bless my soul, at his age, I was full of plans. But experience sobers a man, I

never touch any thing now that hasn't been weighed in my judgment; and when Beriah Sellers puts his

Whatever might have been Harry's intentions with regard to Laura, he saw more and more of her every day,

That consummate artist in passion allowed him to believe that the fascination was mainly on his side, and so

worked upon his vanity, while inflaming his ardor, that he scarcely knew what he was about. Her coolness

and coyness were even made to appear the simple precautions of a modest timidity, and attracted him even

more than the little tendernesses into which she was occasionally surprised. He could never be away from her

long, day or evening; and in a short time their intimacy was the town talk. She played with him so adroitly

that Harry thought she was absorbed in love for him, and yet he was amazed that he did not get on faster in

And when he thought of it, he was piqued as well. A country girl, poor enough, that was evident; living with

her family in a cheap and most unattractive frame house, such as carpenters build in America, scantily

furnished and unadorned; without the adventitious aids of dress or jewels or the fine manners of

societyHarry couldn't understand it. But she fascinated him, and held him just beyond the line of absolute

familiarity at the same time. While he was with her she made him forget that the Hawkins' house was nothing

but a wooden tenement, with four small square rooms on the ground floor and a half story; it might have been

Perhaps Laura was older than Harry. She was, at any rate, at that ripe age when beauty in woman seems more

solid than in the budding period of girlhood, and she had come to understand her powers perfectly, and to

know exactly how much of the susceptibility and archness of the girl it was profitable to retain. She saw that

many women, with the best intentions, make a mistake of carrying too much girlishness into womanhood.

Such a woman would have attracted Harry at any time, but only a woman with a cool brain and exquisite art

could have made him lose his head in this way; for Harry thought himself a man of the world. The young

fellow never dreamed that he was merely being experimented on; he was to her a man of another society and

another culture, different from that she had any knowledge of except in books, and she was not unwilling to

For Laura had her dreams. She detested the narrow limits in which her lot was cast, she hated poverty. Much

of her reading had been of modern works of fiction, written by her own sex, which had revealed to her

something of her own powers and given her indeed, an exaggerated notion of the influence, the wealth, the

position a woman may attain who has beauty and talent and ambition and a little culture, and is not too

scrupulous in the use of them. She wanted to be rich, she wanted luxury, she wanted men at her feet, her

slaves, and she had notthanks to some of the novels she had readthe nicest discrimination between

notoriety and reputation; perhaps she did not know how fatal notoriety usually is to the bloom of

With the other Hawkins children Laura had been brought up in the belief that they had inherited a fortune in

the Tennessee Lands. She did not by any means share all the delusion of the family; but her brain was not

seldom busy with schemes about it. Washington seemed to her only to dream of it and to be willing to wait

for its riches to fall upon him in a golden shower; but she was impatient, and wished she were a man to take

"You men must enjoy your schemes and your activity and liberty to go about the world," she said to Harry

one day, when he had been talking of New York and Washington and his incessant engagements.

"Oh, yes," replied that martyr to business, "it's all well enough, if you don't have too much of it, but it only

"If a woman doesn't know, it's useless to tell her. What do you suppose I am staying in Hawkeye for, week

"I suppose it's your business with Col. Sellers about Napoleon, you've always told me so," answered Laura,

"And now I tell you that is all arranged, I suppose you'll tell me I ought to go?"

"Harry!" exclaimed Laura, touching his arm and letting her pretty hand rest there a moment. "Why should I

"But you refuse to understand me," replied Harry, flattered but still petulant. "You are like an iceberg, when

Laura looked up with wonder in her great eyes, and something like a blush suffusing her face, followed by a

"Did I ever show any want of confidence in you, Harry?" And she gave him her hand, which Harry pressed

with effusionsomething in her manner told him that he must be content with that favor.

It was always so. She excited his hopes and denied him, inflamed his passion and restrained it, and wound

him in her toils day by day. To what purpose? It was keen delight to Laura to prove that she had power over

Laura liked to hear about life at the east, and especially about the luxurious society in which Mr. Brierly

moved when he was at home. It pleased her imagination to fancy herself a queen in it.

"Don't know any of the families of the congressmen? They like to have a pretty woman staying with them."

"Suppose Col. Sellers should, have business there; say, about this Columbus River appropriation?"

"You needn't laugh. Queerer things have happened. Sellers knows everybody from Missouri, and from the

West, too, for that matter. He'd introduce you to Washington life quick enough. It doesn't need a crowbar to

break your way into society there as it does in Philadelphia. It's democratic, Washington is. Money or beauty

will open any door. If I were a handsome woman, I shouldn't want any better place than the capital to pick up

"Thank you," replied Laura. "But I prefer the quiet of home, and the love of those I know;" and her face wore

a look of sweet contentment and unworldliness that finished Mr. Harry Brierly for the day.

Nevertheless, the hint that Harry had dropped fell upon good ground, and bore fruit an hundred fold; it

worked in her mind until she had built up a plan on it, and almost a career for herself. Why not, she said, why

shouldn't I do as other women have done? She took the first opportunity to see Col. Sellers, and to sound him

about the Washington visit. How was he getting on with his navigation scheme, would it be likely to take him

"Well, maybe. If the people of Napoleon want me to go to Washington, and look after that matter, I might

tear myself from my home. It's been suggested to me, butnot a word of it to Mrs. Sellers and the children.

Maybe they wouldn't like to think of their father in Washington. But Dilworthy, Senator Dilworthy, says to

me, 'Colonel, you are the man, you could influence more votes than any one else on such a measure, an old

settler, a man of the people, you know the wants of Missouri; you've a respect for religion too, says he, and

know how the cause of the gospel goes with improvements: Which is true enough, Miss Laura, and hasn't

been enough thought of in connection with Napoleon. He's an able man, Dilworthy, and a good man. A man

has got to be good to succeed as he has. He's only been in Congress a few years, and he must be worth a

million. First thing in the morning when he stayed with me he asked about family prayers, whether we had

'em before or after breakfast. I hated to disappoint the Senator, but I had to out with it, tell him we didn't have

'em, not steady. He said he understood, business interruptions and all that, some men were well enough

without, but as for him he never neglected the ordinances of religion. He doubted if the Columbus River

Perhaps it is unnecessary to say to the reader that Senator Dilworthy had not stayed with Col. Sellers while he

was in Hawkeye; this visit to his house being only one of the Colonel's hallucinationsone of those instant

creations of his fertile fancy, which were always flashing into his brain and out of his mouth in the course of

During the summer Philip rode across the country and made a short visit in Hawkeye, giving Harry an

opportunity to show him the progress that he and the Colonel had made in their operation at Stone's Landing,

to introduce him also to Laura, and to borrow a little money when he departed. Harry bragged about his

Laura received Mr. Philip with a courtesy and a slight hauteur that rather surprised and not a little interested

him. He saw at once that she was older than Harry, and soon made up his mind that she was leading his friend

a country dance to which he was unaccustomed. At least he thought he saw that, and half hinted as much to

Harry, who flared up at once; but on a second visit Philip was not so sure, the young lady was certainly kind

and friendly and almost confiding with Harry, and treated Philip with the greatest consideration. She deferred

to his opinions, and listened attentively when he talked, and in time met his frank manner with an equal

frankness, so that he was quite convinced that whatever she might feel towards Harry, she was sincere with

him. Perhaps his manly way did win her liking. Perhaps in her mind, she compared him with Harry, and

recognized in him a man to whom a woman might give her whole soul, recklessly and with little care if she

lost it. Philip was not invincible to her beauty nor to the intellectual charm of her presence.

The week seemed very short that he passed in Hawkeye, and when he bade Laura good by, he seemed to have

"We shall see you again, Mr. Sterling," she said as she gave him her hand, with just a shade of sadness in her

And when he turned away she followed him with a look that might have disturbed his serenity, if he had not

at the moment had a little square letter in his breast pocket, dated at Philadelphia, and signed "Ruth."

The visit of Senator Abner Dilworthy was an event in Hawkeye. When a Senator, whose place is in

Washington moving among the Great and guiding the destinies of the nation, condescends to mingle among

the people and accept the hospitalities of such a place as Hawkeye, the honor is not considered a light one.

All, parties are flattered by it and politics are forgotten in the presence of one so distinguished among his

Senator Dilworthy, who was from a neighboring state, had been a Unionist in the darkest days of his country,

and had thriven by it, but was that any reason why Col. Sellers, who had been a confederate and had not

The Senator was the guest of his old friend Gen. Boswell, but it almost appeared that he was indebted to Col.

Sellers for the unreserved hospitalities of the town. It was the large hearted Colonel who, in a manner, gave

"You are known here, sir," said the Colonel," and Hawkeye is proud of you. You will find every door open,

and a welcome at every hearthstone. I should insist upon your going to my house, if you were not claimed by

your older friend Gen. Boswell. But you will mingle with our people, and you will see here developments

The Colonel was so profuse in his hospitality that he must have made the impression upon himself that he

had entertained the Senator at his own mansion during his stay; at any rate, he afterwards always spoke of

him as his guest, and not seldom referred to the Senator's relish of certain viands on his table. He did, in fact,

Senator Dilworthy was large and portly, though not talla pleasant spoken man, a popular man with the

He took a lively interest in the town and all the surrounding country, and made many inquiries as to the

progress of agriculture, of education, and of religion, and especially as to the condition of the emancipated

"Providence," he said, "has placed them in our hands, and although you and I, General, might have chosen a

"You can't do much with 'em," interrupted Col. Sellers. "They are a speculating race, sir, disinclined to work

for white folks without security, planning how to live by only working for themselves. Idle, sir, there's my

"You educate the niggro and you make him more speculating than he was before. If he won't stick to any

"But, Colonel, the negro when educated will be more able to make his speculations fruitful."

"Never, sir, never. He would only have a wider scope to injure himself. A niggro has no grasp, sir. Now, a

"Still," replied the Senator, "granting that he might injure himself in a worldly point of view, his elevation

through education would multiply his chances for the hereafterwhich is the important thing after all,

Colonel. And no matter what the result is, we must fulfill our duty by this being."

"I'd elevate his soul," promptly responded the Colonel; "that's just it; you can't make his soul too immortal,

but I wouldn't touch him, himself. Yes, sir! make his soul immortal, but don't disturb the niggro as he is."

Of course one of the entertainments offered the Senator was a public reception, held in the court house, at

which he made a speech to his fellow citizens. Col. Sellers was master of ceremonies. He escorted the band

from the city hotel to Gen. Boswell's; he marshalled the procession of Masons, of Odd Fellows, and of

Firemen, the Good Templars, the Sons of Temperance, the Cadets of Temperance, the Daughters of Rebecca,

the Sunday School children, and citizens generally, which followed the Senator to the court house; he bustled

about the room long after every one else was seated, and loudly cried "Order!" in the dead silence which

preceded the introduction of the Senator by Gen. Boswell. The occasion was one to call out his finest powers

This not being an edition of the Congressional Globe it is impossible to give Senator Dilworthy's speech in

"Fellow citizens: It gives me great pleasure to thus meet and mingle with you, to lay aside for a moment the

heavy duties of an official and burdensome station, and confer in familiar converse with my friends in your

great state. The good opinion of my fellow citizens of all sections is the sweetest solace in all my anxieties. I

look forward with longing to the time when I can lay aside the cares of office" ["dam sight," shouted a

"My friends, do not remove him. Let the misguided man stay. I see that he is a victim of that evil which is

swallowing up public virtue and sapping the foundation of society. As I was saying, when I can lay down the

cares of office and retire to the sweets of private life in some such sweet, peaceful, intelligent, wideawake

and patriotic place as Hawkeye (applause). I have traveled much, I have seen all parts of our glorious union,

but I have never seen a lovelier village than yours, or one that has more signs of commercial and industrial

The Senator then launched into a sketch of our great country, and dwelt for an hour or more upon its

He then touched reverently upon the institutions of religion, and upon the necessity of private purity, if we

were to have any public morality. "I trust," he said, "that there are children within the sound of my voice,"

and after some remarks to them, the Senator closed with an apostrophe to "the genius of American Liberty,

walking with the Sunday School in one hand and Temperance in the other up the glorified steps of the

Col. Sellers did not of course lose the opportunity to impress upon so influential a person as the Senator the

desirability of improving the navigation of Columbus river. He and Mr. Brierly took the Senator over to

Napoleon and opened to him their plan. It was a plan that the Senator could understand without a great deal

of explanation, for he seemed to be familiar with the like improvements elsewhere. When, however, they

"This is the nucleus, the nucleus," said the Colonel, unrolling his map. "Here is the deepo, the church, the

"That, why, that's Goose Run. Thar ain't no Columbus, thout'n it's over to Hawkeye," interrupted one of the

citizens, who had come out to stare at the strangers. "A railroad come here last summer, but it haint been here

"Yes, sir," the Colonel hastened to explain, "in the old records Columbus River is called Goose Run. You see

how it sweeps round the townforty nine miles to the Missouri; sloop navigation all the way pretty much,

drains this whole country; when it's improved steamboats will run right up here. It's got to be enlarged,

deepened. You see by the map. Columbus River. This country must have water communication!"

"According to our surveys," said Harry, "a million would do it; a million spent on the river would make

"I see," nodded the Senator. "But you'd better begin by asking only for two or three hundred thousand, the

The Senator, himself, to do him justice, was not very much interested in the country or the stream, but he

favored the appropriation, and he gave the Colonel and Mr. Brierly to and understand that he would endeavor

to get it through. Harry, who thought he was shrewd and understood Washington, suggested an interest.

"You will offend me by repeating such an observation," he said. "Whatever I do will be for the public

interest. It will require a portion of the appropriation for necessary expenses, and I am sorry to say that there

are members who will have to be seen. But you can reckon upon my humble services."

This aspect of the subject was not again alluded to. The Senator possessed himself of the facts, not from his

observation of the ground, but from the lips of Col. Sellers, and laid the appropriation scheme away among

It was on this visit also that the Senator made the acquaintance of Mr. Washington Hawkins, and was greatly

taken with his innocence, his guileless manner and perhaps with his ready adaptability to enter upon any plan

Col. Sellers was pleased to see this interest that Washington had awakened, especially since it was likely to

further his expectations with regard to the Tennessee lands; the Senator having remarked to the Colonel, that

he delighted to help any deserving young man, when the promotion of a private advantage could at the same

time be made to contribute to the general good. And he did not doubt that this was an opportunity of that

The result of several conferences with Washington was that the Senator proposed that he should go to

Washington with him and become his private secretary and the secretary of his committee; a proposal which

The Senator spent Sunday in Hawkeye and attended church. He cheered the heart of the worthy and zealous

minister by an expression of his sympathy in his labors, and by many inquiries in regard to the religious state

of the region. It was not a very promising state, and the good man felt how much lighter his task would be, if

"I am glad to see, my dear sir," said the Senator, "that you give them the doctrines. It is owing to a neglect of

the doctrines, that there is such a fearful falling away in the country. I wish that we might have you in

The good man could not but be a little flattered, and if sometimes, thereafter, in his discouraging work, he

allowed the thought that he might perhaps be called to Washington as chaplain of the Senate, to cheer him,

who can wonder. The Senator's commendation at least did one service for him, it elevated him in the opinion

Laura was at church alone that day, and Mr. Brierly walked home with her. A part of their way lay with that

of General Boswell and Senator Dilworthy, and introductions were made. Laura had her own reasons for

wishing to know the Senator, and the Senator was not a man who could be called indifferent to charms such

as hers. That meek young lady so commended herself to him in the short walk, that he announced his

intentions of paying his respects to her the next day, an intention which Harry received glumly; and when the

"Fie," said Laura, "I do believe you are jealous, Harry. He is a very pleasant man. He said you were a young

The Senator did call next day, and the result of his visit was that he was confirmed in his impression that

there was something about him very attractive to ladies. He saw Laura again and again daring his stay, and

felt more and more the subtle influence of her feminine beauty, which every man felt who came near her.

Harry was beside himself with rage while the Senator remained in town; he declared that women were always

ready to drop any man for higher game; and he attributed his own illluck to the Senator's appearance. The

fellow was in fact crazy about her beauty and ready to beat his brains out in chagrin. Perhaps Laura enjoyed

his torment, but she soothed him with blandishments that increased his ardor, and she smiled to herself to

think that he had, with all his protestations of love, never spoken of marriage. Probably the vivacious fellow

never had thought of it. At any rate when he at length went away from Hawkeye he was no nearer it. But

Laura bade him good bye with tender regret, which, however, did not disturb her peace or interfere with her

plans. The visit of Senator Dilworthy had become of more importance to her, and it by and by bore the fruit

she longed for, in an invitation to visit his family in the National Capital during the winter session of

Whether medicine is a science, or only an empirical method of getting a living out of the ignorance of the

human race, Ruth found before her first term was over at the medical school that there were other things she

needed to know quite as much as that which is taught in medical books, and that she could never satisfy her

"Does your doctor know any thingI don't mean about medicine, but about things in general, is he a man of

information and good sense?" once asked an old practitioner. "If he doesn't know any thing but medicine the

The close application to her special study was beginning to tell upon Ruth's delicate health also, and the

In this condition of mind and body the quiet of her home and the unexciting companionship of those about

She followed with more interest Philip's sparkling account of his life in the west, and longed for his

experiences, and to know some of those people of a world so different from here, who alternately amused and

displeased him. He at least was learning the world, the good and the bad of it, as must happen to every one

But what, Ruth wrote, could a woman do, tied up by custom, and cast into particular circumstances out of

which it was almost impossible to extricate herself? Philip thought that he would go some day and extricate

Ruth, but he did not write that, for he had the instinct to know that this was not the extrication she dreamed

of, and that she must find out by her own experience what her heart really wanted.

Philip was not a philosopher, to be sure, but he had the old fashioned notion, that whatever a woman's

theories of life might be, she would come round to matrimony, only give her time. He could indeed recall to

mind one womanand he never knew a noblerwhose whole soul was devoted and who believed that her

life was consecrated to a certain benevolent project in singleness of life, who yielded to the touch of

Neither at home nor elsewhere did Ruth utter any complaint, or admit any weariness or doubt of her ability to

pursue the path she had marked out for herself. But her mother saw clearly enough her struggle with

infirmity, and was not deceived by either her gaiety or by the cheerful composure which she carried into all

the ordinary duties that fell to her. She saw plainly enough that Ruth needed an entire change of scene and of

occupation, and perhaps she believed that such a change, with the knowledge of the world it would bring,

would divert Ruth from a course for which she felt she was physically entirely unfitted.

It therefore suited the wishes of all concerned, when autumn came, that Ruth should go away to school. She

selected a large New England Seminary, of which she had often heard Philip speak, which was attended by

both sexes and offered almost collegiate advantages of education. Thither she went in September, and began

The Seminary was the chief feature of Fallkill, a village of two to three thousand inhabitants. It was a

prosperous school, with three hundred students, a large corps of teachers, men and women, and with a

venerable rusty row of academic buildings on the shaded square of the town. The students lodged and

boarded in private families in the place, and so it came about that while the school did a great deal to support

the town, the town gave the students society and the sweet influences of home life. It is at least respectful to

Ruth's home, by the intervention of Philip, was in a familyone of the rare exceptions in life or in

fictionthat had never known better days. The Montagues, it is perhaps well to say, had intended to come

over in the Mayflower, but were detained at Delft Haven by the illness of a child. They came over to

Massachusetts Bay in another vessel, and thus escaped the onus of that brevet nobility under which the

successors of the Mayflower Pilgrims have descended. Having no factitious weight of dignity to carry, the

Montagues steadily improved their condition from the day they landed, and they were never more vigorous or

prosperous than at the date of this narrative. With character compacted by the rigid Puritan discipline of more

than two centuries, they had retained its strength and purity and thrown off its narrowness, and were now

blossoming under the generous modern influences. Squire Oliver Montague, a lawyer who had retired from

the practice of his profession except in rare cases, dwelt in a square old fashioned New England mile away

from the green. It was called a mansion because it stood alone with ample fields about it, and had an avenue

of trees leading to it from the road, and on the west commanded a view of a pretty little lake with gentle

slopes and nodding were now blossoming under the generous modern influences. Squire Oliver Montague, a

lawyer who had retired from the practice of his profession except in rare cases, dwelt in a square old

fashioned New England groves. But it was just a plain, roomy house, capable of extending to many guests an

The family consisted of the Squire and his wife, a son and a daughter married and not at home, a son in

college at Cambridge, another son at the Seminary, and a daughter Alice, who was a year or more older than

Ruth. Having only riches enough to be able to gratify reasonable desires, and yet make their gratifications

always a novelty and a pleasure, the family occupied that just mean in life which is so rarely attained, and

If Ruth did not find so much luxury in the house as in her own home, there were evidences of culture, of

intellectual activity and of a zest in the affairs of all the world, which greatly impressed her. Every room had

its bookcases or bookshelves, and was more or less a library; upon every table was liable to be a litter of

new books, fresh periodicals and daily newspapers. There were plants in the sunny windows and some choice

engravings on the walls, with bits of color in oil or watercolors; the piano was sure to be open and strewn

with music; and there were photographs and little souvenirs here and there of foreign travel. An absence of

any "whatpots" in the corners with rows of cheerful shells, and Hindoo gods, and Chinese idols, and nests of

use less boxes of lacquered wood, might be taken as denoting a languidness in the family concerning foreign

At any rate the life of the world flowed freely into this hospitable house, and there was always so much talk

there of the news of the day, of the new books and of authors, of Boston radicalism and New York

civilization, and the virtue of Congress, that small gossip stood a very poor chance.

All this was in many ways so new to Ruth that she seemed to have passed into another world, in which she

experienced a freedom and a mental exhilaration unknown to her before. Under this influence she entered

upon her studies with keen enjoyment, finding for a time all the relaxation she needed, in the charming social

It is strange, she wrote to Philip, in one of her occasional letters, that you never told me more about this

delightful family, and scarcely mentioned Alice who is the life of it, just the noblest girl, unselfish, knows

how to do so many things, with lots of talent, with a dry humor, and an odd way of looking at things, and yet

quiet and even serious oftenone of your "capable" New England girls. We shall be great friends. It had

never occurred to Philip that there was any thing extraordinary about the family that needed mention. He

Good friends the two girls were from the beginning. Ruth was a study to Alice; the product of a culture

entirely foreign to her experience, so much a child in some things, so much a woman in others; and Ruth in

turn, it must be confessed, probing Alice sometimes with her serious grey eyes, wondered what her object in

life was, and whether she had any purpose beyond living as she now saw her. For she could scarcely conceive

of a life that should not be devoted to the accomplishment of some definite work, and she hadno doubt that

in her own case everything else would yield to the professional career she had marked out.

"So you know Philip Sterling," said Ruth one day as the girls sat at their sewing. Ruth never embroidered,

"Oh yes, we are old friends. Philip used to come to Fallkill often while he was in college. He was once

"Suspended for some College scrape. He was a great favorite here. Father and he were famous friends. Father

said that Philip had no end of nonsense in him and was always blundering into something, but he was a royal

"Why, I never thought whether he was or not," replied Alice looking up. "I suppose he was always in love

with some girl or another, as college boys are. He used to make me his confidant now and then, and be

"I'm sure I don't know. He was at our house a good deal. Once at a picnic by the lake, at the risk of his own

life, he saved sister Millie from drowning, and we all liked to have him here. Perhaps he thought as he had

saved one sister, the other ought to help him when he was in trouble. I don't know."

The fact was that Alice was a person who invited confidences, because she never betrayed them, and gave

abundant sympathy in return. There are persons, whom we all know, to whom human confidences, troubles

This is not a history of Fallkill, nor of the Montague family, worthy as both are of that honor, and this

narrative cannot be diverted into long loitering with them. If the reader visits the village today, he will

doubtless be pointed out the Montague dwelling, where Ruth lived, the crosslots path she traversed to the

In the little society of the place, the Quaker girl was a favorite, and no considerable social gathering or

pleasure party was thought complete without her. There was something in this seemingly transparent and yet

deep character, in her childlike gaiety and enjoyment of the society about her, and in her not seldom

absorption in herself, that would have made her long remembered there if no events had subsequently

To the surprise of Alice, Ruth took to the small gaieties of the village with a zest of enjoyment that seemed

foreign to one who had devoted her life to a serious profession from the highest motives. Alice liked society

well enough, she thought, but there was nothing exciting in that of Fallkill, nor anything novel in the

attentions of the wellbred young gentlemen one met in it. It must have worn a different aspect to Ruth, for

she entered into its pleasures at first with curiosity, and then with interest and finally with a kind of staid

abandon that no one would have deemed possible for her. Parties, picnics, rowingmatches, moonlight

strolls, nutting expeditions in the October woods,Alice declared that it was a whirl of dissipation. The

fondness of Ruth, which was scarcely disguised, for the company of agreeable young fellows, who talked

And Ruth laughed her merriest laugh, and then looked sober again. Perhaps she was thinking, after all,

If you should rear a duck in the heart of the Sahara, no doubt it would swim if you brought it to the Nile.

Surely no one would have predicted when Ruth left Philadelphia that she would become absorbed to this

extent, and so happy, in a life so unlike that she thought she desired. But no one can tell how a woman will

act under any circumstances. The reason novelists nearly always fail in depicting women when they make

them act, is that they let them do what they have observed some woman has done at sometime or another.

And that is where they make a mistake; for a woman will never do again what has been done before. It is this

uncertainty that causes women, considered as materials for fiction, to be so interesting to themselves and to

As the fall went on and the winter, Ruth did not distinguish herself greatly at the Fallkill Seminary as a

student, a fact that apparently gave her no anxiety, and did not diminish her enjoyment of a new sort of power

In midwinter, an event occurred of unusual interest to the inhabitants of the Montague house, and to the

This was the arrival at the Sassacua Hotel of two young gentlemen from the west.

It is the fashion in New England to give Indian names to the public houses, not that the late lamented savage

knew how to keep a hotel, but that his warlike name may impress the traveler who humbly craves shelter

there, and make him grateful to the noble and gentlemanly clerk if he is allowed to depart with his scalp safe.

The two young gentlemen were neither students for the Fallkill Seminary, nor lecturers on physiology, nor

yet life assurance solicitors, three suppositions that almost exhausted the guessing power of the people at the

hotel in respect to the names of "Philip Sterling and Henry Brierly, Missouri," on the register. They were

handsome enough fellows, that was evident, browned by outdoor exposure, and with a free and lordly way

about them that almost awed the hotel clerk himself. Indeed, he very soon set down Mr. Brierly as a

gentleman of large fortune, with enormous interests on his shoulders. Harry had a way of casually mentioning

western investments, through lines, the freighting business, and the route through the Indian territory to

Lower California, which was calculated to give an importance to his lightest word.

"You've a pleasant town here, sir, and the most comfortable looking hotel I've seen out of New York," said

Harry to the clerk; "we shall stay here a few days if you can give us a roomy suite of apartments."

Harry usually had the best of everything, wherever he went, as such fellows always do have in this

accommodating world. Philip would have been quite content with less expensive quarters, but there was no

Railroad surveying and realestate operations were at a standstill during the winter in Missouri, and the

young men had taken advantage of the lull to come east, Philip to see if there was any disposition in his

friends, the railway contractors, to give him a share in the Salt Lick Union Pacific Extension, and Harry to

open out to his uncle the prospects of the new city at Stone's Landing, and to procure congressional ,

appropriations for the harbor and for making Goose Run navigable. Harry had with him a map of that noble

stream and of the harbor, with a perfect network of railroads centering in it, pictures of wharves, crowded

with steamboats, and of huge grainelevators on the bank, all of which grew out of the combined

imaginations of Col. Sellers and Mr. Brierly. The Colonel had entire confidence in Harry's influence with

Wall street, and with congressmen, to bring about the consummation of their scheme, and he waited his

return in the empty house at Hawkeye, feeding his pinched family upon the most gorgeous expectations with

"Don't let 'em into the thing more than is necessary," says the Colonel to Harry; "give 'em a small interest; a

lot apiece in the suburbs of the Landing ought to do a congressman, but I reckon you'll have to mortgage a

Harry did not find that eagerness to lend money on Stone's Landing in Wall street which Col. Sellers had

expected, (it had seen too many such maps as he exhibited), although his uncle and some of the brokers

looked with more favor on the appropriation for improving the navigation of Columbus River, and were not

disinclined to form a company for that purpose. An appropriation was a tangible thing, if you could get hold

of it, and it made little difference what it was appropriated for, so long as you got hold of it.

Pending these weighty negotiations, Philip has persuaded Harry to take a little run up to Fallkill, a not

difficult task, for that young man would at any time have turned his back upon all the land in the West at

sight of a new and pretty face, and he had, it must be confessed, a facility in love making which made it not at

all an interference with the more serious business of life. He could not, to be sure, conceive how Philip could

be interested in a young lady who was studying medicine, but he had no objection to going, for he did not

doubt that there were other girls in Fallkill who were worth a week's attention.

The young men were received at the house of the Montagues with the hospitality which never failed there.

"We are glad to see you again," exclaimed the Squire heartily, "you are welcome Mr. Brierly, any friend of

"It's more like home to me, than any place except my own home," cried Philip, as he looked about the

"It's a long time, though, since you have been here to say so," Alice said, with her father's frankness of

manner; and I suspect we owe the visit now to your sudden interest in the Fallkill Seminary."

Philip's color came, as it had an awkward way of doing in his telltale face, but before he could stammer a

"That accounts for Phil's wish to build a Seminary at Stone's Landing, our place in Missouri, when Col.

Sellers insisted it should be a University. Phil appears to have a weakness for Seminaries."

"It would have been better for your friend Sellers," retorted Philip, "if he had had a weakness for district

schools. Col. Sellers, Miss Alice, is a great friend of Harry's, who is always trying to build a house by

"I suppose it's as easy to build a University on paper as a Seminary, and it looks better," was Harry's

reflection; at which the Squire laughed, and said he quite agreed with him. The old gentleman understood

Stone's Landing a good deal better than he would have done after an hour's talk with either of it's expectant

At this moment, and while Philip was trying to frame a question that he found it exceedingly difficult to put

into words, the door opened quietly, and Ruth entered. Taking in the, group with a quick glance, her eye

lighted up, and with a merry smile she advanced and shook hands with Philip. She was so unconstrained and

sincerely cordial, that it made that hero of the west feel somehow young, and very ill at ease.

For months and months he had thought of this meeting and pictured it to himself a hundred times, but he had

never imagined it would be like this. He should meet Ruth unexpectedly, as she was walking alone from the

school, perhaps, or entering the room where he was waiting for her, and she would cry "Oh! Phil," and then

check herself, and perhaps blush, and Philip calm but eager and enthusiastic, would reassure her by his warm

manner, and he would take her hand impressively, and she would look up timidly, and, after his' long

absence, perhaps he would be permitted to Good heavens, how many times he had come to this point, and

wondered if it could happen so. Well, well; he had never supposed that he should be the one embarrassed,

"We heard you were at the Sassacus House," were Ruth's first words; "and this I suppose is your friend?"

"I beg your pardon," Philip at length blundered out, "this is Mr. Brierly of whom I have written you."

And Ruth welcomed Harry with a friendliness that Philip thought was due to his friend, to be sure, but which

seemed to him too level with her reception of himself, but which Harry received as his due from the other

Questions were asked about the journey and about the West, and the conversation became a general one, until

Philip at length found himself talking with the Squire in relation to land and railroads and things he couldn't

keep his mind on especially as he heard Ruth and Harry in an animated discourse, and caught the words

"New York," and "opera," and "reception," and knew that Harry was giving his imagination full range in the

Harry knew all about the opera, green room and all (at least he said so) and knew a good many of the operas

and could make very entertaining stories of their plots, telling how the soprano came in here, and the basso

here, humming the beginning of their airstumtitumtiti suggesting the profound dissatisfaction of

the basso recitativedown amongthedeadmenand touching off the whole with an airy grace quite

captivating ; though he couldn't have sung a single air through to save himself, and he hadn't an ear to know

whether it was sung correctly. All the same he doted on the opera, and kept a box there, into which he

If Ruth was ever in the city he should be happy to place his box at the disposal of Ruth and her friends.

When she told Philip of it, that discreet young fellow only smiled, and said that he hoped she would be

fortunate enough to be in New York some evening when Harry had not already given the use of his private

The Squire pressed the visitors to let him send for their trunks and urged them to stay at his house, and Alice

joined in the invitation, but Philip had reasons for declining. They staid to supper, however, and in; the

evening Philip had a long talk apart with Ruth, a delightful hour to him, in which she spoke freely of herself

as of old, of her studies at Philadelphia and of her plans, and she entered into his adventures and prospects in

the West with a genuine and almost sisterly interest; an interest, however, which did not exactly satisfy

Philipit was too general and not personal enough to suit him. And with all her freedom in speaking of her

own hopes, Philip could not, detect any reference to himself in them; whereas he never undertook anything

that he did not think of Ruth in connection with it, he never made a plan that had not reference to her, and he

never thought of anything as complete if she could not share it. Fortune, reputation these had no value to him

except in Ruth's eyes, and there were times when it seemed to him that if Ruth was not on this earth, he

should plunge off into some remote wilderness and live in a purposeless seclusion.

"I hoped," said Philip; "to get a little start in connection with this new railroad, and make a little money, so

that I could came east and engage in something more suited to my tastes. I shouldn't like to live in the West.

"It never occurred to me whether I would or not," was the unembarrassed reply. "One of our graduates went

to Chicago, and has a nice practice there. I don't know where I shall go. It would mortify mother dreadfully to

Philip laughed at the idea of it. "And does it seem as necessary to you to do it as it did before you came to

It was a home question, and went deeper than Philip knew, for Ruth at once thought of practicing her

profession among the young gentlemen and ladies of her acquaintance in the village; but she was reluctant to

"Oh, I don't think I should come to Fallkill to practice, but I must do something when I am through school;

Philip would like to have explained why not, but the explanation would be of no use if it were not already

Harry was equally in his element whether instructing Squire Montague about the investment of capital in

Missouri, the improvement of Columbus River, the project he and some gentlemen in New York had for

making a shorter Pacific connection with the Mississippi than the present one; or diverting Mrs. Montague

with his experience in cooking in camp; or drawing for Miss Alice an amusing picture of the social contrasts

of New England and the border where he had been. Harry was a very entertaining fellow, having his

imagination to help his memory, and telling his stories as if he believed themas perhaps he did. Alice was

greatly amused with Harry and listened so seriously to his romancing that he exceeded his usual limits.

Chance allusions to his bachelor establishment in town and the place of his family on the Hudson, could not

"I should think," queried Alice, "you would rather stay in New York than to try the rough life at the West you

"Oh, adventure," ,says Harry, "I get tired of New York. And besides I got involved in some operations that I

had to see through. Parties in New York only last week wanted me to go down into Arizona in a big diamond

interest. I told them, no, no speculation for me. I've got my interests in Missouri; and I wouldn't leave Philip,

When the young gentlemen were on their way back to the hotel, Mr. Philip, who was not in very good humor,

"Go on?" cried Harry. "Why shouldn't I try to make a pleasant evening? And besides, ain't I going to do those

things? What difference does it make about the mood and tense of a mere verb? Didn't uncle tell me only last

Saturday, that I might as well go down to Arizona and hunt for diamonds? A fellow might as well make a

"Well, you'll see. When Sellers and I get that appropriation, I'll show you an establishment in town and

"Yes, it will be like Col. Sellers' plantation at Hawkeye. Did you ever see that?"

"Now, don't be cross, Phil. She's just superb, that little woman. You never told me."

"Who's just superb?" growled Philip, fancying this turn of the conversation less than the other.

"Well, Mrs. Montague, if you must know." And Harry stopped to light a cigar, and then puffed on in silence.

The little quarrel didn't last over night, for Harry never appeared to cherish any illwill half a second, and

Philip was too sensible to continue a row about nothing; and he had invited Harry to come with him.

The young gentlemen stayed in Fallkill a week, and were every day at the Montagues, and took part in the

winter gaieties of the village. There were parties here and there to which the friends of Ruth and the

Montagues were of course invited, and Harry in the generosity of his nature, gave in return a little supper at

the hotel, very simple indeed, with dancing in the hall, and some refreshments passed round. And Philip

Before the week was over Philip thought he had a new light on the character of Ruth. Her absorption in the

small gaieties of the society there surprised him. He had few opportunities for serious conversation with her.

There was always some butterfly or another flitting about, and when Philip showed by his manner that he was

not pleased, Ruth laughed merrily enough and rallied him on his sobernessshe declared he was getting to

be grim and unsocial. He talked indeed more with Alice than with Ruth, and scarcely concealed from her the

trouble that was in his mind. It needed, in fact, no word from him, for she saw clearly enough what was going

forward, and knew her sex well enough to know there was no remedy for it but time.

"Ruth is a dear girl, Philip, and has as much firmness of purpose as ever, but don't you see she has just

discovered that she is fond of society? Don't you let her see you are selfish about it, is my advice."

The last evening they were to spend in Fallkill, they were at the Montagues, and Philip hoped that he would

find Ruth in a different mood. But she was never more gay, and there was a spice of mischief in her eye and

in her laugh. "Confound it," said Philip to himself, "she's in a perfect twitter."

He would have liked to quarrel with her, and fling himself out of the house in tragedy style, going perhaps so

far as to blindly wander off miles into the country and bathe his throbbing brow in the chilling rain of the

stars, as people do in novels; but he had no opportunity. For Ruth was as serenely unconscious of mischief as

women can be at times, and fascinated him more than ever with her little demurenesses and half

confidences. She even said "Thee" to him once in reproach for a cutting speech he began. And the sweet little

word made his heart beat like a triphammer, for never in all her life had she said "thee" to him before.

Was she fascinated with Harry's careless 'bon homie' and gay assurance? Both chatted away in high spirits,

and made the evening whirl along in the most mirthful manner. Ruth sang for Harry, and that young

gentleman turned the leaves for her at the piano, and put in a bass note now and then where he thought it

Yes, it was a merry evening, and Philip was heartily glad when it was over, and the long leavetaking with

"Farewell Philip. Good night Mr. Brierly," Ruth's clear voice sounded after them as they went down the walk.

Phillip and Harry reached New York in very different states of mind. Harry was buoyant. He found a letter

from Col. Sellers urging him to go to Washington and confer with Senator Dilworthy. The petition was in his

It had been signed by everybody of any importance in Missouri, and would be presented immediately.

"I should go on myself," wrote the Colonel, "but I am engaged in the invention of a process for lighting such

a city as St. Louis by means of water; just attach my machine to the waterpipes anywhere and the

decomposition of the fluid begins, and you will have floods of light for the mere cost of the machine. I've

nearly got the lighting part, but I want to attach to it a heating, cooking, washing and ironing apparatus. It's

going to be the great thing, but we'd better keep this appropriation going while I am perfecting it."

Harry took letters to several congressmen from his uncle and from Mr. Duff Brown, each of whom had an

extensive acquaintance in both houses where they were well known as men engaged in large private

operations for the public good and men, besides, who, in the slang of the day, understood the virtues of

Senator Dilworthy introduced the petition into the Senate with the remark that he knew, personally, the

signers of it, that they were men interested; it was true, in the improvement of the country, but he believed

without any selfish motive, and that so far as he knew the signers were loyal. It pleased him to see upon the

roll the names of many colored citizens, and it must rejoice every friend of humanity to know that this lately

emancipated race were intelligently taking part in the development of the resources of their native land. He

Senator Dilworthy introduced his young friend to influential members, as a person who was very well

informed about the Salt Lick Extension of the Pacific, and was one of the Engineers who had made a careful

survey of Columbus River; and left him to exhibit his maps and plans and to show the connection between

the public treasury, the city of Napoleon and legislation for the benefit off the whole country.

Harry was the guest of Senator Dilworthy. There was scarcely any good movement in which the Senator was

not interested. His house was open to all the laborers in the field of total abstinence, and much of his time was

taken up in attending the meetings of this cause. He had a Bible class in the Sunday school of the church

which he attended, and he suggested to Harry that he might take a class during the time he remained in

Washington, Mr. Washington Hawkins had a class. Harry asked the Senator if there was a class of young

Philip, if the truth must be told, was not well satisfied with his western prospects, nor altogether with the

people he had fallen in with. The railroad contractors held out large but rather indefinite promises.

Opportunities for a fortune he did not doubt existed in Missouri, but for himself he saw no better means for

livelihood than the mastery of the profession he had rather thoughtlessly entered upon. During the summer he

had made considerable practical advance in the science of engineering; he had been diligent, and made

himself to a certain extent necessary to the work he was engaged on. The contractors called him into their

consultations frequently, as to the character of the country he had been over, and the cost of constructing the

Still Philip felt that if he was going to make either reputation or money as an engineer, he had a great deal of

hard study before him, and it is to his credit that he did not shrink from it. While Harry was in Washington

dancing attendance upon the national legislature and making the acquaintance of the vast lobby that encircled

it, Philip devoted himself day and night, with an energy and a concentration he was capable of, to the learning

and theory of his profession, and to the science of railroad building. He wrote some papers at this time for the

"Plow, the Loom and the Anvil," upon the strength of materials, and especially upon bridgebuilding,, which

attracted considerable attention, and were copied into the English "Practical Magazine." They served at any

rate to raise Philip in the opinion of his friends the contractors, for practical men have a certain superstitious

estimation of ability with the pen, and though they may a little despise the talent, they are quite ready to make

Philip sent copies of his performances to Ruth's father and to other gentlemen whose good opinion he

coveted, but he did not rest upon his laurels. Indeed, so diligently had he applied himself, that when it came

time for him to return to the West, he felt himself, at least in theory, competent to take charge of a division in

The capital of the Great Republic was a new world to countrybred Washington Hawkins. St. Louis was a

greater city, but its floating. population did not hail from great distances, and so it had the general family

aspect of the permanent population; but Washington gathered its people from the four winds of heaven, and

so the manners, the faces and the fashions there, presented a variety that was infinite. Washington had never

been in "society" in St. Louis, and he knew nothing of the ways of its wealthier citizens and had never

inspected one of their dwellings. Consequently, everything in the nature of modern fashion and grandeur was

Washington is an interesting city to any of us. It seems to become more and more interesting the oftener we

visit it. Perhaps the reader has never been there? Very well. You arrive either at night, rather too late to do

anything or see anything until morning, or you arrive so early in the morning that you consider it best to go to

your hotel and sleep an hour or two while the sun bothers along over the Atlantic. You cannot well arrive at a

pleasant intermediate hour, because the railway corporation that keeps the keys of the only door that leads

into the town or out of it take care of that. You arrive in tolerably good spirits, because it is only thirtyeight

miles from Baltimore to the capital, and so you have only been insulted three times (provided you are not in a

sleeping carthe average is higher there): once when you renewed your ticket after stopping over in

Baltimore, once when you were about to enter the "ladies' car" without knowing it was a lady's car, and once

You are assailed by a long rank of hackmen who shake their whips in your face as you step out upon the

sidewalk; you enter what they regard as a "carriage," in the capital, and you wonder why they do not take it

out of service and put it in the museum: we have few enough antiquities, and it is little to our credit that we

make scarcely any effort to preserve the few we have. You reach your hotel, presentlyand here let us draw

the curtain of charitybecause of course you have gone to the wrong one. You being a stranger, how could

you do otherwise? There are a hundred and eighteen bad hotels, and only one good one. The most renowned

It is winter, and night. When you arrived, it was snowing. When you reached the hotel, it was sleeting. When

you went to bed, it was raining. During the night it froze hard, and the wind blew some chimneys down.

When you got up in the morning, it was foggy. When you finished your breakfast at ten o'clock and went out,

the sunshine was brilliant, the weather balmy and delicious, and the mud and slush deep and all pervading.

You naturally wish to view the city; so you take an umbrella, an overcoat, and a fan, and go forth. The

prominent features you soon locate and get familiar with; first you glimpse the ornamental upper works of a

long, snowy palace projecting above a grove of trees, and a tall, graceful white dome with a statue on it

surmounting the palace and pleasantly contrasting with the background of blue sky. That building is the

capitol; gossips will tell you that by the original estimates it was to cost $12,000,000, and that the

You stand at the back of the capitol to treat yourself to a view, and it is a very noble one. You understand, the

capitol stands upon the verge of a high piece of table land, a fine commanding position, and its front looks

out over this noble situation for a citybut it don't see it, for the reason that when the capitol extension was

decided upon, the property owners at once advanced their prices to such inhuman figures that the people went

down and built the city in the muddy low marsh behind the temple of liberty; so now the lordly front of the

building, with, its imposing colonades, its, projecting, graceful wings, its, picturesque groups of statuary, and

its long terraced ranges of steps, flowing down in white marble waves to the ground, merely looks out upon a

So you observe, that you take your view from the back of the capitol. And yet not from the airy outlooks of

the dome, by the way, because to get there you must pass through the great rotunda: and to do that, you

would have to see the marvelous Historical Paintings that hang there, and the basreliefsand what have

you done that you should suffer thus? And besides, you might have to pass through the old part of the

building, and you could not help seeing Mr. Lincoln, as petrified by a young lady artist for $10,000and you

might take his marble emancipation proclamation, which he holds out in his hand and contemplates, for a

folded napkin; and you might conceive from his expression and his attitude, that he is finding fault with the

washing. Which is not the case. Nobody knows what is the matter with him; but everybody feels for him.

Well, you ought not to go into the dome anyhow, because it would be utterly impossible to go up there

without seeing the frescoes in itand why should you be interested in the delirium tremens of art?

The capitol is a very noble and a very beautiful building, both within and without, but you need not examine

it now. Still, if you greatly prefer going into the dome, go. Now your general glance gives you picturesque

stretches of gleaming water, on your left, with a sail here and there and a lunatic asylum on shore; over

beyond the water, on a distant elevation, you see a squat yellow temple which your eye dwells upon lovingly

through a blur of unmanly moisture, for it recalls your lost boyhood and the Parthenons done in molasses

candy which made it blest and beautiful. Still in the distance, but on this side of the water and close to its

edge, the Monument to the Father of his Country towers out of the mudsacred soil is the, customary term.

It has the aspect of a factory chimney with the top broken off. The skeleton of a decaying scaffolding lingers

about its summit, and tradition says that the spirit of Washington often comes down and sits on those rafters

to enjoy this tribute of respect which the nation has reared as the symbol of its unappeasable gratitude. The

Monument is to be finished, some day, and at that time our Washington will have risen still higher in the

nation's veneration, and will be known as the GreatGreatGrandfather of his Country. The memorial

Chimney stands in a quiet pastoral locality that is full of reposeful expression. With a glass you can see the

cow sheds about its base, and the contented sheep nimbling pebbles in the desert solitudes that surround it,

Now you wrench your gaze loose, and you look down in front of you and see the broad Pennsylvania Avenue

stretching straight ahead for a mile or more till it brings up against the iron fence in front of a pillared granite

pile, the Treasury buildingan edifice that would command respect in any capital. The stores and hotels that

wall in this broad avenue are mean, and cheap, and dingy, and are better left without comment. Beyond the

Treasury is a fine large white barn, with wide unhandsome grounds about it. The President lives there. It is

ugly enough outside, but that is nothing to what it is inside. Dreariness, flimsiness, bad taste reduced to

mathematical completeness is what the inside offers to the eye, if it remains yet what it always has been.

The front and right hand views give you the city at large. It is a wide stretch of cheap little brick houses, with

here and there a noble architectural pile lifting itself out of the midstgovernment buildings, these. If the

thaw is still going on when you come down and go about town, you will wonder at the shortsightedness of

the city fathers, when you come to inspect the streets, in that they do not dilute the mud a little more and use

If you inquire around a little, you will find that there are more boardinghouses to the square acre in

Washington than there are in any other city in the land, perhaps. If you apply for a home in one of them, it

will seem odd to you to have the landlady inspect you with a severe eye and then ask you if you are a member

of Congress. Perhaps, just as a pleasantry, you will say yes. And then she will tell you that she is "full." Then

you show her her advertisement in the morning paper, and there she stands, convicted and ashamed. She will

try to blush, and it will be only polite in you to take the effort for the deed. She shows you her rooms, now,

and lets yon take onebut she makes you pay in advance for it. That is what you will get for pretending to

be a member of Congress. If you had been content to be merely a private citizen, your trunk would have been

sufficient security for your board. If you are curious and inquire into this thing, the chances are that your

landlady will be illnatured enough to say that the person and property of a Congressman are exempt from

arrest or detention, and that with the tears in her eyes she has seen several of the people's representatives walk

off to their several States and Territories carrying her unreceipted board bills in their pockets for keepsakes.

And before you have been in Washington many weeks you will be mean enough to believe her, too.

Of course you contrive to see everything and find out everything. And one of the first and most startling

things you find out is, that every individual you encounter in the City of Washington almostand certainly

every separate and distinct individual in the public employment, from the highest bureau chief, clear down to

the maid who scrubs Department halls, the night watchmen of the public buildings and the darkey boy who

purifies the Department spittoonsrepresents Political Influence. Unless you can get the ear of a Senator, or

a Congressman, or a Chief of a Bureau or Department, and persuade him to use his "influence" in your

behalf, you cannot get an employment of the most trivial nature in Washington. Mere merit, fitness and

capability, are useless baggage to you without "influence." The population of Washington consists pretty

much entirely of government employee and the people who board them. There are thousands of these

employees, and they have gathered there from every corner of the Union and got their berths through the

intercession (command is nearer the word) of the Senators and Representatives of their respective States. It

would be an odd circumstance to see a girl get employment at three or four dollars a week in one of the great

public cribs without any political grandee to back her, but merely because she was worthy, and competent,

and a good citizen of a free country that "treats all persons alike." Washington would be mildly thunderstruck

at such a thing as that. If you are a member of Congress, (no offence,) and one of your constituents who

doesn't know anything, and does not want to go into the bother of learning something, and has no money, and

no employment, and can't earn a living, comes besieging you for help, do you say, "Come, my friend, if your

services were valuable you could get employment elsewheredon't want you here? " Oh, no: You take him

to a Department and say, "Here, give this person something to pass away the time atand a salary"and the

thing is done. You throw him on his country. He is his country's child, let his country support him. There is

something good and motherly about Washington, the grand old benevolent National Asylum for the Helpless.

The wages received by this great hive of employees are placed at the liberal figure meet and just for skilled

and competent labor. Such of them as are immediately employed about the two Houses of Congress, are not

only liberally paid also, but are remembered in the customary Extra Compensation bill which slides neatly

through, annually, with the general grab that signalizes the last night of a session, and thus twenty per cent. is

Washington Hawkins' new life was an unceasing delight to him. Senator Dilworthy lived sumptuously, and

Washington's quarters were charming gas; running water, hot and cold; bathroom, coalfires, rich

carpets, beautiful pictures on the walls; books on religion, temperance, public charities and financial schemes;

trim colored servants, dainty food everything a body could wish for. And as for stationery, there was no

end to it; the government furnished it; postage stamps were not needed the Senator's frank could convey a

And then he saw such dazzling company. Renowned generals and admirals who had seemed but colossal

myths when he was in the far west, went in and out before him or sat at the Senator's table, solidified into

palpable flesh and blood; famous statesmen crossed his path daily; that once rare and aweinspiring being, a

Congressman, was become a common spectaclea spectacle so common, indeed, that he could contemplate

it without excitement, even without embarrassment; foreign ministers were visible to the naked eye at happy

intervals; he had looked upon the President himself, and lived. And more; this world of enchantment teemed

with speculationthe whole atmosphere was thick with hand that indeed was Washington Hawkins' native

air; none other refreshed his lungs so gratefully. He had found paradise at last.

The more he saw of his chief the Senator, the more he honored him, and the more conspicuously the moral

grandeur of his character appeared to stand out. To possess the friendship and the kindly interest of such a

man, Washington said in a letter to Louise, was a happy fortune for a young man whose career had been so

The weeks drifted by;Harry Brierly flirted, danced, added lustre to the brilliant Senatorial receptions, and

diligently "buzzed" and "button holed" Congressmen in the interest of the Columbus River scheme;

meantime Senator Dilworthy labored hard in the same interestand in others of equal national importance.

Harry wrote frequently to Sellers, and always encouragingly; and from these letters it was easy to see that

Harry was a pet with all Washington, and was likely to carry the thing through; that the assistance rendered

him by "old Dilworthy" was pretty fairpretty fair; "and every little helps, you know," said Harry.

Washington wrote Sellers officially, now and then. In one of his letters it appeared that whereas no member

of the House committee favored the scheme at first, there was now needed but one more vote to compass a

At the end of a week, Washington was able to send the happy news, officially, as usual,that the needed

vote had been added and the bill favorably reported from the Committee. Other letters recorded its perils in

Committee of the whole, and by and by its victory, by just the skin of its teeth, on third reading and final

passage. Then came letters telling of Mr. Dilworthy's struggles with a stubborn majority in his own

Committee in the Senate; of how these gentlemen succumbed, one by one, till a majority was secured.

Then there was a hiatus. Washington watched every move on the board, and he was in a good position to do

this, for he was clerk of this committee, and also one other. He received no salary as private secretary, but

these two clerkships, procured by his benefactor, paid him an aggregate of twelve dollars a day, without

counting the twenty percent extra compensation which would of course be voted to him on the last night of

He saw the bill go into Committee of the whole and struggle for its life again, and finally worry through. In

the fullness of time he noted its second reading, and by and by the day arrived when the grand ordeal came,

and it was put upon its final passage. Washington listened with bated breath to the "Aye!" " No!" " No!"

"Aye!" of the voters, for a few dread minutes, and then could bear the suspense no longer. He ran down from

At the end of two or three hours the Senator arrived in the bosom of his family, and dinner was waiting.

Washington sprang forward, with the eager question on his lips, and the Senator said:

"We may rejoice freely, now, my sonProvidence has crowned our efforts with success."

"It is beautiful to hear him talk when his heart is full of thankfulness for some manifestation of the Divine

favor. You shall know him, some day my Louise, and knowing him you will honor him, as I do."

"I pulled it through, Colonel, but it was a tough job, there is no question about that. There was not a friend to

the measure in the House committee when I began, and not a friend in the Senate committee except old Dil

himself, but they were all fixed for a majority report when I hauled off my forces. Everybody here says you

can't get a thing like this through Congress without buying committees for straightout cash on delivery, but I

think I've taught them a thing or twoif I could only make them believe it. When I tell the old residenters

that this thing went through without buying a vote or making a promise, they say, 'That's rather too thin.' And

when I say thin or not thin it's a fact, anyway, they say, 'Come, now, but do you really believe that?' and when

I say I don't believe anything about it, I know it, they smile and say, 'Well, you are pretty innocent, or pretty

blind, one or the otherthere's no getting around that.' Why they really do believe that votes have been

boughtthey do indeed. But let them keep on thinking so. I have found out that if a man knows how to talk

to women, and has a little gift in the way of argument with men, he can afford to play for an appropriation

against a money bag and give the money bag odds in the game. We've raked in $200,000 of Uncle Sam's

money, say what they willand there is more where this came from, when we want it, and I rather fancy I

am the person that can go in and occupy it, too, if I do say it myself, that shouldn't, perhaps. I'll be with you

within a week. Scare up all the men you can, and put them to work at once. When I get there I propose to

make things hum." The great news lifted Sellers into the clouds. He went to work on the instant. He flew

hither and thither making contracts, engaging men, and steeping his soul in the ecstasies of business. He was

the happiest man in Missouri. And Louise was the happiest woman; for presently came a letter from

"Rejoice with me, for the long agony is over! We have waited patiently and faithfully, all these years, and

now at last the reward is at hand. A man is to pay our family $40,000 for the Tennessee Land! It is but a little

sum compared to what we could get by waiting, but I do so long to see the day when I can call you my own,

that I have said to myself, better take this and enjoy life in a humble way than wear out our best days in this

miserable separation. Besides, I can put this money into operations here that will increase it a hundred fold,

yes, a thousand fold, in a few months. The air is full of such chances, and I know our family would consent in

a moment that I should put in their shares with mine. Without a doubt we shall be worth half a million dollars

in a year from this timeI put it at the very lowest figure, because it is always best to be on the safe

sidehalf a million at the very lowest calculation, and then your father will give his consent and we can

marry at last. Oh, that will be a glorious day. Tell our friends the good newsI want all to share it."

And she did tell her father and mother, but they said, let it be kept still for the present. The careful father also

told her to write Washington and warn him not to speculate with the money, but to wait a little and advise

with one or two wise old heads. She did this. And she managed to keep the good news to herself, though it

would seem that the most careless observer might have seen by her springing step and her radiant

Harry joined the Colonel at Stone's Landing, and that dead place sprang into sudden life. A swarm of men

were hard at work, and the dull air was filled with the cheery music of labor. Harry had been constituted

engineeringeneral, and he threw the full strength of his powers into his work. He moved among his

hirelings like a king. Authority seemed to invest him with a new splendor. Col. Sellers, as general

superintendent of a great public enterprise, was all that a mere human being could be and more. These two

grandees went at their imposing "improvement" with the air of men who had been charged with the work of

They turned their first attention to straightening the river just above the Landing, where it made a deep bend,

and where the maps and plans showed that the process of straightening would not only shorten distance but

increase the "fall." They started a cutoff canal across the peninsula formed by the bend, and such another

tearing up of the earth and slopping around in the mud as followed the order to the men, had never been seen

in that region before. There was such a panic among the turtles that at the end of six hours there was not one

to be found within three miles of Stone's Landing. They took the young and the aged, the decrepit and the

sick upon their backs and left for tidewater in disorderly procession, the tadpoles following and the

Saturday night came, but the men were obliged to wait, because the appropriation had not come. Harry said

he had written to hurry up the money and it would be along presently. So the work continued, on Monday.

Stone's Landing was making quite a stir in the vicinity, by this time. Sellers threw a lot or two on the market,

"as a feeler," and they sold well. He reclothed his family, laid in a good stock of provisions, and still had

money left. He started a bank account, in a small wayand mentioned the deposit casually to friends; and to

strangers, too; to everybody, in fact; but not as a new thingon the contrary, as a matter of lifelong

standing. He could not keep from buying trifles every day that were not wholly necessary, it was such a

gaudy thing to get out his bankbook and draw a check, instead of using his old customary formula, "Charge

it" Harry sold a lot or two, alsoand had a dinner party or two at Hawkeye and a general good time with the

At the end of a month things were looking bad. Harry had besieged the New York headquarters of the

Columbus River Slackwater Navigation Company with demands, then commands, and finally appeals, but

to no purpose; the appropriation did not come; the letters were not even answered. The workmen were

"Yes, I know," said the Colonel; "I know they can't wait for the orders to go to New York and be cashed, but

"Of course they can. That solves the difficulty. Everybody knows the appropriation's been made and the

So the orders were given and the men appeased, though they grumbled a little at first. The orders went well

enough for groceries and such things at a fair discount, and the work danced along gaily for a time. Two or

three purchasers put up frame houses at the Landing and moved in, and of course a farsighted but

easygoing journeyman printer wandered along and started the "Napoleon Weekly Telegraph and Literary

Repository"a paper with a Latin motto from the Unabridged dictionary, and plenty of "fat" conversational

tales and doubleleaded poetryall for two dollars a year, strictly in advance. Of course the merchants

At the end of some weeks Harry's orders were a drug in the marketnobody would take them at any

discount whatever. The second month closed with a riot. Sellers was absent at the time, and Harry began

an active absence himself with the mob at his heels. But being on horseback, he had the advantage. He did

not tarry in Hawkeye, but went on, thus missing several appointments with creditors. He was far on his flight

eastward, and well out of danger when the next morning dawned. He telegraphed the Colonel to go down and

quiet the laborershe was bound east for money everything would be right in a weektell the men

Sellers found the mob quiet enough when he reached the Landing. They had gutted the Navigation office,

then piled the beautiful engraved stockbooks and things in the middle of the floor and enjoyed the bonfire

while it lasted. They had a liking for the Colonel, but still they had some idea of hanging him, as a sort of

makeshift that might answer, after a fashion, in place of more satisfactory game.

But they made the mistake of waiting to hear what he had to say first. Within fifteen minutes his tongue had

done its work and they were all rich men. He gave every one of them a lot in the suburbs of the city of

Stone's Landing, within a mile and a half of the future post office and railway station, and they promised to

resume work as soon as Harry got east and started the money along. Now things were blooming and pleasant

again, but the men had no money, and nothing to live on. The Colonel divided with them the money he still

had in bankan act which had nothing surprising about it because he was generally ready to divide whatever

he had with anybody that wanted it, and it was owing to this very trait that his family spent their days in

When the men's minds had cooled and Sellers was gone, they hated themselves for letting him beguile them

with fine speeches, but it was too late, nowthey agreed to hang him another timesuch time as

Rumors of Ruth's frivolity and worldliness at Fallkill traveled to Philadelphia in due time, and occasioned no

Hannah Shoecraft told another, cousin that, for her part, she never believed that Ruth had so much more

"mind" than other people; and Cousin Hulda added that she always thought Ruth was fond of admiration, and

that was the reason she was unwilling to wear plain clothes and attend Meeting. The story that Ruth was

"engaged" to a young gentleman of fortune in Fallkill came with the other news, and helped to give point to

the little satirical remarks that went round about Ruth's desire to be a doctor!

Margaret Bolton was too wise to be either surprised or alarmed by these rumors. They might be true; she

knew a woman's nature too well to think them improbable, but she also knew how steadfast Ruth was in her

purposes, and that, as a brook breaks into ripples and eddies and dances and sports by the way, and yet keeps

on to the sea, it was in Ruth's nature to give back cheerful answer to the solicitations of friendliness and

pleasure, to appear idly delaying even, and sporting in the sunshine, while the current of her resolution

That Ruth had this delight in the mere surface play of life that she could, for instance, be interested in that

somewhat serious byplay called "flirtation," or take any delight in the exercise of those little arts of pleasing

and winning which are none the less genuine and charming because they are not intellectual, Ruth, herself,

had never suspected until she went to Fallkill. She had believed it her duty to subdue her gaiety of

temperament, and let nothing divert her from what are called serious pursuits: In her limited experience she

brought everything to the judgment of her own conscience, and settled the affairs of all the world in her own

serene judgment hall. Perhaps her mother saw this, and saw also that there was nothing in the Friends' society

When Ruth returned to Philadelphia, it must be confessedthough it would not have been by herthat a

medical career did seem a little less necessary for her than formerly; and coming back in a glow of triumph,

as it were, and in the consciousness of the freedom and life in a lively society and in new and sympathetic

friendship, she anticipated pleasure in an attempt to break up the stiffness and levelness of the society at

home, and infusing into it something of the motion and sparkle which were so agreeable at Fallkill. She

expected visits from her new friends, she would have company, the new books and the periodicals about

For a little while she lived in this atmosphere which she had brought with her. Her mother was delighted with

this change in her, with the improvement in her health and the interest she exhibited in home affairs. Her

father enjoyed the society of his favorite daughter as he did few things besides; he liked her mirthful and

teasing ways, and not less a keen battle over something she had read. He had been a great reader all his life,

and a remarkable memory had stored his mind with encyclopaedic information. It was one of Ruth's delights

to cram herself with some out of the way subject and endeavor to catch her father; but she almost always

failed. Mr. Bolton liked company, a house full of it, and the mirth of young people, and he would have

willingly entered into any revolutionary plans Ruth might have suggested in relation to Friends' society.

But custom and the fixed order are stronger than the most enthusiastic and rebellious young lady, as Ruth

very soon found. In spite of all her brave efforts, her frequent correspondence, and her determined animation,

her books and her music, she found herself settling into the clutches of the old monotony, and as she realized

the hopelessness of her endeavors, the medical scheme took new hold of her, and seemed to her the only

"Mother, thee does not know how different it is in Fallkill, how much more interesting the people are one

"But thee will find the world, child, pretty much all the same, when thee knows it better. I thought once as

thee does now, and had as little thought of being a Friend as thee has. Perhaps when thee has seen more, thee

"Thee married young. I shall not marry young, and perhaps not at all," said Ruth, with a look of vast

"Perhaps thee doesn't know thee own mind ; I have known persons of thy age who did not. Did thee see

"Not always," replied Ruth with a little laugh. "Mother, I think I wouldn't say 'always' to any one until I have

a profession and am as independent as he is. Then my love would be a free act, and not in any way a

Margaret Bolton smiled at this newfangled philosophy. "Thee will find that love, Ruth, is a thing thee won't

reason about, when it comes, nor make any bargains about. Thee wrote that Philip Sterling was at Fallkill."

"Yes, and Henry Brierly, a friend of his; a very amusing young fellow and not so seriousminded as Philip,

"I didn't prefer anybody; but Henry Brierly was good company, which Philip wasn't always."

"What then?" and if there was any shade of disappointment in her tone, probably Ruth herself did not know

"It's about some land up in the country. That man Bigler has got father into another speculation."

"That odious man! Why will father have anything to do with him? Is it that railroad?"

"Yes. Father advanced money and took land as security, and whatever has gone with the money and the

"It has good timber, if it could ever be got out, and father says that there must be coal in it; it's in a coal

"It's another of father's fortunes, I suppose," said Ruth. "He has put away so many fortunes for us that I'm

Ruth was interested in it nevertheless, and perhaps mainly because Philip was to be connected with the

enterprise. Mr. Bigler came to dinner with her father next day, and talked a great deal about Mr. Bolton's

magnificent tract of land, extolled the sagacity that led him to secure such a property, and led the talk along to

"Pennybacker says it's full of coal, he's no doubt of it, and a railroad to strike the Erie would make it a

"Suppose you take the land and work the thing up, Mr. Bigler; you may have the tract for three dollars an

"You'd throw it away, then," replied Mr. Bigler, "and I'm not the man to take advantage of a friend. But if

you'll put a mortgage on it for the northern road, I wouldn't mind taking an interest, if Pennybacker is willing;

but Pennybacker, you know, don't go much on land, he sticks to the legislature." And Mr. Bigler laughed.

When Mr. Bigler had gone, Ruth asked her father about Philip's connection with the land scheme.

"There's nothing definite," said Mr. Bolton. "Philip is showing aptitude for his profession. I hear the best

reports of him in New York, though those sharpers don't 'intend to do anything but use him. I've written and

offered him employment in surveying and examining the land. We want to know what it is. And if there is

anything in it that his enterprise can dig out, he shall have an interest. I should be glad to give the young

All his life Eli Bolton had been giving young fellows a lift, and shouldering the loses when things turned out

unfortunately. His ledger, takeitaltogether, would not show a balance on the right side; but perhaps the

losses on his books will turn out to be credits in a world where accounts are kept on a different basis. The left

Philip, wrote to Ruth rather a comical account of the bursting up of the city of Napoleon and the navigation

improvement scheme, of Harry's flight and the Colonel's discomfiture. Harry left in such a hurry that he

hadn't even time to bid Miss Laura Hawkins goodbye, but he had no doubt that Harry would console

himself with the next pretty face he saw a remark which was thrown in for Ruth's benefit. Col. Sellers had

in all probability, by this time, some other equally brilliant speculation in his brain.

As to the railroad, Philip had made up his mind that it was merely kept on foot for speculative purposes in

Wall street, and he was about to quit it. Would Ruth be glad to hear, he wondered, that he was coming East? ,

For he was coming, in spite of a letter from Harry in New York, advising him to hold on until he had made

some arrangements in regard to contracts, he to be a little careful about Sellers, who was somewhat visionary,

The summer went on without much excitement for Ruth. She kept up a correspondence with Alice, who

promised a visit in the fall, she read, she earnestly tried to interest herself in home affairs and such people as

came to the house; but she found herself falling more and more into reveries, and growing weary of things as

they were. She felt that everybody might become in time like two relatives from a Shaker establishment in

Ohio, who visited the Boltons about this time, a father and son, clad exactly alike, and alike in manners. The

son; however, who was not of age, was more unworldly and sanctimonious than his father; he always

addressed his parent as "Brother Plum," and bore himself, altogether in such a superior manner that Ruth

longed to put bent pins in his chair. Both father and son wore the long, single breasted collarless coats of their

society, without buttons, before or behind, but with a row of hooks and eyes on either side in front. It was

Ruth's suggestion that the coats would be improved by a single hook and eye sewed on in the small of the

Amusing as this Shaker caricature of the Friends was, it oppressed Ruth beyond measure; and increased her

It was a most unreasonable feeling. No home could be pleasanter than Ruth's. The house, a little out of the

city; was one of those elegant country residences which so much charm visitors to the suburbs of

Philadelphia. A modern dwelling and luxurious in everything that wealth could suggest for comfort, it stood

in the midst of exquisitely kept lawns, with groups of trees, parterres of flowers massed in colors, with

greenhouse, grapery and garden ; and on one side, the garden sloped away in undulations to a shallow brook

that ran over a pebbly bottom and sang under forest trees. The country about teas the perfection of cultivated

landscape, dotted with cottages, and stately mansions of Revolutionary date, and sweet as an English

countryside, whether seen in the soft bloom of May or in the mellow ripeness of late October.

It needed only the peace of the mind within, to make it a paradise. One riding by on the Old Germantown

road, and seeing a young girl swinging in the hammock on the piazza and, intent upon some volume of old

poetry or the latest novel, would no doubt have envied a life so idyllic. He could not have imagined that the

young girl was reading a volume of reports of clinics and longing to be elsewhere.

Ruth could not have been more discontented if all the wealth about her had been as unsubstantial as a dream.

"I feel," she once said to her father, "as if I were living in a house of cards."

"No. But tell me father," continued Ruth, not to be put off, "is thee still going on with that Bigler and those

Mr. Bolton smiled, as men do when they talk with women about "business" "Such men have their uses, Ruth.

They keep the world active, and I owe a great many of my best operations to such men. Who knows, Ruth,

but this new land purchase, which I confess I yielded a little too much to Bigler in, may not turn out a fortune

"Ah, father, thee sees every thing in a rosecolored light. I do believe thee wouldn't have so readily allowed

me to begin the study of medicine, if it hadn't had the novelty of an experiment to thee."

"If thee means, if I have had enough of it, no. I just begin to see what I can do in it, and what a noble

profession it is for a woman. Would thee have me sit here like a bird on a bough and wait for somebody to

Mr. Bolton was not sorry to divert the talk from his own affairs, and he did not think it worth while to tell his

Ruth might well say that she felt as if she were living in a house of cards, although the Bolton household had

no idea of the number of perils that hovered over them, any more than thousands of families in America have

of the business risks and contingences upon which their prosperity and luxury hang.

A sudden call upon Mr. Bolton for a large sum of money, which must be forthcoming at once, had found him

in the midst of a dozen ventures, from no one of which a dollar could be realized. It was in vain that he

applied to his business acquaintances and friends; it was a period of sudden panic and no money. "A hundred

thousand! Mr. Bolton," said Plumly. "Good God, if you should ask me for ten, I shouldn't know where to get

And yet that day Mr. Small (Pennybacker, Bigler and Small) came to Mr. Bolton with a piteous story of ruin

in a coal operation, if he could not raise ten thousand dollars. Only ten, and he was sure of a fortune. Without

it he was a beggar. Mr. Bolton had already Small's notes for a large amount in his safe, labeled "doubtful;" he

had helped him again and again, and always with the same result. But Mr. Small spoke with a faltering voice

of his family, his daughter in school, his wife ignorant of his calamity, and drew such a picture of their agony,

that Mr. Bolton put by his own more pressing necessity, and devoted the day to scraping together, here and

there, ten thousand dollars for this brazen beggar, who had never kept a promise to him nor paid a debt.

Beautiful credit! The foundation of modern society. Who shall say that this is not the golden age of mutual

trust, of unlimited reliance upon human promises? That is a peculiar condition of society which enables a

whole nation to instantly recognize point and meaning in the familiar newspaper anecdote, which puts into

the mouth of a distinguished speculator in lands and mines this remark:"I wasn't worth a cent two years

It was a hard blow to poor Sellers to see the work on his darling enterprise stop, and the noise and bustle and

confusion that had been such refreshment to his soul, sicken and die out. It was hard to come down to

humdrum ordinary life again after being a General Superintendent and the most conspicuous man in the

community. It was sad to see his name disappear from the newspapers; sadder still to see it resurrected at

intervals, shorn of its aforetime gaudy gear of compliments and clothed on with rhetorical tar and feathers.

But his friends suffered more on his account than he did. He was a cork that could not be kept under the water

He had to bolster up his wife's spirits every now and then. On one of these occasions he said:

"It's all right, my dear, all right; it will all come right in a little while. There's $200,000 coming, and that will

set things booming again: Harry seems to be having some difficulty, but that's to be expectedyou can't

move these big operations to the tune of Fisher's Hornpipe, you know. But Harry will get it started along

"Well, yes; yesI don't know but I have. But anyway, the longer it's delayed, the nearer it grows to the time

"Well, nonot that exactly; but you can't understand these things, Polly dearwomen haven't much head

for business, you know. You make yourself perfectly comfortable, old lady, and you'll see how we'll trot this

right along. Why bless you, let the appropriation lag, if it wants tothat's no great matterthere's a bigger

"Bigger, child?why, what's $200,000? Pocket money! Mere pocket money! Look at the railroad! Did you

forget the railroad? It ain't many months till spring; it will be coming right along, and the railroad swimming

right along behind it. Where'll it be by the middle of summer? Just stop and fancy a momentjust think a

littledon't anything suggest itself? Bless your heart, you dear women live right in the present all the

"In the future, Beriah? But don't we live in the future most too much, Beriah? We do somehow seem to

manage to live on next year's crop of corn and potatoes as a general thing while this year is still dragging

along, but sometimes it's not a robust diet,Beriah. But don't look that way, deardon't mind what I say. I

don't mean to fret, I don't mean to worry; and I don't, once a month, do I, dear? But when I get a little low and

feel bad, I get a bit troubled and worrisome, but it don't mean anything in the world. It passes right away. I

know you're doing all you can, and I don't want to seem repining and ungratefulfor I'm not, Beriahyou

"Lord bless you, child, I know you are the very best little woman that ever livedthat ever lived on the

whole face of the Earth! And I know that I would be a dog not to work for you and think for you and scheme

for you with all my might. And I'll bring things all right yet, honey cheer up and don't you fear. The

"Oh, I had forgotten the railroad, dear, but when a body gets blue, a body forgets everything. Yes, the

"Aha, my girl, don't you see? Things ain't so dark, are they? Now I didn't forget the railroad. Now just think

for a momentjust figure up a little on the future dead moral certainties. For instance, call this waiter St.

"And we'll lay this fork (representing the railroad) from St. Louis to this potato, which is Slouchburg:

"Then with this carving knife we'll continue the railroad from Slouchburg to Doodleville, shown by the black

"Thence to Hail Columbiasnuffers, Polly, please move that cup and saucer close up, that's Hail Columbia:

"Thenlet me open my knifeto HarkfromtheTomb, where we'll put the candlestickonly a little

"And there we strike Columbus Riverpass me two or throe skeins of thread to stand for the river; the sugar

bowl will do for Hawkeye, and the rat trap for Stone's LandingNapoleon, I meanand you can see how

much better Napoleon is located than Hawkeye. Now here you are with your railroad complete, and showing

"Now thenthem you are! It's a beautiful road, beautiful. Jeff Thompson can outengineer any civil engineer

that ever sighted through an aneroid, or a theodolite, or whatever they call ithe calls it sometimes one and

sometimes the other just whichever levels off his sentence neatest, I reckon. But ain't it a ripping toad,

though? I tell you, it'll make a stir when it gets along. Just see what a country it goes through. There's your

onions at Slouchburgnoblest onion country that graces God's footstool; and there's your turnip country all

around Doodleville bless my life, what fortunes are going to be made there when they get that contrivance

perfected for extracting olive oil out of turnipsif there's any in them; and I reckon there is, because

Congress has made an appropriation of money to test the thing, and they wouldn't have done that just on

conjecture, of course. And now we come to the Brimstone regioncattle raised there till you can't restand

corn, and all that sort of thing. Then you've got a little stretch along through Belshazzar that don't produce

anything nowat least nothing but rocksbut irrigation will fetch it. Then from Catfish to Babylon it's a

little swampy, but there's dead loads of peat down under there somewhere. Next is the Bloody Run and Hail

Columbia countrytobacco enough can be raised there to support two such railroads. Next is the sassparilla

region. I reckon there's enough of that truck along in there on the line of the pocketknife, from Hail

Columbia to Harkfromthe Tomb to fat up all the consumptives in all the hospitals from Halifax to the Holy

Land. It just grows like weeds! I've got a little belt of sassparilla land in there just tucked away unobstrusively

waiting for my little Universal Expectorant to get into shape in my head. And I'll fix that, you know. One of

"Don't interrupt me; PollyI don't want you to lose the run of the map well, take your toyhorse, James

FitzJames, if you must have itand run along with you. Here, now the soap will do for Babylon. Let me

see where was I? Oh yesnow we run down to Stone's LanNapoleonnow we run down to Napoleon.

Beautiful road. Look at that, now. Perfectly straight linestraight as the way to the grave. And see where it

leaves Hawkeyeclear out in the cold, my dear, clear out in the cold. That town's as bound to die aswell if

I owned it I'd get its obituary ready, now, and notify the mourners. Polly, mark my wordsin three years

from this, Hawkeye'll be a howling wilderness. You'll see. And just look at that rivernoblest stream that

meanders over the thirsty earth! calmest, gentlest artery that refreshes her weary bosom! Railroad goes all

over it and all through itwades right along on stilts. Seventeen bridges in three miles and a halffortynine

bridges from Harkfromthe Tomb to Stone's Landing altogetherforty nine bridges, and culverts enough

to culvert creation itself! Hadn't skeins of thread enough to represent them allbut you get an ideaperfect

trestlework of bridges for seventy two miles: Jeff Thompson and I fixed all that, you know; he's to get the

contracts and I'm to put them through on the divide. Just oceans of money in those bridges. It's the only part

of the railroad I'm interested in,down along the lineand it's all I want, too. It's enough, I should judge.

Now here we are at Napoleon. Good enough country plenty good enoughall it wants is population. That's

all rightthat will come. And it's no bad country now for calmness and solitude, I can tell youthough

there's no money in that, of course. No money, but a man wants rest, a man wants peacea man don't want

to rip and tear around all the time. And here we go, now, just as straight as a string for Hallelujahit's a

beautiful anglehandsome up grade all the way and then away you go to Corruptionville, the gaudiest

country for early carrots and cauliflowers that evergood missionary field, too. There ain't such another

missionary field outside the jungles of Central Africa. And patriotic?why they named it after Congress

itself. Oh, I warn you, my dear, there's a good time coming, and it'll be right along before you know what

you're about, too. That railroad's fetching it. You see what it is as far as I've got, and if I had enough bottles

and soap and bootjacks and such things to carry it along to where it joins onto the Union Pacific, fourteen

hundred miles from here, I should exhibit to you in that little internal improvement a spectacle of

inconceivable sublimity. So, don't you see? We've got the rail road to fall back on; and in the meantime, what

are we worrying about that $200,000 appropriation for? That's all right. I'd be willing to bet anything that the

The eldest boy entered just in the nick of time and brought a letter, warm from the postoffice.

"Things do look bright, after all, Beriah. I'm sorry I was blue, but it did seem as if everything had been going

against us for whole ages. Open the letteropen it quick, and let's know all about it before we stir out of our

Whatever may have been the language of Harry's letter to the Colonel, the information it conveyed wars

condensed or expanded, one or the other, from the following episode of his visit to New York:

He called, with official importance in his mien, at No. Wall street, where a great gilt sign betokened the

presence of the headquarters of the a Columbus River SlackWater Navigation Company." He entered and

gave a dressy porter his card, and was requested to wait a moment in a sort of anteroom. The porter returned

That a copperplate card with "EngineerinChief" on it should be received with such tranquility as this,

annoyed Mr. Brierly not a little. But he had to submit. Indeed his annoyance had time to augment a good

deal; for he was allowed to cool his heels a frill half hour in the ante room before those gentlemen emerged

and he was ushered into the presence. He found a stately dignitary occupying a very official chair behind a

long green moroccocovered table, in a room with sumptuously carpeted and furnished, and well garnished

"Thank you sir," said Harry, throwing as much chill into his manner as his ruffled dignity prompted.

"We perceive by your reports and the reports of the Chief Superintendent, that you have been making

"Indeed? We did not discover it from your letterswhich we have not received; nor by the treatment our

drafts have met withwhich were not honored; nor by the reception of any part of the appropriation, no part

"Why, my dear Mr. Brierly, there must be some mistake, I am sure we wrote you and also Mr. Sellers,

recentlywhen my clerk comes he will show copiesletters informing you of the ten per cent. assessment."

"Oh, certainly, we got those letters. But what we wanted was money to carry on the workmoney to pay the

"Certainly, certainlytrue enoughbut we credited you both for a large part of your assessmentsI am

"Why, my dear sir, I cannot see how you can find any fault with us. I am sure we have acted in a perfectly

straight forward business way.Now let us look at the thing a moment. You subscribed for 100 shares of the

"Very well. No concern can get along without money. We levied a ten per cent. assessment. It was the

original understanding that you and Mr. Sellers were to have the positions you now hold, with salaries of

$600 a month each, while in active service. You were duly elected to these places, and you accepted them.

"Very well. You were given your instructions and put to work. By your reports it appears that you have

expended the sum of $9,610 upon the said work. Two months salary to you two officers amounts altogether

to $2,400about oneeighth of your ten per cent. assessment, you see; which leaves you in debt to the

company for the other seveneighths of the assessmentviz, something over $8,000 apiece. Now instead of

requiring you to forward this aggregate of $16,000 or $17,000 to New York, the company voted unanimously

to let you pay it over to the contractors, laborers from time to time, and give you credit on the books for it.

And they did it without a murmur, too, for they were pleased with the progress you had made, and were glad

to pay you that little compliment and a very neat one it was, too, I am sure. The work you did fell short of

$10,000, a trifle. Let me see$9,640 from $20,000 salary $2;400 addedah yes, the balance due the

company from yourself and Mr. Sellers is $7,960, which I will take the responsibility of allowing to stand for

"Confound it, do you mean to say that instead of the company owing us $2,400, we owe the company

"And that we owe the men and the contractors nearly ten thousand dollars besides?"

"Owe them! Oh bless my soul, you can't mean that you have not paid these people?"

The president rose and walked the floor like a man in bodily pain. His brows contracted, he put his hand up

and clasped his forehead, and kept saying, "Oh, it is, too bad, too bad, too bad! Oh, it is bound to be found

"My dear Mr. Brierson, this is dreadfulperfectly dreadful. It will be found out. It is bound to tarnish the

good name of the company; our credit will be seriously, most seriously impaired. How could you be so

"They ought, ought they? Then why the devilmy name is not Bryerson, by the waywhy the mischief

didn't the compawhy what in the nation ever became of the appropriation? Where is that

"Of coursebut I didn't know that $200,000 was so very paltry. Though I grant, of course, that it is not a

"My dear sir, you surprise me. You surely cannot have had a large acquaintance with this sort of thing.

Otherwise you would not have expected much of a result from a mere INITIAL appropriation like that. It was

never intended for anything but a mere nest egg for the future and real appropriations to cluster around."

"Why thematter is simple enough. A Congressional appropriation costs money. Just reflect, for

instancea majority of the House Committee, say $10,000 apiece$40,000; a majority of the Senate

Committee, the same eachsay $40,000; a little extra to one or two chairman of one or two such

committees, say $10,000 each$20,000; and there's $100,000 of the money gone, to begin with. Then,

seven male lobbyists, at $3,000 each $21,000; one female lobbyist, $10,000; a high moral Congressman or

Senator here and therethe high moral ones cost more, because they. give tone to a measuresay ten of

these at $3,000 each, is $30,000; then a lot of smallfry country members who won't vote for anything

whatever without paysay twenty at $500 apiece, is $10,000; a lot of dinners to memberssay $10,000

altogether; lot of jimcracks for Congressmen's wives and childrenthose go a long wayyou can't sped too

much money in that linewell, those things cost in a lump, say $10,000along there somewhere; and then

comes your printed documentsyour maps, your tinted engravings, your pamphlets, your illuminated show

cards, your advertisements in a hundred and fifty papers at ever so much a line because you've got to keep

the papers all light or you are gone up, you know. Oh, my dear sir, printing bills are destruction itself. Ours so

far amount tolet me see10; 52; 22; 13;and then there's 11; 14; 33 well, never mind the details, the

"Oh, yes indeed. Printing's no bagatelle, I can tell you. And then there's your contributions, as a company, to

Chicago fires and Boston fires, and orphan asylums and all that sort of thinghead the list, you see, with the

company's full name and a thousand dollars set opposite great card, sirone of the finest advertisements

in the worldthe preachers mention it in the pulpit when it's a religious charityone of the happiest

advertisements in the world is your benevolent donation. Ours have amounted to sixteen thousand dollars and

"Oh, yes. Perhaps the biggest thing we've done in the advertising line was to get an officer of the U. S.

government, of perfectly Himmalayan official altitude, to write up our little internal improvement for a

religious paper of enormous circulationI tell you that makes our bonds go handsomely among the pious

poor. Your religious paper is by far the best vehicle for a thing of this kind, because they'll 'lead' your article

and put it right in the midst of the reading matter; and if it's got a few Scripture quotations in it, and some

temperance platitudes and a bit of gush here and there about Sunday Schools, and a sentimental snuffle now

and then about 'God's precious ones, the honest hardhanded poor,' it works the nation like a charm, my dear

sir, and never a man suspects that it is an advertisement; but your secular paper sticks you right into the

advertising columns and of course you don't take a trick. Give me a religious paper to advertise in, every

time; and if you'll just look at their advertising pages, you'll observe that other people think a good deal as I

doespecially people who have got little financial schemes to make everybody rich with. Of course I mean

your great big metropolitan religious papers that know how to serve God and make money at the same

timethat's your sort, sir, that's your sorta religious paper that isn't run to make money is no use to us, sir,

as an advertising mediumno use to anybodyin our line of business. I guess our next best dodge was

sending a pleasure trip of newspaper reporters out to Napoleon. Never paid them a cent; just filled them up

with champagne and the fat of the land, put pen, ink and paper before them while they were redhot, and

bless your soul when you come to read their letters you'd have supposed they'd been to heaven. And if a

sentimental squeamishness held one or two of them back from taking a less rosy view of Napoleon, our

hospitalities tied his tongue, at least, and he said nothing at all and so did us no harm. Let me seehave I

stated all the expenses I've been at? No, I was near forgetting one or two items. There's your official

salariesyou can't get good men for nothing. Salaries cost pretty lively. And then there's your big

highsounding millionaire names stuck into your advertisements as stockholdersanother card, thatand

they are stockholders, too, but you have to give them the stock and nonassessable at thatso they're an

expensive lot. Very, very expensive thing, take it all around, is a big internal improvement concernbut you

"But look here. I think you are a little mistaken about it's ever having cost anything for Congressional votes. I

happen to know something about that. I've let you say your saynow let me say mine. I don't wish to seem

to throw any suspicion on anybody's statements, because we are all liable to be mistaken. But how would it

strike you if I were to say that I was in Washington all the time this bill was pending? and what if I added that

I put the measure through myself? Yes, sir, I did that little thing. And moreover, I never paid a dollar for any

man's vote and never promised one. There are some ways of doing a thing that are as good as others which

other people don't happen to think about, or don't have the knack of succeeding in, if they do happen to think

of them. My dear sir, I am obliged to knock some of your expenses in the headfor never a cent was paid a

The president smiled blandly, even sweetly, all through this harangue, and then said:

"Well it does seem to alter the complexion of things a little. You are acquainted with the members down

"I know them all, sir. I know their wives, their children, their babies I even made it a point to be on good

"Very good. Do you know any of their signatures? Do you know their handwriting?"

"Why I know their handwriting as well as I know my ownhave had correspondence enough with them, I

The president went to a private safe, unlocked it and got out some letters and certain slips of paper. Then he

Now here, for instance; do you believe that that is a genuine letter? Do you know this signature here?and

Harry was stupefied. There were things there that made his brain swim. Presently, at the bottom of one of the

letters he saw a signature that restored his equilibrium; it even brought the sunshine of a smile to his face.

"Of course I ought to have suspected him, but I don't believe it ever really occurred to me. Well, well,

"Why my friend, we never think of accomplishing anything without his help. He is our mainstay. But how do

"Well, take it all around, I suppose you had a pleasant time in Washington," said the president, gathering up

the letters; "of course you must have had. Very few men could go there and get a money bill through without

"Come, now, Mr. President, that's plenty of that! I take back everything I said on that head. I'm a wiser man

"I think you are. In fact I am satisfied you are. But now I showed you these things in confidence, you

understand. Mention facts as much as you want to, but don't mention names to anybody. I can depend on you

"Oh, of course. I understand the necessity of that. I will not betray the names. But to go back a bit, it begins to

"We saw nearly ten thousand dollars of itand that was all. Several of us took turns at logrolling in

Washington, and if we had charged anything for that service, none of that $10,000 would ever have reached

"If you hadn't levied the assessment you would have been in a close place I judge?"

"Which leaves us in debt some $25,000 at this moment. Salaries of home officers are still going on; also

"Not the next one. We'll call for half a millionget it and go for a million the very next month." "Yes, but

"All these people are in the next Congress. We shan't have to pay them a cent. And what is more, they will

"We send many missionaries to lift up the benighted races of other lands. How much cheaper and better it

would be if those people could only come here and drink of our civilization at its fountain head."

"I perfectly agree with yon, Mr. Beverly. Must you go? Well, good morning. Look in, when you are passing;

and whenever I can give you any information about our affairs and pro'spects, I shall be glad to do it."

Harry's letter was not a long one, but it contained at least the calamitous figures that came out in the above

conversation. The Colonel found himself in a rather uncomfortable placeno $1,200 salary forthcoming;

and himself held responsible for half of the $9,640 due the workmen, to say nothing of being in debt to the

company to the extent of nearly $4,000. Polly's heart was nearly broken; the "blues" returned in fearful force,

and she had to go out of the room to hide the tears that nothing could keep back now.

There was mourning in another quarter, too, for Louise had a letter. Washington had refused, at the last

moment, to take $40,000 for the Tennessee Land, and had demanded $150,000! So the trade fell through, and

now Washington was wailing because he had been so foolish. But he wrote that his man might probably

return to the city soon, and then he meant to sell to him, sure, even if he had to take $10,000. Louise had a

good cryseveral of them, indeedand the family charitably forebore to make any comments that would

Spring blossomed, summer came, dragged its hot weeks by, and the Colonel's spirits rose, day by day, for the

railroad was making good progress. But by and by something happened. Hawkeye had always declined to

subscribe anything toward the railway, imagining that her large business would be a sufficient compulsory

influence; but now Hawkeye was frightened; and before Col. Sellers knew what he was about, Hawkeye, in a

panic, had rushed to the front and subscribed such a sum that Napoleon's attractions suddenly sank into

insignificance and the railroad concluded to follow a comparatively straight coarse instead of going miles out

The thunderbolt fell. After all the Colonel's deep planning; after all his brain work and tongue work in

drawing public attention to his pet project and enlisting interest in it; after all his faithful hard toil with his

hands, and running hither and thither on his busy feet; after all his high hopes and splendid prophecies, the

fates had turned their backs on him at last, and all in a moment his aircastles crumbled to ruins abort him.

Hawkeye rose from her fright triumphant and rejoicing, and down went Stone's Landing! One by one its

meagre parcel of inhabitants packed up and moved away, as the summer waned and fall approached. Town

lots were no longer salable, traffic ceased, a deadly lethargy fell upon the place once more, the "Weekly

Telegraph" faded into an early grave, the wary tadpole returned from exile, the bullfrog resumed his ancient

song, the tranquil turtle sunned his back upon bank and log and drowsed his grateful life away as in the old

Philip Sterling was on his way to Ilium, in the state of Pennsylvania. Ilium was the railway station nearest to

On the last day of the journey as the railway train Philip was on was leaving a large city, a lady timidly

entered the drawingroom car, and hesitatingly took a chair that was at the moment unoccupied. Philip saw

from the window that a gentleman had put her upon the car just as it was starting. In a few moments the

conductor entered, and without waiting an explanation, said roughly to the lady,

"I did not intend to take the seat," said the lady rising, "I only sat down a moment till the conductor should

The conductor turned towards Philip, and coolly and deliberately surveyed him from head to foot, with

contempt in every line of his face, turned his back upon him without a word, and said to the lady,

The lady, entirely disconcerted by such rudeness, and frightened, moved towards the door, opened it and

stepped out. The train was swinging along at a rapid rate, jarring from side to side; the step was a long one

between the cars and there was no protecting grating. The lady attempted it, but lost her balance, in the wind

and the motion of the car, and fell! She would inevitably have gone down under the wheels, if Philip, who

had swiftly followed her, had not caught her arm and drawn her up. He then assisted her across, found her a

The conductor was still there, taking his tickets, and growling something about imposition. Philip marched up

Philip's reply was a blow, given so suddenly and planted so squarely in the conductor's face, that it sent him

reeling over a fat passenger, who was looking up in mild wonder that any one should dare to dispute with a

He recovered himself, reached the bell rope, "Damn you, I'll learn you," stepped to the door and called a

"We'll see," said the conductor, advancing with the brakemen. The passengers protested, and some of them

said to each other, "That's too bad," as they always do in such cases, but none of them offered to take a hand

with Philip. The men seized him, wrenched him from his seat, dragged him along the aisle, tearing his

clothes, thrust him from the car, and, then flung his carpetbag, overcoat and umbrella after him. And the

The conductor, red in the face and puffing from his exertion, swaggered through the car, muttering "Puppy,

I'll learn him." The passengers, when he had gone, were loud in their indignation, and talked about signing a

Philip never had been before in Bascom's swamp, and there was nothing inviting in it to detain him. After the

train got out of the way he crawled out of the briars and the mud, and got upon the track. He was somewhat

bruised, but he was too angry to mind that. He plodded along over the ties in a very hot condition of mind and

body. In the scuffle, his railway check had disappeared, and he grimly wondered, as he noticed the loss, if the

company would permit him to walk over their track if they should know he hadn't a ticket.

Philip had to walk some five miles before he reached a little station, where he could wait for a train, and he

had ample time for reflection. At first he was full of vengeance on the company. He would sue it. He would

make it pay roundly. But then it occurred to him that he did not know the name of a witness he could

summon, and that a personal fight against a railway corporation was about the most hopeless in the world. He

then thought he would seek out that conductor, lie in wait for him at some station, and thrash him, or get

But as he got cooler, that did not seem to him a project worthy of a gentleman exactly. Was it possible for a

gentleman to get even with such a fellow as that conductor on the letter's own plane? And when he came to

this point, he began to ask himself, if he had not acted very much like a fool. He didn't regret striking the

fellowhe hoped he had left a mark on him. But, after all, was that the best way? Here was he, Philip

Sterling, calling himself a gentleman, in a brawl with a vulgar conductor, about a woman he had never seen

before. Why should he have put himself in such a ridiculous position? Wasn't it enough to have offered the

lady his seat, to have rescued her from an accident, perhaps from death? Suppose he had simply said to the

conductor, "Sir, your conduct is brutal, I shall report you." The passengers, who saw the affair, might have

joined in a report against the conductor, and he might really have accomplished something. And, now! Philip

looked at leis torn clothes, and thought with disgust of his haste in getting into a fight with such an autocrat.

At the little station where Philip waited for the next train, he met a manwho turned out to be a justice of

the peace in that neighborhood, and told him his adventure. He was a kindly sort of man, and seemed very

"Wal, I guess tain't no use. I hain't a mite of doubt of every word you say. But suin's no use. The railroad

company owns all these people along here, and the judges on the bench too. Spiled your clothes! Wal, 'least

When next morning, he read the humorous account in the Patriot and Clarion, he saw still more clearly what

chance he would have had before the public in a fight with the railroad company.

Still Philip's conscience told him that it was his plain duty to carry the matter into the courts, even with the

certainty of defeat. He confessed that neither he nor any citizen had a right to consult his own feelings or

conscience in a case where a law of the land had been violated before his own eyes. He confessed that every

citizen's first duty in such case is to put aside his own business and devote his time and his best efforts to

seeing that the infraction is promptly punished; and he knew that no country can be well governed unless its

citizens as a body keep religiously before their minds that they are the guardians of the law, and that the law

officers are only the machinery for its execution, nothing more. As a finality he was obliged to confess that he

was a bad citizen, and also that the general laxity of the time, and the absence of a sense of duty toward any

part of the community but the individual himself were ingrained in him, am he was no better than the rest of

The result of this little adventure was that Philip did not reach Ilium till daylight the next morning, when he

descended sleepy and sore, from a way train, and looked about him. Ilium was in a narrow mountain gorge,

through which a rapid stream ran. It consisted of the plank platform on which he stood, a wooden house, half

painted, with a dirty piazza (unroofed) in front, and a sign board hung on a slanting polebearing the

legend, "Hotel. P. Dusenheimer," a sawmill further down the stream, a blacksmithshop, and a store, and

As Philip approached the hotel he saw what appeared to be a wild beast crouching on the piazza. It did not

stir, however, and he soon found that it was only a stuffed skin. This cheerful invitation to the tavern was the

remains of a huge panther which had been killed in the region a few weeks before. Philip examined his ugly

visage and strong crooked forearm, as he was waiting admittance, having pounded upon the door.

"Yait a bit. I'll shoostput on my trowsers," shouted a voice from the window, and the door was soon

"Morgen! Didn't hear d' drain oncet. Dem boys geeps me up zo spate. Gom right in."

Philip was shown into a dirty barroom. It was a small room, with a stove in the middle, set in a long shallow

box of sand, for the benefit of the "spitters," a bar across one enda mere counter with a sliding glasscase

behind it containing a few bottles having ambitious labels, and a washsink in one corner. On the walls were

the bright yellow and black handbills of a traveling circus, with pictures of acrobats in human pyramids,

horses flying in long leaps through the air, and sylphlike women in a paradisaic costume, balancing

themselves upon the tips of their toes on the bare backs of frantic and plunging steeds, and kissing their hands

As Philip did not desire a room at that hour, he was invited to wash himself at the nasty sink, a feat somewhat

easier than drying his face, for the towel that hung in a roller over the sink was evidently as much a fixture as

the sink itself, and belonged, like the suspended brush and comb, to the traveling public. Philip managed to

complete his toilet by the use of his pockethandkerchief, and declining the hospitality of the landlord,

implied in the remark, "You won'd dake notin'?" he went into the open air to wait for breakfast.

The country he saw was wild but not picturesque. The mountain before him might be eight hundred feet high,

and was only a portion of a long unbroken range, savagely wooded, which followed the stream. Behind the

hotel, and across the brawling brook, was another leveltopped, wooded range exactly like it. Ilium itself,

seen at a glance, was old enough to be dilapidated, and if it had gained anything by being made a wood and

water station of the new railroad, it was only a new sort of grime and rawness. P. Dusenheimer, standing in

the door of his uninviting groggery, when the trains stopped for water; never received from the traveling

public any patronage except facetious remarks upon his personal appearance. Perhaps a thousand times he

had heard the remark, "Ilium fuit," followed in most instances by a hail to himself as "AEneas," with the

inquiry "Where is old Anchises? "At first he had replied, "Dere ain't no such man;" but irritated by its

senseless repetition, he had latterly dropped into the formula of, "You be dam."

Philip was recalled from the contemplation of Ilium by the rolling and growling of the gong within the hotel,

the din and clamor increasing till the house was apparently unable to contain it; when it burst out of the front

The dining room was long, low and narrow, and a narrow table extended its whole length. Upon this was

spread a cloth which from appearance might have been as long in use as the towel in the barroom. Upon the

table was the usual service, the heavy, much nicked stone ware, the row of plated and rusty castors, the sugar

bowls with the zinc teaspoons sticking up in them, the piles of yellow biscuits, the discouragedlooking

plates of butter. The landlord waited, and Philip was pleased to observe the change in his manner. In the

barroom he was the conciliatory landlord. Standing behind his guests at table, he had an air of peremptory

patronage, and the voice in which he shot out the inquiry, as he seized Philip's plate, "Beefsteak or liver?"

quite took away Philip's power of choice. He begged for a glass of milk, after trying that green hued

compound called coffee, and made his breakfast out of that and some hard crackers which seemed to have

been imported into Ilium before the introduction of the iron horse, and to have withstood a ten years siege of

The land that Philip had come to look at was at least five miles distant from Ilium station. A corner of it

touched the railroad, but the rest was pretty much an unbroken wilderness, eight or ten thousand acres of

His first step was to hire three woodsmen to accompany him. By their help he built a log hut, and established

a camp on the land, and then began his explorations, mapping down his survey as he went along, noting the

timber, and the lay of the land, and making superficial observations as to the prospect of coal.

The landlord at Ilium endeavored to persuade Philip to hire the services of a witchhazel professor of that

region, who could walk over the land with his wand and tell him infallibly whether it contained coal, and

exactly where the strata ran. But Philip preferred to trust to his own study of the country, and his knowledge

of the geological formation. He spent a month in traveling over the land and making calculations; and made

up his mind that a fine vein of coal ran through the mountain about a mile from the railroad, and that the

Acting with his usual promptness, Philip, with the consent of Mr. Bolton, broke ground there at once, and,

before snow came, had some rude buildings up, and was ready for active operations in the spring. It was true

that there were no outcroppings of coal at the place, and the people at Ilium said he "mought as well dig for

plug terbaccer there;" but Philip had great faith in the uniformity of nature's operations in ages past, and he

had no doubt that he should strike at this spot the rich vein that had made the fortune of the Golden Briar

Once more Louise had good news from her WashingtonSenator Dilworthy was going to sell the Tennessee

Land to the government! Louise told Laura in confidence. She had told her parents, too, and also several

bosom friends; but all of these people had simply looked sad when they heard the news, except Laura. Laura's

face suddenly brightened under itonly for an instant, it is true, but poor Louise was grateful for even that

fleeting ray of encouragement. When next Laura was alone, she fell into a train of thought something like

If the Senator has really taken hold of this matter, I may look for that invitation to his house at, any moment. I

am perishing to go! I do long to know whether I am only simply a largesized pigmy among these pigmies

here, who tumble over so easily when one strikes them, or whether I am really." Her thoughts drifted into

other channels, for a season. "Then she continued:"He said I could be useful in the great cause of

philanthropy, and help in the blessed work of uplifting the poor and the ignorant, if he found it feasible to

take hold of our Land. Well, that is neither here nor there; what I want, is to go to Washington and find out

what I am. I want money, too; and if one may judge by what she hears, there are chances there for a." For a

Along in the fall the invitation came, sure enough. It came officially through brother Washington, the private

Secretary, who appended a postscript that was brimming with delight over the prospect of seeing the Duchess

again. He said it would be happiness enough to look upon her face once moreit would be almost too much

happiness when to it was added the fact that she would bring messages with her that were fresh from Louise's

In Washington's letter were several important enclosures. For instance, there was the Senator's check for

$2,000"to buy suitable clothing in New York with!" It was a loan to be refunded when the Land was sold.

Two thousandthis was fine indeed. Louise's father was called rich, but Laura doubted if Louise had ever

had $400 worth of new clothing at one time in her life. With the check came two through ticketsgood on

the railroad from Hawkeye to Washington via New Yorkand they were "dead head" tickets, too, which

had beep given to Senator Dilworthy by the railway companies. Senators and representatives were paid

thousands of dollars by the government for traveling expenses, but they always traveled "deadhead" both

ways, and then did as any honorable, highminded men would naturally dodeclined to receive the mileage

tendered them by the government. The Senator had plenty of railway passes, and could. easily spare two to

Lauraone for herself and one for a male escort. Washington suggested that she get some old friend of the

family to come with her, and said the Senator would "deadhead" him home again as soon as he had grown

tired, of the sights of the capital. Laura thought the thing over. At first she was pleased with the idea, but

presently she began to feel differently about it. Finally she said, "No, our staid, steadygoing Hawkeye

friends' notions and mine differ about some things they respect me, now, and I respect thembetter leave

it soI will go alone; I am not afraid to travel by myself." And so communing with herself, she left the

Almost at the door she met Col. Sellers. She told him about her invitation to Washington.

"Bless me!" said the Colonel. "I have about made up my mind to go there myself. You see we've got to get

another appropriation through, and the Company want me to come east and put it through Congress. Harry's

there, and he'll do what he can, of course; and Harry's a good fellow and always does the very best he knows

how, but then he's youngrather young for some parts of such work, you knowand besides he talks too

much, talks a good deal too much; and sometimes he appears to be a little bit visionary, too, I think the worst

thing in the world for a business man. A man like that always exposes his cards, sooner or later. This sort of

thing wants an old, quiet, steady handwants an old cool head, you know, that knows men, through and

through, and is used to large operations. I'm expecting my salary, and also some dividends from the company,

and if they get along in time, I'll go along with you Lauratake you under my wingyou mustn't travel

alone. Lord I wish I had the money right now. But there'll be plenty soonplenty."

Laura reasoned with herself that if the kindly, simplehearted Colonel was going anyhow, what could she

gain by traveling alone and throwing away his company? So she told him she accepted his offer gladly,

gratefully. She said it would be the greatest of favors if he would go with her and protect hernot at his own

expense as far as railway fares were concerned, of course; she could not expect him to put himself to so much

trouble for her and pay his fare besides. But he wouldn't hear of her paying his fareit would be only a

pleasure to him to serve her. Laura insisted on furnishing the tickets; and finally, when argument failed, she

said the tickets cost neither her nor any one else a cent she had two of themshe needed but oneand if

he would not take the other she would not go with him. That settled the matter. He took the ticket. Laura was

glad that she had the check for new clothing, for she felt very certain of being able to get the Colonel to

She wrote Washington to look for her and Col. Sellers toward the end of November; and at about the time set

Mr. Henry Brierly was exceedingly busy in New York, so he wrote Col. Sellers, but he would drop

The Colonel believed that Harry was the prince of lobbyists, a little too sanguine, may be, and given to

speculation, but, then, he knew everybody; the Columbus River navigation scheme was, got through almost

entirely by his aid. He was needed now to help through another scheme, a benevolent scheme in which Col.

"I don't care, you know," he wrote to Harry, "so much about the niggroes. But if the government will buy this

land, it will set up the Hawkins familymake Laura an heiressand I shouldn't wonder if Beriah Sellers

would set up his carriage again. Dilworthy looks at it different, of course. He's all for philanthropy, for

benefiting the colored race. There's old Balsam, was in the Interiorused to be the Rev. Orson Balsam of

Iowahe's made the riffle on the Injun; great Injun pacificator and land dealer. Balaam'a got the Injun to

himself, and I suppose that Senator Dilworthy feels that there is nothing left him but the colored man. I do

Though Harry was in a hurry to reach Washington, he stopped in Philadelphia; and prolonged his visit day

after day, greatly to the detriment of his business both in New York and Washington. The society at the

Bolton's might have been a valid excuse for neglecting business much more important than his. Philip was

there; he was a partner with Mr. Bolton now in the new coal venture, concerning which there was much to be

arranged in preparation for the Spring work, and Philip lingered week after week in the hospitable house.

Alice was making a winter visit. Ruth only went to town twice a week to attend lectures, and the household

was quite to Mr. Bolton's taste, for he liked the cheer of company and something going on evenings. Harry

was cordially asked to bring his travelingbag there, and he did not need urging to do so. Not even the

thought of seeing Laura at the capital made him restless in the society of the two young ladies; two birds in

Philip was at homehe sometimes wished he were not so much so. He felt that too much or not enough was

taken for granted. Ruth had met him, when he first came, with a cordial frankness, and her manner continued

entirely unrestrained. She neither sought his company nor avoided it, and this perfectly level treatment

irritated him more than any other could have done. It was impossible to advance much in lovemaking with

one who offered no obstacles, had no concealments and no embarrassments, and whom any approach to

"Why, Phil," she would say, "what puts you in the dumps to day? You are as solemn as the upper bench in

Meeting. I shall have to call Alice to raise your spirits; my presence seems to depress you."

It's not your presence, but your absence when you are present," began Philip, dolefully, with the idea that he

"No, I confess I cannot. If you really are so low, as to think I am absent when I am present, it's a frightful

case of aberration; I shall ask father to bring out Dr. Jackson. Does Alice appear to be present when she is

"Alice has some human feeling, anyway. She cares for something besides musty books and dry bones. I

think, Ruth, when I die," said Philip, intending to be very grim and sarcastic, "I'll leave you my skeleton. You

"It might be more cheerful than you are at times," Ruth replied with a laugh. "But you mustn't do it without

"I don't know why you should bring Alice up on every occasion. Do you think I am in love with her?"

"Bless you, no. It never entered my head. Are you? The thought of Philip Sterling in love is too comical. I

thought you were only in love with the Ilium coal mine, which you and father talk about half the time."

This is a specimen of Philip's wooing. Confound the girl, he would say to himself, why does she never tease

How differently Alice treated him. She at least never mocked him, and it was a relief to talk with one who

had some sympathy with him. And he did talk to her, by the hour, about Ruth. The blundering fellow poured

all his doubts and anxieties into her ear, as if she had been the impassive occupant of one of those little

wooden confessionals in the Cathedral on Logan Square. Has, a confessor, if she is young and pretty, any

Philip called Alice his good sister, and talked to her about love and marriage, meaning Ruth, as if sisters

could by no possibility have any personal concern in such things. Did Ruth ever speak of him? Did she think

Ruth cared for him? Did Ruth care for anybody at Fallkill? Did she care for anything except her profession?

Alice was loyal to Ruth, and if she knew anything she did not betray her friend. She did not, at any rate, give

"I can tell you one thing, Philip," she said, "if ever Ruth Bolton loves, it will be with her whole soul, in a

depth of passion that will sweep everything before it and surprise even herself."

A remark that did not much console Philip, who imagined that only some grand heroism could unlock the

sweetness of such a heart; and Philip feared that he wasn't a hero. He did not know out of what materials a

Harry skipped into this society with his usual lightness and gaiety. His good nature was inexhaustible, and

though he liked to relate his own exploits, he had a little tact in adapting himself to the tastes of his hearers.

He was not long in finding out that Alice liked to hear about Philip, and Harry launched out into the career of

his friend in the West, with a prodigality of invention that would have astonished the chief actor. He was the

most generous fellow in the world, and picturesque conversation was the one thing in which he never was

bankrupt. With Mr. Bolton be was the serious man of business, enjoying the confidence of many of the

monied men in New York, whom Mr. Bolton knew, and engaged with them in railway schemes and

government contracts. Philip, who had so long known Harry, never could make up his mind that Harry did

not himself believe that he was a chief actor in all these large operations of which he talked so much.

Harry did not neglect to endeavor to make himself agreeable to Mrs. Bolton, by paying great attention to the

children, and by professing the warmest interest in the Friends' faith. It always seemed to him the most

peaceful religion; he thought it must be much easier to live by an internal light than by a lot of outward rules;

he had a dear Quaker aunt in Providence of whom Mrs. Bolton constantly reminded him. He insisted upon

going with Mrs. Bolton and the children to the Friends Meeting on First Day, when Ruth and Alice and

Philip, "world's people," went to a church in town, and he sat through the hour of silence with his hat on, in

most exemplary patience. In short, this amazing actor succeeded so well with Mrs. Bolton, that she said to

"Thy friend, Henry Brierly, appears to be a very worldly minded young man. Does he believe in anything?"

"Oh, yes," said Philip laughing, "he believes in more things than any other person I ever saw."

To Ruth, Harry seemed to be very congenial. He was never moody for one thing, but lent himself with

alacrity to whatever her fancy was. He was gay or grave as the need might be. No one apparently could enter

"My father," said Harry, "was bred a physician, and practiced a little before he went into Wall street. I always

had a leaning to the study. There was a skeleton hanging in the closet of my father's study when I was a boy,

that I used to dress up in old clothes. Oh, I got quite familiar with the human frame."

"You must have," said Philip. "Was that where you learned to play the bones? He is a master of those musical

"Philip hates science of any kind, and steady application," retorted Harry. He didn't fancy Philip's banter, and

Harry said, "I have it in mind. I believe I would begin attending lectures this winter if it weren't for being

"Well, the treatment of disease is a good deal a matter of sympathy. A woman's intuition is better than a

man's. Nobody knows anything, really, you know, and a woman can guess a good deal nearer than a man."

"But," said Harry frankly; "I should want to choose my doctor; an ugly woman would ruin me, the disease

would be sure to strike in and kill me at sight of her. I think a pretty physician, with engaging manners, would

"On the contrary, I am quite sincere. Wasn't it old what's his name? that said only the beautiful is useful?"

Whether Ruth was anything more than diverted with Harry's company; Philip could not determine. He

scorned at any rate to advance his own interest by any disparaging communications about Harry, both

because he could not help liking the fellow himself, and because he may have known that he could not more

surely create a sympathy for him in Ruth's mind. That Ruth was in no danger of any serious impression he

felt pretty sure, felt certain of it when he reflected upon her severe occupation with her profession. Hang it, he

would say to himself, she is nothing but pure intellect anyway. And he only felt uncertain of it when she was

in one of her moods of raillery, with mocking mischief in her eyes. At such times she seemed to prefer

Harry's society to his. When Philip was miserable about this, he always took refuge with Alice, who was

never moody, and who generally laughed him out of his sentimental nonsense. He felt at his ease with Alice,

and was never in want of something to talk about; and he could not account for the fact that he was so often

dull with Ruth, with whom, of all persons in the world, he wanted to appear at his best.

Harry was entirely satisfied with his own situation. A bird of passage is always at its ease, having no house to

build, and no responsibility. He talked freely with Philip about Ruth, an almighty fine girl, he said, but what

There was a concert one night at the Musical Fund Hall and the four had arranged to go in and return by the

Germantown cars. It was Philip's plan, who had engaged the seats, and promised himself an evening with

Ruth, walking with her, sitting by her in the hall, and enjoying the feeling of protecting that a man always has

of a woman in a public place. He was fond of music, too, in a sympathetic way; at least, he knew that Ruth's

Perhaps he meant to take advantage of the occasion to say some very serious things. His love for Ruth was no

secret to Mrs. Bolton, and he felt almost sure that he should have no opposition in the family. Mrs. Bolton

had been cautious in what she said, but Philip inferred everything from her reply to his own questions, one

Why shouldn't he speak his mind, and end his doubts? Ruth had been more tricksy than usual that day, and in

a flow of spirits quite inconsistent, it would seem, in a young lady devoted to grave studies.

Had Ruth a premonition of Philip's intention, in his manner? It may be, for when the girls came down stairs,

ready to walk to the cars; and met Philip and Harry in the hall, Ruth said, laughing,

"The two tallest must walk together" and before Philip knew how it happened Ruth had taken Harry's arm,

and his evening was spoiled. He had too much politeness and good sense and kindness to show in his manner

"That's your disadvantage in being short." And he gave Alice no reason to feel during the evening that she

would not have been his first choice for the excursion. But he was none the less chagrined, and not a little

The Hall was crowded with the fashion of the town. The concert was one of those fragmentary drearinesses

that people endure because they are fashionable; tours de force on the piano, and fragments from operas,

which have no meaning without the setting, with weary pauses of waiting between; there is the comic basso

who is so amusing and on such familiar terms with the audience, and always sings the Barber; the

attitudinizing tenor, with his languishing "Oh, Summer Night ;" the soprano with her "Batti Batti," who

warbles and trills and runs and fetches her breath, and ends with a noble scream that brings down a tempest of

applause in the midst of which she backs off the stage smiling and bowing. It was this sort of concert, and

Philip was thinking that it was the most stupid one he ever sat through, when just as the soprano was in the

midst of that touching ballad, "Comin' thro' the Rye" (the soprano always sings "Comin' thro' the Rye" on an

encorethe Black Swan used to make it irresistible, Philip remembered, with her arch, "If a body kiss a

The hall is long and narrow, and there is only one place of egress. Instantly the audience was on its feet, and a

rush began for the door. Men shouted, women screamed, and panic seized the swaying mass. A second's

thought would have convinced every one that getting out was impossible, and that the only effect of a rush

would be to crash people to death. But a second's thought was not given. A few cried:

"Sit down, sit down," but the mass was turned towards the door. Women were down and trampled on in the

aisles, and stout men, utterly lost to selfcontrol, were mounting the benches, as if to run a race over the mass

Philip who had forced the girls to keep their seats saw, in a flash, the new danger, and sprang to avert it. In a

second more those infuriated men would be over the benches and crushing Ruth and Alice under their boots.

He leaped upon the bench in front of them and struck out before him with all his might, felling one man who

was rushing on him, and checking for an instant the movement, or rather parting it, and causing it to flow on

either side of him. But it was only for an instant; the pressure behind was too great, and, the next Philip was

And yet that instant of arrest had probably saved the girls, for as Philip fell, the orchestra struck up "Yankee

Doodle" in the liveliest manner. The familiar tune caught the ear of the mass, which paused in wonder, and

The tumult was over in a minute, and the next, laughter was heard, and not a few said, "I knew it wasn't

The concert was over, however. A good many people were hurt, some of them seriously, and among them

Philip Sterling was found bent across the seat, insensible, with his left arm hanging limp and a bleeding

When he was carried into the air he revived, and said it was nothing. A surgeon was called, and it was

thought best to drive at once to the Bolton's, the surgeon supporting Philip, who did not speak the whole way.

His arm was set and his head dressed, and the surgeon said he would come round all right in his mind by

morning; he was very weak. Alice who was not much frightened while the panic lasted in the hall, was very

much unnerved by seeing Philip so pale and bloody. Ruth assisted the surgeon with the utmost coolness and

with skillful hands helped to dress Philip's wounds. And there was a certain intentness and fierce energy in

what she did that might have revealed something to Philip if he had been in his senses.

But he was not, or he would not have murmured "Let Alice do it, she is not too tall."

Washington's delight in his beautiful sister was measureless. He said that she had always been the queenliest

creature in the land, but that she was only commonplace before, compared to what she was now, so

"But your criticisms are too full of brotherly partiality to be depended on, Washington. Other people will

"Indeed they won't. You'll see. There will never be a woman in Washington that can compare with you.

You'll be famous within a fortnight, Laura. Everybody will want to know you. You waityou'll see."

Laura wished in her heart that the prophecy might come true; and privately she even believed it mightfor

she had brought all the women whom she had seen since she left home under sharp inspection, and the result

During a week or two Washington drove about the city every day with her and familiarized her with all of its

salient features. She was beginning to feel very much at home with the town itself, and she was also fast

acquiring ease with the distinguished people she met at the Dilworthy table, and losing what little of country

timidity she had brought with her from Hawkeye. She noticed with secret pleasure the little start of

admiration that always manifested itself in the faces of the guests when she entered the drawingroom

arrayed in evening costume: she took comforting note of the fact that these guests directed a very liberal

share of their conversation toward her; she observed with surprise, that famous statesmen and soldiers did not

talk like gods, as a general thing, but said rather commonplace things for the most part; and she was filled

with gratification to discover that she, on the contrary, was making a good many shrewd speeches and now

and then a really brilliant one, and furthermore, that they were beginning to be repeated in social circles about

Congress began its sittings, and every day or two Washington escorted her to the galleries set apart for lady

members of the households of Senators and Representatives. Here was a larger field and a wider competition,

but still she saw that many eyes were uplifted toward her face, and that first one person and then another

called a neighbor's attention to her; she was not too dull to perceive that the speeches of some of the younger

statesmen were delivered about as much and perhaps more at her than to the presiding officer; and she was

not sorry to see that the dapper young Senator from Iowa came at once and stood in the open space before the

president's desk to exhibit his feet as soon as she entered the gallery, whereas she had early learned from

common report that his usual custom was to prop them on his desk and enjoy them himself with a selfish

Invitations began to flow in upon her and soon she was fairly "in society." "The season" was now in full

bloom, and the first select reception was at hand that is to say, a reception confined to invited guests. Senator

Dilworthy had become well convinced; by this time, that his judgment of the countrybred Missouri girl had

not deceived himit was plain that she was going to be a peerless missionary in the field of labor he

designed her for, and therefore it would be perfectly safe and likewise judicious to send her forth well

panoplied for her work.So he had added new and still richer costumes to her wardrobe, and assisted their

This first select reception took place at a cabinet minister'sor rather a cabinet secretary's mansion. When

Laura and the Senator arrived, about half past nine or ten in the evening, the place was already pretty well

crowded, and the whitegloved negro servant at the door was still receiving streams of guests.The

drawingrooms were brilliant with gaslight, and as hot as ovens. The host and hostess stood just within the

door of entrance; Laura was presented, and then she passed on into the maelstrom of bejeweled and richly

attired lownecked ladies and whitekidgloved and steel pencoated gentlemen and wherever she moved

she was followed by a buzz of admiration that was grateful to all her sensesso grateful, indeed, that her

white face was tinged and its beauty heightened by a perceptible suffusion of color. She caught such remarks

as, "Who is she?" "Superb woman!" "That is the new beauty from the west," etc., etc.

Whenever she halted, she was presently surrounded by Ministers, Generals, Congressmen, and all manner of

aristocratic, people. Introductions followed, and then the usual original question, "How do you like

Washington, Miss Hawkins?" supplemented by that other usual original question, "Is this your first visit?"

These two exciting topics being exhausted, conversation generally drifted into calmer channels, only to be

interrupted at frequent intervals by new introductions and new inquiries as to how Laura liked the capital and

whether it was her first visit or not. And thus for an hour or more the Duchess moved through the crush in a

rapture of happiness, for her doubts were dead and gone, now she knew she could conquer here. A familiar

face appeared in the midst of the multitude and Harry Brierly fought his difficult way to her side, his eyes

"Sh! I know what you are going to ask. I do like WashingtonI like it ever so much!"

"Yes, I am coming to it, coming to it as fast as I can. It is my first visit. I think you should know that

"Now what can the girl mean? Of course she likes WashingtonI'm not such a dummy as to have to ask her

that. And as to its being her first visit, why bang it, she knows that I knew it was. Does she think I have

turned idiot? Curious girl, anyway. But how they do swarm about her! She is the reigning belle of

Washington after this night. She'll know five hundred of the heaviest guns in the town before this night's

nonsense is over. And this isn't even the beginning. Just as I used to sayshe'll be a card in the matter

ofyes sir! She shall turn the men's heads and I'll turn the women's! What a team that will be in politics

here. I wouldn't take a quarter of a million for what I can do in this present sessionno indeed I wouldn't.

Now, hereI don't altogether like this. That insignificant secretary of legation iswhy, she's smiling on him

as if heand now on the Admiral! Now she's illuminating that, stuffy Congressman from

Massachusettsvulgar ungrammatcal shovelmakergreasy knave of spades. I don't like this sort of thing.

She doesn't appear to be much distressed about meshe hasn't looked this way once. All right, my bird of

Paradise, if it suits you, go on. But I think I know your sex. I'll go to smiling around a little, too, and see what

And he did "smile around a little," and got as near to her as he could to watch the effect, but the scheme was a

failurehe could not get her attention. She seemed wholly unconscious of him, and so he could not flirt with

any spirit; he could only talk disjointedly; he could not keep his eyes on the charmers he talked to; he grew

irritable, jealous, and very, unhappy. He gave up his enterprise, leaned his shoulder against a fluted pilaster

and pouted while he kept watch upon Laura's every movement. His other shoulder stole the bloom from many

a lovely cheek that brushed him in the surging crush, but he noted it not. He was too busy cursing himself

inwardly for being an egotistical imbecile. An hour ago he had thought to take this country lass under his

protection and show her "life" and enjoy her wonder and delightand here she was, immersed in the marvel

up to her eyes, and just a trifle more at home in it than he was himself. And now his angry comments ran on

"Now she's sweetening old Brother Balaam; and hewell he is inviting her to the Congressional

prayermeeting, no doubtbetter let old Dilworthy alone to see that she doesn't overlook that. And now its

Splurge, of New York; and now its Batters of New Hampshireand now the Vice President! Well I may as

But he hadn't. He got as far as the doorand then struggled back to take one more look, hating himself all

Toward midnight, when supper was announced, the crowd thronged to the supper room where a long table

was decked out with what seemed a rare repast, but which consisted of things better calculated to feast the

eye than the appetite. The ladies were soon seated in files along the wall, and in groups here and there, and

the colored waiters filled the plates and glasses and the, male guests moved hither and thither conveying them

Harry took an ice and stood up by the table with other gentlemen, and listened to the buzz of conversation

From these remarks he learned a good deal about Laura that was news to him. For instance, that she was of a

distinguished western family; that she was highly educated; that she was very rich and a great landed heiress;

that she was not a professor of religion, and yet was a Christian in the truest and best sense of the word, for

her whole heart was devoted to the accomplishment of a great and noble enterprisenone other than the

sacrificing of her landed estates to the uplifting of the downtrodden negro and the turning of his erring feet

into the way of light and righteousness. Harry observed that as soon as one listener had absorbed the story, he

turned about and delivered it to his next neighbor and the latter individual straightway passed it on. And thus

he saw it travel the round of the gentlemen and overflow rearward among the ladies. He could not trace it

backward to its fountain head, and so he could not tell who it was that started it.

One thing annoyed Harry a great deal; and that was the reflection that he might have been in Washington

days and days ago and thrown his fascinations about Laura with permanent effect while she was new and

strange to the capital, instead of dawdling in Philadelphia to no purpose. He feared he had "missed a trick," as

He only found one little opportunity of speaking again with Laura before the evening's festivities ended, and

then, for the first time in years, his airy selfcomplacency failed him, his tongue's easy confidence forsook it

in a great measure, and he was conscious of an unheroic timidity. He was glad to get away and find a place

where he could despise himself in private and try to grow his clipped plumes again.

When Laura reached home she was tired but exultant, and Senator Dilworthy was pleased and satisfied. He

called Laura "my daughter," next morning, and gave her some "pin money," as he termed it, and she sent a

hundred and fifty dollars of it to her mother and loaned a trifle to Col. Sellers. Then the Senator had a long

private conference with Laura, and unfolded certain plans of his for the good of the country, and religion, and

the poor, and temperance, and showed her how she could assist him in developing these worthy and noble

Laura soon discovered that there were three distinct aristocracies in Washington. One of these, (nicknamed

the Antiques,) consisted of cultivated, highbred old families who looked back with pride upon an ancestry

that had been always great in the nation's councils and its wars from the birth of the republic downward. Into

this select circle it was difficult to gain admission. No. 2 was the aristocracy of the middle groundof

which, more anon. No. 3 lay beyond; of it we will say a word here. We will call it the Aristocracy of the

Parvenusas, indeed, the general public did. Official position, no matter how obtained, entitled a man to a

place in it, and carried his family with him, no matter whence they sprang. Great wealth gave a man a still

higher and nobler place in it than did official position. If this wealth had been acquired by conspicuous

ingenuity, with just a pleasant little spice of illegality about it, all the better. This aristocracy was "fast," and

The aristocracy of the Antiques ignored the aristocracy of the Parvenus; the Parvenus laughed at the

There were certain important "society" customs which one in Laura's position needed to understand. For

instance, when a lady of any prominence comes to one of our cities and takes up her residence, all the ladies

of her grade favor her in turn with an initial call, giving their cards to the servant at the door by way of

introduction. They come singly, sometimes; sometimes in couples; and always in elaborate full dress. They

talk two minutes and a quarter and then go. If the lady receiving the call desires a further acquaintance, she

must return the visit within two weeks; to neglect it beyond that time means "let the matter drop." But if she

does return the visit within two weeks, it then becomes the other party's privilege to continue the

acquaintance or drop it. She signifies her willingness to continue it by calling again any time within

twelvemonths; after that, if the parties go on calling upon each other once a year, in our large cities, that is

sufficient, and the acquaintanceship holds good. The thing goes along smoothly, now. The annual visits are

made and returned with peaceful regularity and bland satisfaction, although it is not necessary that the two

ladies shall actually see each other oftener than once every few years. Their cards preserve the intimacy and

For instance, Mrs. A. pays her annual visit, sits in her carriage and sends in her card with the lower right hand

corner turned down, which signifies that she has "called in person;" Mrs. B: sends down word that she is

"engaged" or "wishes to be excused"or if she is a Parvenu and lowbred, she perhaps sends word that she

is "not at home." Very good; Mrs. A. drives, on happy and content. If Mrs. A.'s daughter marries, or a child is

born to the family, Mrs. B. calls, sends in her card with the upper left hand corner turned down, and then goes

along about her affairsfor that inverted corner means "Congratulations." If Mrs. B.'s husband falls

downstairs and breaks his neck, Mrs. A. calls, leaves her card with the upper right hand corner turned down,

and then takes her departure; this corner means "Condolence." It is very necessary to get the corners right,

else one may unintentionally condole with a friend on a wedding or congratulate her upon a funeral. If either

lady is about to leave the city, she goes to the other's house and leaves her card with "P. P. C." engraved

under the namewhich signifies, "Pay Parting Call." But enough of etiquette. Laura was early instructed in

the mysteries of society life by a competent mentor, and thus was preserved from troublesome mistakes.

The first fashionable call she received from a member of the ancient nobility, otherwise the Antiques, was of

a pattern with all she received from that limb of the aristocracy afterward. This call was paid by Mrs.

MajorGeneral FulkeFulkerson and daughter. They drove up at one in the afternoon in a rather antiquated

vehicle with a faded coat of arms on the panels, an aged whitewooled negro coachman on the box and a

younger darkey beside himthe footman. Both of these servants were dressed in dull brown livery that had

The ladies entered the drawingroom in full character; that is to say, with Elizabethan stateliness on the part

of the dowager, and an easy grace and dignity on the part of the young lady that had a nameless something

about it that suggested conscious superiority. The dresses of both ladies were exceedingly rich, as to material,

but as notably modest as to color and ornament. All parties having seated themselves, the dowager delivered

herself of a remark that was not unusual in its form, and yet it came from her lips with the impressiveness of

"It is its nature of old, here," said the daughterstating it apparently as a fact, only, and by her manner

waving aside all personal responsibility on account of it. "Is it not so, mamma?"

"Quite so, my child. Do you like winter, Miss Hawkins?" She said "like" as if she had, an idea that its

"It is a very just remark. The general held similar views. He considered snow in winter proper; sultriness in

summer legitimate; frosts in the autumn the same, and rains in spring not objectionable. He was not an

exacting man. And I call to mind now that he always admired thunder. You remember, child, your father

"Yes, I think perhaps it did. He had a great respect for Nature. He often said there was something striking

"And hurricanes... He took a great interest in hurricanes. And animals. Dogs, especiallyhunting dogs. Also

comets. I think we all have our predilections. I think it is this that gives variety to our tastes."

"Do you find it hard and lonely to be so far from your home and friends, Miss Hawkins?"

"I do find it depressing sometimes, but then there is so much about me here that is novel and interesting that

"Washington is not a dull city in the season," said the young lady. "We have some very good society indeed,

and one need not be at a loss for means to pass the time pleasantly. Are you fond of wateringplaces, Miss

"I have really had no experience of them, but I have always felt a strong desire to see something of

"We of Washington are unfortunately situated in that respect," said the dowager. "It is a tedious distance to

Laura said to herself, "Long Branch and Cape May are nearer than Newport; doubtless these places are low;

There was no need to "feel" any furtherthere was that in both faces before her which made that truth

"Nobody goes there, Miss Hawkinsat least only persons of no position in society. And the President." She

"Newport is damp, and cold, and windy and excessively disagreeable," said the daughter, "but it is very

The visit had spun out nearly three minutes, now. Both ladies rose with grave dignity, conferred upon Laura a

formal invitation to call, aid then retired from the conference. Laura remained in the drawingroom and left

them to pilot themselves out of the housean inhospitable thing, it seemed to her, but then she was

following her instructions. She stood, steeped in reverie, a while, and then she said:

Still, she knew these two people by reputation, and was aware that they were not icebergs when they were

in their own waters and amid their legitimate surroundings, but on the contrary were people to be respected

for their stainless characters and esteemed for their social virtues and their benevolent impulses. She thought

it a pity that they had to be such changed and dreary creatures on occasions of state.

The first call Laura received from the other extremity of the Washington aristocracy followed close upon the

heels of the one we have just been describing. The callers this time were the Hon. Mrs. Oliver Higgins, the

Hon. Mrs. Patrique Oreille (pronounced Orelay,) Miss Bridget (pronounced Breezhay) Oreille, Mrs. Peter

The three carriages arrived at the same moment from different directions. They were new and wonderfully

shiny, and the brasses on the harness were highly polished and bore complicated monograms. There were

showy coats of arms, too, with Latin mottoes. The coachmen and footmen were clad in bright new livery, of

striking colors, and they had black rosettes with shavingbrushes projecting above them, on the sides of their

When the visitors swept into the drawingroom they filled the place with a suffocating sweetness procured at

the perfumer's. Their costumes, as to architecture, were the latest fashion intensified; they were rainbow

hued; they were hung with jewelschiefly diamonds. It would have been plain to any eye that it had cost

The Hon. Mrs. Oliver Higgins was the wife of a delegate from a distant territorya gentleman who had kept

the principal "saloon," and sold the best whiskey in the principal village in his wilderness, and so, of course,

was recognized as the first man of his commonwealth and its fittest representative.

He was a man of paramount influence at home, for he was public spirited, he was chief of the fire department,

he had an admirable command of profane language, and had killed several "parties." His shirt fronts were

always immaculate; his boots daintily polished, and no man could lift a foot and fire a dead shot at a stray

speck of dirt on it with a white handkerchief with a finer grace than he; his watch chain weighed a pound; the

gold in his finger ring was worth forty five dollars; he wore a diamond clusterpin and he parted his hair

behind. He had always been, regarded as the most elegant gentleman in his territory, and it was conceded by

all that no man thereabouts was anywhere near his equal in the telling of an obscene story except the

venerable whitehaired governor himself. The Hon. Higgins had not come to serve his country in

Washington for nothing. The appropriation which he had engineered through Congress for the maintenance,

of the Indians in his Territory would have made all those savages rich if it had ever got to them.

The Hon. Mrs. Higgins was a picturesque woman, and a fluent talker, and she held a tolerably high station

among the Parvenus. Her English was fair enough, as a general thingthough, being of New York origin,

she had the fashion peculiar to many natives of that city of pronouncing saw and law as if they were spelt

Petroleum was the agent that had suddenly transformed the Gashlys from modest hardworking country

The Hon. Patrique Oreille was a wealthy Frenchman from Cork. Not that he was wealthy when he first came

from Cork, but just the reverse. When he first landed in New York with his wife, he had only halted at Castle

Garden for a few minutes to receive and exhibit papers showing that he had resided in this country two

yearsand then he voted the democratic ticket and went up town to hunt a house. He found one and then

went to work as assistant to an architect and builder, carrying a hod all day and studying politics evenings.

Industry and economy soon enabled him to start a low rum shop in a foul locality, and this gave him political

influence. In our country it is always our first care to see that our people have the opportunity of voting for

their choice of men to represent and govern themwe do not permit our great officials to appoint the little

officials. We prefer to have so tremendous a power as that in our own hands. We hold it safest to elect our

judges and everybody else. In our cities, the ward meetings elect delegates to the nominating conventions and

instruct them whom to nominate. The publicans and their retainers rule the ward meetings (for every body

else hates the worry of politics and stays at home); the delegates from the ward meetings organize as a

nominating convention and make up a list of candidatesone convention offering a democratic and another

a republican list of incorruptibles; and then the great meek public come forward at the proper time and make

unhampered choice and bless Heaven that they live in a free land where no form of despotism can ever

Patrick O'Riley (as his name then stood) created friends and influence very, fast, for he was always on hand

at the police courts to give straw bail for his customers or establish an alibi for them in case they had been

beating anybody to death on his premises. Consequently he presently became a political leader, and was

elected to a petty office under the city government. Out of a meager salary he soon saved money enough to

open quite a stylish liquor saloon higher up town, with a faro bank attached and plenty of capital to conduct it

with. This gave him fame and great respectability. The position of alderman was forced upon him, and it was

just the same as presenting him a gold mine. He had fine horses and carriages, now, and closed up his

By and by he became a large contractor for city work, and was a bosom friend of the great and good Wm. M.

Weed himself, who had stolen $20,600,000 from the city and was a man so envied, so honored,so adored,

indeed, that when the sheriff went to his office to arrest him as a felon, that sheriff blushed and apologized,

and one of the illustrated papers made a picture of the scene and spoke of the matter in such a way as to show

that the editor regretted that the offense of an arrest had been offered to so exalted a personage as Mr. Weed.

Mr. O'Riley furnished shingle nails to, the new Court House at three thousand dollars a keg, and eighteen

gross of 60cent thermometers at fifteen hundred dollars a dozen; the controller and the board of audit passed

the bills, and a mayor, who was simply ignorant but not criminal, signed them. When they were paid, Mr.

O'Riley's admirers gave him a solitaire diamond pin of the size of a filbert, in imitation of the liberality of Mr.

Weed's friends, and then Mr. O'Riley retired from active service and amused himself with buying real estate

at enormous figures and holding it in other people's names. By and by the newspapers came out with

exposures and called Weed and O'Riley "thieves,"whereupon the people rose as one man (voting

repeatedly) and elected the two gentlemen to their proper theatre of action, the New York legislature. The

newspapers clamored, and the courts proceeded to try the new legislators for their small irregularities. Our

admirable jury system enabled the persecuted exofficials to secure a jury of nine gentlemen from a

neighboring asylum and three graduates from SingSing, and presently they walked forth with characters

vindicated. The legislature was called upon to spew them fortha thing which the legislature declined to do.

It was like asking children to repudiate their own father. It was a legislature of the modern pattern.

Being now wealthy and distinguished, Mr. O'Riley, still bearing the legislative "Hon." attached to his name

(for titles never die in America, although we do take a republican pride in poking fun at such trifles), sailed

for Europe with his family. They traveled all about, turning their noses up at every thing, and not finding it a

difficult thing to do, either, because nature had originally given those features a cast in that direction; and

finally they established themselves in Paris, that Paradise of Americans of their sort.They staid there two

years and learned to speak English with a foreign accentnot that it hadn't always had a foreign accent

(which was indeed the case) but now the nature of it was changed. Finally they returned home and became

ultra fashionables. They landed here as the Hon. Patrique Oreille and family, and so are known unto this day.

Laura provided seats for her visitors and they immediately launched forth into a breezy, sparkling

conversation with that easy confidence which is to be found only among persons accustomed to high life.

"I've been intending to call sooner, Miss Hawkins," said the Hon. Mrs. Oreille, but the weather's been so

Mrs. Oreille"I'm afraid you'll despise the weather, Miss Hawkins. It's perfectly awful. It always is. I tell

Mr. Oreille I can't and I won't put up with any such a climate. If we were obliged to do it, I wouldn't mind it;

but we are not obliged to, and so I don't see the use of it. Sometimes its real pitiful the way the childern pine

for Parry don't look so sad, Bridget, 'ma chere'poor child, she can't hear Parry mentioned without getting

Mrs. Gashly"Well I should think so, Mrs. Oreille. A body lives in Paris, but a body, only stays here. I dote

on Paris; I'd druther scrimp along on ten thousand dollars a year there, than suffer and worry here on a real

Miss Gashly"Well then, I wish you'd take us back, mother; I'm sure I hate this stoopid country enough,

Miss Emmeline Gashly"What and leave poor Johnny Peterson behind?" [An airy genial laugh applauded

Miss Emmeline"Oh, you needn't ruffle your feathers so: I was only joking. He don't mean anything by

coming to, the house every evening only comes to see mother. Of course that's all!" [General laughter].

Mrs. Oreille"What lovely corals you have, Miss Hawkins! Just look at them, Bridget, dear. I've a great

passion for coralsit's a pity they're getting a little common. I have some elegant onesnot as elegant as

Laura"I suppose they are rather common, but still I have a great affection for these, because they were

given to me by a dear old friend of our family named Murphy. He was a very charming man, but very

eccentric. We always supposed he was an Irishman, but after be got rich he went abroad for a year or two,

and when he came back you would have been amused to see how interested he was in a potato. He asked

what it was! Now you know that when Providence shapes a mouth especially for the accommodation of a

potato you can detect that fact at a glance when that mouth is in reposeforeign travel can never remove that

sign. But he was a very delightful gentleman, and his little foible did not hurt him at all. We all have our

shamsI suppose there is a sham somewhere about every individual, if we could manage to ferret it out. I

would so like to go to France. I suppose our society here compares very favorably with French society does it

Mrs. O."Not by any means, Miss Hawkins! French society is much more elegantmuch more so."

Mrs. O."Very much indeed. There are people in society here that have really no more money to live on

than what some of us pay for servant hire. Still I won't say but what some of them are very good peopleand

Laura"The old families seem to be holding themselves aloof, from what I hear. I suppose you seldom meet

in society now, the people you used to be familiar with twelve or fifteen years ago?"

Mr. O'Riley kept his first rummill and protected his customers from the law in those days, and this turn of

Mrs. O.(Thankful for the intervention"Not very. A body couldn't expect it. He was always

delicateespecially his lungsand this odious climate tells on him strong, now, after Parry, which is so

Mrs. H:"I should think so. Husband says Percy'll die if he don't have a change; and so I'm going to swap

round a little and see what can be done. I saw a lady from Florida last week, and she recommended Key

West. I told her Percy couldn't abide winds, as he was threatened with a pulmonary affection, and then she

said try St. Augustine. It's an awful distanceten or twelve hundred mile, they say but then in a case of this

Mrs. O."No, of course that's off. If Francois don't get better soon we've got to look out for some other

place, or else Europe. We've thought some of the Hot Springs, but I don't know. It's a great responsibility and

Mrs. G."Yes, but that's about all. It was indigestion, you know, and it looks as if it was chronic. And you

know I do dread dyspepsia. We've all been worried a good deal about him. The doctor recommended baked

apple and spoiled meat, and I think it done him good. It's about the only thing that will stay on his stomach

Mrs. H."Well, we had Dr. Spooner a good while, but he runs so much to emetics, which I think are

weakening, that we changed off and took Dr. Leathers. We like him very much. He has a fine European

reputation, too. The first thing he suggested for Percy was to have him taken out in the back yard for an

Mrs. H."As true as I'm sitting here. And it actually helped him for two or three days; it did indeed. But

after that the doctor said it seemed to be too severe and so he has fell back on hot footbaths at night and cold

showers in the morning. But I don't think there, can be any good sound help for him in such a climate as this.

Mrs. O. "I suppose you heard of the fright we had two weeks ago last Saturday? No? Why that is

strangebut come to remember, you've all been away to Richmond. Francois tumbled from the sky

Mrs. O. "Just as true as you live. First we thought he must be injured internally. It was fifteen minutes past 8

in the evening. Of course we were all distracted in a momenteverybody was flying everywhere, and

nobody doing anything worth anything. By and by I flung out next door and dragged in Dr. Sprague;

President of the Medical University no time to go for our own doctor of courseand the minute he saw

Francois he said, 'Send for your own physician, madam;' said it as cross as a bear, too, and turned right on his

Mrs. O"Well you may say it. I was nearly out of my wits by this time. But we hurried off the servants after

our own doctor and telegraphed mothershe was in New York and rushed down on the first train; and when

the doctor got there, lo and behold you he found Francois had broke one of his legs, too!"

Mrs. O."Yes. So he set his leg and bandaged it up, and fixed his ribs and gave him a dose of something to

quiet down his excitement and put him to sleeppoor thing he was trembling and frightened to death and it

was pitiful to see him. We had him in my bedMr. Oreille slept in the guest room and I laid down beside

Francoisbut not to sleep bless you no. Bridget and I set up all night, and the doctor staid till two in the

morning, bless his old heart.When mother got there she was so used up with anxiety, that she had to go to

bed and have the doctor; but when she found that Francois was not in immediate danger she rallied, and by

night she was able to take a watch herself. Well for three days and nights we three never left that bedside only

to take an hour's nap at a time. And then the doctor said Francois was out of danger and if ever there was a

Laura's respect for these, women had augmented during this conversation, naturally enough; affection and

devotion are qualities that are able to adorn and render beautiful a character that is otherwise unattractive, and

Mrs. Gashly"I do believe I would a died if I had been in your place, Mrs. Oreille. The time Hildebrand was

so low with the pneumonia Emmeline and me were all, alone with him most of the time and we never took a

minute's sleep for as much as two days, and nights. It was at Newport and we wouldn't trust hired nurses. One

afternoon he had a fit, and jumped up and run out on the portico of the hotel with nothing in the world on and

the wind a blowing liken ice and we after him scared to death; and when the ladies and gentlemen saw that he

had a fit, every lady scattered for her room and not a gentleman lifted his hand to help, the wretches! Well

after that his life hung by a thread for as much as ten days, and the minute he was out of danger Emmeline

and me just went to bed sick and worn out. I never want to pass through such a time again. Poor dear

Mrs. O."It was his right hand hind leg. Jump down, Francois dear, and show the ladies what a cruel limp

Francois demurred, but being coaxed and delivered gently upon the floor, he performed very satisfactorily,

with his "right hand hind leg" in the air. All were affectedeven Laurabut hers was an affection of the

stomach. The countrybred girl had not suspected that the little whining tenounce black and tan reptile, clad

in a red embroidered pigmy blanket and reposing in Mrs. Oreille's lap all through the visit was the individual

whose sufferings had been stirring the dormant generosities of her nature. She said:

Mrs. H."Percy's the same, only he is two months and ten days older and has his ears cropped. His father,

Martin Farquhar Tupper, was sickly, and died young, but he was the sweetest disposition.His mother had

heart disease but was very gentle and resigned, and a wonderful ratter." [** As impossible and

exasperating as this conversation may sound to a person who is not an idiot, it is scarcely in any respect an

exaggeration of one which one of us actually listened to in an American drawing room otherwise we could

not venture to put such a chapter into a book which, professes to deal with social possibilities.THE

So carried away had the visitors become by their interest attaching to this discussion of family matters, that

their stay had been prolonged to a very improper and unfashionable length; but they suddenly recollected

Laura's scorn was boundless. The more she thought of these people and their extraordinary talk, the more

offensive they seemed to her; and yet she confessed that if one must choose between the two extreme

aristocracies it might be best, on the whole, looking at things from a strictly business point of view, to herd

with the Parvenus; she was in Washington solely to compass a certain matter and to do it at any cost, and

these people might be useful to her, while it was plain that her purposes and her schemes for pushing them

would not find favor in the eyes of the Antiques. If it came to choiceand it might come to that, sooner or

latershe believed she could come to a decision without much difficulty or many pangs.

But the best aristocracy of the three Washington castes, and really the most powerful, by far, was that of the

Middle Ground: It was made up of the families of public men from nearly every state in the Unionmen

who held positions in both the executive and legislative branches of the government, and whose characters

had been for years blemishless, both at home and at the capital. These gentlemen and their households were

unostentatious people; they were educated and refined; they troubled themselves but little about the two other

orders of nobility, but moved serenely in their wide orbit, confident in their own strength and well aware of

the potency of their influence. They had no troublesome appearances to keep up, no rivalries which they

cared to distress themselves about, no jealousies to fret over. They could afford to mind their own affairs and

leave other combinations to do the same or do otherwise, just as they chose. They were people who were

Senator Dilworthy never came into collision with any of these factions. He labored for them all and with

them all. He said that all men were brethren and all were entitled to the honest unselfish help and

Laura concluded, after reflection, to let circumstances determine the course it might be best for her to pursue

Now it might occur to the reader that perhaps Laura had been somewhat rudely suggestive in her remarks to

Mrs. Oreille when the subject of corals was under discussion, but it did not occur to Laura herself. She was

not a person of exaggerated refinement; indeed, the society and the influences that had formed her character

had not been of a nature calculated to make her so; she thought that "give and take was fair play," and that to

parry an offensive thrust with a sarcasm was a neat and legitimate thing to do. She some times talked to

people in a way which some ladies would consider, actually shocking; but Laura rather prided herself upon

some of her exploits of that character. We are sorry we cannot make her a faultless heroine; but we cannot,

She considered herself a superior conversationist. Long ago, when the possibility had first been brought

before her mind that some day she might move in Washington society, she had recognized the fact that

practiced conversational powers would be a necessary weapon in that field; she had also recognized the fact

that since her dealings there must be mainly with men, and men whom she supposed to be exceptionally

cultivated and able, she would need heavier shot in her magazine than mere brilliant "society" nothings;

whereupon she had at once entered upon a tireless and elaborate course of reading, and had never since

ceased to devote every unoccupied moment to this sort of preparation. Having now acquired a happy

smattering of various information, she used it with good effectshe passed for a singularly well informed

woman in Washington. The quality of her literary tastes had necessarily undergone constant improvement

under this regimen, and as necessarily, also; the duality of her language had improved, though it cannot be

denied that now and then her former condition of life betrayed itself in just perceptible inelegancies of

When Laura had been in Washington three months, she was still the same person, in one respect, that she was

when she first arrived therethat is to say, she still bore the name of Laura Hawkins. Otherwise she was

She had arrived in a state of grievous uncertainty as to what manner of woman she was, physically and

intellectually, as compared with eastern women; she was well satisfied, now, that her beauty was confessed,

her mind a grade above the average, and her powers of fascination rather extraordinary. So she, was at ease

upon those points. When she arrived, she was possessed of habits of economy and not possessed of money;

now she dressed elaborately, gave but little thought to the cost of things, and was very well fortified

financially. She kept her mother and Washington freely supplied with money, and did the same by Col.

Sellers who always insisted upon giving his note for loanswith interest; he was rigid upon that; she must

take interest; and one of the Colonel's greatest satisfactions was to go over his accounts and note what a

handsome sum this accruing interest amounted to, and what a comfortable though modest support it would

In truth he could not help feeling that he was an efficient shield for her against poverty; and so, if her

expensive ways ever troubled him for a brief moment, he presently dismissed the thought and said to himself,

"Let her go oneven if she loses everything she is still safethis interest will always afford her a good easy

Laura was on excellent terms with a great many members of Congress, and there was an undercurrent of

suspicion in some quarters that she was one of that detested class known as "lobbyists;" but what belle could

escape slander in such a city? Fairminded people declined to condemn her on mere suspicion, and so the

injurious talk made no very damaging headway. She was very gay, now, and very celebrated, and she might

well expect to be assailed by many kinds of gossip. She was growing used to celebrity, and could already sit

calm and seemingly unconscious, under the fire of fifty lorgnettes in a theatre, or even overhear the low voice

The whole air was full of a vague vast scheme which was to eventuate in filling Laura's pockets with millions

of money; some had one idea of the scheme, and some another, but nobody had any exact knowledge upon

the subject. All that any one felt sure about, was that Laura's landed estates were princely in value and extent,

and that the government was anxious to get hold of them for public purposes, and that Laura was willing to

make the sale but not at all anxious about the matter and not at all in a hurry. It was whispered that Senator

Dilworthy was a stumbling block in the way of an immediate sale, because he was resolved that the

government should not have the lands except with the understanding that they should be devoted to the

uplifting of the negro race; Laura did not care what they were devoted to, it was said, (a world of very

different gossip to the contrary notwithstanding,) but there were several other heirs and they would be guided

entirely by the Senator's wishes; and finally, many people averred that while it would be easy to sell the lands

to the government for the benefit of the negro, by resorting to the usual methods of influencing votes, Senator

Dilworthy was unwilling to have so noble a charity sullied by any taint of corruptionhe was resolved that

not a vote should be bought. Nobody could get anything definite from Laura about these matters, and so

gossip had to feed itself chiefly upon guesses. But the effect of it all was, that Laura was considered to be

very wealthy and likely to be vastly more so in a little while. Consequently she was much courted and as

much envied: Her wealth attracted many suitors. Perhaps they came to worship her riches, but they remained

to worship her. Some of the noblest men of the time succumbed to her fascinations. She frowned upon no

lover when he made his first advances, but by and by when she was hopelessly enthralled, he learned from

her own lips that she had formed a resolution never to marry. Then he would go away hating and cursing the

whole sex, and she would calmly add his scalp to her string, while she mused upon the bitter day that Col.

Selby trampled her love and her pride in the dust. In time it came to be said that her way was paved with

Poor Washington gradually woke up to the fact that he too was an intellectual marvel as well as his gifted

sister. He could not conceive how it had come about (it did not occur to him that the gossip about his family's

great wealth had any thing to do with it). He could not account for it by any process of reasoning, and was

simply obliged to accept the fact and give up trying to solve the riddle. He found himself dragged into society

and courted, wondered at and envied very much as if he were one of those foreign barbers who flit over here

now and then with a self conferred title of nobility and marry some rich fool's absurd daughter. Sometimes

at a dinner party or a reception he would find himself the centre of interest, and feel unutterably

uncomfortable in the discovery. Being obliged to say something, he would mine his brain and put in a blast

and when the smoke and flying debris had cleared away the result would be what seemed to him but a poor

little intellectual clod of dirt or two, and then he would be astonished to see everybody as lost in admiration

as if he had brought up a ton or two of virgin gold. Every remark he made delighted his hearers and

compelled their applause; he overheard people say he was exceedingly brightthey were chiefly mammas

and marriageable young ladies. He found that some of his good things were being repeated about the town.

Whenever he heard of an instance of this kind, he would keep that particular remark in mind and analyze it at

home in private. At first he could not see that the remark was anything better than a parrot might originate;

but by and by he began to feel that perhaps he underrated his powers; and after that he used to analyze his

good things with a deal of comfort, and find in them a brilliancy which would have been unapparent to him in

earlier daysand then he would make a note, of that good thing and say it again the first time he found

himself in a new company. Presently he had saved up quite a repertoire of brilliancies; and after that he

confined himself to repeating these and ceased to originate any more, lest he might injure his reputation by an

He was constantly having young ladies thrust upon his notice at receptions, or left upon his hands at parties,

and in time he began to feel that he was being deliberately persecuted in this way; and after that he could not

enjoy society because of his constant dread of these female ambushes and surprises. He was distressed to find

that nearly every time he showed a young lady a polite attention he was straightway reported to be engaged to

her; and as some of these reports got into the newspapers occasionally, he had to keep writing to Louise that

they were lies and she must believe in him and not mind them or allow them to grieve her.

Washington was as much in the dark as anybody with regard to the great wealth that was hovering in the air

and seemingly on the point of tumbling into the family pocket. Laura would give him no satisfaction. All she

"Yes, you may call it that. Yes, it will be millions. There, nowdoes that satisfy you?"

"Splendid ! I can wait. I can wait patientlyever so patiently. Once I was near selling the land for twenty

thousand dollars; once for thirty thousand dollars; once after that for seven thousand dollars; and once for

forty thousand dollarsbut something always told me not to do it. What a fool I would have been to sell it

for such a beggarly trifle! It is the land that's to bring the money, isn't it Laura? You can tell me that much,

But minddon't ever hint that you got it from me. Don't mention me in the matter at all, Washington."

"All rightI won't. Millions! Isn't it splendid! I mean to look around for a building lot; a lot with fine

ornamental shrubbery and all that sort of thing. I will do it today. And I might as well see an architect, too,

and get him to go to work at a plan for a house. I don't intend to spare and expense; I mean to have the

noblest house that money can build." Then after a pausehe did not notice Laura's smiles "Laura, would you

Laura laughed a good oldfashioned laugh that had more of her former natural self about it than any sound

"You don't change, Washington. You still begin to squander a fortune right and left the instant you hear of it

in the distance; you never wait till the foremost dollar of it arrives within a hundred miles of you," and she

He got up and walked the floor feverishly during two hours; and when he sat down he had married Louise,

built a house, reared a family, married them off, spent upwards of eight hundred thousand dollars on mere

Laura went down stairs, knocked at/the study door, and entered, scarcely waiting for the response. Senator

Dilworthy was alonewith an open Bible in his hand, upside down. Laura smiled, and said, forgetting her

"Ah, come in, sit down," and the Senator closed the book and laid it down. "I wanted to see you. Time to

report progress from the committee of the whole," and the Senator beamed with his own congressional wit.

"In the committee of the whole things are working very well. We have made ever so much progress in a

week. I believe that you and I together could run this government beautifully, uncle."

The Senator beamed again. He liked to be called "uncle" by this beautiful woman.

"Eh? he is one of my friends, Laura. He's a fine man, a very fine man. I don't know any man in congress I'd

"Oh, he beat around a little. He said he should like to help the negro, his heart went out to the negro, and all

thatplenty of them say that but he was a little afraid of the Tennessee Land bill; if Senator Dilworthy

"Not shy, child, cautious. He's a very cautious man. I have been with him a great deal on conference

committees. He wants reasons, good ones. Didn't you show him he was in error about the bill?"

"I did. I went over the whole thing. I had to tell him some of the side arrangements, some of the"

"Oh, no. I told him you were daft about the negro and the philanthropy part of it, as you are."

"Daft is a little strong, Laura. But you know that I wouldn't touch this bill if it were not for the public good,

and for the good of the colored race; much as I am interested in the heirs of this property, and would like to

"Don't misunderstand me, I don't deny that it is for the interest of all of us that this bill should go through, and

it will. I have no concealments from you. But I have one principle in my public life, which I should like you

to keep in mind; it has always been my guide. I never push a private interest if it is not Justified and ennobled

by some larger public good. I doubt Christian would be justified in working for his own salvation if it was not

"Yes, and he seemed to have a new light on the measure: I think will vote for it."

"I hope so; his name will give tone and strength to it. I knew you would only have to show him that it was

"That's good, that's good," said the Senator; smiling, and rubbing his hands. "Is there anything more?"

"You'll find some changes in that I guess," handing the Senator a printed list of names. "Those checked off

"Ah'm'm," running his eye down the list. "That's encouraging. What is the 'C' before some of the names,

"Those are my private marks. That 'C' stands for 'convinced,' with argument. The 'B. B.' is a general sign for a

relative. You see it stands before three of the Hon. Committee. I expect to see the chairman of the committee

"So, you must, he ought to be seen without any delay. Buckstone is a worldly sort of a fellow, but he has

charitable impulses. If we secure him we shall have a favorable report by the committee, and it will be a great

"He will help us, I suppose? Balloon is a wholehearted fellow. I can't help loving that man, for all his

drollery and waggishness. He puts on an air of levity sometimes, but there aint a man in the senate knows the

"Not exactly, he saidshall I tell you what he said?" asked Laura glancing furtively at him.

"He said he had no doubt it was a good thing; if Senator Dilworthy was in it, it would pay to look into it."

The Senator laughed, but rather feebly, and said, "Balloon is always full of his jokes."

"I explained it to him. He said it was all right, he only wanted a word with you,", continued Laura. "He is a

"My daughter," said the Senator, with a grave look, "I trust there was nothing free in his manner?"

"There, there, child. I meant nothing, Balloon talks a little freely sometimes, with men. But he is right at

"He seemed to be packing the day I was there. His rooms were full of dry goods boxes, into which his servant

was crowding all manner of old clothes and stuff: I suppose he will paint 'Pub. Docs' on them and frank them

"Yes, yes, but child, all Congressmen do that. It may not be strictly honest, indeed it is not unless he had

And humming a cheery opera air, she departed to her room to dress for going out. Before she did that,

however, she took out her note book and was soon deep in its contents; marking, dashing, erasing, figuring,

"Free! I wonder what Dilworthy does think of me anyway? One . . . two. . .eight . . . seventeen . . .

twentyone,. . 'm'm . . . it takes a heap for a majority. Wouldn't Dilworthy open his eyes if he knew some of

the things Balloon did say to me. There. . . . Hopperson's influence ought to count twenty . . . the

sanctimonious old curmudgeon. Soninlaw. . . . sinecure in the negro institution . . . .That about gauges him

. . . The three committeemen . . . . sonsinlaw. Nothing like a soninlaw here in Washington or a brother

inlaw . . . And everybody has 'em . . .Let's see: . . . sixty one. . . . with places . . . twentyfive . . .

persuadedit is getting on; . . . . we'll have twothirds of Congress in time . . . Dilworthy must surely know I

understand him. Uncle Dilworthy . . . . Uncle Balloon!Tells very amusing stories . . . when ladies are not

present . . . I should think so . . . .'m . . . 'm. Eightyfive. There. I must find that chairman. Queer. . . .

Buckstone acts . . Seemed to be in love . . . . . I was sure of it. He promised to come here. . . and he hasn't. . .

Laura dressed and went out, thinking she was perhaps too early for Mr. Buckstone to come from the house,

but as he lodged near the bookstore she would drop in there and keep a look out for him.

While Laura is on her errand to find Mr. Buckstone, it may not be out of the way to remark that she knew

quite as much of Washington life as Senator Dilworthy gave her credit for, and more than she thought proper

to tell him. She was acquainted by this time with a good many of the young fellows of Newspaper Row; and

They were always talking in the Row, everlastingly gossiping, bantering and sarcastically praising things, and

going on in a style which was a curious commingling of earnest and persiflage. Col. Sellers liked this talk

amazingly, though he was sometimes a little at sea in itand perhaps that didn't lessen the relish of the

It seems that they had got hold of the drygoods box packing story about Balloon, one day, and were talking

it over when the Colonel came in. The Colonel wanted to know all about it, and Hicks told him. And then

"Colonel, if you register a letter, it means that it is of value, doesn't it? And if you pay fifteen cents for

registering it, the government will have to take extra care of it and even pay you back its full value if it is lost.

"Well Senator Balloon put fifteen cents worth of stamps on each of those seven huge boxes of old clothes,

and shipped that ton of secondhand rubbish, old boots and pantaloons and what not through the mails as

registered matter! It was an ingenious thing and it had a genuine touch of humor about it, too. I think there is

more real: talent among our public men of today than there was among those of old timesa far more

fertile fancy, a much happier ingenuity. Now, (colonel, can you picture Jefferson, or Washington or John

Adams franking their wardrobes through the mails and adding the facetious idea of making the government

responsible for the cargo for the sum of one dollar and five cents? Statesmen were dull creatures in those

"I think so. He is spoken of for the post of Minister to China, or Austria, and I hope will be appointed. What

John Jay and Benjamin Franklin were well enough in their day, but the nation has made progress since then.

"Yes, and Balloon has had a good deal of public experience. He is an old friend of mine. He was governor of

"Indeed he was. He was exofficio Indian agent, too. Many a man would have taken the Indian appropriation

and devoted the money to feeding and clothing the helpless savages, whose land had been taken from them

by the white man in the interests of civilization; but Balloon knew their needs better. He built a government

sawmill on the reservation with the money, and the lumber sold for enormous pricesa relative of his did

all the work free of chargethat is to say he charged nothing more than the lumber world bring." "But the

"Gave them the outside slabs to fence in the reservation with. Governor Balloon was nothing less than a

father to the poor Indians. But Balloon is not alone, we have many truly noble statesmen in our country's

"Well, I dunno. I honor my country's public servants as much as any one can. I meet them, Sir, every day, and

the more I see of them the more I esteem them and the more grateful I am that our institutions give us the

"That is true, Colonel. To be sure you can buy now and then a Senator or a Representative but they do not

know it is wrong, and so they are not ashamed of it. They are gentle, and confiding and childlike, and in my

opinion these are qualities that ennoble them far more than any amount of sinful sagacity could. I quite agree

"Well"hesitated the, Colonel"I am afraid some of them do buy their seatsyes, I am afraid they

dobut as Senator Dilworthy himself said to me, it is sinful,it is very wrongit is shameful; Heaven

protect me from such a charge. That is what Dilworthy said. And yet when you come to look at it you cannot

deny that we would have to go without the services of some of our ablest men, sir, if the country were

The Colonel interrupted himself at this point to meet an engagement with the Austrian minister, and took his

In due time Laura alighted at the book store, and began to look at the titles of the handsome array of books on

the counter. A dapper clerk of perhaps nineteen or twenty years, with hair accurately parted and surprisingly

The young gentleman scratched the side of his nose with a cedar pencil which he took down from its bracket

"AhI see," [with a bright smile]"Train, you meannot Taine. George Francis Train. No, ma'm we"

"No, it isn't hymns. It is a volume that is making a deal of talk just now, and is very widely knownexcept

The clerk glanced at her face to see if a sarcasm might not lurk somewhere in that obscure speech, but the

gentle simplicity of the beautiful eyes that met his, banished that suspicion. He went away and conferred with

the proprietor. Both appeared to be nonplussed. They thought and talked, and talked and thought by turns.

She bought it and the proprietor retired from the field. Then she asked the clerk for the Autocrat of the

Breakfast Tableand was pained to see the admiration her beauty had inspired in him fade out of his face.

He said with cold dignity, that cook books were somewhat out of their line, but be would order it if she

desired it. She said, no, never mind. Then she fell to conning the titles again, finding a delight in the

inspection of the Hawthornes, the Longfellows, the Tennysons, and other favorites of her idle hours.

Meantime the clerk's eyes were busy, and no doubt his admiration was returning againor may be he was

only gauging her probable literary tastes by some sagacious system of admeasurement only known to his

guild. Now he began to "assist" her in making a selection; but his efforts met with no successindeed they

only annoyed her and unpleasantly interrupted her meditations. Presently, while she was holding a copy of

"Venetian Life" in her hand and running over a familiar passage here and there, the clerk said, briskly,

snatching up a papercovered volume and striking the counter a smart blow with it to dislodge the dust:

"Now here is a work that we've sold a lot of. Everybody that's read it likes it"and he intruded it under her

nose; it's a book that I can recommend'The Pirate's Doom, or the Last of the Buccaneers.' I think it's one of

Laura pushed it gently aside her hand and went on and went on filching from "Venetian Life."

The clerk hunted around awhile, glancing at one title and then another, but apparently not finding what he

"Have you ever read this, ma'm? I am sure you'll like it. It's by the author of 'The Hooligans of Hackensack.'

It is full of love troubles and mysteries and all sorts of such things. The heroine strangles her own mother.

Just glance at the title please,'Gonderil the Vampire, or The Dance of Death.' And here is 'The Jokist's

Own Treasury, or, The Phunny Phellow's Bosom Phriend.' The funniest thing!I've read it four times, ma'm,

and I can laugh at the very sight of it yet. And 'Gonderil,' I assure you it is the most splendid book I ever

read. I know you will like these books, ma'm, because I've read them myself and I know what they are."

"Oh, I was perplexedbut I see how it is, now. You must have thought I asked you to tell me what sort of

books I wantedfor I am apt to say things which I don't really mean, when I am absent minded. I suppose I

"Yes, I must have done it, else you would not have offered your services, for fear it might be rude. But don't

be troubledit was all my fault. I ought not to have been so heedlessI ought not to have asked you."

"But you didn't ask me, ma'm. We always help customers all we can. You see our experienceliving right

among books all the timethat sort of thing makes us able to help a customer make a selection, you know."

"How good it is of you. Some people would think it rather obtrusive, perhaps, but I don'tI think it is real

kindnesseven charity. Some people jump to conclusions without any thoughtyou have noticed that?"

"O yes," said the clerk, a little perplexed as to whether to feel comfortable or the reverse; "Oh yes, indeed,

"Yes, they jump to conclusions with an absurd heedlessness. Now some people would think it odd that

because you, with the budding tastes and the innocent enthusiasms natural to your time of life, enjoyed the

Vampires and the volume of nursery jokes, you should imagine that an older person would delight in them

toobut I do not think it odd at all. I think it naturalperfectly natural in you. And kind, too. You look like

a person who not only finds a deep pleasure in any little thing in the way of literature that strikes you

forcibly, but is willing and glad to share that pleasure with othersand that, I think, is noble and

admirablevery noble and admirable. I think we ought allto share our pleasures with others, and do what

But he was getting unmistakably uncomfortable, now, notwithstanding Laura's confiding sociability and

"Yes, indeed. Many people would think that what a bookselleror perhaps his clerkknows about

literature as literature, in contradistinction to its character as merchandise, would hardly, be of much

assistance to a personthat is, to an adult, of coursein the selection of food for the mindexcept of

course wrapping paper, or twine, or wafers, or something like thatbut I never feel that way. I feel that

whatever service you offer me, you offer with a good heart, and I am as grateful for it as if it were the greatest

boon to me. And it is useful to meit is bound to be so. It cannot be otherwise. If you show me a book

which you have readnot skimmed over or merely glanced at, but readand you tell me that you enjoyed it

"to avoid. Yes indeed. I think that no information ever comes amiss in this world. Once or twice I have

traveled in the carsand there you know, the peanut boy always measures you with his eye, and hands you

out a book of murders if you are fond of theology; or Tupper or a dictionary or T. S. Arthur if you are fond of

poetry; or he hands you a volume of distressing jokes or a copy of the American Miscellany if you

particularly dislike that sort of literary fatty degeneration of the heartjust for the world like a pleasant

spoken wellmeaning gentleman in any, bookstore. But here I am running on as if business men had nothing

to do but listen to women talk. You must pardon me, for I was not thinking.And you must let me thank you

again for helping me. I read a good deal, and shall be in nearly every day and I would be sorry to have you

think me a customer who talks too much and buys too little. Might I ask you to give me the time?

Ahtwotwentytwo. Thank you very much. I will set mine while I have the opportunity."

But she could not get her watch open, apparently. She tried, and tried again. Then the clerk, trembling at his

own audacity, begged to be allowed to assist. She allowed him. He succeeded, and was radiant under the

sweet influences of her pleased face and her seductively worded acknowledgements with gratification. Then

he gave her the exact time again, and anxiously watched her turn the hands slowly till they reached the

precise spot without accident or loss of life, and then he looked as happy as a man who had helped a fellow

being through a momentous undertaking, and was grateful to know that he had not lived in vain. Laura

thanked him once more. The words were music to his ear; but what were they compared to the ravishing

smile with which she flooded his whole system? When she bowed her adieu and turned away, he was no

longer suffering torture in the pillory where she had had him trussed up during so many distressing moments,

but he belonged to the list of her conquests and was a flattered and happy thrall, with the dawnlight of love

It was about the hour, now, for the chairman of the House Committee on Benevolent Appropriations to make

his appearance, and Laura stepped to the door to reconnoiter. She glanced up the street, and sure enough

That Chairman was nowhere in sight. Such disappointments seldom occur in novels, but are always

She was obliged to make a new plan. She sent him a note, and asked him to call in the eveningwhich he

"I don't know how I ever dared to send you a note, Mr. Buckstone, for you have the reputation of not being

"Why I am sure my, reputation does me wrong, then, Miss Hawkins. I have been married onceis that

"Oh, yesthat is, it may be and it may not be. If you have known what perfection is in woman, it is fair to

"Even if that were the case it could not affect you, Miss Hawkins," said the chairman gallantly. "Fame does

not place you in the list of ladies who rank below perfection." This happy speech delighted Mr. Buckstone as

much as it seemed to delight Laura. But it did not confuse him as much as it apparently did her.

"I wish in all sincerity that I could be worthy of such a felicitous compliment as that. But I am a woman, and

"But it is not merely a complimentthat is, an empty complementit is the truth. All men will endorse

"It is very kind of you to say it. It is a distinction indeed, for a countrybred girl like me to be so spoken of by

people of brains and culture. You are so kind that I know you will pardon my putting you to the trouble to

"Indeed it was no trouble. It was a pleasure. I am alone in the world since I lost my wife, and I often long for

the society of your sex, Miss Hawkins, notwithstanding what people may say to the contrary."

"It is pleasant to hear you say that. I am sure it must be so. If I feel lonely at times, because of my exile from

old friends, although surrounded by new ones who are already very dear to me, how much more lonely must

you feel, bereft as you are, and with no wholesome relief from the cares of state that weigh you down. For

your own sake, as well as for the sake of others, you ought to go into society oftener. I seldom see you at a

reception, and when I do you do not usually give me very, much of your attention"

"I never imagined that you wished it or I would have been very glad to make myself happy in that way.But

one seldom gets an opportunity to say more than a sentence to you in a place like that. You are always the

centre of a groupa fact which you may have noticed yourself. But if one might come here"

"Indeed you would always find a hearty welcome, Mr. Buckstone. I have often wished you would come and

"Why, do you remember that yet, Miss Hawkins? I thought ladies' memories were more fickle than that."

"Oh, they are not so fickle as gentlemen's promises. And besides, if I had been inclined to forget, Idid you

"A little spray of box! I am beatenI surrender. But have you kept that all this time?"

Laura's confusion was very, pretty. She tried to hide it, but the more she tried the more manifest it became

and withal the more captivating to look upon. Presently she threw the spray of box from her with an annoyed

"I forgot myself. I have been very foolish. I beg that you will forget this absurd thing."

Mr. Buckstone picked up the spray, and sitting down by Laura's side on the sofa, said:

"Give it to me, Mr. Buckstone, and do not speak so. I have been sufficiently punished for my thoughtlessness.

"Indeed I do not wish to distress you. But do not consider the matter so gravely; you have done yourself no

wrong. You probably forgot that you had it; but if you had given it to me I would have kept itand not

"It would not be kind to refuse, since it troubles you so, and so I restore it. But if you would give me part of it

"So that you might have something to remind you of me when you wished to laugh at my foolishness?"

"Oh, by no means, no! Simply that I might remember that I had once assisted to discomfort you, and be

Laura looked up, and scanned his face a moment. She was about to break the twig, but she hesitated and said:

"If I were sure that you "She threw the spray away, and continued: "This is silly! We will change the

Then Mr. Buckstone drew off his forces and proceeded to make a wily advance upon the fortress under cover

of carefullycontrived artifices and stratagems of war. But he contended with an alert and suspicious

enemy; and so at the end of two hours it was manifest to him that he had made but little progress. Still, he had

"He is fairly hooked, poor thing. I can play him at my leisure and land him when I choose. He was all ready

to be caught, days and days ago I saw that, very well. He will vote for our billno fear about that; and

moreover he will work for it, too, before I am done with him. If he had a woman's eyes he would have

noticed that the spray of box had grown three inches since he first gave it to me, but a man never sees

anything and never suspects. If I had shown him a whole bush he would have thought it was the same. Well,

it is a good night's work: the committee is safe. But this is a desperate game I am playing in these days a

wearing, sordid, heartless game. If I lose, I lose everythingeven myself. And if I win the game, will it be

worth its cost after all? I do not know. Sometimes I doubt. Sometimes I half wish I had not begun. But no

"She is shrewd and deep, and plays her cards with considerable discretionbut she will lose, for all that.

There is no hurry; I shall come out winner, all in good time. She is the most beautiful woman in the world;

and she surpassed herself tonight. I suppose I must vote for that bill, in the end maybe; but that is not a

matter of much consequence the government can stand it. She is bent on capturing me, that is plain; but she

will find by and by that what she took for a sleeping garrison was an ambuscade."

"There. He's just speaking to Mrs. Schoonmaker. Such highbred negligence and unconsciousness. Nothing

"Very. They are moving this way now. Maybe he is coming here. But he looks as helpless as a rag baby. Who

"Who is he? And you've been here a week, Grace, and don't know? He's the catch of the season. That's

"Very old family, old Kentucky family I believe. He's got enormous landed property in Tennessee, I think.

The family lost everything, slaves and that sort of thing, you know, in the war. But they have a great deal of

land, minerals, mines and all that. Mr. Hawkins and his sister too are very much interested in the amelioration

of the condition of the colored race; they have some plan, with Senator Dilworthy, to convert a large part of

"You don't say so? I thought he was some guy from Pennsylvania. But he is different from others. Probably

It was a day reception of Mrs. Representative Schoonmaker, a sweet woman, of simple and sincere manners.

Her house was one of the most popular in Washington. There was less ostentation there than in some others,

and people liked to go where the atmosphere reminded them of the peace and purity of home. Mrs.

Schoonmaker was as natural and unaffected in Washington society as she was in her own New York house,

and kept up the spirit of homelife there, with her husband and children. And that was the reason, probably,

Washington is a microcosm, and one can suit himself with any sort of society within a radius of a mile. To a

large portion of the people who frequent Washington or dwell where, the ultra fashion, the shoddy, the

jobbery are as utterly distasteful as they would he in a refined New England City. Schoonmaker was not

exactly a leader in the House, but he was greatly respected for his fine talents and his honesty. No one would

have thought of offering to carry National Improvement Directors Relief stock for him.

These day receptions were attended by more women than men, and those interested in the problem might

have studied the costumes of the ladies present, in view of this fact, to discover whether women dress more

for the eyes of women or for effect upon men. It is a very important problem, and has been a good deal

discussed, and its solution would form one fixed, philosophical basis, upon which to estimate woman's

character. We are inclined to take a medium ground, and aver that woman dresses to please herself, and in

"They are coming this way," said Blanche. People who made way for them to pass, turned to look at them.

Washington began to feel that the eyes of the public were on him also, and his eyes rolled about, now towards

Mr. Hawkins, who was endeavoring to square himself for a bow, put his foot through the train of Mrs.

Senator Poplin, who looked round with a scowl, which turned into a smile as she saw who it was. In

extricating himself, Mr. Hawkins, who had the care of his hat as well as the introduction on his mind,

shambled against Miss Blanche, who said pardon, with the prettiest accent, as if the awkwardness were her

"Don't you find it very warm today, Mr. Hawkins?" said Blanche, by way of a remark.

"It's warm for the season," continued Blanche pleasantly. "But I suppose you are accustomed to it," she

added, with a general idea that the thermometer always stands at 90 deg. in all parts of the late slave states.

"That's very good. Did you hear, Grace, Mr. Hawkins says it's congenial when it's not congealed."

The conversation was now finely under way. Washington launched out an observation of his own.

"Oh, yes, aren't they queer. But so highbred, so picturesque. Do you think that color makes any difference,

Washington was about settling himself into his narrative style, when Mrs. Gen. McFingal caught his eye.

"They say it was very exciting. The Alabama business you know. Gen. Sutler, of Massachusetts, defied

"He wants to make himself conspicuous more like," said Laura. "He always, you have noticed, talks with one

"Well, my husband says, its nonsense to talk of war, and wicked. He knows what war is. If we do have war, I

hope it will be for the patriots of Cuba. Don't you think we want Cuba, Mr. Hawkins?"

"I think we want it bad," said Washington. "And Santo Domingo. Senator Dilworthy says, we are bound to

extend our religion over the isles of the sea. We've got to round out our territory, and"

Washington's further observations were broken off by Laura, who whisked him off to another part of the

They were turning to say goodby to the hostess, when Laura's attention was arrested by the sight of a

gentleman who was just speaking to Mrs. Schoonmaker. For a second her heart stopped beating. He was a

handsome man of forty and perhaps more, with grayish hair and whiskers, and he walked with a cane, as if he

were slightly lame. He might be less than forty, for his face was worn into hard lines, and he was pale.

No. It could not be, she said to herself. It is only a resemblance. But as the gentleman turned and she saw his

full face, Laura put out her hand and clutched Washington's arm to prevent herself from falling.

Washington, who was not minding anything, as usual, looked 'round in wonder. Laura's eyes were blazing

"It's nobody, it's nothing. Did I say he? I was faint with the heat. Don't mention it. Don't you speak of it," she

When she had gained her room she went to the glass and saw a pallid and haggard face.

"My God," she cried, "this will never do. I should have killed him, if I could. The scoundrel still lives, and

dares to come here. I ought to kill him. He has no right to live. How I hate him. And yet I loved him. Oh

heavens, how I did love that man. And why didn't he kill me? He might better. He did kill all that was good in

me. Oh, but he shall not escape. He shall not escape this time. He may have forgotten. He will find that a

woman's hate doesn't forget. The law? What would the law do but protect him and make me an outcast? How

all Washington would gather up its virtuous skirts and avoid me, if it knew. I wonder if he hates me as I do

So Laura raved, in tears and in rage by turns, tossed in a tumult of passion, which she gave way to with little

A servant came to summon her to dinner. She had a headache. The hour came for the President's reception.

That night of agony was like another night she recalled. How vividly it all came back to her. And at that time

she remembered she thought she might be mistaken. He might come back to her. Perhaps he loved her, a

little, after all. Now, she knew he did not. Now, she knew he was a coldblooded scoundrel, without pity.

Never a word in all these years. She had hoped he was dead. Did his wife live, she wondered. She caught at

thatand it gave a new current to her thoughts. Perhaps, after all she must see him. She could not live

without seeing him. Would he smile as in the old days when she loved him so; or would he sneer as when she

last saw him? If be looked so, she hated him. If he should call her "Laura, darling," and look SO! She must

Laura kept her room for two days, on one excuse and anothera nervous headache, a coldto the great

anxiety of the Senator's household. Callers, who went away, said she had been too gaythey did not say

"fast," though some of them may have thought it. One so conspicuous and successful in society as Laura

could not be out of the way two days, without remarks being made, and not all of them complimentary.

When she came down she appeared as usual, a little pale may be, but unchanged in manner. If there were any

deepened lines about the eyes they had been concealed. Her course of action was quite determined.

At breakfast she asked if any one had heard any unusual noise during the night? Nobody had. Washington

never heard any noise of any kind after his eyes were shut. Some people thought he never did when they were

Senator Dilworthy said he had come in late. He was detained in a little consultation after the Congressional

No, Laura said. She heard that. It was later. She might have been nervous, but she fancied somebody was

Mr. Brierly humorously suggested that it might be, as none of the members were occupied in night session.

The Senator frowned, and said he did not like to hear that kind of newspaper slang. There might be burglars

Laura said that very likely it was only her nervousness. But she thought she world feel safer if Washington

would let her take one of his pistols. Washington brought her one of his revolvers, and instructed her in the

During the morning Laura drove down to Mrs. Schoonmaker's to pay a friendly call.

"Your receptions are always delightful," she said to that lady, "the pleasant people all seem to come here."

"It's pleasant to hear you say so, Miss Hawkins. I believe my friends like to come here. Though society in

"I suppose, though, you don't see much of the old rebel element?" said Laura with a smile.

If this seemed to Mrs. Schoonmaker a singular remark for a lady to make, who was meeting "rebels" in

"You know we don't say 'rebel' anymore. Before we came to Washington I thought rebels would look unlike

other people. I find we are very much alike, and that kindness and good nature wear away prejudice. And

then you know there are all sorts of common interests. My husband sometimes says that he doesn't see but

confederates are just as eager to get at the treasury as Unionists. You know that Mr. Schoonmaker is on the

"Oh, yes. There were several at my reception the other day. Among others a confederate Colonela

strangerhandsome man with gray hair, probably you didn't notice him, uses a cane in walking. A very

agreeable man. I wondered why he called. When my husband came home and looked over the cards, he said

he had a cotton claim. A real southerner. Perhaps you might know him if I could think of his name. Yes,

Laura took the card, looked at it intently till she was sure of the address, and then laid it down, with,

That afternoon, Laura wrote and dispatched the following note. It was in a round hand, unlike her flowing

On Wednesday at 3 P. M, no one of the family was likely to be in the house except Laura.

Col. Selby had just come to Washington, and taken lodgings in Georgetown. His business was to get pay for

some cotton that was destroyed during the war. There were many others in Washington on the same errand,

some of them with claims as difficult to establish as his. A concert of action was necessary, and he was not,

therefore, at all surprised to receive the note from a lady asking him to call at Senator Dilworthy's.

At a little after three on Wednesday he rang the bell of the Senator's residence. It was a handsome mansion on

the Square opposite the President's house. The owner must be a man of great wealth, the Colonel thought;

perhaps, who knows, said he with a smile, he may have got some of my cotton in exchange for salt and

quinine after the capture of New Orleans. As this thought passed through his mind he was looking at the

remarkable figure of the Hero of New Orleans, holding itself by main strength from sliding off the back of

the rearing bronze horse, and lifting its hat in the manner of one who acknowledges the playing of that

martial air: "See, the Conquering Hero Comes!" "Gad," said the Colonel to himself, "Old Hickory ought to

Laura was in the drawing room. She heard the bell, she heard the steps in the hall, and the emphatic thud of

the supporting cane. She had risen from her chair and was leaning against the piano, pressing her left hand

against the violent beating of her heart. The door opened and the Colonel entered, standing in the full light of

the opposite window. Laura was more in the shadow and stood for an instant, long enough for the Colonel to

make the inward observation that she was a magnificent Woman. She then advanced a step.

The Colonel staggered back, caught himself by a chair, and turned towards her a look of terror.

"You thought I was dead? You thought you were rid of me? Not so long as you live, Col. Selby, not so long

No man had ever accused Col. Selby of cowardice. But he was a coward before this woman. May be he was

not the man he once was. Where was his coolness? Where was his sneering, imperturbable manner, with

which he could have met, and would have met, any woman he had wronged, if he had only been forewarned.

He felt now that he must temporize, that he must gain time. There was danger in Laura's tone. There was

"You have ruined my life," she said; "and I was so young, so ignorant, and loved you so. You betrayed me,

and left me mocking me and trampling me into the dust, a soiled castoff. You might better have killed me

"Laura," said the Colonel, nerving himself, but still pale, and speaking appealingly, "don't say that. Reproach

me. I deserve it. I was a scoundrel. I was everything monstrous. But your beauty made me crazy. You are

right. I was a brute in leaving you as I did. But what could I do? I was married, and"

"And your wife still lives?" asked Laura, bending a little forward in her eagerness.

The Colonel noticed the action, and he almost said "no," but he thought of the folly of attempting

What little color had wandered back into Laura's face forsook it again. Her heart stood still, her strength

seemed going from her limbs. Her last hope was gone. The room swam before her for a moment, and the

Colonel stepped towards her, but she waved him back, as hot anger again coursed through her veins, and said,

"And you dare come with her, here, and tell me of it, here and mock me with it! And you think I will have it;

George? You think I will let you live with that woman? You think I am as powerless as that day I fell dead at

She raged now. She was in a tempest of excitement. And she advanced towards him with a threatening mien.

She would kill me if she could, thought the Colonel; but he thought at the same moment, how beautiful she

is. He had recovered his head now. She was lovely when he knew her, then a simple country girl, Now she

was dazzling, in the fullness of ripe womanhood, a superb creature, with all the fascination that a woman of

the world has for such a man as Col. Selby. Nothing of this was lost on him. He stepped quickly to her,

"Laura, stop! think! Suppose I loved you yet! Suppose I hated my fate! What can I do? I am broken by the

The Colonel spoke with a low remembered voice that thrilled through Laura. He was looking into her eyes as

he had looked in those old days, when no birds of all those that sang in the groves where they walked sang a

note of warning. He was wounded. He had been punished. Her strength forsook her with her rage, and she

The Colonel knelt beside her. He took her hand and she let him keep it. She, looked down into his face, with

The Colonel vowed and protested. He kissed her hand and her lips. He swore his false soul into perdition.

She wanted love, this woman. Was not her love for George Selby deeper than any other woman's could be?

Had she not a right to him ? Did he not belong to her by virtue of her overmastering passion? His wifeshe

was not his wife, except by the law. She could not be. Even with the law she could have no right to stand

between two souls that were one. It was an infamous condition in society that George should be tied to her.

Laura thought this, believed it; because she desired to believe it. She came to it as an original propositions

founded an the requirements of her own nature. She may have heard, doubtless she had, similar theories that

were prevalent at that day, theories of the tyranny of marriage and of the freedom of marriage. She had even

heard women lecturers say, that marriage should only continue so long as it pleased either party to it for a

year, or a month, or a day. She had not given much heed to this, but she saw its justice now in a dash of

revealing desire. It must be right. God would not have permitted her to love George Selby as she did, and him

to love her, if it was right for society to raise up a barrier between them. He belonged to her. Had he not

Not even the religious atmosphere of Senator Dilworthy's house had been sufficient to instill into Laura that

deep Christian principle which had been somehow omitted in her training. Indeed in that very house had she

not heard women, prominent before the country and besieging Congress, utter sentiments that fully justified

They were seated now, side by side, talking with more calmness. Laura was happy, or thought she was. But it

was that feverish sort of happiness which is snatched out of the black shadow of falsehood, and is at the

moment recognized as fleeting and perilous, and indulged tremblingly. She loved. She was loved. That is

happiness certainly. And the black past and the troubled present and the uncertain future could not snatch that

What did they say as they sat there? What nothings do people usually say in such circumstances, even if they

are threescore and ten? It was enough for Laura to hear his voice and be near him. It was enough for him to

be near her, and avoid committing himself as much as he could. Enough for him was the present also. Had

And yet Laura could not be quite content without prying into tomorrow. How could the Colonel manage to

free himself from his wife? Would it be long? Could he not go into some State where it would not take much

time? He could not say exactly. That they must think of. That they must talk over. And so on. Did this seem

like a damnable plot to Laura against the life, maybe, of a sister, a woman like herself? Probably not. It was

right that this man should be hers, and there were some obstacles in the way. That was all. There are as good

reasons for bad actions as for good ones,to those who commit them. When one has broken the tenth

Was it unnatural, therefore, that when George Selby departed, Laura should watch him from the window,

with an almost joyful heart as he went down the sunny square? "I shall see him tomorrow," she said," and

"Damn the woman," said the Colonel as he picked his way down the steps. "Or," he added, as his thoughts

As may be readily believed, Col. Beriah Sellers was by this time one of the best known men in Washington.

He was now at the centre of the manufacture of gigantic schemes, of speculations of all sorts, of political and

social gossip. The atmosphere was full of little and big rumors and of vast, undefined expectations.

Everybody was in haste, too, to push on his private plan, and feverish in his haste, as if in constant

apprehension that tomorrow would be Judgment Day. Work while Congress is in session, said the uneasy

The Colonel enjoyed this bustle and confusion amazingly; he thrived in the air ofindefinite expectation. All

his own schemes took larger shape and more misty and majestic proportions; and in this congenial air, the

Colonel seemed even to himself to expand into something large and mysterious. If he respected himself

before, he almost worshipped Beriah Sellers now, as a superior being. If he could have chosen an official

position out of the highest, he would have been embarrassed in the selection. The presidency of the republic

seemed too limited and cramped in the constitutional restrictions. If he could have been Grand Llama of the

United States, that might have come the nearest to his idea of a position. And next to that he would have

Col. Sellers knew the President very well, and had access to his presence when officials were kept cooling

their heels in the Waitingroom. The President liked to hear the Colonel talk, his voluble ease was a

refreshment after the decorous dullness of men who only talked business and government, and everlastingly

expounded their notions of justice and the distribution of patronage. The Colonel was as much a lover of

farming and of horses as Thomas Jefferson was. He talked to the President by the hour about his magnificent

stud, and his plantation at Hawkeye, a kind of principalityhe represented it. He urged the President to pay

"The President's table is well enough," he used to say, to the loafers who gathered about him at Willard's,

"well enough for a man on a salary, but God bless my soul, I should like him to see a little oldfashioned

hospitalityopen house, you know. A person seeing me at home might think I paid no attention to what was

in the house, just let things flow in and out. He'd be mistaken. What I look to is quality, sir. The President has

variety enough, but the quality! Vegetables of course you can't expect here. I'm very particular about mine.

Take celery, now there's only one spot in this country where celery will grow. But I an surprised about the

wines. I should think they were manufactured in the New York Custom House. I must send the President

some from my cellar. I was really mortified the other day at dinner to see Blacque Bey leave his standing in

When the Colonel first came to Washington he had thoughts of taking the mission to Constantinople, in order

to be on the spot to look after the dissemination, of his Eye Water, but as that invention; was not yet quite

ready, the project shrank a little in the presence of vaster schemes. Besides he felt that he could do the

country more good by remaining at home. He was one of the Southerners who were constantly quoted as

"I'm whipped," he used to say with a jolly laugh, "the government was too many for me; I'm cleaned out,

done for, except my plantation and private mansion. We played for a big thing, and lost it, and I don't whine,

for one. I go for putting the old flag on all the vacant lots. I said to the President, says I, "Grant, why don't

you take Santo Domingo, annex the whole thing, and settle the bill afterwards. That's my way. I'd, take the

job to manage Congress. The South would come into it. You've got to conciliate the South, consolidate the

two debts, pay 'em off in greenbacks, and go ahead. That's my notion. Boutwell's got the right notion about

the value of paper, but he lacks courage. I should like to run the treasury department about six months. I'd

The Colonel had access to the departments. He knew all the senators and representatives, and especially, the

lobby. He was consequently a great favorite in Newspaper Row, and was often lounging in the offices there,

dropping bits of private, official information, which were immediately, caught up and telegraphed all over the

country. But it need to surprise even the Colonel when he read it, it was embellished to that degree that he

hardly recognized it, and the hint was not lost on him. He began to exaggerate his heretofore simple

People used to wonder in the winters of 187 and 187, where the "Specials" got that remarkable information

with which they every morning surprised the country, revealing the most secret intentions of the President

and his cabinet, the private thoughts of political leaders, the hidden meaning of every movement. This

When he was asked, afterwards, about the stolen copy of the Alabama Treaty which got into the "New York

Tribune," he only looked mysterious, and said that neither he nor Senator Dilworthy knew anything about it.

But those whom he was in the habit of meeting occasionally felt almost certain that he did know.

It must not be supposed that the Colonel in his general patriotic labors neglected his own affairs. The

Columbus River Navigation Scheme absorbed only a part of his time, so he was enabled to throw quite a

strong reserve force of energy into the Tennessee Land plan, a vast enterprise commensurate with his

abilities, and in the prosecution of which he was greatly aided by Mr. Henry Brierly, who was buzzing about

the capitol and the hotels day and night, and making capital for it in some mysterious way.

"We must create, a public opinion," said Senator Dilworthy. "My only interest in it is a public one, and if the

It may have been after a conversation between the Colonel and Senator Dilworthy that the following special

When Washington Hawkins read this despatch, he went to the Colonel in some anxiety. He was for a lease,

he didn't want to surrender anything. What did he think the government would offer? Two millions?

"May be three, may be four," said the Colonel, "it's worth more than the bank of England."

"If they will not lease," said Washington, "let 'em make it two millions for an undivided half. I'm not going to

Harry told the Colonel that they must drive the thing through, he couldn't be dallying round Washington

when Spring opened. Phil wanted him, Phil had a great thing on hand up in Pennsylvania.

"What is that?" inquired the Colonel, always ready to interest himself in anything large.

"A mountain of coal; that's all. He's going to run a tunnel into it in the Spring."

"Does he want any capital?", asked the Colonel, in the tone of a man who is given to calculating carefully

"No. Old man Bolton's behind him. He has capital, but I judged that he wanted my experience in starting."

"If he wants me, tell him I'll come, after Congress adjourns. I should like to give him a little lift. He lacks

enterprisenow, about that Columbus River. He doesn't see his chances. But he's a good fellow, and you can

"By the way," asked Harry, "who is that rather handsome party that's hanging 'round Laura? I see him with

her everywhere, at the Capitol, in the horse cars, and he comes to Dilworthy's. If he weren't lame, I should

"Oh, that's nothing. Laura knows her business. He has a cotton claim. Used to be at Hawkeye during the war.

Selby's his name, was a Colonel. Got a wife and family. Very respectable people, the Selby's."

"Well, that's all right," said Harry, "if it's business. But if a woman looked at me as I've seen her at Selby, I

Jealousy had no doubt sharpened this young gentleman's observation. Laura could not have treated him with

more lofty condescension if she had been the Queen of Sheba, on a royal visit to the great republic. And he

resented it, and was "huffy" when he was with her, and ran her errands, and brought her gossip, and bragged

Laura's life was rushing on now in the full stream of intrigue and fashionable dissipation. She was

conspicuous at the balls of the fastest set, and was suspected of being present at those doubtful suppers that

began late and ended early. If Senator Dilworthy remonstrated about appearances, she had a way of silencing

him. Perhaps she had some hold on him, perhaps she was necessary to his plan for ameliorating the condition

She saw Col. Selby, when the public knew and when it did not know. She would see him, whatever excuses

he made, and however he avoided her. She was urged on by a fever of love and hatred and jealousy, which

alternately possessed her. Sometimes she petted him, and coaxed him and tried all her fascinations. And again

she threatened him and reproached him. What was he doing? Why had he taken no steps to free himself?

Why didn't he send his wife home? She should have money soon. They could go to Europeanywhere.

And he promised, and lied, and invented fresh excuses for delay, like a cowardly gambler and roue as he was,

"That woman doesn't know what fear is," he said to himself, "and she watches me like a hawk."

He told his wife that this woman was a lobbyist, whom he had to tolerate and use in getting through his

Henry Brierly was at the Dilwortby's constantly and on such terms of intimacy that he came and went without

question. The Senator was not an inhospitable man, he liked to have guests in his house, and Harry's gay

humor and rattling way entertained him; for even the most devout men and busy statesmen must have hours

Harry himself believed that he was of great service in the University business, and that the success of the

scheme depended upon him to a great degree. He spent many hours in talking it over with the Senator after

dinner. He went so far as to consider whether it would be worth his while to take the professorship of civil

But it was not the Senator's society nor his dinnersat which this scapegrace remarked that there was too

much grace and too little wine which attracted him to the horse. The fact was the poor fellow hung around

there day after day for the chance of seeing Laura for five minutes at a time. For her presence at dinner he

would endure the long bore of the Senator's talk afterwards, while Laura was off at some assembly, or

excused herself on the plea of fatigue. Now and then he accompanied her to some reception, and rarely, on

off nights, he was blessed with her company in the parlor, when he sang, and was chatty and vivacious and

performed a hundred little tricks of imitation and ventriloquism, and made himself as entertaining as a man

It puzzled him not a little that all his fascinations seemed to go for so little with Laura; it was beyond his

experience with women. Sometimes Laura was exceedingly kind and petted him a little, and took the trouble

to exert her powers of pleasing, and to entangle him deeper and deeper. But this, it angered him afterwards to

think, was in private; in public she was beyond his reach, and never gave occasion to the suspicion that she

had any affair with him. He was never permitted to achieve the dignity of a serious flirtation with her in

"You know well enough. You let other fellows monopolize you in society, and you are as indifferent to me as

"Can I help it if they are attentive, can I be rude? But we are such old friends, Mr. Brierly, that I didn't

"I think I must be a very old friend, then, by your conduct towards me. By the same rule I should judge that

Laura looked up quickly, as if about to return an indignant answer to such impertinence, but she only said,

"Nothing, probably, you'll care for. Your being with him so much is the town talk, that's all?"

"Oh, they say a good many things. You are offended, though, to have me speak of it?"

"Not in the least. You are my true friend. I feel that I can trust you. You wouldn't deceive me, Harry?"

throwing into her eyes a look of trust and tenderness that melted away all his petulance and distrust. "What do

"Some say that you've lost your head about him; others that you don't care any more for him than you do for a

dozen others, but that he is completely fascinated with you and about to desert his wife; and others say it is

nonsense to suppose you would entangle yourself with a married man, and that your intimacy only arises

from the matter of the cotton, claims, for which he wants your influence with Dilworthy. But you know

everybody is talked about more or less in Washington. I shouldn't care; but I wish you wouldn't have so much

to do with Selby, Laura," continued Harry, fancying that he was now upon such terms that his, advice, would

"I don't believe anything against you, Laura, but Col. Selby does not mean you any good. I know you

"Only a little. I was at his lodgings' in Georgetown a day or two ago, with Col. Sellers. Sellers wanted to talk

with him about some patent remedy he has, Eye Water, or something of that sort, which he wants to introduce

Yes. A dark little woman, rather wornmust have been pretty once though. Has three or four children, one

of them a baby. They'll all go of course. She said she should be glad enough to get away from Washington.

You know Selby has got his claim allowed, and they say he has had a run, of luck lately at Morrissey's."

Laura heard all this in a kind of stupor, looking straight at Harry, without seeing him. Is it possible, she was

thinking, that this base wretch, after, all his promises, will take his wife and children and leave me? Is it

possible the town is saying all these things about me? And a look of bitterness coming into her facedoes

"You are angry with me, Laura," said Harry, not comprehending in the least what was going on in her mind.

"Angry?" she said, forcing herself to come back to his presence. "With you? Oh no. I'm angry with the cruel

world, which, pursues an independent woman as it never does a man. I'm grateful to you Harry; I'm grateful

And she rose from her chair and gave him her pretty hand, which the silly fellow took, and kissed and clung

to. And he said many silly things, before she disengaged herself gently, and left him, saying it was time to

And Harry went away, excited, and a little hopeful, but only a little. The happiness was only a gleam, which

departed and left him thoroughly, miserable. She never would love him, and she was going to the devil,

besides. He couldn't shut his eyes to what he saw, nor his ears to what he heard of her.

What had come over this trilling young ladykiller? It was a pity to see such a gay butterfly broken on a

wheel. Was there something good in him, after all, that had been touched? He was in fact madly in love with

It is not for us to analyze the passion and say whether it was a worthy one. It absorbed his whole nature and

made him wretched enough. If he deserved punishment, what more would you have? Perhaps this love was

He saw the road on which Laura was going clearly enough, though he did not believe the worst he heard of

her. He loved her too passionately to credit that for a moment. And it seemed to him that if he could compel

her to recognize her position, and his own devotion, she might love him, and that he could save her. His love

was so far ennobled, and become a very different thing from its beginning in Hawkeye. Whether he ever

thought that if he could save her from ruin, he could give her up himself, is doubtful. Such a pitch of virtue

does not occur often in real life, especially in such natures as Harry's, whose generosity and unselfishness

He wrote a long letter to Laura, an incoherent, passionate letter, pouring out his love as he could not do in her

presence, and warning her as plainly as he dared of the dangers that surrounded her, and the risks she ran of

Laura read the letter, with a little sigh may be, as she thought of other days, but with contempt also, and she

Harry was in the habit of writing to Philip freely, and boasting also about his doings, as he could not help

doing and remain himself. Mixed up with his own exploits, and his daily triumphs as a lobbyist, especially in

the matter of the new University, in which Harry was to have something handsome, were amusing sketches of

Washington society, hints about Dilworthy, stories about Col. Sellers, who had become a well known

character, and wise remarks upon the machinery of private legislation for the publicgood, which greatly

Laura's name occurred very often in these letters, at first in casual mention as the belle of the season, carrying

everything before her with her wit and beauty, and then more seriously, as if Harry did not exactly like so

much general admiration of her, and was a little nettled by her treatment of him.

This was so different from Harry's usual tone about women, that Philip wondered a good deal over it. Could

it be possible that he was seriously affected? Then came stories about Laura, town talk, gossip which Harry

denied the truth of indignantly; but he was evidently uneasy, and at length wrote in such miserable spirits that

Upon this, Harry made a clean breast of it, and told Philip all he knew about the Selby affair, and Laura's

treatment of him, sometimes encouraging himand then throwing him off, and finally his belief that she

would go, to the bad if something was not done to arouse her from her infatuation. He wished Philip was in

Washington. He knew Laura, and she had a great respect for his character, his opinions, his judgment.

Perhaps he, as an uninterested person whom she would have some confidence, and as one of the public, could

Philip saw the situation clearly enough. Of Laura he knew not much, except that she was a woman of

uncommon fascination, and he thought from what he had seen of her in Hawkeye, her conduct towards him

and towards Harry, of not too much principle. Of course he knew nothing of her history; he knew nothing

seriously against her, and if Harry was desperately enamored of her, why should he not win her if he could.

If, however, she had already become what Harry uneasily felt she might become, was it not his duty to go to

the rescue of his friend and try to save him from any rash act on account of a woman that might prove to be

entirely unworthy of him; for trifler and visionary as he was, Harry deserved a better fate than this.

Philip determined to go to Washington and see for himself. He had other reasons also. He began to know

enough of Mr. Bolton's affairs to be uneasy. Pennybacker had been there several times during the winter, and

he suspected that he was involving Mr. Bolton in some doubtful scheme. Pennybacker was in Washington,

and Philip thought he might perhaps find out something about him, and his plans, that would be of service to

Philip had enjoyed his winter very well, for a man with his arm broken and his head smashed. With two such

nurses as Ruth and Alice, illness seemed to him rather a nice holiday, and every moment of his convalescence

had been precious and all too fleeting. With a young fellow of the habits of Philip, such injuries cannot be

counted on to tarry long, even for the purpose of lovemaking, and Philip found himself getting strong with

During his first weeks of pain and weakness, Ruth was unceasing in her ministrations; she quietly took

charge of him, and with a gentle firmness resisted all attempts of Alice or any one else to share to any great

extent the burden with her. She was clear, decisive and peremptory in whatever she did; but often when

Philip, opened his eyes in those first days of suffering and found her standing by his bedside, he saw a look of

tenderness in her anxious face that quickened his already feverish pulse, a look that, remained in his heart

long after he closed his eyes. Sometimes he felt her hand on his forehead, and did not open his eyes for fear

she world take it away. He watched for her coming to his chamber; he could distinguish her light footstep

from all others. If this is what is meant by women practicing medicine, thought Philip to himself, I like it.

"Ruth," said he one day when he was getting to be quite himself, "I believe in it?"

"Oh, no. One will do, one at a time. I think I should be well tomorrow, if I thought I should never have any

"Thy physician thinks thee mustn't talk, Philip," said Ruth putting her finger on his lips.

"There, there, thee must not talk. Thee is wandering again," and Ruth closed his lips, with a smile on her own

Philip was not weary, however, of making these attempts, he rather enjoyed it. But whenever he inclined to

be sentimental, Ruth would cut him off, with some such gravely conceived speech as, "Does thee think that

thy physician will take advantage of the condition of a man who is as weak as thee is? I will call Alice, if thee

As Philip convalesced, Alice more and more took Ruth's place as his entertainer, and read to him by the hour,

when he did not want to talk to talk about Ruth, as he did a good deal of the time. Nor was this altogether

unsatisfactory to Philip. He was always happy and contented with Alice. She was the most restful person he

knew. Better informed than Ruth and with a much more varied culture, and bright and sympathetic, he was

never weary of her company, if he was not greatly excited by it. She had upon his mind that peaceful

influence that Mrs. Bolton had when, occasionally, she sat by his bedside with her work. Some people have

this influence, which is like an emanation. They bring peace to a house, they diffuse serene content in a room

full of mixed company, though they may say very little, and are apparently, unconscious of their own power;

Not that Philip did not long for Ruth's presence all the same. Since he was well enough to be about the house,

she was busy again with her studies. Now and then her teasing humor came again. She always had a playful

shield against his sentiment. Philip used sometimes to declare that she had no sentiment; and then he doubted

if he should be pleased with her after all if she were at all sentimental; and he rejoiced that she had, in such

matters what he called the airy grace of sanity. She was the most gay serious person he ever saw.

Perhaps he waw not so much at rest or so contented with her as with Alice. But then he loved her. And what

Mr. Buckstone's campaign was briefmuch briefer than he supposed it would be. He began it purposing to

win Laura without being won himself; but his experience was that of all who had fought on that field before

him; he diligently continued his effort to win her, but he presently found that while as yet he could not feel

entirely certain of having won her, it was very manifest that she had won him. He had made an able fight,

brief as it was, and that at least was to his credit. He was in good company, now; he walked in a leash of

conspicuous captives. These unfortunates followed Laura helplessly, for whenever she took a prisoner he

remained her slave henceforth. Sometimes they chafed in their bondage; sometimes they tore themselves free

and said their serfdom was ended; but sooner or later they always came back penitent and worshiping. Laura

pursued her usual course: she encouraged Mr. Buckstone by turns, and by turns she harassed him; she exalted

him to the clouds at one time, and at another she dragged him down again. She constituted him chief

champion of the Knobs University bill, and he accepted the position, at first reluctantly, but later as a valued

means of serving herhe even came to look upon it as a piece of great good fortune, since it brought him

Through him she learned that the Hon. Mr. Trollop was a bitter enemy of her bill. He urged her not to attempt

to influence Mr. Trollop in any way, and explained that whatever she might attempt in that direction would

She at first said she knew Mr. Trollop, "and was aware that he had a BlankBlank;"[**Her private figure

of speech for Brotheror Sonin law]but Mr. Buckstone said that he was not able to conceive what so

curious a phrase as BlankBlank might mean, and had no wish to pry into the matter, since it was probably

private, he "would nevertheless venture the blind assertion that nothing would answer in this particular case

and during this particular session but to be exceedingly wary and keep clear away from Mr. Trollop; any

It seemed that nothing could be done. Laura was seriously troubled. Everything was looking well, and yet it

was plain that one vigorous and determined enemy might eventually succeed in overthrowing all her plans. A

"Oh, never; he and I are sworn brothers on that measure; we work in harness and are very lovingI do

everything I possibly can for him there. But I work with might and main against his Immigration bill, as

pertinaciously and as vindictively, indeed, as he works against our University. We hate each other through

half a conversation and are all affection through the other half. We understand each other. He is an admirable

worker outside the capitol; he will do more for the Pension bill than any other man could do; I wish he would

make the great speech on it which he wants to makeand then I would make another and we would be safe."

Visitors interrupted the conversation and Mr. Buckstone took his leave. It was not of the least moment to

Laura that her question had not been answered, inasmuch as it concerned a thing which did not interest her;

and yet, human being like, she thought she would have liked to know. An opportunity occurring presently,

she put the same question to another person and got an answer that satisfied her. She pondered a good while

that night, after she had gone to bed, and when she finally turned over, to, go to sleep, she had thought out a

new scheme. The next evening at Mrs. Gloverson's party, she said to Mr. Buckstone:

"Never mind, I know. You must' make him make that speech. I very. particularly desire, it."

"I see now. I can manage it, I am sure. Indeed I wonder he never thought of it himselfthere are no end of

precedents. But how is this going to benefit you, after I have managed it? There is where the mystery lies."

"I only wish I could see how; it is the oddest freak. You seem to go the furthest around to get at a thingbut

"Very well, I will do itbut why not tell me how you imagine it is going to help you?"

"I will, by and by.Now there is nobody talking to him. Go straight and do it, there's a good fellow."

A moment or two later the two sworn friends of the Pension bill were talking together, earnestly, and

seemingly unconscious of the moving throng about them. They talked an hour, and then Mr. Buckstone came

"He hardly fancied it at first, but he fell in love with it after a bit. And we have made a compact, too. I am to

keep his secret and he is to spare me, in future, when he gets ready to denounce the supporters of the

University billand I can easily believe he will keep his word on this occasion."

A fortnight elapsed, and the University bill had gathered to itself many friends, meantime. Senator Dilworthy

began to think the harvest was ripe. He conferred with Laura privately. She was able to tell him exactly how

the House would vote. There was a majoritythe bill would pass, unless weak members got frightened at the

"I wish we had one more good strong man. Now Trollop ought to be on our side, for he is a friend of the

negro. But be is against us, and is our bitterest opponent. If he would simply vote No, but keep quiet and not

molest us, I would feel perfectly cheerful and content. But perhaps there is no use in thinking of that."

"Why I laid a little plan for his benefit two weeks ago. I think he will be tractable, maybe. He is to come here

"Look out for him, my child ! He means mischief, sure. It is said that he claims to know of improper practices

having been used in the interest of this bill, and he thinks be sees a chance to make a great sensation when the

bill comes up. Be wary. Be very, very careful, my dear. Do your veryablest talking, now. You can convince

a man of anything, when you try. You must convince him that if anything improper has been done, you at

least are ignorant of it and sorry for it. And if you could only persuade him out of his hostility to the bill,

"I won't; I'll be ever so careful. I'll talk as sweetly to him as if he were my own child! You may trust

"That is the gentleman now," said Laura. Senator Dilworthy retired to his study.

Laura welcomed Mr. Trollop, a grave, carefully dressed and very respectable looking man, with a bald head,

"Promptness is a virtue, Mr. Trollop, and I perceive that you have it. You are always prompt with me."

"It is a quality which is rarer in the world than it has been, I believe. I wished to see you on business, Mr.

"Indeed, since you seem to ask it without reserve, I am obliged to say that I do not regard it favorably. I have

not seen the bill itself, but from what I can hear, ititwell, it has a bad look about it. It"

"Well, suppose it were a fraudwhich I feel able to denywould it be the first one?"

"You take a body's breath away! Would youdid you wish me to vote for it? Was that what you wanted to

"Vote for a frfor a measure which is generally believed to be at least questionable? I am afraid we cannot

"Did you send for we merely to insult me? It is time for me to take my leave, Miss Hawkins."

"Nowait a moment. Don't be offended at a trifle. Do not be offish and unsociable. The Steamship Subsidy

bill was a fraud on the government. You voted for it, Mr. Trollop, though you always opposed the measure

until after you had an interview one evening with a certain Mrs. McCarter at her house. She was my agent.

She was acting for me. Ah, that is rightsit down again. You can be sociable, easily enough if you have a

"Ah yes. When you came to examine into it. Well, I only want you to examine into my bill. Mr. Trollop, you

would not sell your vote on that subsidy billwhich was perfectly rightbut you accepted of some of the

stock, with the understanding that it was to stand in your brotherin law's name."

"There is no prI mean, this is, utterly groundless, Miss Hawkins." But the gentleman seemed somewhat

"Well, not entirely so, perhaps. I and a person whom we will call Miss Blank (never mind the real name,)

"It was bad; I confess that. It was bad. Almost as bad as selling one's vote forbut I forget; you did not sell

your voteyou only accepted a little trifle, a small token of esteem, for your brotherinlaw. Oh, let us

come out and be frank with each other: I know you, Mr. Trollop. I have met you on business three or four

times; true, I never offered to corrupt your principlesnever hinted such a thing; but always when I had

finished sounding you, I manipulated you through an agent. Let us be frank. Wear this comely disguise of

virtue before the publicit will count there; but here it is out of place. My dear sir, by and by there is going

tp be an investigation into that National Internal Improvement Directors' Relief Measure of a few years ago,

and you know very well that you will be a crippled man, as likely as not, when it is completed."

"It cannot be shown that a man is a knave merely for owning that stock. I am not distressed about the

"Oh indeed I am not trying to distress you. I only wished, to make good my assertion that I knew you. Several

of you gentlemen bought of that stack (without paying a penny down) received dividends from it, (think of

the happy idea of receiving dividends, and very large ones, too, from stock one hasn't paid for!) and all the

while your names never appeared in the transaction; if ever you took the stock at all, you took it in other

people's names. Now you see, you had to know one of two things; namely, you either knew that the idea of

all this preposterous generosity was to bribe you into future legislative friendship, or you didn't know it. That

is to say, you had to be either a knave or awell, a fool there was no middle ground. You are not a fool,

"Miss Hawking you flatter me. But seriously, you do not forget that some of the best and purest men in

"Of course you believe not. Do you suppose he was ever approached, on the subject?"

"If you had approached him, for instance, fortified with the fact that some of the best men in Congress, and

"He would have shown you the door! For Mr. Blank is neither a knave nor a fool. There are other men in the

Senate and the House whom no one would have been hardy enough to approach with that Relief Stock in that

peculiarly generous way, but they are not of the class that you regard as the best and purest. No, I say I know

you Mr. Trollop. That is to say, one may suggest a thing to Mr. Trollop which it would not do to suggest to

Mr. Blank. Mr. Trollop, you are pledged to support the Indigent Congressmen's Retroactive Appropriation

which is to come up, either in this or the next session. You do not deny that, even in public. The man that will

"But he will not vote for your corrupt measure, nevertheless, madam!" exclaimed Mr. Trollop, rising from his

"Ah, but he will. Sit down again, and let me explain why. Oh, come, don't behave so. It is very unpleasant.

Now be good, and you shall have, the missing page of your great speech. Here it is!"and she displayed a

Mr. Trollop turned immediately back from the threshold. It might have been gladness that flashed into his

face; it might have been something else; but at any rate there was much astonishment mixed with it.

"Now," she said, "you will know whether this is the handwriting or not. You know it is the handwriting. Now

if you will listen, you will know that this must be the list of statistics which was to be the 'nub' of your great

effort, and the accompanying blast the beginning of the burst of eloquence which was continued on the next

"This is perfectly astounding. Still, what is all this to me? It is nothing. It does not concern me. The speech is

made, and there an end. I did break down for a moment, and in a rather uncomfortable place, since I had led

up to those statistics with some grandeur; the hiatus was pleasanter to the House and the galleries than it was

to me. But it is no matter now. A week has passed; the jests about it ceased three or four days ago. The, whole

"But you apologized; and promised the statistics for next day. Why didn't you keep your promise."

"The matter was not of sufficient consequence. The time was gone by to produce an effect with them."

"But I hear that other friends of the Soldiers' Pension Bill desire them very much. I think you ought to let

"Miss Hawkins, this silly blunder of my copyist evidently has more interest for you than it has for me. I will

send my private secretary to you and let him discuss the subject with you at length."

"Of course he did. Why all these questions? Tell mehow did you get hold of that page of manuscript? That

"I'm coming to that." Then she said, much as if she were talking to herself: "It does seem like taking a deal of

unnecessary pains, for a body to hire another body to construct a great speech for him and then go and get

"Why I am sure I mean no harmno harm to anybody in the world. I am certain that I overheard the Hon.

Mr. Buckstone either promise to write your great speech for you or else get some other competent person to

"This is perfectly absurd, madam, perfectly absurd!" and Mr. Trollop affected a laugh of derision.

"Why, the thing has occurred before now. I mean that I have heard that Congressmen have sometimes hired

literary grubs to build speeches for them. Now didn't I overhear a conversation like that I spoke of?"

"Pshaw! Why of course you may have overheard some such jesting nonsense. But would one be in earnest

"Well if it was only a joke, why did you make a serious matter of it? Why did you get the speech written for

"Come, play out your jest, Miss Hawkins. I can't understand what you are contrivingbut it seems to

"I will, I assure you; but I hope to make the matter entertaining to you, too. Your private secretary never

"Yes, I can. I wrote your speech myself, and you read it from my manuscript. There, now!"

Mr. Trollop did not spring to his feet and smite his brow with his hand while a cold sweat broke out all over

him and the color forsook his face no, he only said, "Good God!" and looked greatly astonished.

Laura handed him her commonplacebook and called his attention to the fact that the handwriting there and

the handwriting of this speech were the same. He was shortly convinced. He laid the book aside and said,

"Well, the wonderful tragedy is done, and it transpires that I am indebted to you for my late eloquence. What

of it? What was all this for and what does it amount to after all? What do you propose to do about it?"

"Oh nothing. It is only a bit of pleasantry. When I overheard that conversation I took an early opportunity to

ask Mr. Buckstone if he knew of anybody who might want a speech writtenI had a friend, and so forth and

so on. I was the friend, myself; I thought I might do you a good turn then and depend on you to do me one by

and by. I never let Mr. Buckstone have the speech till the last moment, and when you hurried off to the House

"And now perhaps you think that if I refuse to support your bill, you will make a grand exposure?"

"Well I had not thought of that. I only kept back the page for the mere fun of the thing; but since you mention

"My dear Miss Hawkins, if you were to give out that you composed my speech, you know very well that

people would say it was only your raillery, your fondness for putting a victim in the pillory and amusing the

public at his expense. It is too flimsy, Miss Hawkins, for a person of your fine inventive talentcontrive an

"It is easily done, Mr. Trollop. I will hire a man, and pin this page on his breast, and label it, "The Missing

Fragment of the Hon. Mr. Trollop's Great Speechwhich speech was written and composed by Miss Laura

Hawkins under a secret understanding for one hundred dollarsand the money has not been paid. And I will

pin round about it notes in my handwriting, which I will procure from prominent friends of mine for the

occasion; also your printed speech in the Globe, showing the connection between its bracketed hiatus and my

Fragment; and I give you my word of honor that I will stand that human bulletin board in the rotunda of the

capitol and make him stay there a week! You see you are premature, Mr. Trollop, the wonderful tragedy is

Mr Trollop opened his eyes rather widely at this novel aspect of the case. He got up and walked the floor and

gave himself a moment for reflection. Then he stopped and studied Laura's face a while, and ended by saying:

"Then don't put me to the test, Mr. Trollop. But let's drop the matter. I have had my joke and you've borne the

infliction becomingly enough. It spoils a jest to harp on it after one has had one's laugh. I would much rather

"So would I, now, my clandestine amanuensis. Compared with some other subjects, even your bill is a

"Very good indeed! I thought. I could persuade you. Now I am sure you will be generous to the poor negro

"Yes, I feel more tenderly toward the oppressed colored man than I did. Shall we bury the hatchet and be

good friends and respect each other's little secrets, on condition that I vote Aye on the measure?"

"Oh, yes! You may have it now. I haven't any, more use for it." She picked up the page of manuscript, but she

reconsidered her intention of handing it to him, and said, "But never mind; I will keep it close; no one shall

Mr. Trollop looked disappointed. But presently made his adieux, and had got as far as the hall, when

something occurred to Laura. She said to herself, "I don't simply want his vote under compulsionhe might

vote aye, but work against the bill in secret, for revenge; that man is unscrupulous enough to do anything. I

must have his hearty cooperation as well as his vote. There is only one way to get that."

"I value your vote, Mr. Trollop, but I value your influence more. You are able to help a measure along in

many ways, if you choose. I want to ask you to work for the bill as well as vote for it."

"Yes, I know it isespecially in Congress. Now there is no use in you and I dealing in pretenses and going at

matters in roundabout ways. We know each otherdisguises are nonsense. Let us be plain. I will make it

"Don't make it unnecessarily plain, please. There are little proprieties that are best preserved. What do you

"Now," said she, "these gentlemen are to vote and work for the bill, simply out of love for the negroand

out of pure generosity I have put in a relative of each as a member of the University incorporation. They will

handle a million or so of money, officially, but will receive no salaries. A larger number of statesmen are to,

vote and work for the billalso out of love for the negrogentlemen of but moderate influence, theseand

out of pure generosity I am to see that relatives of theirs have positions in the University, with salaries, and

good ones, too. You will vote and work for the bill, from mere affection for the negro, and I desire to testify

my gratitude becomingly. Make free choice. Have you any friend whom you would like to present with a

"That same old brotherinlaw, you good unselfish provider! I have heard of him often, through my agents.

How regularly he does 'turn up,' to be sure. He could deal with those millions virtuously, and withal with

"Oh, no," said the gentleman, facetiously, "we are very humble, very humble in our desires; we want no

money; we labor solely, for our country and require no reward but the luxury of an applauding conscience.

Make him one of those poor hard working unsalaried corporators and let him do every body good with those

millionsand go hungry himself! I will try to exert a little influence in favor of the bill."

Arrived at home, Mr. Trollop sat down and thought it all oversomething after this fashion: it is about the

"My reputation is getting a little damaged, and I meant to clear it up brilliantly with an exposure of this bill at

the supreme moment, and ride back into Congress on the eclat of it; and if I had that bit of manuscript, I

would do it yet. It would be more money in my pocket in the end, than my brotherinlaw will get out of that

incorporatorship, fat as it is. But that sheet of paper is out of my reachshe will never let that get out of her

hands. And what a mountain it is! It blocks up my road, completely. She was going to hand it to me, once.

Why didn't she! Must be a deep woman. Deep devil! That is what she is; a beautiful deviland perfectly

fearless, too. The idea of her pinning that paper on a man and standing him up in the rotunda looks absurd at

a first glance. But she would do it! She is capable of doing anything. I went there hoping she would try to

bribe megood solid capital that would be in the exposure. Well, my prayer was answered; she did try to

bribe me; and I made the best of a bad bargain and let her. I am check mated. I must contrive something

fresh to get back to Congress on. Very well; a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush; I will work for the

As soon as Mr. Trollop had taken his leave, Laura ran to Senator Dilworthy and began to speak, but he

interrupted her and said distressfully, without even turning from his writing to look at her:

"Only half an hour! You gave it up early, child. However, it was best, it was bestI'm sure it was bestand

"I've made him promise on honor to think about a compromise tonight and come and tell me his decision in

Nonsense, uncle. I've made him engage to let the Tennessee Land bill utterly alone!"

"No matter, it's true anyway. Now we can march into Congress with drums beating and colors flying!"

"Wellwellwell. I'm sadly bewildered, sadly bewildered. I can't understand it at allthe most

extraordinary woman that everit's a great day, it's a great day. Theretherelet me put my hand in

"Oh bother the poor negro, uncle! Put it in your speech. Goodnight, goodbyewe'll marshal our forces

Laura reflected a while, when she was alone, and then fell to laughing, peacefully.

"Everybody works for me,"so ran her thought. "It was a good idea to make Buckstone lead Mr. Trollop on

to get a great speech written for him; and it was a happy part of the same idea for me to copy the speech after

Mr. Buckstone had written it, and then keep back a page. Mr. B. was very complimentary to me when

Trollop's breakdown in the House showed him the object of my mysterious scheme; I think he will say, still

"But what a coward the man was, to believe I would have exposed that page in the rotunda, and so exposed

myself. However, I don't knowI don't know. I will think a moment. Suppose he voted no; suppose the bill

failed; that is to suppose this stupendous game lost forever, that I have played so desperately for; suppose

people came around pitying meodious! And he could have saved me by his single voice. Yes, I would have

exposed him! What would I care for the talk that that would have made about me when I was gone to Europe

with Selby and all the world was busy with my history and my dishonor? It would be almost happiness to

The very next day, sure enough, the campaign opened. In due course, the Speaker of the House reached that

Order of Business which is termed "Notices of Bills," and then the Hon. Mr. Buckstone rose in his place and

gave notice of a bill "To Found and Incorporate the Knobs Industrial University," and then sat down without

saying anything further. The busy gentlemen in the reporters' gallery jotted a line in their notebooks, ran to

the telegraphic desk in a room which communicated with their own writingparlor, and then hurried back to

their places in the gallery; and by the time they had resumed their seats, the line which they had delivered to

the operator had been read in telegraphic offices in towns and cities hundreds of miles away. It was

"The child is born. Buckstone gives notice of the thieving Knobs University job. It is said the noses have

For some time the correspondents had been posting their several journals upon the alleged disreputable nature

of the bill, and furnishing daily reports of the Washington gossip concerning it. So the next morning, nearly

every newspaper of character in the land assailed the measure and hurled broadsides of invective at Mr.

Buckstone. The Washington papers were more respectful, as usualand conciliatory, also, as usual. They

generally supported measures, when it was possible; but when they could not they "deprecated" violent

They always deprecated, when there was trouble ahead. However, 'The Washington Daily LoveFeast' hailed

the bill with warm approbation. This was Senator Balaam's paperor rather, "Brother" Balaam, as he was

popularly called, for he had been a clergyman, in his day; and he himself and all that he did still emitted an

odor of sanctity now that he had diverged into journalism and politics. He was a power in the Congressional

prayer meeting, and in all movements that looked to the spread of religion and temperance.

His paper supported the new bill with gushing affection; it was a noble measure; it was a just measure; it was

a generous measure; it was a pure measure, and that surely should recommend it in these corrupt times; and

finally, if the nature of the bill were not known at all, the 'Love Feast' would support it anyway, and

unhesitatingly, for the fact that Senator Dilworthy was the originator of the measure was a guaranty that it

Senator Dilworthy was so anxious to know what the New York papers would say about the bill; that he had

arranged to have synopses of their editorials telegraphed to him; he could not wait for the papers themselves

to crawl along down to Washington by a mail train which has never run over a cow since the road was built;

for the reason that it has never been able to overtake one. It carries the usual "cowcatcher" in front of the

locomotive, but this is mere ostentation. It ought to be attached to the rear car, where it could do some good;

but instead, no provision is made there for the protection of the traveling public, and hence it is not a matter

of surprise that cows so frequently climb aboard that train and among the passengers.

The Senator read his dispatches aloud at the breakfast table. Laura was troubled beyond measure at their tone,

"Oh, not at all, not at all, my child. It is just what we want. Persecution is the one thing needful, nowall the

other forces are secured. Give us newspaper persecution enough, and we are safe. Vigorous persecution will

alone carry a bill sometimes, dear; and when you start with a strong vote in the first place, persecution comes

in with double effect. It scares off some of the weak supporters, true, but it soon turns strong ones into

stubborn ones. And then, presently, it changes the tide of public opinion. The great public is weakminded;

the great public is sentimental; the great public always turns around and weeps for an odious murderer, and

prays forhim, and carries flowers to his prison and besieges the governor with appeals to his clemency, as

soon as the papers begin to howl for that man's blood.In a word, the great puttyhearted public loves to

'gush,' and there is no such darling opportunity to gush as a case of persecution affords."

"Well, uncle, dear; if your theory is right, let us go into raptures, for nobody can ask a heartier persecution

"I am not so sure of that, my daughter. I don't entirely like the tone of some of these remarks. They lack vim,

they lack venom. Here is one calls it a 'questionable measure.' Bah, there is no strength in that. This one is

better; it calls it 'highway robbery.' That sounds something like. But now this one seems satisfied to call it an

'iniquitous scheme'. 'Iniquitous' does not exasperate anybody; it is weakpuerile. The ignorant will imagine

it to be intended for a compliment. But this other onethe one I read lasthas the true ring: 'This vile, dirty

effort to rob the public treasury, by the kites and vultures that now infest the filthy den called Congress'that

is admirable, admirable! We must have more of that sort. But it will comeno fear of that; they're not

"Uncle, you and Brother Balaam are bosom friendswhy don't you get his paper to persecute us, too?"

"It isn't worth while, my, daughter. His support doesn't hurt a bill. Nobody reads his editorials but himself.

But I wish the New York papers would talk a little plainer. It is annoying to have to wait a week for them to

At the proper hour, according to his previous notice, Mr. Buckstone duly introduced his bill entitled "An Act

to Found and Incorporate the Knobs Industrial University," moved its proper reference, and sat down.

Habitues of the House comprehended that this long, lightningheeled word signified that if there was no

objection, the bill would take the customary course of a measure of its nature, and be referred to the

Committee on Benevolent Appropriations, and that it was accordingly so referred. Strangers merely supposed

The reporters immediately telegraphed the introduction of the bill.And they added:

The storm came, and during ten days it waxed more and more violent day by day. The great "Negro

University Swindle" became the one absorbing topic of conversation throughout the Union. Individuals

denounced it, journals denounced it, public meetings denounced it, the pictorial papers caricatured its friends,

the whole nation seemed to be growing frantic over it. Meantime the Washington correspondents were

SATURDAY. "Congressmen Jex and Fluke are wavering; it is believed they will desert the execrable bill."

"Three desertions. The University thieves are getting scared, though they will not own it."

"The leaders are growing stubbornthey swear they can carry it, but it is now almost certain that they no

"Public sentiment seems changing, a trifle in favor of the bill but only a trifle."

"It is whispered that the Hon. Mr. Trollop has gone over to the pirates. It is probably a canard. Mr. Trollop

has all along been the bravest and most efficient champion of virtue and the people against the bill, and the

"With characteristic treachery, the truckling and pusillanimous reptile, CrippledSpeech Trollop, has gone

over to the enemy. It is contended, now, that he has been a friend to the bill, in secret, since the day it was

introduced, and has had bankable reasons for being so; but he himself declares that he has gone over because

the malignant persecution of the bill by the newspapers caused him to study its provisions with more care

than he had previously done, and this close examination revealed the fact that the measure is one in every

way worthy of support. (Pretty thin!) It cannot be denied that this desertion has had a damaging effect. Jex

and Fluke have returned to their iniquitous allegiance, with six or eight others of lesser calibre, and it is

reported and believed that Tubbs and Huffy are ready to go back. It is feared that the University swindle is

"It is said that the committee will report the bill back tomorrow. Both sides are marshaling their forces, and

the fight on this bill is evidently going to be the hottest of the session.All Washington is boiling."

"It's easy enough for another fellow to talk," said Harry, despondingly, after he had put Philip in possession

of his view of the case. "It's easy enough to say 'give her up,' if you don't care for her. What am I going to do

It seemed to Harry that it was a situation requiring some active measures. He couldn't realize that he had

fallen hopelessly in love without some rights accruing to him for the possession of the object of his passion.

Quiet resignation under relinquishment of any thing he wanted was not in his line. And when it appeared to

him that his surrender of Laura would be the withdrawal of the one barrier that kept her from ruin, it was

Harry had the most buoyant confidence in his own projects always; he saw everything connected with

himself in a large way and in rosy lines. This predominance of the imagination over the judgment gave that

appearance of exaggeration to his conversation and to his communications with regard to himself, which

sometimes conveyed the impression that he was not speaking the truth. His acquaintances had been known to

say that they invariably allowed a half for shrinkage in his statements, and held the other half under

Philip in this case could not tell from Harry's story exactly how much encouragement Laura had given him,

nor what hopes he might justly have of winning her. He had never seen him desponding before. The "brag"

appeared to be all taken out of him, and his airy manner only asserted itself now and then in a comical

Philip wanted time to look about him before he decided what to do. He was not familiar with Washington,

and it was difficult to adjust his feelings and perceptions to its peculiarities. Coming out of the sweet sanity of

the Bolton household, this was by contrast the maddest Vanity Fair one could conceive. It seemed to him a

feverish, unhealthy atmosphere in which lunacy would be easily developed. He fancied that everybody

attached to himself an exaggerated importance, from the fact of being at the national capital, the center of

political influence, the fountain of patronage, preferment, jobs and opportunities.

People were introduced to each other as from this or that state, not from cities or towns, and this gave a

largeness to their representative feeling. All the women talked politics as naturally and glibly as they talk

fashion or literature elsewhere. There was always some exciting topic at the Capitol, or some huge slander

was rising up like a miasmatic exhalation from the Potomac, threatening to settle no one knew exactly where.

Every other person was an aspirant for a place, or, if he had one, for a better place, or more pay; almost every

other one had some claim or interest or remedy to urge; even the women were all advocates for the

advancement of some person, and they violently espoused or denounced this or that measure as it would

Love, travel, even death itself, waited on the chances of the dies daily thrown in the two Houses, and the

committee rooms there. If the measure went through, love could afford to ripen into marriage, and longing for

foreign travel would have fruition; and it must have been only eternal hope springing in the breast that kept

alive numerous old claimants who for years and years had besieged the doors of Congress, and who looked as

if they needed not so much an appropriation of money as six feet of ground. And those who stood so long

waiting for success to bring them death were usually those who had a just claim.

Representing states and talking of national and even international affairs, as familiarly as neighbors at home

talk of poor crops and the extravagance of their ministers, was likely at first to impose upon Philip as to the

There was a little newspaper editor from Phil's native town, the assistant on a Peddletonian weekly, who

made his little annual joke about the "first egg laid on our table," and who was the menial of every tradesman

in the village and under bonds to him for frequent "puffs," except the undertaker, about whose employment

he was recklessly facetious. In Washington he was an important man, correspondent, and clerk of two house

committees, a "worker" in politics, and a confident critic of every woman and every man in Washington. He

would be a consul no doubt by and by, at some foreign port, of the language of which he was

ignorantthough if ignorance of language were a qualification he might have been a consul at home. His

easy familiarity with great men was beautiful to see, and when Philip learned what a tremendous underground

influence this little ignoramus had, he no longer wondered at the queer appointments and the queerer

Philip was not long in discovering that people in Washington did not differ much from other people; they had

the same meannesses, generosities, and tastes: A Washington boarding house had the odor of a boarding

Col. Sellers was as unchanged as any one Philip saw whom he had known elsewhere. Washington appeared

to be the native element of this man. His pretentions were equal to any he encountered there. He saw nothing

in its society that equalled that of Hawkeye, he sat down to no table that could not be unfavorably contrasted

with his own at home; the most airy scheme inflated in the hot air of the capital only reached in magnitude

"The country is getting along very well," he said to Philip, "but our public men are too timid. What we want

is more money. I've told Boutwell so. Talk about basing the currency on gold; you might as well base it on

pork. Gold is only one product. Base it on everything! You've got to do something for the West. How am I to

move my crops? We must have improvements. Grant's got the idea. We want a canal from the James River to

It was difficult to get the Colonel off from these large themes when he was once started, but Philip brought

"No," he said, "I haven't noticed much. We've been so busy about this University. It will make Laura rich

with the rest of us, and she has done nearly as much as if she were a man. She has great talent, and will make

a big match. I see the foreign ministers and that sort after her. Yes, there is talk, always will be about a pretty

woman so much in public as she is. Tough stories come to me, but I put'em away. 'Taint likely one of Si

Hawkins's children would do thatfor she is the same as a child of his. I told her, though, to go slow," added

the Colonel, as if that mysterious admonition from him would set everything right.

"Know all about him. Fine fellow. But he's got a wife; and I told him, as a friend, he'd better sheer off from

But Philip was not long in learning the truth. Courted as Laura was by a certain class and still admitted into

society, that, nevertheless, buzzed with disreputable stories about her, she had lost character with the best

people. Her intimacy with Selby was open gossip, and there were winks and thrustings of the tongue in any

group of men when she passed by. It was clear enough that Harry's delusion must be broken up, and that no

such feeble obstacle as his passion could interpose would turn Laura from her fate. Philip determined to see

her, and put himself in possession of the truth, as he suspected it, in order to show Harry his folly.

Laura, after her last conversation with Harry, had a new sense of her position. She had noticed before the

signs of a change in manner towards her, a little less respect perhaps from men, and an avoidance by women.

She had attributed this latter partly to jealousy of her, for no one is willing to acknowledge a fault in himself

when a more agreeable motive can be found for the estrangement of his acquaintances. But now, if society

had turned on her, she would defy it. It was not in her nature to shrink. She knew she had been wronged, and

What she heard of Col. Selby's proposed departure alarmed her more than anything else, and she calmly

determined that if he was deceiving her the second time it should be the last. Let society finish the tragedy if

it liked; she was indifferent what came after. At the first opportunity, she charged Selby with his intention to

He had not thought of going to Europe. He had only been amusing himself with Sellers' schemes. He swore

that as soon as she succeeded with her bill, he would fly with her to any part of the world.

She did not quite believe him, for she saw that he feared her, and she began to suspect that his were the

She only watched his movements day by day, and always held herself ready to act promptly.

When Philip came into the presence of this attractive woman, he could not realize that she was the subject of

all the scandal he had heard. She received him with quite the old Hawkeye openness and cordiality, and fell

to talking at once of their little acquaintance there; and it seemed impossible that he could ever say to her

what he had come determined to say. Such a man as Philip has only one standard by which to judge women.

Laura recognized that fact no doubt. The better part of her woman's nature saw it. Such a man might, years

ago, not now, have changed her nature, and made the issue of her life so different, even after her cruel

abandonment. She had a dim feeling of this, and she would like now to stand well with him. The spark of

truth and honor that was left in her was elicited by his presence. It was this influence that governed her

"I have come," said Philip in his direct manner, "from my friend Mr. Brierly. You are not ignorant of his

"But perhaps you do not know, you who have so much admiration, how sincere and overmastering his love is

for you?" Philip would not have spoken so plainly, if he had in mind anything except to draw from Laura

"And is sincere love so rare, Mr. Sterling?" asked Laura, moving her foot a little, and speaking with a shade

"Perhaps not in Washington," replied Philip,tempted into a similar tone. "Excuse my bluntness," he

continued, "but would the knowledge of his love; would his devotion, make any difference to you in your

Laura's face flushed with anger, or shame; she looked steadily at Philip and began,

"By the right of friendship," interrupted Philip stoutly. "It may matter little to you. It is everything to him. He

has a Quixotic notion that you would turn back from what is before you for his sake. You cannot be ignorant

of what all the city is talking of." Philip said this determinedly and with some bitterness.

It was a full minute before Laura spoke. Both had risen, Philip as if to go, and Laura in suppressed

Yes, I know. I perfectly understand what you mean. Mr. Brierly is nothingsimply nothing. He is a moth

singed, that is allthe trifler with women thought he was a wasp. I have no pity for him, not the least. You

may tell him not to make a fool of himself, and to keep away. I say this on your account, not his. You are not

like him. It is enough for me that you want it so. Mr. Sterling," she continued, looking up; and there were

tears in her eyes that contradicted the hardness of her language, "you might not pity him if you knew my

history; perhaps you would not wonder at some things you hear. No; it is useless to ask me why it must be so.

You can't make a life oversociety wouldn't let you if you wouldand mine must be lived as it is. There,

Philip went away with his heart lightened about Harry, but profoundly saddened by the glimpse of what this

woman might have been. He told Harry all that was necessary of the conversationshe was bent on going

her own way, he had not the ghost of a chancehe was a fool, she had said, for thinking he had.

And Harry accepted it meekly, and made up his own mind that Philip didn't know much about women.

The galleries of the House were packed, on the momentous day, not because the reporting of an important bill

back by a committee was a thing to be excited about, if the bill were going to take the ordinary course

afterward; it would be like getting excited over the empaneling of a coroner's jury in a murder case, instead of

saving up one's emotions for the grander occasion of the hanging of the accused, two years later, after all the

But suppose you understand that this coroner's jury is going to turn out to be a vigilance committee in

disguise, who will hear testimony for an hour and then hang the murderer on the spot? That puts a different

aspect upon the matter. Now it was whispered that the legitimate forms of procedure usual in the House, and

which keep a bill hanging along for days and even weeks, before it is finally passed upon, were going to be

overruled, in this case, and short work made of the, measure; and so, what was beginning as a mere inquest

In the course of the day's business the Order of "Reports of Committees" was finally reached and when the

weary crowds heard that glad announcement issue from the Speaker's lips they ceased to fret at the dragging

delay, and plucked up spirit. The Chairman of the Committee on Benevolent Appropriations rose and made

his report, and just then a blue uniformed brassmounted little page put a note into his hand.

It was from Senator Dilworthy, who had appeared upon the floor of the House for a moment and flitted away

Mr. Buckstone had reported the bills from his committee, one by one, leaving the bill to the last. When the

House had voted upon the acceptance or rejection of the report upon all but it, and the question now being

upon its disposalMr. Buckstone begged that the House would give its attention to a few remarks which he

desired to make. His committee had instructed him to report the bill favorably; he wished to explain the

nature of the measure, and thus justify the committee's action; the hostility roused by the press would then

disappear, and the bill would shine forth in its true and noble character. He said that its provisions were

simple. It incorporated the Knobs Industrial University, locating it in East Tennessee, declaring it open to all

persons without distinction of sex, color or religion, and committing its management to a board of perpetual

trustees, with power to fill vacancies in their own number. It provided for the erection of certain buildings for

the University, dormitories, lecturehalls, museums, libraries, laboratories, workshops, furnaces, and mills.

It provided also for the purchase of sixtyfive thousand acres of land, (fully described) for the purposes of the

University, in the Knobs of East Tennessee. And it appropriated [blank] dollars for the purchase of the Land,

which should be the property of the national trustees in trust for the uses named.

Every effort had been made to secure the refusal of the whole amount of the property of the Hawkins heirs in

the Knobs, some seventyfive thousand acres Mr. Buckstone said. But Mr. Washington Hawkins (one of the

heirs) objected. He was, indeed, very reluctant to sell any part of the land at any price; and indeedthis

reluctance was justifiable when one considers how constantly and how greatly the property is rising in value.

What the South needed, continued Mr. Buckstone, was skilled labor. Without that it would be unable to

develop its mines, build its roads, work to advantage and without great waste its fruitful land, establish

manufactures or enter upon a prosperous industrial career. Its laborers were almost altogether unskilled.

Change them into intelligent, trained workmen, and you increased at once the capital, the resources of the

entire south, which would enter upon a prosperity hitherto unknown. In five years the increase in local wealth

would not only reimburse the government for the outlay in this appropriation, but pour untold wealth into the

This was the material view, and the least important in the honorable gentleman's opinion. [Here he referred to

some notes furnished him by Senator Dilworthy, and then continued.] God had given us the care of these

colored millions. What account should we render to Him of our stewardship? We had made them free. Should

we leave them ignorant? We had cast them upon their own resources. Should we leave them without tools?

We could not tell what the intentions of Providence are in regard to these peculiar people, but our duty was

plain. The Knobs Industrial University would be a vast school of modern science and practice, worthy of a

great nation. It would combine the advantages of Zurich, Freiburg, Creuzot and the Sheffield Scientific.

Providence had apparently reserved and set apart the Knobs of East Tennessee for this purpose. What else

were they for? Was it not wonderful that for more than thirty years, over a generation, the choicest portion of

them had remained in one family, untouched, as if, separated for some great use!

It might be asked why the government should buy this land, when it had millions of yes, more than the

railroad companies desired, which, it might devote to this purpose? He answered, that the government had no

such tract of land as this. It had nothing comparable to it for the purposes of the University: This was to be a

school of mining, of engineering, of the working of metals, of chemistry, zoology, botany, manufactures,

agriculture, in short of all the complicated industries that make a state great. There was no place for the

location of such a school like the Knobs of East Tennessee. The hills abounded in metals of all sorts, iron in

all its combinations, copper, bismuth, gold and silver in small quantities, platinum hebelieved, tin,

aluminium; it was covered with forests and strange plants; in the woods were found the coon, the opossum,

the fox, the deer and many other animals who roamed in the domain of natural history; coal existed in

enormous quantity and no doubt oil; it was such a place for the practice of agricultural experiments that any

student who had been successful there would have an easy task in any other portion of the country.

No place offered equal facilities for experiments in mining, metallurgy, engineering. He expected to live to

see the day, when the youth of the south would resort to its mines, its workshops, its labratories, its furnaces

A noisy and rather illnatured debate followed, now, and lasted hour after hour. The friends of the bill were

instructed by the leaders to make no efort to check it; it was deemed better strategy to tire out the opposition;

it was decided to vote down every proposition to adjourn, and so continue the sitting into the night;

opponents might desert, then, one by one and weaken their party, for they had no personal stake in the bill.

Sunset came, and still the fight went on; the gas was lit, the crowd in the galleries began to thin, but the

contest continued; the crowd returned, by and by, with hunger and thirst appeased, and aggravated the hungry

and thirsty House by looking contented and comfortable; but still the wrangle lost nothing of its bitterness.

Recesses were moved plaintively by the opposition, and invariably voted down by the University army.

At midnight the House presented a spectacle calculated to interest a stranger. The great galleries were still

throngedthough only with men, now; the bright colors that had made them look like hanging gardens were

gone, with the ladies. The reporters' gallery, was merely occupied by one or two watchful sentinels of the

quilldriving guild; the main body cared nothing for a debate that had dwindled to a mere vaporing of dull

speakers and now and then a brief quarrel over a point of order; but there was an unusually large attendance

of journalists in the reporters' waitingroom, chatting, smoking, and keeping on the 'qui vive' for the general

irruption of the Congressional volcano that must come when the time was ripe for it. Senator Dilworthy and

Philip were in the Diplomatic Gallery; Washington sat in the public gallery, and Col. Sellers was, not far

away. The Colonel had been flying about the corridors and buttonholing Congressmen all the evening, and

believed that he had accomplished a world of valuable service; but fatigue was telling upon him, now, and he

was quiet and speechlessfor once. Below, a few Senators lounged upon the sofas set apart for visitors, and

talked with idle Congressmen. A dreary member was speaking; the presiding officer was nodding; here and

there little knots of members stood in the aisles, whispering together; all about the House others sat in all the

various attitudes that express weariness; some, tilted back, had one or more legs disposed upon their desks;

some sharpened pencils indolently; some scribbled aimlessly; some yawned and stretched; a great many lay

upon their breasts upon the desks, sound asleep and gently snoring. The flooding gaslight from the fancifully

wrought roof poured down upon the tranquil scene. Hardly a sound disturbed the stillness, save the

monotonous eloquence of the gentleman who occupied the floor. Now and then a warrior of the opposition

Mr. Buckstone began to think it might be safe, now, to "proceed to business." He consulted with Trollop and

one or two others. Senator Dilworthy descended to the floor of the House and they went to meet him. After a

brief comparison of notes, the Congressmen sought their seats and sent pages about the House with messages

to friends. These latter instantly roused up, yawned, and began to look alert. The moment the floor was

unoccupied, Mr. Buckstone rose, with an injured look, and said it was evident that the opponents of the bill

were merely talking against time, hoping in this unbecoming way to tire out the friends of the measure and so

defeat it. Such conduct might be respectable enough in a village debating society, but it was trivial among

statesmen, it was out of place in so august an assemblage as the House of Representatives of the United

States. The friends of the bill had been not only willing that its opponents should express their opinions, but

had strongly desired it. They courted the fullest and freest discussion; but it seemed to him that this fairness

was but illy appreciated, since gentlemen were capable of taking advantage of it for selfish and unworthy

The instant Mr. Buckstone sat down, the storm burst forth. A dozen gentlemen sprang to their feet.

The "previous question," that hated gag, was moved and carried. All debate came to a sudden end, of course.

Then the vote was taken on the adoption of the report and it carried by a surprising majority.

Mr. Buckstone got the floor again and moved that the rules be suspended and the bill read a first time.

Clamor of Voices. "Move we adjourn! Second the motion! Adjourn! Adjourn! Order! Order!"

The Speaker, (after using his gavel vigorously)"It is moved and seconded that the House do now adjourn.

It was decided to vote upon the adjournment by ayes and nays. This was in earnest. The excitement was

furious. The galleries were in commotion in an instant, the reporters swarmed to their places. Idling members

of the House flocked to their seats, nervous gentlemen sprang to their feet, pages flew hither and thither, life

and animation were visible everywhere, all the long ranks of faces in the building were kindled.

The voting began, and every sound. ceased but the calling if the names and the "Aye!" "No!" "No!" "Aye!" of

the responses. There was not a movement in the House; the people seemed to hold their breath.

The voting ceased, and then there was an interval of dead silence while the clerk made up his count. There

The Speaker"The rules are suspended, the motion is carriedfirst reading of the bill!"

By one impulse the galleries broke forth into stormy applause, and even some of the members of the House

were not wholly able to restrain their feelings. The Speaker's gavel came to the rescue and his clear voice

"Order, gentlemen! The House will come to order! If spectators offend again, the Sergeantatarms will

Then he cast his eyes aloft and gazed at some object attentively for a moment. All eyes followed the direction

"Let the Sergeantat Arms inform the gentleman that his conduct is an infringement of the dignity of the

Houseand one which is not warranted by the state of the weather." Poor Sellers was the culprit. He sat in

the front seat of the gallery, with his arms and his tired body overflowing the balustradesound asleep, dead

to all excitements, all disturbances. The fluctuations of the Washington weather had influenced his dreams,

perhaps, for during the recent tempest of applause he had hoisted his gingham umbrella, and calmly gone on

with his slumbers. Washington Hawkins had seen the act, but was not near enough at hand to save his friend,

and no one who was near enough desired to spoil the effect. But a neighbor stirred up the Colonel, now that

the House had its eye upon him, and the great speculator furled his tent like the Arab. He said:

"Bless my soul, I'm so absentminded when I, get to thinking! I never wear an umbrella in the housedid

anybody 'notice it'? Whatasleep? Indeed? And did you wake me sir? Thank youthank you very much

indeed. It might have fallen out of my hands and been injured. Admirable article, sirpresent from a friend

in Hong Kong; one doesn't come across silk like that in this countryit's the realYoung Hyson, I'm told."

By this time the incident was forgotten, for the House was at war again. Victory was almost in sight, now,

and the friends of the bill threw themselves into their work with enthusiasm. They soon moved and carried its

second reading, and after a strong, sharp fight, carried a motion to go into Committee of the whole. The

Now the contest raged hotter than everfor the authority that compels order when the House sits as a House,

is greatly diminished when it sits as Committee. The main fight came upon the filling of the blanks with the

Buckstone"Mr. Chairman, I move you, sir, that the words 'three millions of' be inserted."

Mr. Hadley"Mr. Chairman, I move that the words two and a half dollars be inserted."

Mr. Clawson"Mr. Chairman, I move the insertion of the words five and twenty cents, as representing the

The question, according to rule, was taken upon the smallest sum first. It was lost.

And then upon the three millions. After a vigorous battle that lasted a considerable time, this motion was

Then, clause by clause the bill was read, discussed, and amended in trifling particulars, and now the

The moment the House had resumed its functions and received the report, Mr. Buckstone moved and carried

The same bitter war over the sum to be paid was fought over again, and now that the ayes and nays could be

called and placed on record, every man was compelled to vote by name on the three millions, and indeed on

every paragraph of the bill from the enacting clause straight through. But as before, the friends of the measure

The supreme moment was come, now, but so sure was the result that not even a voice was raised to interpose

an adjournment. The enemy were totally demoralized. The bill was put upon its final passage almost without

dissent, and the calling of the ayes and nays began. When it was ended the triumph was completethe

twothirds vote held good, and a veto was impossible, as far as the House was concerned!

Mr. Buckstone resolved that now that the nail was driven home, he would clinch it on the other side and

make it stay forever. He moved a reconsideration of the vote by which the bill had passed. The motion was

lost, of course, and the great Industrial University act was an accomplished fact as far as it was in the power

There was no need to move an adjournment. The instant the last motion was decided, the enemies of the

University rose and flocked out of the Hall, talking angrily, and its friends flocked after them jubilant and

congratulatory. The galleries disgorged their burden, and presently the house was silent and deserted.

When Col. Sellers and Washington stepped out of the building they were surprised to find that the daylight

"Give me your hand, my boy! You're all right at last! You're a millionaire! At least you're going to be. The

thing is dead sure. Don't you bother about the Senate. Leave me and Dilworthy to take care of that. Run along

home, now, and tell Laura. Lord, it's magnificent newsperfectly magnificent! Run, now. I'll telegraph my

wife. She must come here and help me build a house. Everything's all right now!"

Washington was so dazed by his good fortune and so bewildered by the gaudy pageant of dreams that was

already trailing its long ranks through his brain, that he wandered he knew not where, and so loitered by the

way that when at last he reached home he woke to a sudden annoyance in the fact that his news must be old

to Laura, now, for of course Senator Dilworthy must have already been home and told her an hour before. He

"That is like the Duchess," said he. "Always cool; a body can't excite hercan't keep her excited, anyway.

Now she has gone off to sleep again, as comfortably as if she were used to picking up a million dollars every

Then he vent to bed. But he could not sleep; so he got up and wrote a long, rapturous letter to Louise, and

Philip left the capitol and walked up Pennsylvania Avenue in company with Senator Dilworthy. It was a

bright spring morning, the air was soft and inspiring; in the deepening wayside green, the pink flush of the

blossoming peach trees, the soft suffusion on the heights of Arlington, and the breath of the warm south wind

The Senator took off his hat and seemed to open his soul to the sweet influences of the morning. After the

heat and noise of the chamber, under its dull gasilluminated glass canopy, and the all night struggle of

passion and feverish excitement there, the open, tranquil world seemed like Heaven. The Senator was not in

an exultant mood, but rather in a condition of holy joy, befitting a Christian statesman whose benevolent

plans Providence has made its own and stamped with approval. The great battle had been fought, but the

measure had still to encounter the scrutiny of the Senate, and Providence sometimes acts differently in the

two Houses. Still the Senator was tranquil, for he knew that there is an esprit de corps in the Senate which

does not exist in the House, the effect of which is to make the members complaisant towards the projects of

each other, and to extend a mutual aid which in a more vulgar body would be called "logrolling."

"It is, under Providence, a good night's work, Mr. Sterling. The government has founded an institution which

will remove half the difficulty from the southern problem. And it is a good thing for the Hawkins heirs, a

"Do you think, Mr. Dilworthy, that the Hawkinses will get much of the money?" asked Philip innocently,

The Senator looked at his companion scrutinizingly for a moment to see if he meant any thing personal, and

"Undoubtedly, undoubtedly. I have had their interests greatly at heart. There will of course be a few

expenses, but the widow and orphans will realize all that Mr. Hawkins, dreamed of for them."

The birds were singing as they crossed the Presidential Square, now bright with its green turf and tender

foliage. After the two had gained the steps of the Senator's house they stood a moment, looking upon the

Entering the house, the Senator called a servant and said, "Tell Miss Laura that we are waiting to see her. I

ought to have sent a messenger on horseback half an hour ago," he added to Philip, "she will be transported

with our victory. You must stop to breakfast, and see the excitement." The servant soon came back, with a

The Senator and Philip both started up. In Laura's room there were the marks of a confused and hasty

departure, drawers half open, little articles strewn on the floor. The bed had not been disturbed. Upon inquiry

it appeared that Laura had not been at dinner, excusing herself to Mrs. Dilworthy on the plea of a violent

headache; that she made a request to the servants that she might not be disturbed.

The Senator was astounded. Philip thought at once of Col. Selby. Could Laura have run away with him? The

Senator thought not. In fact it could not be. Gen. Leffenwell, the member from New Orleans, had casually

told him at the house last night that Selby and his family went to New York yesterday morning and were to

Philip had another idea which, he did not mention. He seized his hat, and saying that he would go and see

what he could learn, ran to the lodgings of Harry; whom he had not seen since yesterday afternoon, when he

Harry was not in. He had gone out with a handbag before six o'clock yesterday, saying that he had to go to

New York, but should return next day. In Harry's~room on the table Philip found this note:

"Confound it," said "Phillip, "the noodle has fallen into her trap. And she promised she would let him alone."

He only stopped to send a note to Senator Dilworthy, telling him what he had found, and that he should go at

once to New York, and then hastened to the railway station. He had to wait an hour for a train, and when it

Philip was devoured with anxiety. Where could they, have gone? What was Laura's object in taking Harry?

Had the flight anything to do with Selby? Would Harry be such a fool as to be dragged into some public

It seemed as if the train would never reach Baltimore. Then there was a long delay at Havre de Grace. A hot

box had to be cooled at Wilmington. Would it never get on? Only in passing around the city of Philadelphia

did the train not seem to go slow. Philip stood upon the platform and watched for the Boltons' house, fancied

he could distinguish its roof among the trees, and wondered how Ruth would feel if she knew he was so near

Then came Jersey, everlasting Jersey, stupid irritating Jersey, where the passengers are always asking which

line they are on, and where they are to come out, and whether they have yet reached Elizabeth. Launched into

Jersey, one has a vague notion that he is on many lines and no one in particular, and that he is liable at any

moment to come to Elizabeth. He has no notion what Elizabeth is, and always resolves that the next time he

goes that way, he will look out of the window and see what it is like; but he never does. Or if he does, he

probably finds that it is Princeton or something of that sort. He gets annoyed, and never can see the use of

having different names for stations in Jersey. By and by. there is Newark, three or four Newarks apparently;

then marshes; then long rock cuttings devoted to the advertisements of 'patent medicines and readymade,

On the ferryboat Philip bought an evening paper from a boy crying "'Ere's the Evening Gram, all about the

Philip hastened at once to the Southern Hotel, where he found still a great state of excitement, and a thousand

different and exaggerated stories passing from mouth to mouth. The witnesses of the event had told it over so

many time that they had worked it up into a most dramatic scene, and embellished it with whatever could

heighten its awfulness. Outsiders had taken up invention also. The Colonel's wife had gone insane, they said.

The children had rushed into the parlor and rolled themselves in their father's blood. The hotel clerk said that

he noticed there was murder in the woman's eye when he saw her. A person who had met the woman on the

stairs felt a creeping sensation. Some thought Brierly was an accomplice, and that he had set the woman on to

kill his rival. Some said the woman showed the calmness and indifference of insanity.

Philip learned that Harry and Laura had both been taken to the city prison, and he went there; but he was not

admitted. Not being a newspaper reporter, he could not see either of them that night; but the officer

questioned him suspiciously and asked him who he was. He might perhaps see Brierly in the morning.

The latest editions of the evening papers had the result of the inquest. It was a plain enough case for the jury,

but they sat over it a long time, listening to the wrangling of the physicians. Dr. Puffer insisted that the man

died from the effects of the wound in the chest. Dr. Dobb as strongly insisted that the wound in the abdomen

caused death. Dr. Golightly suggested that in his opinion death ensued from a complication of the two

wounds and perhaps other causes. He examined the table waiter, as to whether Col. Selby ate any breakfast,

The jury finally threw themselves back upon the indisputable fact that Selby was dead, that either wound

would have killed him (admitted by the doctors), and rendered a verdict that he died from pistolshot wounds

The morning papers blazed with big type, and overflowed with details of the murder. The accounts in the

evening papers were only the premonitory drops to this mighty shower. The scene was dramatically worked

up in column after column. There were sketches, biographical and historical. There were long "specials" from

Washington, giving a full history of Laura's career there, with the names of men with whom she was said to

be intimate, a description of Senator Dilworthy's residence and of his family, and of Laura's room in his

house, and a sketch of the Senator's appearance and what he said. There was a great deal about her beauty,

her accomplishments and her brilliant position in society, and her doubtful position in society. There was also

an interview with Col. Sellers and another with Washington Hawkins, the brother of the murderess. One

journal had a long dispatch from Hawkeye, reporting the excitement in that quiet village and the reception of

All the parties had been "interviewed." There were reports of conversations with the clerk at the hotel; with

the callboy; with the waiter at table with all the witnesses, with the policeman, with the landlord (who

wanted it understood that nothing of that sort had ever happened in his house before, although it had always

been frequented by the best Southern society,) and with Mrs. Col. Selby. There were diagrams illustrating the

scene of the shooting, and views of the hotel and street, and portraits of the parties. There were three minute

and different statements from the doctors about the wounds, so technically worded that nobody could

understand them. Harry and Laura had also been "interviewed" and there was a statement from Philip

himself, which a reporter had knocked him up out of bed at midnight to give, though how he found him,

What some of the journals lacked in suitable length for the occasion, they made up in encyclopaedic

The statement from Laura was not full, in fact it was fragmentary, and consisted of nine parts of, the

reporter's valuable observations to one of Laura's, and it was, as the reporter significantly remarked,

"incoherent", but it appeared that Laura claimed to be Selby's wife, or to have been his wife, that he had

deserted her and betrayed her, and that she was going to follow him to Europe. When the reporter asked:

The news of the murder was made the excitement of the day. Talk of it filled the town. The facts reported

were scrutinized, the standing of the parties was discussed, the dozen different theories of the motive,

During the night subtle electricity had carried the tale over all the wires of the continent and under the sea;

and in all villages and towns of the Union, from the. Atlantic to the territories, and away up and down the

Pacific slope, and as far as London and Paris and Berlin, that morning the name of Laura Hawkins was

spoken by millions and millions of people, while the owner of itthe sweet child of years ago, the beautiful

queen of Washington drawing roomssat shivering on her cotbed in the darkness of a damp cell in the

Philip's first effort was to get Harry out of the Tombs. He gained permission to see him, in the presence of an

"I never intended to come to such a place as this, old fellow," he said to Philip; "it's no place for a gentleman,

they've no idea how to treat a gentleman. Look at that provender," pointing to his uneaten prison ration.

"They tell me I am detained as a witness, and I passed the night among a lot of cutthroats and dirty

"But what under heavens," asked Philip, "induced you to come to New York with Laura! What was it for?"

"What for? Why, she wanted me to come. I didn't know anything about that cursed Selby. She said it was

lobby business for the University. I'd no idea what she was dragging me into that confounded hotel for. I

suppose she knew that the Southerners all go there, and thought she'd find her man. Oh! Lord, I wish I'd taken

your advice. You might as well murder somebody and have the credit of it, as get into the newspapers the

way I have. She's pure devil, that girl. You ought to have seen how sweet she was on me; what an ass I am."

"Well, I'm not going to dispute a poor, prisoner. But the first thing is to get you out of this. I've brought the

note Laura wrote you, for one thing, and I've seen your uncle, and explained the truth of the case to him. He

Harry's uncle came, with; other friends, and in the course of the day made such a showing to the authorities

that Harry was released, on giving bonds to appear as a witness when wanted. His spirits rose with their usual

elasticity as soon as he was out of Centre Street, and he insisted on giving Philip and his friends a royal

supper at Delmonico's, an excess which was perhaps excusable in the rebound of his feelings, and which was

committed with his usual reckless generosity. Harry ordered, the supper, and it is perhaps needless to say, that

Neither of the young men felt like attempting to see Laura that day, and she saw no company except the

newspaper reporters, until the arrival of Col. Sellers and Washington Hawkins, who had hastened to New

They found Laura in a cell in the upper tier of the women's department. The cell was somewhat larger than

those in the men's department, and might be eight feet by ten square, perhaps a little longer. It was of stone,

floor and all, and tile roof was oven shaped. A narrow slit in the roof admitted sufficient light, and was the

only means of ventilation; when the window was opened there was nothing to prevent the rain coming in. The

only means of heating being from the corridor, when the door was ajar, the cell was chilly and at this time

damp. It was whitewashed and clean, but it had a slight jail odor; its only furniture was a narrow iron

When Col. Sellers was conducted to this cell by the matron and looked , in, his emotions quite overcame him,

the tears rolled down his cheeks and his voice trembled so that he could hardly speak. Washington was

unable to say anything; he looked from Laura to the miserable creatures who were walking in the corridor

with unutterable disgust. Laura was alone calm and selfcontained, though she was not unmoved by the sight

"It is pretty chilly. The stone floor is like ice. It chills me through to step on it. I have to sit on the bed."

"No, I am not hungry. I don't know that I could eat any thing, I can't eat that."

"Oh dear," continued the Colonel, "it's dreadful. But cheer up, dear, cheer up;" and the Colonel broke down

"But," he went on, "we'll stand by you. We'll do everything for you. I know you couldn't have meant to do it,

it must have been insanity, you know, or something of that sort. You never did anything of the sort before."

"Yes, it was something of that sort. It's all a whirl. He was a villain; you don't know."

"I'd rather have killed him myself, in a duel you know, all fair. I wish I had. But don't you be down. We'll get

you the best counsel, the lawyers in New York can do anything; I've read of cases. But you must be

comfortable now. We've brought some of your clothes, at the hotel. What else, can we get for you?"

"Laura suggested that she would like some sheets for her bed, a piece of carpet to step on, and her meals sent

in; and some books and writing materials if it was allowed. The Colonel and Washington promised to procure

all these things, and then took their sorrowful leave, a great deal more affected than the criminal was,

The colonel told the matron as he went away that if she would look to Laura's comfort a little it shouldn't be

"You've got a big establishment here, a credit to the city. I've got a friend in thereI shall see you again, sir."

By the next day something more of Laura's own story began to appear in the newspapers, colored and

heightened by reporters' rhetoric. Some of them cast a lurid light upon the Colonel's career, and represented

his victim as a beautiful avenger of her murdered innocence; and others pictured her as his willing paramour

and pitiless slayer. Her communications to the reporters were stopped by her lawyers as soon as they were

retained and visited her, but this fact did not preventit may have facilitatedthe appearance of casual

paragraphs here and there which were likely to beget popular sympathy for the poor girl.

The occasion did not pass without "improvement" by the leading journals; and Philip preserved the editorial

comments of three or four of them which pleased him most. These he used to read aloud to his friends

afterwards and ask them to guess from which journal each of them had been cut. One began in this simple

Another journal began its editorial with less lyrical beauty, but with equal force. It closed as follows:

It would not be too much to say that upon the first publication of the facts of the tragedy, there was an almost

universal feeling of rage against the murderess in the Tombs, and that reports of her beauty only heightened

the indignation. It was as if she presumed upon that and upon her sex, to defy the law; and there was a

Yet Laura was not without friends, and some of them very influential too. She had in keeping a great many

secrets and a great many reputations, perhaps. Who shall set himself up to judge human motives. Why,

indeed, might we not feel pity for a woman whose brilliant career had been so suddenly extinguished in

misfortune and crime? Those who had known her so well in Washington might find it impossible to believe

that the fascinating woman could have had murder in her heart, and would readily give ear to the current

sentimentality about the temporary aberration of mind under the stress of personal calamity.

Senator Dilworthy, was greatly shocked, of course, but he was full of charity for the erring.

"We shall all need mercy," he said. Laura as an inmate of my family was a most exemplary female, amiable,

affectionate and truthful, perhaps too fond of gaiety, and neglectful of the externals of religion, but a woman

of principle. She may have had experiences of which I am ignorant, but she could not have gone to this

To the Senator's credit be it said, he was willing to help Laura and her family in this dreadful trial. She,

herself, was not without money, for the Washington lobbyist is not seldom more fortunate than the

Washington claimant, and she was able to procure a good many luxuries to mitigate the severity of her prison

life. It enabled her also to have her own family near her, and to see some of them daily. The tender solicitude

of her mother, her childlike grief, and her firm belief in the real guiltlessness of her daughter, touched even

Mrs. Hawkins had hastened to her daughter as soon as she received money for the journey. She had no

reproaches, she had only tenderness and pity. She could not shut out the dreadful facts of the case, but it had

been enough for her that Laura had said, in their first interview, "mother, I did not know what I was doing."

She obtained lodgings near, the prison and devoted her life to her daughter, as if she had been really her own

child. She would have remained in the prison day and night if it had been permitted. She was aged and feeble,

The pathetic story of the old lady's ministrations, and her simplicity and faith, also got into the newspapers in

time, and probably added to the pathos of this wrecked woman's fate, which was beginning to be felt by the

public. It was certain that she had champions who thought that her wrongs ought to be placed against her

crime, and expressions of this feeling came to her in various ways. Visitors came to see her, and gifts of fruit

Laura had declined to see either Philip or Harry, somewhat to the former's relief, who had a notion that she

would necessarily feel humiliated by seeing him after breaking faith with him, but to the discomfiture of

Harry, who still felt her fascination, and thought her refusal heartless. He told Philip that of course he had got

Philip, to keep him from some new foolishness, persuaded him to go with him to Philadelphia; and, give his

The law took its course with Laura. She was indicted for murder in the first degree and held for trial at the

summer term. The two most distinguished criminal lawyers in the city had been retained for her defence, and

to that the resolute woman devoted her days with a courage that rose as she consulted with her counsel and

She was greatly depressed, however, by the news from Washington. Congress adjourned and her bill had

It had been a bad winter, somehow, for the firm of Pennybacker, Bigler and Small. These celebrated

contractors usually made more money during the session of the legislature at Harrisburg than upon all their

summer work, and this winter had been unfruitful. It was unaccountable to Bigler.

"You see, Mr. Bolton," he said, and Philip was present at the conversation, "it puts us all out. It looks as if

politics was played out. We'd counted on the year of Simon's reelection. And, now, he's reelected, and I've

"You don't mean to say," asked Philip, "that he went in without paying anything?"

"Not a cent, not a dash cent, as I can hear," repeated Mr. Bigler, indignantly. "I call it a swindle on the state.

How it was done gets me. I never saw such a tight time for money in Harrisburg."

"Were there no combinations, no railroad jobs, no mining schemes put through in connection with the

"Not that I knew," said Bigler, shaking his head in disgust. "In fact it was openly said, that there was no

"Perhaps," suggested Philip, "it was effected on what the insurance companies call the 'endowment,' or the

'paid up' plan, by which a policy is secured after a certain time without further payment."

"You think then," said Mr. Bolton smiling, "that a liberal and sagacious politician might own a legislature

"Whatever it is," interrupted Mr. Bigler, "it's devilish ingenious and goes ahead of my calculations; it's

cleaned me out, when I thought we had a dead sure thing. I tell you what it is, gentlemen, I shall go in for

reform. Things have got pretty mixed when a legislature will give away a United States senatorship."

It was melancholy, but Mr. Bigler was not a man to be crushed by one misfortune, or to lose his confidence in

human nature, on one exhibition of apparent honesty. He was already on his feet again, or would be if Mr.

"We've got something with money in it," he explained to Mr. Bolton, "got hold of it by good luck. We've got

the entire contract for Dobson's Patent Pavement for the city of Mobile. See here."

Mr. Bigler made some figures; contract so; much, cost of work and materials so much, profits so much. At

the end of three months the city would owe the company three hundred and seventyfive thousand

dollarstwo hundred thousand of that would be profits. The whole job was worth at least a million to the

companyit might be more. There could be no mistake in these figures; here was the contract, Mr. Bolton

Mr. Bolton knew perfectly well from sore experience that there was always a mistake in figures when Bigler

or Small made them, and he knew that he ought to send the fellow about his business. Instead of that, he let

They only wanted to raise fifty thousand dollars to carry on the contractthat expended they would have

city bonds. Mr. Bolton said he hadn't the money. But Bigler could raise it on his name. Mr. Bolton said he

had no right to put his family to that risk. But the entire contract could be assigned to himthe security was

ampleit was a fortune to him if it was forfeited. Besides Mr. Bigler had been unfortunate, he didn't know

where to look for the necessaries of life for his family. If he could only have one more chance, he was sure he

And Mr. Bolton yielded. He could never refuse such appeals. If he had befriended a man once and been

cheated by him, that man appeared to have a claim upon him forever. He shrank, however, from telling his

wife what he had done on this occasion, for he knew that if any person was more odious than Small to his

"Philip tells me," Mrs. Bolton said that evening, "that the man Bigler has been with thee again today. I hope

"He is always unfortunate, and he is always getting thee into trouble. But thee didn't listen to him again?"

"Well, mother, his family is in want, and I lent him my namebut I took ample security. The worst that can

Mrs. Bolton looked grave and anxious, but she did not complain or remonstrate; she knew what a "little

inconvenience" meant, but she knew there was no help for it. If Mr. Bolton had been on his way to market to

buy a dinner for his family with the only dollar he had in the world in his pocket, he would have given it to a

chance beggar who asked him for it. Mrs. Bolton only asked (and the question showed that she was no mere

"Yes, I have set apart as much as it ought to cost to open the mine, as much as we can afford to lose if no coal

is found. Philip has the control of it, as equal partner in the venture, deducting the capital invested. He has

great confidence in his success, and I hope for his sake he won't be disappointed."

Philip could not but feel that he was treated very much like one of the Boltonfamilyby all except Ruth.

His mother, when he went home after his recovery from his accident, had affected to be very jealous of Mrs.

Bolton, about whom and Ruth she asked a thousand questions an affectation of jealousy which no doubt

concealed a real heartache, which comes to every mother when her son goes out into the world and forms

new ties. And to Mrs. Sterling; a widow, living on a small income in a remote Massachusetts village,

Philadelphia was a city of many splendors. All its inhabitants seemed highly favored, dwelling in ease and

surrounded by superior advantages. Some of her neighbors had relations living in Philadelphia, and it seemed

to them somehow a guarantee of respectability to have relations in Philadelphia. Mrs. Sterling was not sorry

to have Philip make his way among such well todo people, and she was sure that no good fortune could be

"So, sir," said Ruth, when Philip came from New York, "you have been assisting in a pretty tragedy. I saw

"My only assistance," replied Philip, a little annoyed, was in trying to keep Harry out of a bad scrape, and I

failed after all. He walked into her trap, and he has been punished for it. I'm going to take him up to Ilium to

"Well, she is brilliant; she was called the handsomest woman in Washingtondashing, you know, and

"Well, Laura Hawkins comes very near it. But it is dreadful to think of her fate."

"Why, do you suppose they will hang a woman? Do you suppose they will be so barbarous as that?"

"I wasn't thinking of thatit's doubtful if a New York jury would find a woman guilty of any such crime.

"It is dreadful," said Ruth, thoughtfully, "but the worst of it is that you men do not want women educated to

do anything, to be able to earn an honest living by their own exertions. They are educated as if they were

always to be petted and supported, and there was never to be any such thing as misfortune. I suppose, now,

that you would all choose to have me stay idly at home, and give up my profession."

"Oh, no," said Philip, earnestly, "I respect your resolution. But, Ruth, do you think you would be happier or

"Nothing, perhaps, only you never would be in ityou would be away day and night, if you had any

"What sort of a home is it for the wife whose husband is always away riding about in his doctor's gig?"

Philip and Ruth often had this sort of discussion, to which Philip was always trying to give a personal turn.

He was now about to go to Ilium for the season, and he did not like to go without some assurance from Ruth

that she might perhaps love him some day; when he was worthy of it, and when he could offer her something

"I should work with a great deal better heart, Ruth," he said the morning he was taking leave, "if I knew you

Ruth was looking down; the color came faintly to her cheeks, and she hesitated. She needn't be looking down,

"It's not much of a place, Ilium," Philip went on, as if a little geographical remark would fit in here as well as

anything else, "and I shall have plenty of time to think over the responsibility I have taken, and" his

But Ruth looked up, and there was a light in her eyes that quickened Phil's pulse. She took his hand, and said

"Thee mustn't lose heart, Philip." And then she added, in another mood, "Thee knows I graduate in the

summer and shall have my diploma. And if any thing happensmines explode sometimesthee can send

The opening of the Ilium coal mine was begun with energy, but without many omens of success. Philip was

running a tunnel into the breast of the mountain, in faith that the coal stratum ran there as it ought to. How far

he must go in he believed he knew, but no one could tell exactly. Some of the miners said that they should

probably go through the mountain, and that the hole could be used for a railway tunnel. The mining camp was

a busy place at any rate. Quite a settlement of board and log shanties had gone up, with a blacksmith shop, a

small machine shop, and a temporary store for supplying the wants of the workmen. Philip and Harry pitched

There is no difficulty in digging a bole in the ground, if you have money enough to pay for the digging, but

those who try this sort of work are always surprised at the large amount of money necessary to make a small

hole. The earth is never willing to yield one product, hidden in her bosom, without an equivalent for it. And

It was exciting work for all concerned in it. As the tunnel advanced into the rock every day promised to be

The work went on week after week, and at length during the night as well as the daytime. Gangs relieved

each other, and the tunnel was every hour, inch by inch and foot by foot, crawling into the mountain. Philip

was on the stretch of hope and excitement. Every pay day he saw his funds melting away, and still there was

The life suited Harry, whose buoyant hopefulness was never disturbed. He made endless calculations, which

nobody could understand, of the probable position of the vein. He stood about among the workmen with the

busiest air. When he was down at Ilium he called himself the engineer of the works, and he used to spend

hours smoking his pipe with the Dutch landlord on the hotel porch, and astonishing the idlers there with the

stories of his railroad operations in Missouri. He talked with the landlord, too, about enlarging his hotel, and

about buying some village lots, in the prospect of a rise, when the mine was opened. He taught the Dutchman

how to mix a great many cooling drinks for the summer time, and had a bill at the hotel, the growing length

of which Mr. Dusenheimer contemplated with pleasant anticipations. Mr. Brierly was a very useful and

Midsummer arrived: Philip could report to Mr. Bolton only progress, and this was not a cheerful message for

him to send to Philadelphia in reply to inquiries that he thought became more and more anxious. Philip

himself was a prey to the constant fear that the money would give out before the coal was struck.

At this time Harry was summoned to New York, to attend the trial of Laura Hawkins. It was possible that

Philip would have to go also, her lawyer wrote, but they hoped for a postponement. There was important

evidence that they could not yet obtain, and he hoped the judge would not force them to a trial unprepared.

There were many reasons for a delay, reasons which of course are never mentioned, but which it would seem

that a New York judge sometimes must understand, when he grants a postponement upon a motion that

Harry went, but he soon came back. The trial was put off. Every week we can gain, said the learned counsel,

This was the announcement at the tent door that woke Philip out of a sound sleep at dead of night, and shook

"What! Where is it? When? Coal?. Let me see it. What quality is it?" were some of the rapid questions that

Philip poured out as he hurriedly dressed. "Harry, wake up, my boy, the coal train is coming. Struck it, eh?

The foreman put down his lantern, and handed Philip a black lump. There was no mistake about it, it was the

hard, shining anthracite, and its freshly fractured surface, glistened in the light like polished steel. Diamond

Harry was exuberant, but Philip's natural caution found expression in his next remark.

"I can't say we did at first. No, we didn't. Most of the indications were there, but not all of them, not all of

"It was tolerable thick, and looked as if it might be the veinlooked as if it ought to be the vein. Then we

"I'd rather we had them, Mr. Sterling, but I've seen more than one good permanent mine struck without 'em in

"Yes, there was the Union, the Alabama and the Black Mohawkall good, sound mines, you knowall just

"Well, I begin to feel a good deal more easy. I guess we've really got it. I remember hearing them tell about

"I'm free to say that I believe it, and the men all think so too. They are all old hands at this business."

"Come Harry, let's go up and look at it, just for the comfort of it," said Philip. They came back in the course

There was no more sleep for them that night. They lit their pipes, put a specimen of the coal on the table, and

"Of course," said Harry, "there will have to be a branch track built, and a 'switchback' up the hill."

"Yes, there will be no trouble about getting the money for that now. We could sellout tomorrow for a

handsome sum. That sort of coal doesn't go begging within a mile of a railroad. I wonder if Mr. Bolton'

"Oh, work it," says Harry, "probably the whole mountain is coal now you've got to it."

"Possibly it is; I'll bet it's forty feet thick. I told you. I knew the sort of thing as soon as I put my eyes on it."

Philip's next thought was to write to his friends and announce their good fortune. To Mr. Bolton he wrote a

short, business letter, as calm as he could make it. They had found coal of excellent quality, but they could

not yet tell with absolute certainty what the vein was. The prospecting was still going on. Philip also wrote to

Ruth; but though this letter may have glowed, it was not with the heat of burning anthracite. He needed no

artificial heat to warm his pen and kindle his ardor when he sat down to write to Ruth. But it must be

confessed that the words never flowed so easily before, and he ran on for an hour disporting in all the

extravagance of his imagination. When Ruth read it, she doubted if the fellow had not gone out of his senses.

And it was not until she reached the postscript that she discovered the cause of the exhilaration. P. S.We

The news couldn't have come to Mr. Bolton in better time. He had never been so sorely pressed. A dozen

schemes which he had in hand, any one of which might turn up a fortune, all languished, and each needed just

a little more, money to save that which had been invested. He hadn't a piece of real estate that was not

covered with mortgages, even to the wild tract which Philip was experimenting on, and which had, no

"I am afraid," he said to his wife, " that we shall have to give up our house. I don't care for myself, but for

"That will be the least of misfortunes," said Mrs. Bolton, cheerfully, "if thee can clear thyself from debt and

anxiety, which is wearing thee out, we can live any where. Thee knows we were never happier than when we

"The truth is, Margaret, that affair of Bigler and Small's has come on me just when I couldn't stand another

ounce. They have made another failure of it. I might have known they would; and the sharpers, or fools, I

don't know which, have contrived to involve me for three times as much as the first obligation. The security

is in my hands, but it is good for nothing to me. I have not the money to do anything with the contract."

Ruth heard this dismal news without great surprise. She had long felt that they were living on a volcano, that

might go in to active operation at any hour. Inheriting from her father an active brain and the courage to

undertake new things, she had little of his sanguine temperament which blinds one to difficulties and possible

failures. She had little confidence in the many schemes which had been about to lift her father out of all his

embarrassments and into great wealth, ever since she was a child; as she grew older, she rather wondered that

they were as prosperous as they seemed to be, and that they did not all go to smash amid so many brilliant

projects. She was nothing but a woman, and did not know how much of the business prosperity of the world

is only a, bubble of credit and speculation, one scheme helping to float another which is no better than it, and

the whole liable to come to naught and confusion as soon as the busy brain that conceived them ceases its

"Perhaps, I shall be the stay of the family, yet," said Ruth, with an approach to gaiety; "When we move into a

little house in town, will thee let me put a little sign on the door: DR. RUTH BOLTON? Mrs. Dr. Longstreet,

A servant entered with the afternoon mail from the office. Mr. Bolton took his letters listlessly, dreading to

open them. He knew well what they contained, new difficulties, more urgent demands fox money.

"Oh, here is one from Philip. Poor fellow. I shall feel his disappointment as much as my own bad luck. It is

He opened the letter and read. As he read his face lightened, and he fetched such a sigh of relief, that Mrs.

The world was changed in a moment. One little sentence had done it. There was no more trouble. Philip had

found coal. That meant relief. That meant fortune. A great weight was taken off, and the spirits of the whole

household rose magically. Good Money! beautiful demon of Money, what an enchanter thou art! Ruth felt

that she was of less consequence in the household, now that Philip had found Coal, and perhaps she was not

Mr. Bolton was ten years younger the next morning. He went into the city, and showed his letter on change. It

was the sort of news his friends were quite willing to listen to. They took a new interest in him. If it was

confirmed, Bolton would come right up again. There would be no difficulty about his getting all the money

he wanted. The money market did not seem to be half so tight as it was the day before. Mr. Bolton spent a

very pleasant day in his office, and went home revolving some new plans, and the execution of some projects

The day had been spent by Philip in no less excitement. By daylight, with Philip's letters to the mail, word

had gone down to Ilium that coal had been found, and very early a crowd of eager spectators had come up to

The "prospecting" continued day and night for upwards of a week, and during the first four or five days the

indications grew more and more promising, and the telegrams and letters kept Mr. Bolton duly posted. But at

last a change came, and the promises began to fail with alarming rapidity. In the end it was demonstrated

without the possibility of a doubt that the great "find" was nothing but a worthless seam.

Philip was cast down, all the more so because he had been so foolish as to send the news to Philadelphia

before he knew what he was writing about. And now he must contradict it. "It turns out to be only a mere

Alas! Mr. Bolton's affairs could not wait for "indications." The future might have a great deal in store, but the

present was black and hopeless. It was doubtful if any sacrifice could save him from ruin. Yet sacrifice he

must make, and that instantly, in the hope of saving something from the wreck of his fortune.

His lovely country home must go. That would bring the most ready money. The house that he had built with

loving thought for each one of his family, as he planned its luxurious apartments and adorned it; the grounds

that he had laid out, with so much delight in following the tastes of his wife, with whom the country, the

cultivation of rare trees and flowers, the care of garden and lawn and conservatories were a passion almost;

this home, which he had hoped his children would enjoy long after he had done with it, must go.

The family bore the sacrifice better than he did. They declared in fact women are such hypocritesthat

they quite enjoyed the city (it was in August) after living so long in the country, that it was a thousand tunes

more convenient in every respect; Mrs. Bolton said it was a relief from the worry of a large establishment,

and Ruth reminded her father that she should have had to come to town anyway before long.

Mr. Bolton was relieved, exactly as a waterlogged ship is lightened by throwing overboard the most

valuable portion of the cargobut the leak was not stopped. Indeed his credit was injured instead of helped

by the prudent step be had taken. It was regarded as a sure evidence of his embarrassment, and it was much

more difficult for him to obtain help than if he had, instead of retrenching, launched into some new

Philip was greatly troubled, and exaggerated his own share in the bringing about of the calamity.

"You must not look at it so!" Mr. Bolton wrote him. "You have neither helped nor hinderedbut you know

you may help by and by. It would have all happened just so, if we had never begun to dig that hole. That is

only a drop. Work away. I still have hope that something will occur to relieve me. At any rate we must not

Alas! the relief did not come. New misfortunes came instead. When the extent of the Bigler swindle was

disclosed there was no more hope that Mr. Bolton could extricate himself, and he had, as an honest man, no

The Autumn came and found Philip working with diminished force but still with hope. He had again and

again been encouraged by good "indications," but he had again and again been disappointed. He could not go

on much longer, and almost everybody except himself had thought it was useless to go on as long as he had

When the news came of Mr. Bolton's failure, of course the work stopped. The men were discharged, the tools

were housed, the hopeful noise of pickman and driver ceased, and the mining camp had that desolate and

Philip sat down amid the ruins, and almost wished he were buried in them. How distant Ruth was now from

him, now, when she might need him most. How changed was all the Philadelphia world, which had hitherto

He still had faith that there was coal in that mountain. He made a picture of himself living there a hermit in a

shanty by the tunnel, digging away with solitary pick and wheelbarrow, day after day and year after year,

until he grew gray and aged, and was known in all that region as the old man of the mountain. Perhaps some

dayhe felt it must be so some dayhe should strike coal. But what if he did? Who would be alive to care

for it then? What would he care for it then? No, a man wants riches in his youth, when the world is fresh to

him. He wondered why Providence could not have reversed the usual process, and let the majority of men

begin with wealth and gradually spend it, and die poor when they no longer needed it.

Harry went back to the city. It was evident that his services were no longer needed. Indeed, he had letters

from his uncle, which he did not read to Philip, desiring him to go to San Francisco to look after some

Philip had to look about him for something to do; he was like Adam; the world was all before him whereto

choose. He made, before he went elsewhere, a somewhat painful visit to Philadelphia, painful but yet not

without its sweetnesses. The family had never shown him so much affection before; they all seemed to think

his disappointment of more importance than their own misfortune. And there was that in Ruth's mannerin

what she gave him and what she withheldthat would have made a hero of a very much less promising

Among the assets of the Bolton property, the Ilium tract was sold, and Philip bought it in at the vendue, for a

song, for no one cared to even undertake the mortgage on it except himself. He went away the owner of it,

and had ample time before he reached home in November, to calculate how much poorer he was by

It is impossible for the historian, with even the best intentions, to control events or compel the persons of his

narrative to act wisely or to be successful. It is easy to see how things might have been better managed; a

very little change here and there would have made a very, different history of this one now in hand.

If Philip had adopted some regular profession, even some trade, he might now be a prosperous editor or a

conscientious plumber, or an honest lawyer, and have borrowed money at the saving's bank and built a

cottage, and be now furnishing it for the occupancy of Ruth and himself. Instead of this, with only a

smattering of civil engineering, he is at his mother's house, fretting and fuming over his illluck, and the

hardness and, dishonesty of men, and thinking of nothing but how to get the coal out of the Ilium hills.

If Senator Dilworthy had not made that visit to Hawkeye, the Hawkins family and Col. Sellers would not now

be dancing attendance upon Congress, and endeavoring to tempt that immaculate body into one of those

appropriations, for the benefit of its members, which the members find it so difficult to explain to their

constituents; and Laura would not be lying in the Tombs, awaiting her trial for murder, and doing her best, by

the help of able counsel, to corrupt the pure fountain of criminal procedure in New York.

If Henry Brierly had been blown up on the first Mississippi steamboat he set foot on, as the chances were that

he would be, he and Col. Sellers never would have gone into the Columbus Navigation scheme, and probably

never into the East Tennessee Land scheme, and he would not now be detained in New York from very

important business operations on the Pacific coast, for the sole purpose of giving evidence to convict of

murder the only woman he ever loved half as much as he loves himself. If Mr. Bolton had said the little word

"no" to Mr. Bigler, Alice Montague might now be spending the winter in Philadelphia, and Philip also

(waiting to resume his mining operations in the spring); and Ruth would not be an assistant in a Philadelphia

hospital, taxing her strength with arduous routine duties, day by day, in order to lighten a little the burdens

It is altogether a bad business. An honest historian, who had progressed thus far, and traced everything to

such a condition of disaster and suspension, might well be justified in ending his narrative and writing

"after this the deluge." His only consolation would be in the reflection that he was not responsible for either

And the most annoying thought is that a little money, judiciously applied, would relieve the burdens and

anxieties of most of these people; but affairs seem to be so arranged that money is most difficult to get when

A little of what Mr. Bolton has weakly given to unworthy people would now establish his family in a sort of

comfort, and relieve Ruth of the excessive toil for which she inherited no adequate physical vigor. A little

money would make a prince of Col. Sellers; and a little more would calm the anxiety of Washington Hawkins

about Laura, for however the trial ended, he could feel sure of extricating her in the end. And if Philip had a

little money he could unlock the stone door in the mountain whence would issue a stream of shining riches. It

needs a golden wand to strike that rock. If the Knobs University bill could only go through, what a change

would be wrought in the condition of most of the persons in this history. Even Philip himself would feel the

good effects of it; for Harry would have something and Col. Sellers would have something; and have not both

these cautious people expressed a determination to take an interest in the Ilium mine when they catch their

Philip could not resist the inclination to pay a visit to Fallkill. He had not been at the Montague's since the

tune he saw Ruth there, and he wanted to consult the Squire about an occupation. He was determined now to

waste no more time in waiting on Providence, but to go to work at something, if it were nothing better, than

teaching in the Fallkill Seminary, or digging clams on Hingham beach. Perhaps he could read law in Squire

It was not altogether Philip's fault, let us own, that he was in this position. There are many young men like

him in American society, of his age, opportunities, education and abilities, who have really been educated for

nothing and have let themselves drift, in the hope that they will find somehow, and by some sudden turn of

good luck, the golden road to fortune. He was not idle or lazy, he had energy and a disposition to carve his

own way. But he was born into a time when all young men of his age caught the fever of speculation, and

expected to get on in the world by the omission of some of the regular processes which have been appointed

from of old. And examples were not wanting to encourage him. He saw people, all around him, poor

yesterday, rich today, who had come into sudden opulence by some means which they could not have

classified among any of the regular occupations of life. A war would give such a fellow a career and very

likely fame. He might have been a "railroad man," or a politician, or a land speculator, or one of those

mysterious people who travel free on all railroads and steamboats, and are continually crossing and

recrossing the Atlantic, driven day and night about nobody knows what, and make a great deal of money by

so doing. Probably, at last, he sometimes thought with a whimsical smile, he should end by being an

Possibly Philip did not think how much the attractions of Fallkill were increased by the presence of Alice

there. He had known her so long, she had somehow grown into his life by habit, that he would expect the

pleasure of her society without thinking mach about it. Latterly he never thought of her without thinking of

Ruth, and if he gave the subject any attention, it was probably in an undefined consciousness that, he had her

sympathy in his love, and that she was always willing to hear him talk about it. If he ever wondered that Alice

herself was not in love and never spoke of the possibility of her own marriage, it was a transient thought for

love did not seem necessary, exactly, to one so calm and evenly balanced and with so many resources in her

Whatever her thoughts may have been they were unknown to Philip, as they are to these historians; if she was

seeming to be what she was not, and carrying a burden heavier than any one else carried, because she had to

bear it alone, she was only doing what thousands of women do, with a selfrenunciation and heroism, of

which men, impatient and complaining, have no conception. Have not these big babies with beards filled all

literature with their outcries, their griefs and their lamentations? It is always the gentle sex which is hard and

"Do you think you would be contented to live in Fallkill, and attend the county Court?" asked Alice, when

"Perhaps not always," said Philip, "I might go and practice in Boston maybe, or go to Chicago."

Philip looked at Alice to see if she was in earnest and not chaffing him. Her face was quite sober. Alice was

one of those patriotic women in the rural districts, who think men are still selected for Congress on account of

"No," said Philip, "the chances are that a man cannot get into congress now without resorting to arts and

means that should render hint unfit to go there; of course there are exceptions; but do you know that I could

not go into politics if I were a lawyer, without losing standing somewhat in my profession, and without

raising at least a suspicion of my intentions and unselfishness? Why, it is telegraphed all over the country and

commented on as something wonderful if a congressman votes honestly and unselfishly and refuses to take

"But," insisted Alice, "I should think it a noble ambition to go to congress, if it is so bad, and help reform it. I

don't believe it is as corrupt as the English parliament used to be, if there is any truth in the novels, and I

"I'm sure I don't know where the reform is to begin. I've seen a perfectly capable, honest man, time and again,

run against an illiterate trickster, and get beaten. I suppose if the people wanted decent members of congress

they would elect them. Perhaps," continued Philip with a smile, "the women will have to vote."

"Well, I should be willing to, if it were a necessity, just as I would go to war and do what I could, if the

country couldn't be saved otherwise," said Alice, with a spirit that surprised Philip, well as he thought he

Philip laughed outright. "It's just what Ruth used to say, 'if she were a man.' I wonder if all the young ladies

"No, only a changed sex," retorted Alice; "we contemplate for the most part young men who don't care for

"Well," said Philip, looking humble, "I care for some things, you and Ruth for instance; perhaps I ought not

"No, indeed. But I am afraid her hard work is telling on her, together with her anxiety about her father."

"Do you think, Alice," asked Philip with one of those selfish thoughts that are not seldom mixed with real

"Philip," exclaimed Alice, rising to quit the room, and speaking hurriedly as if the words were forced from

her, "you are as blind as a bat; Ruth would cut off her right hand for you this minute."

Philip never noticed that Alice's face was flushed and that her voice was unsteady ; he only thought of the

delicious words he had heard. And the poor girl, loyal to Ruth, loyal to Philip, went straight to her room,

locked the door, threw herself on the bed and sobbed as if her heart world break. And then she prayed that her

Father in Heaven would give her strength. And after a time she was calm again, and went to her bureau

drawer and took from a hiding place a little piece of paper, yellow with age. Upon it was pinned a

fourleaved clover, dry and yellow also. She looked long at this foolish memento. Under the clover leaf was

Squire Montague thought very well of Philip's proposal. It would have been better if he had begun the study

of the law as soon as he left college, but it was not too late now, and besides he had gathered some

"But," asked the Squire, "do you mean to abandon your land in Pennsylvania?" This track of land seemed an

immense possible fortune to this New England lawyerfarmer. Hasn't it good timber, and doesn't the railroad

"The opinion of the best geologist I could consult, my own observation of the country, and the little veins of

it we found. I feel certain it is there. I shall find it some day. I know it. If I can only keep the land till I make

Philip took from his pocket a map of the anthracite coal region, and pointed out the position of the Ilium

"It certainly does," said the Squire, very much interested. It is not unusual for a quiet country gentleman to be

more taken with such a venture than a speculator who, has had more experience in its uncertainty. It was

astonishing how many New England clergymen, in the time of the petroleum excitement, took chances in oil.

The Wall street brokers are said to do a good deal of small business for country clergymen, who are moved

"I don't see that there is much risk," said the Squire, at length. "The timber is worth more than the mortgage;

and if that coal seam does run there, it's a magnificent fortune. Would you like to try it again in the spring,

Like to try it! If he could have a little help, he would work himself, with pick and barrow, and live on a crust.

And this is how it came about that the cautious old Squire Montague was drawn into this young fellow's

speculation, and began to have his serene old age disturbed by anxieties and by the hope of a great stroke of

"To be sure, I only care about it for the boy," he said. The Squire was like everybody else; sooner or later he

It is probably on account of the lack of enterprise in women that they are not so fond of stock speculations

and mine ventures as men. It is only when woman becomes demoralized that she takes to any sort of

gambling. Neither Alice nor Ruth were much elated with the prospect of Philip's renewal of his mining

But Philip was exultant. He wrote to Ruth as if his fortune were already made, and as if the clouds that

lowered over the house of Bolton were already in the deep bosom of a coal mine buried. Towards spring he

went to Philadelphia with his plans all matured for a new campaign. His enthusiasm was irresistible.

"Philip has come, Philip has come," cried the children, as if some great good had again come into the

household ; and the refrain even sang itself over in Ruth's heart as she went the weary hospital rounds. Mr.

Bolton felt more courage than he had had in months, at the sight of his manly face and the sound of his

Ruth's course was vindicated now, and it certainly did not become Philip, who had nothing to offer but a

future chance against the visible result of her determination and industry, to open an argument with her. Ruth

was never more certain that she was right and that she was sufficient unto herself. She, may be, did not much

heed the still small voice that sang in her maiden heart as she went about her work, and which lightened it

"I am glad for father's sake," she said to Philip, that thee has come. I can see that he depends greatly upon

what thee can do. He thinks women won't hold out long," added Ruth with the smile that Philip never exactly

"Tired? Yes, everybody is tired I suppose. But it is a glorious profession. And would you want me to be

"Well, yes, a little," said Philip, feeling his way towards what he wanted to say.

"On what, for instance, just now?" asked Ruth, a little maliciously Philip thought.

"Why, on" he couldn't quite say it, for it occurred to him that he was a poor stick for any body to lean on in

the present state of his fortune, and that the woman before him was at least as independent as he was.

"I don't mean depend," he began again. "But I love you, that's all. Am I nothingto you?" And Philip looked

a little defiant, and as if he had said something that ought to brush away all the sophistries of obligation on

Perhaps Ruth saw this. Perhaps she saw that her own theories of a certain equality of power, which ought to

precede a union of two hearts, might be pushed too far. Perhaps she had felt sometimes her own weakness

and the need after all of so dear a sympathy and so tender an interest confessed, as that which Philip could

give. Whatever moved herthe riddle is as old as creationshe simply looked up to Philip and said in a low

And Philip clasping both her hands in his, and looking down into her eyes, which drank in all his tenderness

And Ruth escaped away to her room, her heart singing again, and now as if it would burst for joy, "Philip has

December 18, found Washington Hawkins and Col. Sellers once more at the capitol of the nation, standing

guard over the University bill. The former gentleman was despondent, the latter hopeful. Washington's

distress of mind was chiefly on Laura's account. The court would soon sit to try her, case, he said, and

consequently a great deal of ready money would be needed in the engineering of it. The University bill was

sure to pass this, time, and that would make money plenty, but might not the, help come too late? Congress

"Well," said the Colonel, "I don't know but you are more or less right, there. Now let's figure up a little on,

the preliminaries. I think Congress always tries to do as near right as it can, according to its lights. A man

can't ask any fairer, than that. The first preliminary it always starts out on, is, to clean itself, so to speak. It

will arraign two or three dozen of its members, or maybe four or five dozen, for taking bribes to vote for this

"Well, yes; in a free country likes ours, where any man can run for Congress and anybody can vote for him,

you can't expect immortal purity all the timeit ain't in nature. Sixty or eighty or a hundred and fifty people

are bound to get in who are not angels in disguise, as young Hicks the correspondent says; but still it is a very

good average; very good indeed. As long as it averages as well as that, I think we can feel very well satisfied.

Even in these days, when people growl so much and the newspapers are so out of patience, there is still a very

"WellI don't knowit is a question that requires time; a body can't answer every question right offhand.

"That is what I am coming to. First, as I said, they will try a lot of members for taking money for votes. That

"Yes, that's like last year; and it is a sheer waste of the time for which the nation pays those men to

"A waste of time, to purify the fountain of public law? Well, I never heard anybody express an idea like that

before. But if it were, it would still be the fault of the minority, for the majority don't institute these

proceedings. There is where that minority becomes an obstruction but still one can't say it is on the wrong

side.Well, after they have finished the bribery cases, they will take up cases of members who have bought

"Next they will try each other for various smaller irregularities, like the sale of appointments to West Point

cadetships, and that sort of thingmere trifling pocketmoney enterprises that might better, be passed over

in silence, perhaps, but then one of our Congresses can never rest easy till it has thoroughly purified itself of

"So Congress always lies helpless in quarantine ten weeks of a session. That's encouraging. Colonel, poor

Laura will never get any benefit from our bill. Her trial will be over before Congress has half purified

itself.And doesn't it occur to you that by the time it has expelled all its impure members there, may not be

"By that time, the thing has strung out so long that the country is sick and tired of it and glad to have a change

"WellI don't know. On foreign countries, I think. We have always been under the gaze of foreign

countries. There is no country in the world, sir, that pursues corruption as inveterately as we do. There is no

country in the world whose representatives try each other as much as ours do, or stick to it as long on a

stretch. I think there is something great in being a model for the whole civilized world, Washington"

"Well, it's all the same; it's just the same thing. It shows that a man can't be corrupt in this country without

"Hang it, Colonel, you just said we never punish anybody for villainous practices."

"But good God we try them, don't we! Is it nothing to show a disposition to sift things and bring people to a

"Oh, bother the effect!What is it they do do? How do they proceed? You know perfectly welland it is all

"Why they proceed right and regularand it ain't bosh, Washington, it ain't bosh. They appoint a committee

to investigate, and that committee hears evidence three weeks, and all the witnesses on one side swear that

the accused took money or stock or something for his vote. Then the accused stands up and testifies that he

may have done it, but he was receiving and handling a good deal of money at the time and he doesn't

remember this particular circumstanceat least with sufficient distinctness to enable him to grasp it tangibly.

So of course the thing is not provenand that is what they say in the verdict. They don't acquit, they don't

condemn. They just say, 'Charge not proven.' It leaves the accused is a kind of a shaky condition before the

country, it purifies Congress, it satisfies everybody, and it doesn't seriously hurt anybody. It has taken a long

"So one of those long stupid investigations always turns out in that lame silly way. Yes, you are correct. I

thought maybe you viewed the matter differently from other people. Do you think a Congress of ours could

"My dear boy, don't let these damaging delays prejudice you against Congress. Don't use such strong

language; you talk like a newspaper. Congress has inflicted frightful punishments on its membersnow you

know that. When they tried Mr. Fairoaks, and a cloud of witnesses proved him to bewell, you know what

they proved him to beand his own testimony and his own confessions gave him the same character, what

"You know what Congress did, Washington. Congress intimated plainly enough, that they considered him

almost a stain upon their body; and without waiting ten days, hardly, to think the thing over, the rose up and

hurled at him a resolution declaring that they disapproved of his conduct! Now you know that, Washington."

"It was a terrific thing"there is no denying that. If he had been proven guilty of theft, arson, licentiousness,

infanticide, and defiling graves, I believe they would have suspended him for two days."

"You can depend on it, Washington. Congress is vindictive, Congress is savage, sir, when it gets waked up

"Ah well, we have talked the morning through, just as usual in these tiresome days of waiting, and we have

reached the same old result; that is to say, we are no better off than when we began. The land bill is just as far

away as ever, and the trial is closer at hand. Let's give up everything and die."

"Die and leave the Duchess to fight it out all alone? Oh, no, that won't do. Come, now, don't talk so. It is all

"It never will, Colonel, never in the world. Something tells me that. I get more tired and more despondent

every day. I don't see any hope; life is only just a trouble. I am so miserable, these days!"

The Colonel made Washington get up and walk the floor with him, arm in arm. The good old speculator

wanted to comfort him, but he hardly knew how to go about it. He made many attempts, but they were lame;

they lacked spirit; the words were encouraging; but they were only wordshe could not get any heart into

them. He could not always warm up, now, with the old Hawkeye fervor. By and by his lips trembled and his

"Don't give up the ship, my boydon't do it. The wind's bound to fetch around and set in our favor. I know

And the prospect was so cheerful that he wept. Then he blew a trumpet blast that started the meshes of his

"Lord bless us, this is all nonsense! Night doesn't last always; day has got to break some time or other. Every

silver lining has a cloud behind it, as the poet says; and that remark has always cheered me; though I never

could see any meaning to it. Everybody uses it, though, and everybody gets comfort out of it. I wish they

would start something fresh. Come, now, let's cheer up; there's been as good fish in the sea as there are now.

It was the telegraph boy. The Colonel :reached for the. message and devoured its contents:

"I said it! Never give up the ship! The trial's, postponed till February, and we'll save the child yet. Bless my

life, what lawyers they, have in New York! Give them money to fight with; and the ghost of an excuse, and

they: would manage to postpone anything in this world, unless it might be the millennium or something like

that. Now for work again my boy. The trial will last to the middle of March, sure; Congress ends the fourth of

March. Within three days of the end of the session they will be done putting through the preliminaries then

they will be ready for national business: Our bill will go through in fortyeight hours, then, and we'll

telegraph a million dollar's to the juryto the lawyers, I meanand the verdict of the jury will be

'Accidental murder resulting from justifiable insanity'or something to, that effect, something to that

effect.Everything is dead sure, now. Come, what is the matter? What are you wilting down like that, for?

"Oh, Colonel, I am become so used to troubles, so used to failures, disappointments, hard luck of all kinds,

that a little good news breaks me right down. Everything has been so hopeless that now I can't stand good

news at all. It is too good to be true, anyway. Don't you see how our bad luck has worked on me? My hair is

getting gray, and many nights I don't sleep at all. I wish it was all over and we could rest. I wish we could lie,

down and just forget everything, and let it all be just a dream that is done and can't come back to trouble us

"Ah, poor child, don't talk like thatcheer upthere's daylight ahead. Don't give, up. You'll have Laura

again, andLouise, and your mother, and oceans and oceans of moneyand then you can go away, ever so

far away somewhere, if you want to, and forget all about this infernal place. And by George I'll go with you!

I'll go with younow there's my word on it. Cheer up. I'll run out and tell the friends the news."

And he wrung Washington's hand and was about to hurry away when his companion, in a burst of grateful

"I think you are the best soul and the noblest I ever knew, Colonel Sellers! and if the people only knew you as

I do, you would not be tagging around here a nameless manyou would be in Congress."

The gladness died out of the Colonel's face, and he laid his hand upon Washington's shoulder and said

"I have always been a friend of your family, Washington, and I think I have always tried to do right as

between man and man, according to my lights. Now I don't think there has ever been anything in my conduct

He turned, then, and walked slowly out, leaving Washington abashed and somewhat bewildered. When

Washington had presently got his thoughts into line again, he said to himself, "Why, honestly, I only meant to

The weeks drifted by monotonously enough, now. The "preliminaries" continued to drag along in Congress,

and life was a dull suspense to Sellers and Washington, a weary waiting which might have broken their

hearts, maybe, but for the relieving change which they got out of am occasional visit to New York to see

Laura. Standing guard in Washington or anywhere else is not an exciting business in time of peace, but

standing guard was all that the two friends had to do; all that was needed of them was that they should be on

hand and ready for any emergency that might come up. There was no work to do; that was all finished; this

was but the second session of the last winter's Congress, and its action on the bill could have but one

resultits passage. The house must do its work over again, of course, but the same membership was there to

see that it did it.The Senate was secureSenator Dilworthy was able to put all doubts to rest on that head.

Indeed it was no secret in Washington that a twothirds vote in the Senate was ready and waiting to be cast

Washington did not take part in the gaieties of "the season," as he had done the previous winter. He had lost

his interest in such things; he was oppressed with cares, now. Senator Dilworthy said to Washington that an

humble deportment, under punishment, was best, and that there was but one way in which the troubled heart

might find perfect repose and peace. The suggestion found a response in Washington's breast, and the Senator

From that moment one could find the youth with the Senator even oftener than with Col. Sellers. "When the

statesman presided at great temperance meetings, he placed Washington in the front rank of impressive

dignitaries that gave tone to the occasion and pomp to the platform. His bald headed surroundings made the

When the statesman made remarks in these meetings, he not infrequently alluded with effect to the

encouraging spectacle of one of the wealthiest and most brilliant young favorites of society forsaking the

light vanities of that butterfly existence to nobly and selfsacrificingly devote his talents and his riches to the

cause of saving his hapless fellow creatures from shame and misery here and eternal regret hereafter. At the

prayer meetings the Senator always brought Washington up the aisle on his arm and seated him prominently;

in his prayers he referred to him in the cant terms which the Senator employed, perhaps unconsciously, and

mistook, maybe, for religion, and in other ways brought him into notice. He had him out at gatherings for the

benefit of the negro, gatherings for the benefit of the Indian, gatherings for the benefit of the heathen in

distant lands. He had him out time and again, before Sunday Schools, as an example for emulation. Upon all

these occasions the Senator made casual references to many benevolent enterprises which his ardent young

friend was planning against the day when the passage of the University bill should make his means available

for the amelioration of the condition of the unfortunate among his fellow men of all nations and all. climes.

Thus as the weeks rolled on Washington grew up, into an imposing lion once more, but a lion that roamed the

peaceful fields of religion and temperance, and revisited the glittering domain of fashion no more. A great

moral influence was thus brought, to bear in favor of the bill; the weightiest of friends flocked to its standard;

its most energetic enemies said it was useless to fight longer; they had tacitly surrendered while as yet the day

The session was drawing toward its close. Senator Dilworthy thought he would run out west and shake hands

with his constituents and let them look at him. The legislature whose duty it would be to reelect him to the

United States Senate, was already in session. Mr. Dilworthy considered his reelection certain, but he was a

careful, painstaking man, and if, by visiting his State he could find the opportunity to persuade a few more

legislators to vote for him, he held the journey to be well worth taking. The University bill was safe, now; he

could leave it without fear; it needed his presence and his watching no longer. But there was a person in his

State legislature who did need watching a person who, Senator Dilworthy said, was a narrow, grumbling,

uncomfortable malcontenta person who was stolidly opposed to reform, and progress and him,a person

who, he feared, had been bought with money to combat him, and through him the commonwealth's welfare

"If this person Noble," said Mr. Dilworthy, in a little speech at a dinner party given him by some of his

admirers, "merely desired to sacrifice me.I would willingly offer up my political life on the altar of my

dear State's weal, I would be glad and grateful to do it; but when he makes of me but a cloak to hide his

deeper designs, when he proposes to strike through me at the heart of my beloved State, all the lion in me is

rousedand I say here I stand, solitary and alone, but unflinching, unquailing, thrice armed with my sacred

trust; and whoso passes, to do evil to this fair domain that looks to me for protection, must do so over my

He further said that if this Noble were a pure man, and merely misguided, he could bear it, but that he should

succeed in his wicked designs through, a base use of money would leave a blot upon his State which would

work untold evil to the morals of the people, and that he would not suffer; the public morals must not be

contaminated. He would seek this man Noble; he would argue, he would persuade, he would appeal to his

When he arrived on the ground he found his friends unterrified; they were standing firmly by him and were

full of courage. Noble was working hard, too, but matters were against him, he was not making much

progress. Mr. Dilworthy took an early opportunity to send for Mr. Noble; he had a midnight interview with

him, and urged him to forsake his evil ways; he begged him to come again and again, which he did. He

finally sent the man away at 3 o'clock one morning; and when he was gone, Mr. Dilworthy said to himself,

The Senator now turned his attention to matters touching the souls of his people. He appeared in church; he

took a leading part in prayer meetings; he met and encouraged the temperance societies; he graced the sewing

circles of the ladies with his presence, and even took a needle now and then and made a stitch or two upon a

calico shirt for some poor Bibleless pagan of the South Seas, and this act enchanted the ladies, who regarded

the garments thus honored as in a manner sanctified. The Senator wrought in Bible classes, and nothing could

keep him away from the Sunday Schoolsneither sickness nor storms nor weariness. He even traveled a

tedious thirty miles in a poor little rickety stagecoach to comply with the desire of the miserable hamlet of

All the town was assembled at the stage office when he arrived, two bonfires were burning, and a battery of

anvils was popping exultant broadsides; for a United States Senator was a sort of god in the understanding of

these people who never had seen any creature mightier than a county judge. To them a United States Senator

Next day everybody was at the village church a full half hour before time for Sunday School to open;

ranchmen and farmers had come with their families from five miles around, all eager to get a glimpse of the

great manthe man who had been to Washington; the man who had seen the President of the United States,

and had even talked with him; the man who had seen the actual Washington Monumentperhaps touched it

When the Senator arrived the Church was crowded, the windows were full, the aisles were packed, so was the

vestibule, and so indeed was the yard in front of the building. As he worked his way through to the pulpit on

the arm of the minister and followed by the envied officials of the village, every neck was stretched and,

every eye twisted around intervening obstructions to get a glimpse. Elderly people directed each other's

attention and, said, "There! that's him, with the grand, noble forehead!" Boys nudged each other and said,

The Senator took his seat in the pulpit, with the minister' on one side of him and the Superintendent of the

Sunday School on the other. The town dignitaries sat in an impressive row within the altar railings below.

The Sunday School children occupied ten of the front benches. dressed in their best and most uncomfortable

clothes, and with hair combed and faces too clean to feel natural. So awed were they by the presence of a

living United States Senator, that during three minutes not a "spit ball" was thrown. After that they began to

come to themselves by degrees, and presently the spell was wholly gone and they were reciting verses and

The usual Sunday School exercises were hurried through, and then the minister, got up and bored the house

with a speech built on the customary Sunday School plan; then the Superintendent put in his oar; then the

town dignitaries had their say. They all made complimentary reference to "their friend the, Senator," and told

what a great and illustrious man he was and what he had done for his country and for religion and

temperance, and exhorted the little boys to be good and diligent and try to become like him some day. The

speakers won the deathless hatred of the house by these delays, but at last there was an end and hope revived;

Senator Dilworthy rose and beamed upon the assemblage for a full minute in silence. Then he smiled with an

"My little friendsfor I hope that all these brightfaced little people are my friends and will let me be their

friendmy little friends, I have traveled much, I have been in many cities and many States, everywhere in

our great and noble country, and by the blessing of Providence I have been permitted to see many gatherings

like thisbut I am proud, I am truly proud to say that I never have looked upon so much intelligence, so

much grace, such sweetness of disposition as I see in the charming young countenances I see before me at

this moment. I have been asking myself as I sat here, Where am I? Am I in some faroff monarchy, looking

upon little princes and princesses? No. Am I in some populous centre of my own country, where the choicest

children of the land have been selected and brought together as at a fair for a prize? No. Am I in some strange

foreign clime where the children are marvels that we know not of? No. Then where am I? Yeswhere am I?

I am in a simple, remote, unpretending settlement of my own dear State, and these are the children of the

noble and virtuous men who have made me what I am! My soul is lost in wonder at the thought! And I

humbly thank Him to whom we are but as worms of the dust, that he has been pleased to call me to serve

such men! Earth has no higher, no grander position for me. Let kings and emperors keep their tinsel crowns, I

"Again I thought, Is this a theatre ? No. Is it a concert or a gilded opera? No. Is it some other vain, brilliant,

beautiful temple of soul staining amusement and hilarity? No. Then what is it? What did my consciousness

reply? I ask you, my little friends, What did my consciousness reply? It replied, It is the temple of the Lord!

Ah, think of that, now. I could hardly beep the tears back, I was so grateful. Oh, how beautiful it is to see

these ranks of sunny little faces assembled here to learn the way of life; to learn to be good; to learn to be

useful; to learn to be pious; to learn to be great and glorious men and women; to learn to be props and pillars

of the State and shining lights in the councils and the households of the nation; to be bearers of the banner

and soldiers of the cross in the rude campaigns of life, and raptured souls in the happy fields of Paradise

"Children, honor your parents and be grateful to them for providing for you the precious privileges of a

"Now my dear little friends, sit up straight and prettythere, that's itand give me your attention and let me

tell you about a poor little Sunday School scholar I once knew.He lived in the far west, and his parents

were poor. They could not give him a costly education; but they were good and wise and they sent him to the

Sunday School. He loved the Sunday School. I hope you love your Sunday Schoolah, I see by your faces

"Well, this poor little boy was always in his place when the bell rang, and he always knew his lesson ; for his

teachers wanted him to learn and he loved his teachers dearly. Always love your teachers, my children, for

they love you more than you can know, now. He would not let bad boys persuade him to go to play on

Sunday. There was one little bad boy who was always trying to persuade him, but he never could.

"So this poor little boy grew up to be a man, and had to go out in the world, far from home and friends to earn

his living. Temptations lay all about him, and sometimes he was about to yield, but he would think of some

precious lesson he learned in his Sunday School a long time ago, and that would save him. By and by he was

elected to the legislature Then he did everything he could for Sunday Schools. He got laws passed for

"And by and by the people made him governorand he said it was all owing to the Sunday School.

"After a while the people elected him a Representative to the Congress of the United States, and he grew very

famous.Now temptations assailed him on every hand. People tried to get him to drink wine; to dance, to go

to theatres ; they even tried to buy his vote; but no, the memory of his Sunday School saved him from all

harm; he remembered the fate of the bad little boy who used to try to get him to play on Sunday, and who

grew up and became a drunkard and was hanged. He remembered that, and was glad he never yielded and

"Well, at last, what do you think happened? Why the people gave him a towering, illustrious position, a

grand, imposing position. And what do you think it was? What should you say it was, children? It was

Senator of the United States! That poor little boy that loved his Sunday School became that man. That man

"My precious children, love your parents, love your teachers, love your Sunday School, be pious, be

obedient, be honest, be diligent, and then you will succeed in life and be honored of all men. Above all

things, my children, be honest. Above all things be pureminded as the snow. Let us join in prayer."

When Senator Dilworthy departed from Cattleville, he left three dozen boys behind him arranging a

When be arrived at the State capital at midnight Mr. Noble came and held a threehours' conference with

"I've worked hard, and I've got them at last. Six of them haven't got quite backbone enough to slew around

and come right out for you on the first ballot tomorrow; but they're going to vote against you on the first for

the sake of appearances, and then come out for you all in a body on the secondI've fixed all that! By supper

"Well, to bring about a complexion of things like this was worth coming West for."

The case of the State of New York against Laura Hawkins was finally set down for trial on the 15th day of

If the public had almost forgotten the existence of Laura and her crime, they were reminded of all the details

of the murder by the newspapers, which for some days had been announcing the approaching trial. But they

had not forgotten. The sex, the age, the beauty of the prisoner; her high social position in Washington, the

unparalled calmness with which the crime was committed had all conspired to fix the event in the public

mind, although nearly three hundred and sixtyfive subsequent murders had occurred to vary the monotony

No, the public read from time to time of the lovely prisoner, languishing in the city prison, the tortured victim

of the law's delay; and as the months went by it was natural that the horror of her crime should become a little

indistinct in memory, while the heroine of it should be invested with a sort of sentimental interest. Perhaps

her counsel had calculated on this. Perhaps it was by their advice that Laura had interested herself in the

unfortunate criminals who shared her prison confinement, and had done not a little to relieve, from her own

purse, the necessities of some of the poor creatures. That she had done this, the public read in the journals of

The court room was crowded at an early hour, before the arrival of judges, lawyers and prisoner. There is no

enjoyment so keen to certain minds as that of looking upon the slow torture of a human being on trial for life,

except it be an execution; there is no display of human ingenuity, wit and power so fascinating as that made

by trained lawyers in the trial of an important case, nowhere else is exhibited such subtlety, acumen, address,

All the conditions of intense excitement meet in a murder trial. The awful issue at stake gives significance to

the lightest word or look. How the quick eyes of the spectators rove from the stolid jury to the keen lawyers,

the impassive judge, the anxious prisoner. Nothing is lost of the sharp wrangle of the counsel on points of

law, the measured decision's of the bench; the duels between the attorneys and the witnesses. The crowd

sways with the rise and fall of the shifting, testimony, in sympathetic interest, and hangs upon the dicta of the

judge in breathless silence. It speedily takes sides for or against the accused, and recognizes as quickly its

favorites among the lawyers. Nothing delights it more than the sharp retort of a witness and the discomfiture

of an obnoxious attorney. A joke, even if it be a lame, one, is no where so keenly relished or quickly

Within the bar the young lawyers and the privileged hangerson filled all the chairs except those reserved at

the table for those engaged in the case. Without, the throng occupied all the seats, the window ledges and the

standing room. The atmosphere was already something horrible. It was the peculiar odor of a criminal court,

as if it were tainted by the presence, in different persons, of all the crimes that men and women can commit.

There was a little stir when the Prosecuting Attorney, with two assistants, made his way in, seated himself at

the table, and spread his papers before him. There was more stir when the counsel of the defense appeared.

Everybody in the court room knew Mr. Braham, the great criminal lawyer, and he was not unaware that he

was the object of all eyes as he moved to his place, bowing to his friends in the bar. A large but rather spare

man, with broad shoulders and a massive head, covered with chestnut curls which fell down upon his coat

collar and which he had a habit of shaking as a lion is supposed to shake his mane. His face was clean

shaven, and he had a wide mouth and rather small dark eyes, set quite too near together: Mr. Braham wore a

brown frock coat buttoned across his breast, with a rosebud in the upper buttonhole, and light pantaloons. A

diamond stud was seen to flash from his bosom; and as he seated himself and drew off his gloves a heavy seal

ring was displayed upon his white left hand. Mr. Braham having seated himself, deliberately surveyed the

entire house, made a remark to one of his assistants, and then taking an ivoryhandled knife from his pocket

began to pare his finger nails, rocking his chair backwards and forwards slowly.

A moment later Judge O'Shaunnessy entered at the rear door and took his seat in one of the chairs behind the

bench; a gentleman in black broadcloth, with sandy hair, inclined to curl, a round; reddish and rather jovial

face, sharp rather than intellectual, and with a self sufficient air. His career had nothing remarkable in it. He

was descended from a long line of Irish Kings, and he was the first one of them who had ever come into his

kingdomthe kingdom of such being the city of New York. He had, in fact, descended so far and so low that

he found himself, when a boy, a sort of street Arab in that city; but he had ambition and native shrewdness,

and he speedily took to bootpolishing, and newspaper hawking, became the office and errand boy of a law

firm, picked up knowledge enough to get some employment in police courts, was admitted to the bar, became

a rising young politician, went to the legislature, and was finally elected to the bench which he now honored.

In this democratic country he was obliged to conceal his royalty under a plebeian aspect. Judge O'Shaunnessy

never had a lucrative practice nor a large salary but he had prudently laid away moneybelieving that a

dependant judge can never be impartialand he had lands and houses to the value of three or four hundred

thousand dollars. Had he not helped to build and furnish this very Court House? Did he not know that the

very "spittoon" which his judgeship used cost the city the sum of one thousand dollars?

As soon as the judge was seated, the court was opened, with the "oi yis, oi yis" of the officer in his native

language, the case called, and the sheriff was directed to bring in the prisoner. In the midst of a profound hush

Laura entered, leaning on the arm of the officer, and was conducted to a seat by her counsel. She was

followed by her mother and by Washington Hawkins, who were given seats near her.

Laura was very pale, but this pallor heightened the lustre of her large eyes and gave a touching sadness to her

expressive face. She was dressed in simple black, with exquisite taste, and without an ornament. The thin lace

vail which partially covered her face did not so much conceal as heighten her beauty. She would not have

entered a drawing room with more selfpoise, nor a church with more haughty humility. There was in her

manner or face neither shame nor boldness, and when she took her seat in fall view of half the spectators, her

eyes were downcast. A murmur of admiration ran through the room. The newspaper reporters made their

pencils fly. Mr. Braham again swept his eyes over the house as if in approval. When Laura at length raised

her eyes a little, she saw Philip and Harry within the bar, but she gave no token of recognition.

The clerk then read the indictment, which was in the usual form. It charged Laura Hawkins, in effect, with the

premeditated murder of George Selby, by shooting him with a pistol, with a revolver, shotgun, rifle, repeater,

breechloader, cannon, sixshooter, with a gun, or some other, weapon; with killing him with a slungshot, a

bludgeon, carving knife, bowie knife, pen knife, rolling pin, car, hook, dagger, hair pin, with a hammer, with

a screwdriver; with a nail, and with all other weapons and utensils whatsoever, at the Southern hotel and in

all other hotels and places wheresoever, on the thirteenth day of March and all other days of the Christian era

Laura stood while the long indictment was read; and at the end, in response to the inquiry, of the judge, she

said in a clear, low voice;. "Not guilty." She sat down and the court proceeded to impanel a jury.

"Have you formed or expressed any opinion on this case, and do you know any of the parties?"

"Haven't any particular business, eh? Well, what's your general business? What do you do for a living?"

"Oh, I seeyou are probably the amusement committee of the city council. Have you ever heard of this

Mr. Braham submitted that the man was disqualified Judge thought not. Point argued. Challenged

Dist. A. "Thathathere! Hold on a bit? Did anybody tell you to say you had no opinion about it?"

Take care now, take care. Then what suggested it to you to volunteer that remark?"

The juror said he hadn't any feeling, and didn't know any of the parties. Accepted and sworn.

Dennis Lafin, laborer. Have neither formed nor expressed an opinion. Never had heard of the case. Believed

Mr. Braham objected. The man was evidently bloody minded. Challenged peremptorily.

Larry O'Toole, contractor. A showily dressed man of the style known as "vulgar genteel," had a sharp eye and

a ready tongue. Had read the newspaper reports of the case, but they made no impression on him. Should be

governed by the evidence. Knew no reason why he could not be an impartial juror.

(Laughter from the crowd, approving smiles from his Honor and Mr. Braham.) Juror sworn in. Mr. Braham

Avery Hicks, peanut peddler. Did he ever hear of this case? The man shook his head.

He was about to be sworn, when the district attorney turning to him carelessly, remarked,

"Do you mean to insult me?" roared the prosecuting officer. " Are you an idiot?"

The man was discharged. "He wouldn't have made a bad juror, though," whispered Braham. "I saw him

The result of the whole day's work was the selection of only two jurors. These however were satisfactory to

Mr. Braham. He had kept off all those he did not know. No one knew better than this great criminal lawyer

that the battle was fought on the selection of the jury. The subsequent examination of witnesses, the

eloquence expended on the jury are all for effect outside. At least that is the theory of Mr. Braham. But

human nature is a queer thing, he admits; sometimes jurors are unaccountably swayed, be as careful as you

It was four weary days before this jury was made up, but when it was finally complete, it did great credit to

the counsel for the defence. So far as Mr. Braham knew, only two could read, one of whom was the foreman,

Mr. Braham's friend, the showy contractor. Low foreheads and heavy faces they all had; some had a look of

animal cunning, while the most were only stupid. The entire panel formed that boasted heritage commonly

The District Attorney, Mr.McFlinn, opened the case for the state. He spoke with only the slightest accent, one

that had been inherited but not cultivated. He contented himself with a brief statement of the case. The state

would prove that Laura Hawkins, the prisoner at the bar, a fiend in the form of a beautiful woman, shot dead

George Selby, a Southern gentleman, at the, time and place described. That the murder was in cold blood,

deliberate and without provocation; that it had been long premeditated and threatened; that she had followed

the deceasedfrom Washington to commit it. All this would be proved by unimpeachable witnesses. The

attorney added that the duty of the jury, however painful it might be, would be plain and simple. They were

citizens, husbands,, perhaps fathers. They knew how insecure life had become in the metropolis. Tomorrow

our own wives might be widows, their own children orphans, like the bereaved family in yonder hotel,

deprived of husband and father by the jealous hand of some murderous female. The attorney sat down, and

Henry Brierly took the stand. Requested by the District Attorney to tell the jury all he knew about the killing,

He accompanied Miss Hawkins to New York at her request, supposing she was coming in relation to a bill

then pending in Congress, to secure the attendance of absent members. Her note to him was here shown. She

appeared to be very much excited at the Washington station. After she had asked the conductor several

questions, he heard her say, "He can't escape." Witness asked her "Who?" and she replied "Nobody." Did not

see her during the night. They traveled in a sleeping car. In the morning she appeared not to have slept, said

she had a headache. In crossing the ferry she asked him about the shipping in sight; he pointed out where the

Cunarders lay when in port. They took a cup of coffee that morning at a restaurant. She said she was anxious

to reach the Southern Hotel where Mr. Simons, one of the absent members, was staying, before he went out.

She was entirely selfpossessed, and beyond unusual excitement did not act unnaturally. After she had fired

twice at Col. Selby, she turned the pistol towards her own breast, and witness snatched it from her. She had

(Crossexamined by Mr. Braham.) "Mister.....er Brierly!" (Mr. Braham had in perfection this lawyer's trick

of annoying a witness, by drawling out the "Mister," as if unable to recall the name, until the witness is

sufficiently aggravated, and then suddenly, with a rising inflection, flinging his name at him with startling

"Ah, civil engineer, (with a glance at the jury). Following that occupation with Miss Hawkins?" (Smiles by

Objected to. "I submit, your Honor, that I have the right to establish the relation of this unwilling witness to

"You act like a friend!" (sarcastically.) The jury were beginning to hate this neatly dressed young sprig.

Harry blushed and stammered and looked at the judge. "You must answer, sir," said His Honor.

"No. I should think not. Brierly do you dare tell the jury that you had not an interest in the removal of your

"One word," said the District Attorney. Had you the least suspicion of the prisoner's intention, up to the

The prosecution then put upon the stand the other witnesses of the shooting at the hotel, and the clerk and the

attending physicians. The fact of the homicide was clearly established. Nothing new was elicited, except from

the clerk, in reply to a question by Mr. Braham, the fact that when the prisoner enquired for Col. Selby she

The dying deposition of Col. Selby was then produced. It set forth Laura's threats, but there was a significant

addition to it, which the newspaper report did not have. It seemed that after the deposition was taken as

reported, the Colonel was told for the first time by his physicians that his wounds were mortal. He appeared

to be in great mental agony and fear; and said he had not finished his deposition. He added, with great

The Washington railway conductor testified that the prisoner had asked him if a gentleman and his family

went out on the evening train, describing the persons he had since learned were Col. Selby and family.

Susan Cullum, colored servant at Senator Dilworthy's, was sworn. Knew Col. Selby. Had seen him come to

the house often, and be alone in the parlor with Miss Hawkins. He came the day but one before he was shot.

She let him in. He appeared flustered like. She heard talking in the parlor, I peared like it was quarrelin.' Was

afeared sumfin' was wrong: Just put her ear tothekeyhole of the back parlordoor. Heard a man's voice,

"Ican'tI can't, Good God, quite beggin' like. Heardyoung Miss' voice, "Take your choice, then. If you

'bandon me, you knows what to 'spect." Then he rushes outen the house, I goes inand I says, "Missis did

you ring?" She was a standin' like a tiger, her eyes flashin'. I come right out.

This was the substance of Susan's testimony, which was not shaken in the least by severe crossexamination.

In reply to Mr. Braham's question, if the prisoner did not look insane, Susan said, "Lord; no, sir, just mad as a

Washington Hawkins was sworn. The pistol, identified by the officer as the one used in the homicide, was

produced Washington admitted that it was his. She had asked him for it one morning, saying she thought she

had heard burglars the night before. Admitted that he never had heard burglars in the house. Had anything

Nothing that he remembered. Did he accompany her to a reception at Mrs. Shoonmaker's a day or two

before? Yes. What occurred? Little by little it was dragged out of the witness that Laura had behaved

strangely there, appeared to be sick, and he had taken her home. Upon being pushed he admitted that she had

afterwards confessed that she saw Selby there. And Washington volunteered the statement that Selby, was a

The defence declined to examine Mr. Hawkins at present. The case for the prosecution was closed. Of the

murder there could not be the least doubt, or that the prisoner followed the deceased to New York with a

murderous intent: On the evidence the jury must convict, and might do so without leaving their seats. This

was the condition of the case two days after the jury had been selected. A week had passed since the trial

The public who read the reports of the evidence saw no chance for the prisoner's escape. The crowd of

spectators who had watched the trial were moved with the most profound sympathy for Laura.

Mr. Braham opened the case for the defence. His manner was subdued, and he spoke in so low a voice that it

was only by reason of perfect silence in the court room that he could be heard. He spoke very distinctly,

however, and if his nationality could be discovered in his speech it was only in a certain richness and breadth

He began by saying that he trembled at the responsibility he had undertaken; and he should, altogether

despair, if he did not see before him a jury of twelve men of rare intelligence, whose acute minds would

unravel all the sophistries of the prosecution, men with a sense, of honor, which would revolt at the

remorseless persecution of this hunted woman by the state, men with hearts to feel for the wrongs of which

she was the victim. Far be it from him to cast any suspicion upon the motives of the able, eloquent and

ingenious lawyers of the state; they act officially; their business is to convict. It is our business, gentlemen, to

"It is my duty, gentlemen, to untold to you one of the most affecting dramas in all, the history of misfortune. I

shall have to show you a life, the sport of fate and circumstances, hurried along through shifting storm and

sun, bright with trusting innocence and anon black with heartless villainy, a career which moves on in love

and desertion and anguish, always hovered over by the dark spectre of INSANITYan insanity hereditary

and induced by mental torture,until it ends, if end it must in your verdict, by one of those fearful accidents,

"Gentlemen, I, shall ask you to go with me away from this court room and its minions of the law, away from

the scene of this tragedy, to a distant, I wish I could say a happier day. The story I have to tell is of a lovely

little girl, with sunny hair and laughing eyes, traveling with her parents, evidently people of wealth and

refinement, upon a Mississippi steamboat. There is an explosion, one of those terrible catastrophes which

leave the imprint of an unsettled mind upon the survivors. Hundreds of mangled remains are sent into

eternity. When the wreck is cleared away this sweet little girl is found among the panic stricken survivors in

the midst of a scene of horror enough to turn the steadiest brain. Her parents have disappeared. Search even

for their bodies is in vain. The bewildered, stricken childwho can say what changes the fearful event

wrought in her tender brainclings to the first person who shows her sympathy. It is Mrs. Hawkins, this

good lady who is still her loving friend. Laura is adopted into the Hawkins family. Perhaps she forgets in

time that she is not their child. She is an orphan. No, gentlemen, I will not deceive you, she is not an orphan.

Worse than that. There comes another day of agony. She knows that her father lives. Who is he, where is he?

Alas, I cannot tell you. Through the scenes of this painful history he flits here and there a lunatic! If he, seeks

his daughter, it is the purposeless search of a lunatic, as one who wanders bereft of reason, crying where is

my child? Laura seeks her father. In vain just as she is about to find him, again and againhe disappears, he is

"But this is only the prologue to the tragedy. Bear with me while I relate it. (Mr. Braham takes out a

handkerchief, unfolds it slowly; crashes it in his nervous hand, and throws it on the table). Laura grew up in

her humble southern home, a beautiful creature, the joy, of the house, the pride of the neighborhood, the

loveliest flower in all the sunny south. She might yet have been happy; she was happy. But the destroyer

came into this paradise. He plucked the sweetest bud that grew there, and having enjoyed its odor, trampled it

in the mire beneath his feet. George Selby, the deceased, a handsome, accomplished Confederate Colonel,

was this human fiend. He deceived her with a mock marriage; after some months he brutally, abandoned her,

and spurned her as if she were a contemptible thing; all the time he had a wife in New Orleans. Laura was

crushed. For weeks, as I shall show you by the testimony of her adopted mother and brother, she hovered

over death in delirium. Gentlemen, did she ever emerge from this delirium? I shall show you that when she

recovered her health, her mind was changed, she was not what she had been. You can judge yourselves

Years pass. She is in Washington, apparently the happy favorite of a brilliant society. Her family have

become enormously rich by one of those sudden turns, in fortune that the inhabitants of America are familiar

withthe discovery of immense mineral wealth in some wild lands owned by them. She is engaged in a vast

philanthropic scheme for the benefit of the poor, by, the use of this wealth. But, alas, even here and now, the

same, relentless fate pursued her. The villain Selby appears again upon the scene, as if on purpose to

complete the ruin of her life. He appeared to taunt her with her dishonor, he threatened exposure if she did

not become again the mistress of his passion. Gentlemen, do you wonder if this woman, thus pursued, lost her

reason, was beside herself with fear, and that her wrongs preyed upon her mind until she was no longer

responsible for her acts? I turn away my head as one who would not willingly look even upon the just

vengeance of Heaven. (Mr.Braham paused as if overcome by his emotions. Mrs. Hawkins and Washington

"Gentlemen, in this condition of affairs it needed but a sparkI do not say a suggestion, I do not say a

hintfrom this butterfly Brierly; this rejected rival, to cause the explosion. I make no charges, but if this

woman was in her right mind when she fled from Washington and reached this city in companywith

When Mr. Braham sat down, he felt that he had the jury with him. A burst of applause followed, which the

officer promptly, suppressed. Laura, with tears in her eyes, turned a grateful look upon her counsel. All the

women among the spectators saw the tears and wept also. They thought as they also looked at Mr. Braham;

Mrs. Hawkins took the stand. She was somewhat confused to be the target of so many, eyes, but her honest

"Mrs. Hawkins," said Mr. Braham, "will you' be kind enough to state the circumstances of your finding

"I object," said Mr. McFlinn; rising to his feet. "This has nothing whatever to do with the case, your honor. I

"If it please the court," said Mr. Braham, rising impressively, "your Honor has permitted the prosecution, and

I have submitted without a word; to go into the most extraordinary testimony to establish a motive. Are we to

be shut out from showing that the motive attributed to us could not by reason of certain mental conditions

exist? I purpose, may, it please your Honor, to show the cause and the origin of an aberration of mind, to

follow it up, with other like evidence, connecting it with the very moment of the homicide, showing a

"The State must insist upon its objections," said the District Attorney. "The purpose evidently is to open the

door to a mass of irrelevant testimony, the object of which is to produce an effect upon the jury your Honor

"Perhaps," suggested the judge, "the court ought to hear the testimony, and exclude it afterwards, if it is

And argument his honor did hear, or pretend to, for two whole days, from all the counsel in turn, in the course

of which the lawyers read contradictory decisions enough to perfectly establish both sides, from volume after

volume, whole libraries in fact, until no mortal man could say what the rules were. The question of insanity in

all its legal aspects was of course drawn into the discussion, and its application affirmed and denied. The case

was felt to turn upon the admission or rejection of this evidence. It was a sort of test trial of strength between

the lawyers. At the end the judge decided to admit the testimony, as the judge usually does in such cases,

Mrs. Hawkins slowly and conscientiously, as if every detail of her family history was important, told the

story of the steamboat explosion, of the finding and adoption of Laura. Silas, that its Mr. Hawkins, and she

She then narrated the circumstances of Laura's supposed marriage, her abandonment and long illness, in a

Crossexamined. At the time of first finding Laura on the steamboat, did she notice that Laura's mind was at

all deranged? She couldn't say that she did. After the recovery of Laura from her long illness, did Mrs.

Hawkins think there, were any signs of insanity about her? Witness confessed that she did not think of it then.

Washington Hawkins corroborated his mother's testimony as to Laura's connection with Col. Selby. He was

at Harding during the time of her living there with him. After Col. Selby's desertion she was almost dead,

never appeared to know anything rightly for weeks. He added that he never saw such a scoundrel as Selby.

(Checked by District attorney.) Had he noticed any change in, Laura after her illness? Oh, yes. Whenever,

any allusion was made that might recall Selby to mind, she looked awfulas if she could kill him.

"You mean," said Mr. Braham, "that there was an unnatural, insane gleam in her eyes?"

All this was objected to by the district attorney, but it was got before the jury, and Mr. Braham did not care

"Beriah Sellers was the next witness called. The Colonel made his way to the stand with majestic, yet bland

deliberation. Having taken the oath and kissed the Bible with a smack intended to show his great respect for

that book, he bowed to his Honor with dignity, to the jury with familiarity, and then turned to the lawyers and

"Beriah Sellers, Missouri," was the courteous acknowledgment that the lawyer was correct.

"Know them all, from infancy, sir. It was me, sir, that induced Silas Hawkins, Judge Hawkins, to come to

Missouri, and make his fortune. It was by my advice and in company with me, sir, that he went into the

"Knew him, well, sir, knew him and honored him, sir. He was one of the most remarkable men of our

country, sir. A member of congress. He was often at my mansion sir, for weeks. He used to say to me, 'Col.

Sellers, if you would go into politics, if I had you for a colleague, we should show Calhoun and Webster that

There was an almost imperceptible sense of pleasure betrayed in the Colonel's face at this prompt

"Bless you, no. Died years ago, a miserable death, sir, a ruined man, a poor sot. He was suspected of selling

his vote in Congress, and probably he did; the disgrace killed' him, he was an outcast, sir, loathed by himself

The Judge. "You will confine yourself, Col. Sellers to the questions of the counsel."

"Of course, your honor. This," continued the Colonel in confidential explanation was twenty years ago. I

shouldn't have thought of referring to such a trifling circumstance now. If I remember rightly, sir"

"As if it was my own, sir. It's Major Lackland's. I was knowing to these letters when Judge Hawkins received

them. [The Colonel's memory was a little at fault here. Mr. Hawkins had never gone into detail's with him on

this subject.] He used to show them to me, and say, 'Col, Sellers you've a mind to untangle this sort of thing.'

Lord, how everything comes back to me. Laura was a little thing then. 'The Judge and I were just laying our

The letters were a portion of the correspondence of Major Lackland with Silas Hawkins; parts of them were

missing and important letters were referred to that were not here. They related, as the reader knows, to

Laura's father. Lackland had come upon the track of a man who was searching for a lost child in a Mississippi

steamboat explosion years before. The man was lame in one leg, and appeared to be flitting from place to

place. It seemed that Major Lackland got so close track of him that he was able to describe his personal

appearance and learn his name. But the letter containing these particulars was lost. Once he heard of him at a

hotel in Washington; but the man departed, leaving an empty trunk, the day before the major went there.

Col. Sellers, continuing his testimony, said that he saw this lost letter, but could not now recall the name.

Search for the supposed father had been continued by Lackland, Hawkins and himself for several years, but

Laura was not informed of it till after the death of Hawkins, for fear of raising false hopes in her mind.

"Your Honor, I must positively object to letting the witness wander off into all these irrelevant details."

Mr. Braham. "I submit your honor, that we cannot be interrupted in this manner we have suffered the state to

have full swing. Now here is a witness, who has known the prisoner from infancy, and is competent to testify

upon the one point vital to her safety. Evidently he is a gentleman of character, and his knowledge of the case

cannot be shut out without increasing the aspect of persecution which the State's attitude towards the prisoner

The wrangle continued, waxing hotter and hotter. The Colonel seeing the attention of the counsel and Court

entirely withdrawn from him, thought he perceived here his opportunity, turning and beaming upon the jury,

he began simply to talk, but as the grandeur of his position grew upon him talk broadened unconsciously

"You see how she was situated, gentlemen; poor child, it might have broken her, heart to let her mind get to

running on such a thing as that. You see, from what we could make out her father was lame in the left leg and

had a deep scar on his left forehead. And so ever since the day she found out she had another father, she

never could, run across a lame stranger without being taken all over with a shiver, and almost fainting where

she, stood. And the next minute she would go right after that man. Once she stumbled on a stranger with a

game leg; and she was the most grateful thing in this worldbut it was the wrong leg, and it was days and

days before she could leave her bed. Once she found a man with a scar on his forehead and she was just going

to throw herself into his arms,` but he stepped out just then, and there wasn't anything the matter with his

legs. Time and time again, gentlemen of the jury, has this poor suffering orphan flung herself on her knees

with all her heart's gratitude in her eyes before some scarred and crippled veteran, but always, always to be

disappointed, always to be plunged into new despairif his legs were right his scar was wrong, if his scar

was right his legs were wrong. Never could find a man that would fill the bill. Gentlemen of the jury; you

have hearts, you have feelings, you have warm human sympathies; you can feel for this poor suffering child.

Gentlemen of the jury, if I had time, if I had the opportunity, if I might be permitted to go on and tell you the

thousands and thousands and thousands of mutilated strangers this poor girl has started out of cover, and

hunted from city to city, from state to state, from continent to continent, till she has run them down and found

By this time the Colonel had become so warmed up, that his voice, had reached a pitch above that of the

contending counsel; the lawyers suddenly stopped, and they and the Judge turned towards the Colonel and

remained far several seconds too surprised at this novel exhibition to speak. In this interval of silence, an

appreciation of the situation gradually stole over the, audience, and an explosion of laughter followed, in

"Certainly, your Honorcertainly. I am not well acquainted with the forms of procedure in the courts of

"You see, your Honor, there were no questions asked me, and I thought I would take advantage of the lull in

"I have never heard of his death, sir. It has never come to my knowledge. In fact, sir, as I once said to

"Will you state to the jury what has been the effect of the knowledge of this wandering and evidently

unsettled being, supposed to be her father, upon the mind of Miss Hawkins for so many years!"

The Colonel looked about him loftily, as if casting in his mind what would be the proper occupation of a

"No, Sir. But upon one occasion, old Senator Thompson said to me, its my opinion, Colonel Sellers"

The defense then sent a day in the examination of medical experts in insanity who testified, on the evidence

heard, that sufficient causes had occurred to produce an insane mind in the prisoner. Numerous cases were

cited to sustain this opinion. There was such a thing as momentary insanity, in which the person, otherwise

rational to all appearances, was for the time actually bereft of reason, and not responsible for his acts. The

causes of this momentary possession could often be found in the person's life. [It afterwards came out that the

chief expert for the defense, was paid a thousand dollars for looking into the case.]

The prosecution consumed another day in the examination of experts refuting the notion of insanity. These

causes might have produced insanity, but there was no evidence that they have produced it in this case, or that

the prisoner was not at the time of the commission of the crime in full possession of her ordinary faculties.

The trial had now lasted two weeks. It required four days now for the lawyers to "sum up." These arguments

of the counsel were very important to their friends, and greatly enhanced their reputation at the bar but they

have small interest to us. Mr. Braham in his closing speech surpassed himself; his effort is still remembered

Mr. Braham redrew for the jury the picture, of Laura's early life; he dwelt long upon that painful episode of

the pretended marriage and the desertion. Col. Selby, he said, belonged, gentlemen; to what is called the

"upper classes:" It is the privilege of the "upper classes" to prey upon the sons and daughters of the people.

The Hawkins family, though allied to the best blood of the South, were at the time in humble circumstances.

He commented upon her parentage. Perhaps her agonized father, in his intervals of sanity, was still searching

for his lost daughter. Would he one day hear that she had died a felon's death? Society had pursued her, fate

had pursued her, and in a moment of delirium she had turned and defied fate and society. He dwelt upon the

admission of base wrong in Col. Selby's dying statement. He drew a vivid, picture of the villain at last

overtaken by the vengeance of Heaven. Would the jury say that this retributive justice, inflicted by an

outraged, and deluded woman, rendered irrational by the most cruel wrongs, was in the nature of a foul,

premeditated murder? "Gentlemen; it is enough for me to look upon the life of this most beautiful and

accomplished of her sex, blasted by the heartless villainy of man, without seeing, at theend of it; the horrible

spectacle of a gibbet. Gentlemen, we are all human, we have all sinned, we all have need of mercy. But I do

not ask mercy of you who are the guardians of society and of the poor waifs, its sometimes wronged victims;

I ask only that justice which you and I shall need in that last, dreadful hour, when death will be robbed of half

its terrors if we can reflect that we have never wronged a human being. Gentlemen, the life of this lovely and

The jury were risibly affected. Half the court room was in tears. If a vote of both spectators and jury could

have been taken then, the verdict would have been, "let her go, she has suffered enough."

But the district attorney had the closing argument. Calmly and without malice or excitement he reviewed the

testimony. As the cold facts were unrolled, fear settled upon the listeners. There was no escape from the

murder or its premeditation. Laura's character as a lobbyist in Washington which had been made to appear

incidentally in the evidence was also against her: the whole body of the testimony of the defense was shown

to be irrelevant, introduced only to excite sympathy, and not giving a color of probability to the absurd

supposition of insanity. The attorney then dwelt upon, the insecurity of life in the city, and the growing

immunity with which women committed murders. Mr. McFlinn made a very able speech; convincing the

The Judge in his charge reviewed the, testimony with great show of impartiality. He ended by saying that the

verdict must be acquital or murder in the first, degree. If you find that the prisoner committed a homicide, in

possession of her reason and with premeditation, your verdict will be accordingly. If you find she was not in

her right mind, that she was the victim of insanity, hereditary or momentary, as it has been explained, your

As the Judge finished his charge, the spectators anxiously watched the faces of the jury. It was not a

remunerative study. In the court room the general feeling was in favor of Laura, but whether this feeling

extended to the jury, their stolid faces did not reveal. The public outside hoped for a conviction, as it always

does; it wanted an example; the newspapers trusted the jury would have the courage to do its duty. When

Laura was convicted, then the public would tern around and abuse the governor if he did; not pardon her.

The jury went out. Mr. Braham preserved his serene confidence, but Laura's friends were dispirited.

Washington and Col. Sellers had been obliged to go to Washington, and they had departed under the

unspoken fear the verdict would be unfavorable, a disagreement was the best they could hope for, and money

was needed. The necessity of the passage of the University bill was now imperative.

The Court waited, for, some time, but the jury gave no signs of coming in. Mr. Braham said it was

extraordinary. The Court then took a recess for a couple of hours. Upon again coming in, word was brought

But the, jury, had a question. The point upon which, they wanted instruction was this. They wanted to know

if Col. Sellers was related to the Hawkins famiry. The court then adjourned till morning.

Mr. Braham, who was in something of a pet, remarked to Mr. O'Toole that they must have been deceived,

The momentous day was at handa day that promised to make or mar the fortunes of Hawkins family for all

time. Washington Hawkins and Col. Sellers were both up early, for neither of them could sleep. Congress

was expiring, and was passing bill after bill as if they were gasps and each likely to be its last. The University

was on file for its third reading this day, and tomorrow Washington would be a millionaire and Sellers no

longer, impecunious but this day, also, or at farthest the next, the jury in Laura's Case would come to a

decision of some kind or otherthey would find her guilty, Washington secretly feared, and then the care

and the trouble would all come back again, and these would be wearing months of besieging judges for new

trials; on this day, also, the reelection of Mr. Dilworthy to the Senate would take place. So Washington's

mind was in a state of turmoil; there were more interests at stake than it could handle with serenity. He

exulted when he thought of his millions; he was filled with dread when he thought of Laura. But Sellers was

"Everything is going right, everything's going perfectly right. Pretty soon the telegrams will begin to rattle in,

and then you'll see, my boy. Let the jury do what they please; what difference is it going to make?

Tomorrow we can send a million to New York and set the lawyers at work on the judges; bless your heart

they will go before judge after judge and exhort and beseech and pray and shed tears. They always do; and

they always win, too. And they will win this time. They will get a writ of habeas corpus, and a stay of

proceedings, and a supersedeas, and a new trial and a nolle prosequi, and there you are! That's the routine,

and it's no trick at all to a New York lawyer. That's the regular routine everything's red tape and routine in

the law, you see; it's all Greek to you, of course, but to a man who is acquainted with those things it's

mereI'll explain it to you sometime. Everything's going to glide right along easy and comfortable now.

You'll see, Washington, you'll see how it will be. And then, let me think ..... Dilwortby will be elected

today, and by day, after tomorrow night be will be in New York ready to put in his shoveland you

haven't lived in Washington all this time not to know that the people who walk right by a Senator whose term

is up without hardly seeing him will be down at the deepo to say 'Welcome back and God bless you; Senator,

I'm glad to see yon, sir!' when he comes along back reelected, you know. Well, you see, his influence was

naturally running low when he left here, but now he has got a new six years' start, and his suggestions will

simply just weigh a couple of tons apiece day after tomorrow. Lord bless you he could rattle through that

habeas corpus and supersedeas and all those things for Laura all by himself if he wanted to, when he gets

"I hadn't thought of that," said Washington, brightening, but it is so. A newlyelected Senator is a power, I

"Yes indeed he is. Why it, is just human nature. Look at me. When we first carne here, I was Mr. Sellers,

and Major Sellers, Captain Sellers, but nobody could ever get it right, somehow; but the minute our bill went,

through the House, I was Col. Sellers every time. And nobody could do enough for me, and whatever I said

was wonderful, Sir, it was always wonderful; I never seemed to say any flat things at all. It was Colonel,

won't you come and dine with us; and Colonel why don't we ever see you at our house; and the Colonel says

this; and the Colonel says that; and we know suchandsuch is soandso because my husband heard Col.

Sellers say so. Don't you see? Well, the Senate adjourned and left our bill high, and dry, and I'll be hanged if I

warn't Old Sellers from that day, till our bill passed the House again last week. Now I'm the Colonel again;

and if I were to eat all the dinners I am invited to, I reckon I'd wear my teeth down level with my gums in a

"Well I do wonder what you will be tomorrow; Colonel, after the President signs the bill!"

"General, sir?General, without a doubt. Yes, sir, tomorrow it will be General, let me congratulate you, sir;

General, you've done a great work, sir;you've done a great work for the niggro; Gentlemen allow me the

honor to introduce my friend General Sellers, the humane friend of the niggro. Lord bless me; you'll' see the

newspapers say, General Sellers and servants arrived in the city last night and is stopping at the Fifth Avenue;

and General Sellers has accepted a reception and banquet by the Cosmopolitan Club; you'll see the General's

opinions quoted, too and what the General has to say about the propriety of a new trial and a habeas corpus

for the unfortunate Miss Hawkins will not be without weight in influential quarters, I can tell you."

"And I want to he the first to shale your faithful old hand and salute you with your new honors, and I want to

do it nowGeneral!" said Washington, suiting the action to the word, and accompanying it with all the

The Colonel was touched; he was pleased and proud, too; his face answered for that.

Not very long after breakfast the telegrams began to arrive. The first was from Braham, and ran thus:

That's the right talk," said Sellers. That Graham's a wonderful man. He was the only man there that really

"Good again!" said the Colonel. "That man's talent for organization is something marvelous. He wanted me to

go out there and engineer that thing, but I said, No, Dilworthy, I must be on hand here,both on Laura's

account and the bill'sbut you've no trifling genius for organization yourself, said Iand I was right. You

go ahead, said I you can fix itand so he has. But I claim no credit for thatif I stiffened up his

backbone a little, I simply put him in the way to make his fightdidn't undertake it myself. He has captured

"Jury still out. Laura calm and firm as a statue. The report that the jury have brought her in guilty is false and

"Premature!" gasped Washington, turning white. "Then they all expect that sort of a verdict, when it comes

And so did he; but he had not had courage enough to put it into words. He had been preparing himself for the

worst, but after all his preparation the bare suggestion of the possibility of such a verdict struck him cold as

The friends grew impatient, now; the telegrams did not come fast enough: even the lightning could not keep

up with their anxieties. They walked the floor talking disjointedly and listening for the doorbell. Telegram

after telegram came. Still no result. By and by there was one which contained a single line:

"Oh, I wish they would finish!" said Washington. "This suspense is killing me by inches!"

"Another hitch somewhere. Jury want a little more time and further instructions."

"Well, well, well, this is trying," said the Colonel. And after a pause, "No dispatch from Dilworthy for two

hours, now. Even a dispatch from him would be better than nothing, just to vary this thing."

"Come!" said Washington. "I can't wait for the telegraph boy to come all the way up here. Let's go down to

While they were passing along the Avenue, they saw someone putting up a great displaysheet on the

bulletin board of a newspaper office, and an eager crowd of men was collecting abort the place. Washington

"Tremendous Sensation! Startling news from Saint's Rest! On first ballot for U. S. Senator, when voting was

about to begin, Mr. Noble rose in his place and drew forth a package, walked forward and laid it on the

Speaker's desk, saying, 'This contains $7,000 in bank bills and was given me by Senator Dilworthy in his

bedchamber at midnight last night to buy my vote for himI wish the Speaker to count the money and

retain it to pay the expense of prosecuting this infamous traitor for bribery. The whole legislature was

stricken speechless with dismay and astonishment. Noble further said that there were fifty members present

with money in their pockets, placed there by Dilworthy to buy their votes. Amidst unparalleled excitement

the ballot was now taken, and J. W. Smith elected U. S. Senator; Dilworthy receiving not one vote! Noble

promises damaging exposures concerning Dilworthy and certain measures of his now pending in Congress.

And they did fly. Long before they got there the newsboys were running ahead of them with Extras, hot from

Arrived in the gallery of the Senate, the friends saw a curious spectacle very Senator held an Extra in his hand

and looked as interested as if it contained news of the destruction of the earth. Not a single member was

The two friends shook in their shoes. Senators threw down their extras and snatched a word or two with each

other in whispers. Then the gavel rapped to command silence while the names were called on the ayes and

nays. Washington grew paler and paler, weaker and weaker while the lagging list progressed; and when it

was finished, his head fell helplessly forward on his arms. The fight was fought, the long struggle was over,

Col. Sellers was bewildered and well nigh paralyzed, himself. But no man could long consider his own

troubles in the presence of such suffering as Washington's. He got him up and supported himalmost carried

him indeedout of the building and into a carriage. All the way home Washington lay with his face against

the Colonel's shoulder and merely groaned and wept. The Colonel tried as well as he could under the dreary

circumstances to hearten him a little, but it was of no use. Washington was past all hope of cheer, now. He

"Oh, it is all overit is all over for good, Colonel. We must beg our bread, now. We never can get up again.

It was our last chance, and it is gone. They will hang Laura! My God they will hang her! Nothing can save

Arrived at home, Washington fell into a chair and buried his face in his hands and gave full way to his

misery. The Colonel did not know where to turn nor what to do. The servant maid knocked at the door and

The court room was packed on the morning on which the verdict of the jury was expected, as it had been

every day of the trial, and by the same spectators, who had followed its progress with such intense interest.

There is a delicious moment of excitement which the frequenter of trials well knows, and which he would not

miss for the world. It is that instant when the foreman of the jury stands up to give the verdict, and before he

The question was this: "Were the doctors clear that the deceased had no disease which might soon have

carried him off, if he had not been shot?" There was evidently one jury man who didn't want to waste life,

and was willing to stake a general average, as the jury always does in a civil case, deciding not according to

During the delay the spectators exhibited unexampled patience, finding amusement and relief in the slightest

movements of the court, the prisoner and the lawyers. Mr. Braham divided with Laura the attention of the

house. Bets were made by the Sheriff's deputies on the verdict, with large odds in favor of a disagreement.

It was afternoon when it was announced that the jury was coming in. The reporters took their places and were

all attention; the judge and lawyers were in their seats; the crowd swayed and pushed in eager expectancy, as

A shout went up from the entire room and a tumult of cheering which the court in vain attempted to quell. For

a few moments all order was lost. The spectators crowded within the bar and surrounded Laura who, calmer

than anyone else, was supporting her aged mother, who had almost fainted from excess of joy.

And now occurred one of those beautiful incidents which no fictionwriter would dare to imagine, a scene of

touching pathos, creditable to our fallen humanity. In the eyes of the women of the audience Mr. Braham was

the hero of the occasion; he had saved the life of the prisoner; and besides he was such a handsome man. The

women could not restrain their long pentup emotions. They threw themselves upon Mr. Braham in a

transport of gratitude; they kissed him again and again, the young as well as the advanced in years, the

married as well as the ardent single women; they improved the opportunity with a touching selfsacrifice; in

It was something sweet to do; and it would be sweet for a woman to remember in after years, that she had

kissed Braham! Mr. Braham himself received these fond assaults with the gallantry of his nation, enduring

When the tumult of congratulation had a little spent itself, and order was restored, Judge O'Shaunnessy said

that it now became his duty to provide for the proper custody and treatment of the acquitted. The verdict of

the jury having left no doubt that the woman was of an unsound mind, with a kind of insanity dangerous to

the safety of the community, she could not be permitted to go at large. "In accordance with the directions of

the law in such cases," said the Judge, "and in obedience to the dictates of a wise humanity, I hereby commit

Laura Hawkins to the care of the Superintendent of the State Hospital for Insane Criminals, to be held in

confinement until the State Commissioners on Insanity shall order her discharge. Mr. Sheriff, you will attend

Laura was overwhelmed and terrorstricken. She had expected to walk forth in freedom in a few moments.

The revulsion was terrible. Her mother appeared like one shaken with an ague fit. Laura insane! And about to

be locked up with madmen! She had never contemplated this. Mr. Graham said he should move at once for a

But the judge could not do less than his duty, the law must have its way. As in the stupor of a sudden

calamity, and not fully comprehending it, Mrs. Hawkins saw Laura led away by the officer.

With little space for thought she was, rapidly driven to the railway station, and conveyed to the Hospital for

Lunatic Criminals. It was only when she was within this vast and grim abode of madness that she realized the

horror of her situation. It was only when she was received by the kind physician and read pity in his eyes, and

saw his look of hopeless incredulity when she attempted to tell him that she was not insane; it was only when

she passed through the ward to which she was consigned and saw the horrible creatures, the victims of a

double calamity, whose dreadful faces she was hereafter to see daily, and was locked into the small, bare

room that was to be her home, that all her fortitude forsook her. She sank upon the bed, as soon as she was

left aloneshe had been searched by the matronand tried to think. But her brain was in a whirl. She

recalled Braham's speech, she recalled the testimony regarding her lunacy. She wondered if she were not

mad; she felt that she soon should be among these loathsome creatures. Better almost to have died, than to

We beg the reader's pardon. This is not history, which has just been written. It is really what would have

occurred if this were a novel. If this were a work of fiction, we should not dare to dispose of Laura otherwise.

True art and any attention to dramatic proprieties required it. The novelist who would turn loose upon society

an insane murderess could not escape condemnation. Besides, the safety of society, the decencies of criminal

procedure, what we call our modern civilization, all would demand that Laura should be disposed of in the

manner we have described. Foreigners, who read this sad story, will be unable to understand any other

But this is history and not fiction. There is no such law or custom as that to which his Honor is supposed to

have referred; Judge O'Shaunnessy would not probably pay any attention to it if there were. There is no

Hospital for Insane Criminals; there is no State commission of lunacy. What actually occurred when the

Laura left the court room, accompanied by her mother and other friends, amid the congratulations of those

assembled, and was cheered as she entered a carriage, and drove away. How sweet was the sunlight, how

exhilarating the sense of freedom! Were not these following cheers the expression of popular approval and

It was with a feeling of triumph that Laura reached her hotel, a scornful feeling of victory over society with

Mrs. Hawkins shared not at all in this feeling; she was broken with the disgrace and the long anxiety.

"Thank God, Laura," she said, "it is over. Now we will go away from this hateful city. Let us go home at

"Mother," replied Laura, speaking with some tenderness, "I cannot go with you. There, don't cry, I cannot go

Mrs. Hawkins was sobbing. This was more cruel than anything else, for she had a dim notion of what it

"No, mother, you have been everything to me. You know how dearly I love you. But I cannot go back."

For a moment the words swam before her eyes. The next her eyes flashed fire as she handed the dispatch to

"This is a cruel disappointment," said Mrs. Hawkins, to whom one grief more or less did not much matter

"Bear it; replied Laura scornfully, "I've all my life borne it, and fate has thwarted me at every step."

A servant came to the door to say that there was a gentleman below who wished to speak with Miss Hawkins.

"J. Adolphe Griller" was the name Laura read on the card. "I do not know such a person. He probably comes

Mr. Griller entered. He was a small man, slovenly in dress, his tone confidential, his manner wholly void of

animation, all his features below the forehead protrudingparticularly the apple of his throathair without

a kink in it, a hand with no grip, a meek, hangdog countenance. a falsehood done in flesh and blood; for

while every visible sign about him proclaimed him a poor, witless, useless weakling, the truth was that he had

the brains to plan great enterprises and the pluck to carry them through. That was his reputation, and it was a

"I will proceed to business. I am a business man. I am a lectureagent, Miss Hawkins, and as soon as I saw

that you were acquitted, it occurred to me that an early interview would be mutually beneficial."

"No? You see, Miss Hawkins, this is your opportunity. If you will enter the lecture field under good auspices,

"But, sir, I never lectured, I haven't any lecture, I don't know anything about it."

"Ah, madam, that makes no differenceno real difference. It is not necessary to be able to lecture in order to

go into the lecture tour. If ones name is celebrated all over the land, especially, and, if she is also beautiful,

"But what should I lecture about?" asked Laura, beginning in spite of herself to be a little interested as well as

"Oh, why; womansomething about woman, I should say; the marriage relation, woman's fate, anything of

that sort. Call it The Revelations of a Woman's Life; now, there's a good title. I wouldn't want any better title

than that. I'm prepared to make you an offer, Miss Hawkins, a liberal offer,twelve thousand dollars for

Laura thought. She hesitated. Why not? It would give her employment, money. She must do something.

"I will think of it, and let you know soon. But still, there is very little likelihood that Ihowever, we will not

"Remember, that the sooner we get to work the better, Miss Hawkins, public curiosity is so fickle. Good day,

The close of the trial released Mr. Harry Brierly and left him free to depart upon his long talked of

"It's confidential, old boy," he said, " a little scheme we have hatched up. I don't mind telling you that it's a

good deal bigger thing than that in Missouri, and a sure thing. I wouldn't take a half a million just for my

Philip did hear, from Harry a few months afterward. Everything promised splendidly, but there was a little

Philip himself hastened to Philadelphia, and, as soon as the spring opened, to the mine at Ilium, and began

transforming the loan he had received from Squire Montague into laborers' wages. He was haunted with

many anxieties; in the first place, Ruth was overtaxing her strength in her hospital labors, and Philip felt as if

he must move heaven and earth to save her from such toil and suffering. His increased pecuniary obligation

oppressed him. It seemed to him also that he had been one cause of the misfortune to the Bolton family, and

that he was dragging into loss and ruin everybody who associated with him. He worked on day after day and

It would be wicked, thought Philip, and impious, to pray for luck; he felt that perhaps he ought not to ask a

blessing upon the sort of labor that was only a venture; but yet in that daily petition, which this very faulty

and not very consistent young Christian gentleman put up, he prayed earnestly enough for Ruth and for the

Boltons and for those whom he loved and who trusted in him, and that his life might not be a misfortune to

Since this young fellow went out into the world from his New England home, he had done some things that

he would rather his mother should not know, things maybe that he would shrink from telling Ruth. At a

certain green age young gentlemen are sometimes afraid of being called milksops, and Philip's associates had

not always been the most select, such as these historians would have chosen for him, or whom at a later,

period he would have chosen for himself. It seemed inexplicable, for instance, that his life should have been

Yet, this was true of Philip, that in whatever company he had been he had never been ashamed to stand up for

the principles he learned from his mother, and neither raillery nor looks of wonder turned him from that daily

habit had learned at his mother's knees.Even flippant Harry respected this, and perhaps it was one of the

reasons why Harry and all who knew Philip trusted him implicitly. And yet it must be confessed that Philip

did not convey the impression to the world of a very serious young man, or of a man who might not rather

easily fall into temptation. One looking for a real hero would have to go elsewhere.

The parting between Laura and her mother was exceedingly painful to both. It was as if two friends parted on

a wide plain, the one to journey towards the setting and the other towards the rising sun, each comprehending

When Mr. Noble's bombshell fell, in Senator Dilworthy's camp, the statesman was disconcerted for a

moment. For a moment; that was all. The next moment he was calmly up and doing. From the centre of our

country to its circumference, nothing was talked of but Mr. Noble's terrible revelation, and the people were

furious. Mind, they were not furious because bribery was uncommon in our public life, but merely because

here was another case. Perhaps it did not occur to the nation of good and worthy people that while they

continued to sit comfortably at home and leave the true source of our political power (the "primaries,") in the

hands of saloonkeepers, dogfanciers and hodcarriers, they could go on expecting "another" case of this

kind, and even dozens and hundreds of them, and never be disappointed. However, they may have thought

Yes, the nation was excited, but Senator Dilworthy was calmwhat was left of him after the explosion of the

shell. Calm, and up and doing. What did he do first? What would you do first, after you had tomahawked

your mother at the breakfast table for putting too much sugar in your coffee? You would "ask for a

suspension of public opinion." That is what Senator Dilworthy did. It is the custom. He got the usual amount

of suspension. Far and wide he was called a thief, a briber, a promoter of steamship subsidies, railway

swindles, robberies of the government in all possible forms and fashions. Newspapers and everybody else

called him a pious hypocrite, a sleek, oily fraud, a reptile who manipulated temperance movements, prayer

meetings, Sunday schools, public charities, missionary enterprises, all for his private benefit. And as these

charges were backed up by what seemed to be good and sufficient, evidence, they were believed with

Then Mr. Dilworthy made another move. He moved instantly to Washington and "demanded an

investigation." Even this could not pass without, comment. Many papers used language to this effect:

Mr. Dilworthy appeared in his place in the Senate and offered a resolution appointing a committee to

investigate his case. It carried, of course, and the committee was appointed. Straightway the newspapers said:

And yet the Senate was roused by the Dilworthy trouble. Many speeches were made. One Senator (who was

accused in the public prints of selling his chances of reelection to his opponent for $50,000 and had not yet

denied the charge) said that, "the presence in the Capital of such a creature as this man Noble, to testify

Another Senator said, "Let the investigation go on and let it make an example of this man Noble; let it teach

him and men like him that they could not attack the reputation of a United StatesSenator with impunity."

Another said he was glad the investigation was to be had, for it was high time that the Senate should crush

some cur like this man Noble, and thus show his kind that it was able and resolved to uphold its ancient

"Why, this is the Senator who franked his, baggage home through the mails last weekregistered, at that.

However, perhaps he was merely engaged in 'upholding the ancient dignity of the Senate,'then."

"No, the modern dignity of it," said another bystander. "It don't resemble its ancient dignity but it fits its

There being no law against making offensive remarks about U. S. Senators, this conversation, and others like

it, continued without let or hindrance. But our business is with the investigating committee.

Mr. Noble appeared before the Committee of the Senate; and testified to the following effect:

He said that he was a member of the State legislature of the HappyLandofCanaan; that on the day

of he assembled himself together at the city of Saint's Rest, the capital of the State, along with his

brother legislators; that he was known to be a political enemy of Mr. Dilworthy and bitterly opposed to his

reelection; that Mr. Dilworthy came to Saint's Rest and reported to be buying pledges of votes with money;

that the said Dilworthy sent for him to come to his room in the hotel at night, and he went; was introduced to

Mr. Dilworthy; called two or three times afterward at Dilworthy's requestusually after midnight; Mr.

Dilworthy urged him to vote for him Noble declined; Dilworthy argued; said he was bound to be elected, and

could then ruin him (Noble) if he voted no; said he had every railway and every public office and stronghold

of political power in the State under his thumb, and could set up or pull down any man he chose; gave

instances showing where and how he had used this power; if Noble would vote for him he would make him a

Representative in Congress; Noble still declined to vote, and said he did not believe Dilworthy was going to

be elected; Dilworthy showed a list of men who would vote for hima majority of the legislature; gave

further proofs of his power by telling Noble everything the opposing party had done or said in secret caucus;

Here a member of the Committee objected that this evidence was irrelevant and also in opposition to the

spirit of the Committee's instructions, because if these things reflected upon any one it was upon Mr.

Dilworthy. The chairman said, let the person proceed with his statementthe Committee could exclude

Mr. Noble continued. He said that his party would cast him out if he voted for Mr, Dilworthy; Dilwortby said

that that would inure to his benefit because he would then be a recognized friend of his (Dilworthy's) and he

could consistently exalt him politically and make his fortune; Noble said he was poor, and it was hard to

tempt him so; Dilworthy said he would fix that; he said, Tell, me what you want, and say you will vote for

A Committee man said, impatiently, that this stuff was all outside the case, and valuable time was being

wasted; this was all, a plain reflection upon a brother Senator. The Chairman said it was the quickest way to

Mr. Noble continued. He said he told Dilworthy that $5,000 was not much to pay for a man's honor, character

and everything that was worth having; Dilworthy said he was surprised; he considered $5,000 a fortunefor

some men; asked what Noble's figure was; Noble said he could not think $10,000 too little; Dilworthy said it

was a great deal too much; he would not do it for any other man, but he had conceived a liking for Noble, and

where he liked a man his heart yearned to help him; he was aware that Noble was poor, and had a family to

support, and that he bore an unblemished reputation at home; for such a man and such a man's influence he

could do much, and feel that to help such a man would be an act that would have its reward; the struggles of

the poor always touched him; he believed that Noble would make a good use of this money and that it would

cheer many a sad heart and needy home; he would give the, $10,000; all he desired in return was that when

the balloting began, Noble should cast his vote for him and should explain to the legislature that upon looking

into the charges against Mr. Dilworthy of bribery, corruption, and forwarding stealing measures in Congress

he had found them to be base calumnies upon a man whose motives were pure and whose character was

stainless; he then took from his pocket $2,000 in bank bills and handed them to Noble, and got another

"At last, Mr. Chairman, this shameless person has arrived at the point. This is sufficient and conclusive. By

This is a grave offense, and cannot be passed over in silence, sir. By the terms of our instructions we can now

proceed to mete out to him such punishment as is meet for one who has maliciously brought disrespect upon

a Senator of the United States. We have no need to hear the rest of his evidence."

The Chairman said it would be better and more regular to proceed with the investigation according to the

Mr. Noble continued. He said that it was now far past midnight; that he took his leave and went straight to

certain legislators, told them everything, made them count the money, and also told them of the exposure he

would make in joint convention; he made that exposure, as all the world knew. The rest of the $10,000 was to

Senator Dilworthy was now asked to take the stand and tell what he knew about the man Noble. The Senator

wiped his mouth with his handkerchief, adjusted his white cravat, and said that but for the fact that public

morality required an example, for the warning of future Nobles, he would beg that in Christian charity this

poor misguided creature might be forgiven and set free. He said that it was but too evident that this person

had approached him in the hope of obtaining a bribe; he had intruded himself time and again, and always

with moving stories of his poverty. Mr. Dilworthy said that his heart had bled for himinsomuch that he had

several times been on the point of trying to get some one to do something for him. Some instinct had told him

from the beginning that this was a bad man, an evilminded man, but his inexperience of such had blinded

him to his real motives, and hence he had never dreamed that his object was to undermine the purity of a

United States Senator. He regretted that it was plain, now, that such was the man's object and that punishment

could not with safety to the Senate's honor be withheld. He grieved to say that one of those mysterious

dispensations of an inscrutable Providence which are decreed from time to time by His wisdom and for His

righteous, purposes, had given this conspirator's tale a color of plausibility,but this would soon disappear

It so happened, (said the Senator,) that about the time in question, a poor young friend of mine, living in a

distant town of my State, wished to establish a bank; he asked me to lend him the necessary money; I said I

had no, money just then, but world try to borrow it. The day before the election a friend said to me that my

election expenses must be very large specially my hotel bills, and offered to lend me some money.

Remembering my young, friend, I said I would like a few thousands now, and a few more by and by;

whereupon he gave me two packages of bills said to contain $2,000 and $5,000 respectively; I did not open

the packages or count the money; I did not give any note or receipt for the same; I made no memorandum of

the transaction, and neither did my friend. That night this evil man Noble came troubling me again: I could

not rid myself of him, though my time was very precious. He mentioned my young friend and said he was

very anxious to have the $7000 now to begin his banking operations with, and could wait a while for the rest.

Noble wished to get the money and take it to him. I finally gave him the two packages of bills; I took no note

or receipt from him, and made no memorandum of the matter. I no more look for duplicity and deception in

another man than I would look for it in myself. I never thought of this man again until I was overwhelmed the

next day by learning what a shameful use he had made of the confidence I had reposed in him and the money

I had entrusted to his care. This is all, gentlemen. To the absolute truth of every detail of my statement I

solemnly swear, and I call Him to witness who is the Truth and the loving Father of all whose lips abhor false

speaking; I pledge my honor as a Senator, that I have spoken but the truth. May God forgive this wicked man

Mr. Noble"Senator Dilworthy, your bank account shows that up to that day, and even on that very day,

you conducted all your financial business through the medium of checks instead of bills, and so kept careful

record of every moneyed transaction. Why did you deal in bank bills on this particular occasion?"

The Chairman"The gentleman will please to remember that the Committee is conducting this

The Chairman"Another remark like that, sir, will procure you the attentions of the Sergeantatarms."

Mr. Noble"Then I am become the acknowledged representative of a nation. You know as well as I do that

the whole nation hold as much as three fifths of the United States Senate in entire contempt.Threefifths

The Sergeantatarms very soon put a quietus upon the observations of the representative of the nation, and

convinced him that he was not, in the overfree atmosphere of his HappyLandofCanaan:

The statement of Senator Dilworthy naturally carried conviction to the minds of the committee.It was

close, logical, unanswerable; it bore many internal evidences of its, truth. For instance, it is customary in all

countries for business men to loan large sums of money in bank bills instead of checks. It is customary for the

lender to make no memorandum of the transaction. It is customary, for the borrower to receive the money

without making a memorandum of it, or giving a note or a receipt for it's usethe borrower is not likely to

die or forget about it. It is customary to lend nearly anybody money to start a bank with especially if you have

not the money to lend him and have to borrow it for the purpose. It is customary to carry large sums of money

in bank bills about your person or in your trunk. It is customary to hand a large sure in bank bills to a man

you have just been introduced to (if he asks you to do it,) to be conveyed to a distant town and delivered to

another party. It is not customary to make a memorandum of this transaction; it is not customary for the

conveyor to give a note or a receipt for the money; it is not customary to require that he shall get a note or a

receipt from the man he is to convey it to in the distant town. It would be at least singular in you to say to the

proposed conveyor, "You might be robbed; I will deposit the money in a bank and send a check for it to my

Very well. It being plain that Senator Dilworthy's statement was rigidly true, and this fact being strengthened

by his adding to it the support of "his honor as a Senator," the Committee rendered a verdict of "Not proven

that a bribe had been offered and accepted." This in a manner exonerated Noble and let him escape.

The Committee made its report to the Senate, and that body proceeded to consider its acceptance. One

Senator indeed, several Senatorsobjected that the Committee had failed of its duty; they had proved this

man Noble guilty of nothing, they had meted out no punishment to him; if the report were accepted, he would

go forth free and scathless, glorying in his crime, and it would be a tacit admission that any blackguard could

insult the Senate of the United States and conspire against the sacred reputation of its members with

impunity; the Senate owed it to the upholding of its ancient dignity to make an example of this man Noble

An elderly Senator got up and took another view of the case. This was a Senator of the wornout and

obsolete pattern; a man still lingering among the cobwebs of the past, and behind the spirit of the age. He said

that there seemed to be a curious misunderstanding of the case. Gentlemen seemed exceedingly anxious to

Was this to be done by trying an obscure adventurer for attempting to trap a Senator into bribing him? Or

would not the truer way be to find out whether the Senator was capable of being entrapped into so shameless

an act, and then try him? Why, of course. Now the whole idea of the Senate seemed to be to shield the

Senator and turn inquiry away from him. The true way to uphold the honor of the Senate was to have none

but honorable men in its body. If this Senator had yielded to temptation and had offered a bribe, he was a

soiled man and ought to be instantly expelled; therefore he wanted the Senator tried, and not in the usual

nambypamby way, but in good earnest. He wanted to know the truth of this matter. For himself, he believed

that the guilt of Senator Dilworthy was established beyond the shadow of a doubt; and he considered that in

trifling with his case and shirking it the Senate was doing a shameful and cowardly thinga thing which

suggested that in its willingness to sit longer in the company of such a man, it was acknowledging that it was

itself of a kind with him and was therefore not dishonored by his presence. He desired that a rigid

examination be made into Senator Dilworthy's case, and that it be continued clear into the approaching extra

session if need be. There was no dodging this thing with the lame excuse of want of time.

In reply, an honorable Senator said that he thought it would be as well to drop the matter and accept the

Committee's report. He said with some jocularity that the more one agitated this thing, the worse it was for

the agitator. He was not able to deny that he believed Senator Dilworthy to be guiltybut what then? Was it

such an extraordinary case? For his part, even allowing the Senator to be guilty, he did not think his

continued presence during the few remaining days of the Session would contaminate the Senate to a dreadful

degree. [This humorous sally was received with smiling admirationnotwithstanding it was not wholly new,

having originated with the Massachusetts General in the House a day or two before, upon the occasion of the

The Senate recognized the fact that it could not be contaminated by sitting a few days longer with Senator

Dilworthy, and so it accepted the committee's report and dropped the unimportant matter.

Mr. Dilworthy occupied his seat to the last hour of the session. He said that his people had reposed a trust in

him, and it was not for him to desert them. He would remain at his post till he perished, if need be.

His voice was lifted up and his vote cast for the last time, in support of an ingenious measure contrived by the

General from Massachusetts whereby the President's salary was proposed to be doubled and every

Congressman paid several thousand dollars extra for work previously done, under an accepted contract, and

Senator Dilworthy was offered a grand ovation by his friends at home, who said that their affection for him

and their confidence in him were in no wise impaired by the persecutions that had pursued him, and that he

[The $7,000 left by Mr. Noble with his state legislature was placed in safe keeping to await the claim of

the legitimate owner. Senator Dilworthy made one little effort through his protege the embryo banker to

recover it, but there being no notes of hand or, other memoranda to support the claim, it failed. The moral of

which is, that when one loans money to start a bank with, one ought to take the party's written

For some days Laura had been a free woman once more. During this time, she had experiencedfirst, two or

three days of triumph, excitement, congratulations, a sort of sunburst of gladness, after a long night of gloom

and anxiety; then two or three days of calming down, by degrees a receding of tides, a quieting of the

stormwash to a murmurous surf beat, a diminishing of devastating winds to a refrain that bore the spirit of

a trucedays given to solitude, rest, selfcommunion, and the reasoning of herself into a realization of the

fact that she was actually done with bolts and bars, prison, horrors and impending, death; then came a day

whose hours filed slowly by her, each laden with some remnant, some remaining fragment of the dreadful

time so lately endeda day which, closing at last, left the past a fading shore behind her and turned her eyes

toward the broad sea of the future. So speedily do we put the dead away and come back to our place in the

And now the sun rose once more and ushered in the first day of what Laura comprehended and accepted as a

The past had sunk below the horizon, and existed no more for her; she was done with it for all time. She was

gazing out over the trackless expanses of the future, now, with troubled eyes. Life must be begun againat

eight and twenty years of age. And where to begin? The page was blank, and waiting for its first record; so

Her thoughts drifted back, stage by stage, over her career. As far as the long highway receded over the plain

of her life, it was lined with the gilded and pillared splendors of her ambition all crumbled to ruin and

ivygrown; every milestone marked a disaster; there was no green spot remaining anywhere in memory of a

hope that had found its fruition; the unresponsive earth had uttered no voice of flowers in testimony that one

Her life had been a failure. That was plain, she said. No more of that. She would now look the future in the

face; she would mark her course upon the chart of life, and follow it; follow it without swerving, through

rocks and shoals, through storm and calm, to a haven of rest and peace or shipwreck. Let the end be what it

On her table lay six or seven notes. They were from lovers; from some of the prominent names in the land;

men whose devotion had survived even the grisly revealments of her character which the courts had

uncurtained; men who knew her now, just as she was, and yet pleaded as for their lives for the dear privilege

As she read these passionate, these worshiping, these supplicating missives, the woman in her nature

confessed itself; a strong yearning came upon her to lay her head upon a loyal breast and find rest from the

conflict of life, solace for her griefs, the healing of love for her bruised heart.

With her forehead resting upon her hand, she sat thinking, thinking, while the unheeded moments winged

their flight. It was one of those mornings in early spring when nature seems just stirring to a half

consciousness out of a long, exhausting lethargy; when the first faint balmy airs go wandering about,

whispering the secret of the coming change; when the abused brown grass, newly relieved of snow, seems

considering whether it can be worth the trouble and worry of contriving its green raiment again only to fight

the inevitable fight with the implacable winter and be vanquished and buried once more; when the sun shines

out and a few birds venture forth and lift up a forgotten song; when a strange stillness and suspense pervades

the waiting air. It is a time when one's spirit is subdued and sad, one knows not why; when the past seems a

stormswept desolation, life a vanity and a burden, and the future but a way to death. It is a time when one is

filled with vague longings; when one dreams of flight to peaceful islands in the remote solitudes of the sea, or

folds his hands and says, What is the use of struggling, and toiling and worrying any more? let us give it all

It was into such a mood as this that Laura had drifted from the musings which the letters of her lovers had

called up. Now she lifted her head and noted with surprise how the day had wasted. She thrust the letters

aside, rose up and went and stood at the window. But she was soon thinking again, and was only gazing into

By and by she turned; her countenance had cleared; the dreamy look was gone out of her face, all indecision

had vanished; the poise of her head and the firm set of her lips told that her resolution was formed. She

moved toward the table with all the old dignity in her carriage, and all the old pride in her mien. She took up

each letter in its turn, touched a match to it and watched it slowly consume to ashes. Then she said:

"I have landed upon a foreign shore, and burned my ships behind me. These letters were the last thing that

held me in sympathy with any remnant or belonging of the old life. Henceforth that life and all that appertains

to it are as dead to me and as far removed from me as if I were become a denizen of another world."

She said that love was not for herthe time that it could have satisfied her heart was gone by and could not

return; the opportunity was lost, nothing could restore it. She said there could be no love without respect, and

she would only despise a man who could content himself with a thing like her. Love, she said, was a woman's

first necessity: love being forfeited; there was but one thing left that could give a passing zest to a wasted life,

And so her resolution was taken. She would turn to that final resort of the disappointed of her sex, the lecture

platform. She would array herself in fine attire, she would adorn herself with jewels, and stand in her isolated

magnificence before massed, audiences and enchant them with her eloquence and amaze them with her

unapproachable beauty. She would move from city to city like a queen of romance, leaving marveling

multitudes behind her and impatient multitudes awaiting her coming. Her life, during one hour of each day,

upon the platform, would be a rapturous intoxicationand when the curtain fell; and the lights were out, and

the people gone, to nestle in their homes and forget her, she would find in sleep oblivion of her homelessness,

if she could, if not she would brave out the night in solitude and wait for the next day's hour of ecstasy.

So, to take up life and begin again was no great evil. She saw her way. She would be brave and strong; she

Straightway, all the papers were filled with her name, and all the dead walls flamed with it. The papers called

down imprecations upon her head; they reviled her without stint; they wondered if all sense of decency was

dead in this shameless murderess, this brazen lobbyist, this heartless seducer of the affections of weak and

misguided men; they implored the people, for the sake of their pure wives, their sinless daughters, for the

sake of decency, for the sake of public morals, to give this wretched creature such a rebuke as should be an

allsufficient evidence to her and to such as her, that there was a limit where the flaunting of their foul acts

and opinions before the world must stop; certain of them, with a higher art, and to her a finer cruelty, a

sharper torture, uttered no abuse, but always spoke of her in terms of mocking eulogy and ironical

admiration. Everybody talked about the new wonder, canvassed the theme of her proposed discourse, and

Laura's few friends wrote to her or came and talked with her, and pleaded with her to retire while it was yet

time, and not attempt to face the gathering storm. But it was fruitless. She was stung to the quick by the

comments of the newspapers; her spirit was roused, her ambition was towering, now. She was more

determined than ever. She would show these people what a hunted and persecuted woman could do.

The eventful night came. Laura arrived before the great lecture hall in a close carriage within five minutes of

the time set for the lecture to begin. When she stepped out of the vehicle her heart beat fast and her eyes

flashed with exultation: the whole street was packed with people, and she could hardly force her way to the

hall! She reached the ante room, threw off her wraps and placed herself before the dressingglass. She

turned herself this way and thateverything was satisfactory, her attire was perfect. She smoothed her hair,

rearranged a jewel here and there, and all the while her heart sang within her, and her face was radiant. She

had not been so happy for ages and ages, it seemed to her. Oh, no, she had never been so overwhelmingly

grateful and happy in her whole life before. The lecture agent appeared at the door. She waved him away and

"Do not disturb me. I want no introduction. And do not fear for me; the moment the hands point to eight I

He disappeared. She held her watch before her. She was so impatient that the secondhand seemed whole

tedious minutes dragging its way around the circle. At last the supreme moment came, and with head erect

and the bearing of an empress she swept through the door and stood upon the stage. Her eyes fell upon only a

vast, brilliant emptinessthere were not forty people in the house! There were only a handful of coarse men

and ten or twelve still coarser women, lolling upon the benches and scattered about singly and in couples.

Her pulses stood still, her limbs quaked, the gladness went out of her face. There was a moment of silence,

and then a brutal laugh and an explosion of catcalls and hisses saluted her from the audience. The clamor

grew stronger and louder, and insulting speeches were shouted at her. A halfintoxicated man rose up and

threw something, which missed her but bespattered a chair at her side, and this evoked an outburst of laughter

and boisterous admiration. She was bewildered, her strength was forsaking her. She reeled away from the

platform, reached the anteroom, and dropped helpless upon a sofa. The lecture agent ran in, with a hurried

question upon his lips; but she put forth her hands, and with the tears raining from her eyes, said:

"Oh, do not speak! Take me awayplease take me away, out of this. dreadful place! Oh, this is like all my

lifefailure, disappointment, miseryalways misery, always failure. What have I done, to be so pursued!

Upon the pavement she was hustled by the mob, the surging masses roared her name and accompanied it with

every species of insulting epithet; they thronged after the carriage, hooting, jeering, cursing, and even

assailing the vehicle with missiles. A stone crushed through a blind, wounding Laura's forehead, and so

It was long before her faculties were wholly restored, and then she found herself lying on the floor by a sofa

in her own sittingroom, and alone. So she supposed she must have sat down upon the sofa and afterward

fallen. She raised herself up, with difficulty, for the air was chilly and her limbs were stiff. She turned up the

gas and sought the glass. She hardly knew herself, so worn and old she looked,, and so marred with blood

were her features. The night was far spent, and a dead stillness reigned. She sat down by her table, leaned her

Her thoughts wandered back over her old life again and her tears flowed unrestrained. Her pride was

humbled, her spirit was broken. Her memory found but one resting place; it lingered about her young

girlhood with a caressing regret; it dwelt upon it as the one brief interval of her life that bore no curse. She

saw herself again in the budding grace of her twelve years, decked in her dainty pride of ribbons, consorting

with the bees and the butterflies, believing in fairies, holding confidential converse with the flowers, busying

herself all day long with airy trifles that were as weighty to her as the affairs that tax the brains of diplomats

and emperors. She was without sin, then, and unacquainted with grief; the world was full of sunshine and her

"If I could only die!" she said. "If I could only go back, and be as I was then, for one hourand hold my

father's hand in mine again, and see all the household about me, as in that old innocent timeand then die!

My God, I am humbled, my pride is all gone, my stubborn heart repents have pity!"

When the spring morning dawned, the form still sat there, the elbows resting upon the table and the face upon

the hands. All day long the figure sat there, the sunshine enriching its costly raiment and flashing from its

jewels; twilight came, and presently the stars, but still the figure remained; the moon found it there still, and

framed the picture with the shadow of the window sash, and flooded, it with mellow light; by and by the

darkness swallowed it up, and later the gray dawn revealed it again; the new day grew toward its prime, and

But now the keepers of the house had become uneasy; their periodical knockings still finding no response,

The jury of inquest found that death had resulted from heart disease, and was instant and painless. That was

Clay Hawkins, years gone by, had yielded, after many a struggle, to the migratory and speculative instinct of

our age and our people, and had wandered further and further westward upon trading ventures. Settling

finally in Melbourne, Australia, he ceased to roam, became a steadygoing substantial merchant, and

His remittances had supported the Hawkins family, entirely, from the time of his father's death until latterly

when Laura by her efforts in Washington had been able to assist in this work. Clay was away on a long

absence in some of the eastward islands when Laura's troubles began, trying (and almost in vain,) to arrange

certain interests which had become disordered through a dishonest agent, and consequently he knew nothing

of the murder till he returned and read his letters and papers. His natural impulse was to hurry to the States

and save his sister if possible, for he loved her with a deep and abiding affection. His business was so

crippled now, and so deranged, that to leave it would be ruin ; therefore he sold out at a sacrifice that left him

considerably reduced in worldly possessions, and began his voyage to San Francisco. Arrived there, he

perceived by the newspapers that the trial was near its close. At Salt Lake later telegrams told him of the

acquittal, and his gratitude was boundlessso boundless, indeed, that sleep was driven from his eyes by the

pleasurable excitement almost as effectually as preceding weeks of anxiety had done it. He shaped his course

straight for Hawkeye, now, and his meeting with his mother and the rest of the household was joyfulalbeit

But the greetings and congratulations were hardly finished when all the journals in the land clamored the

news of Laura's miserable death. Mrs. Hawkins was prostrated by this last blow, and it was well that Clay

was at her side to stay her with comforting words and take upon himself the ordering of the household with

Washington Hawkins had scarcely more than entered upon that decade which carries one to the full blossom

of manhood which we term the beginning: of middle age, and yet a brief sojourn at the capital of the nation

had made him old. His hair was already turning gray when the late session of Congress began its sittings; it

grew grayer still, and rapidly, after the memorable day that saw Laura proclaimed a murderess; it waxed

grayer and still grayer during the lagging suspense that succeeded it and after the crash which ruined his last

hopethe failure of his bill in the Senate and the destruction of its champion, Dilworthy. A few days later,

when he stood uncovered while the last prayer was pronounced over Laura's grave, his hair was whiter and

his face hardly less old than the venerable minister's whose words were sounding in his ears.

A week after this, be was sitting in a doublebedded room in a cheap boarding house in Washington, with

Col. Sellers. The two had been living together lately, and this mutual cavern of theirs the Colonel sometimes

referred to as their "premises" and sometimes as their "apartments"more particularly when conversing with

persons outside. A canvascovered modern trunk, marked "G. W. H." stood on end by the door, strapped and

ready for a journey; on it lay a small morocco satchel, also marked "G. W. H." There was another trunk close

bya worn, and scarred, and ancient hair relic, with " B. S." wrought in brass nails on its top; on it lay a pair

of saddlebags that probably knew more abort the last century than they could tell. Washington got up and

walked the floor a while in a restless sort of way, and finally was about to sit down on the hair trunk.

"Stop, don't sit down on that!" exclaimed the Colonel: "There, now that's all rightthe chair's better. I

"Are his greatgrandchildren still living?" said Washington, with levity only in the words, not in the tone.

"Well, I don't knowI hadn't thought of thatbut anyway they can't make trunks and saddlebags like that,

if they areno man can," said the Colonel with honest simplicity. "Wife didn't like to see me going off with

"Washington, I never heard anybody talk like you. Suppose you were a thief, and that trunk was lying around

and nobody watchingwouldn't you steal it? Come, now, answer fairwouldn't you steal it?

"Well, now, since you corner me, I would take it,but I wouldn't consider it stealing.

"Property! Now what a way to talk that is: What do you suppose that trunk is worth?"

"Confound it, Washington, you are trying to make fun of me. I don't know what has got into you today; you

"Well, I'll tell you, old friend. I am almost happy. I am, indeed. It wasn't Clay's telegram that hurried me up

"My boy, I want to congratulate you; I want to shake you by the hand! It's a long turn that has no lane at the

end of it, as the proverb says, or somehow that way. You'll be happy yet, and Beriah Sellers will be there to

"I believe it. General Boswell is pretty nearly a poor man, now. The railroad that was going to build up

Hawkeye made short work of him, along with the rest. He isn't so opposed to a soninlaw without a fortune,

"Never mind the Tennessee Land, Colonel. I am done with that, forever and forever"

"My father, away back yonder, years ago, bought it for a blessing for his children, and"

"It proved a curse to him as long as he lived, and never a curse like it was inflicted upon any man's heirs"

"It began to curse me when I was a baby, and it has cursed every hour of my life to this day"

"I depended on it all through my boyhood and never tried to do an honest stroke of work for my living"

"I have chased it years and years as children chase butterflies. We might all have been prosperous, now; we

might all have been happy, all these heartbreaking years, if we had accepted our poverty at first and gone

"Instead of that, we have suffered more than the damned themselves suffer! I loved my father, and I honor his

memory and recognize his good intentions; but I grieve for his mistaken ideas of conferring happiness upon

his children. I am going to begin my life over again, and begin it and end it with good solid work! I'll leave

"Spoken like a man, sir, spoken like a man! Your hand, again my boy! And always remember that when a

word of advice from Beriah Sellers can help, it is at your service. I'm going to begin again, too!"

"Yes, sir. I've seen enough to show me where my mistake was. The law is what I was born for. I shall begin

the study of the law. Heavens and earth, but that Brabant's a wonderful mana wonderful man sir! Such a

head! And such a way with him! But I could see that he was jealous of me. The little licks I got in in the

"Oh, yes, to the popular eye, to the popular eyebut I knew when I was dropping information and when I

was letting drive at the court with an insidious argument. But the court knew it, bless you, and weakened

every time! And Brabant knew it. I just reminded him of it in a quiet way, and its final result, and he said in a

whisper, 'You did it, Colonel, you did it, sirbut keep it mum for my sake; and I'll tell you what you do,'

says he, 'you go into the law, Col. Sellersgo into the law, sir; that's your native element!' And into the law

the subscriber is going. There's worlds of money in it!whole worlds of money! Practice first in Hawkeye,

then in Jefferson, then in St. Louis, then in New York! In the metropolis of the western world! Climb, and

climb, and climband wind up on the Supreme bench. Beriah Sellers, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of

the United States, sir! A made man for all time and eternity! That's the way I block it out, sirand it's as

Washington had heard little of this. The first reference to Laura's trial had brought the old dejection to his

There was a knockthe postman handed in a letter. It was from Obedstown. East Tennessee, and was for

Washington. He opened it. There was a note saying that enclosed he would please find a bill for the current

year's taxes on the 75,000 acres of Tennessee Land belonging to the estate of Silas Hawkins, deceased, and

added that the money must be paid within sixty days or the land would be sold at public auction for the taxes,

as provided by law. The bill was for $180something more than twice the market value of the land, perhaps.

Washington hesitated. Doubts flitted through his mind. The old instinct came upon him to cling to the land

just a little longer and give it one more chance. He walked the floor feverishly, his mind tortured by

indecision. Presently he stopped, took out his pocket book and counted his money. Two hundred and thirty

"One hundred and eighty . . . . . . . from two hundred and thirty," he said to himself. "Fifty left . . . . . . It is

enough to get me home . . . .. . . Shall I do it, or shall I not? . . . . . . . I wish I had somebody to decide for me."

The pocket book lay open in his hand, with Louise's small letter in view. His eye fell upon that, and it decided

He opened the window and stood there tearing the tax bill to bits and watching the breeze waft them away,

The baggage wagon had arrived; five minutes later the two friends were mounted upon their luggage in it,

and rattling off toward the station, the Colonel endeavoring to sing "Homeward Bound," a song whose words

Philip Sterling's circumstances were becoming straightened. The prospect was gloomy. His long siege of

unproductive labor was beginning to tell upon his spirits; but what told still more upon them was the

undeniable fact that the promise of ultimate success diminished every day, now. That is to say, the tunnel had

reached a point in the hill which was considerably beyond where the coal vein should pass (according to all

his calculations) if there were a coal vein there; and so, every foot that the tunnel now progressed seemed to

Sometimes he ventured to hope that he had made a mistake in estimating the direction which the vein should

naturally take after crossing the valley and entering the hill. Upon such occasions he would go into the

nearest mine on the vein he was hunting for, and once more get the bearings of the deposit and mark out its

probable course; but the result was the same every time; his tunnel had manifestly pierced beyond the natural

point of junction; and then his, spirits fell a little lower. His men had already lost faith, and he often

overheard them saying it was perfectly plain that there was no coal in the hill.

Foremen and laborers from neighboring mines, and no end of experienced loafers from the village, visited the

tunnel from time to time, and their verdicts were always the same and always disheartening"No coal in

that hill." Now and then Philip would sit down and think it all over and wonder what the mystery meant; then

he would go into the tunnel and ask the men if there were no signs yet? Nonealways "none."

He would bring out a piece of rock and examine it, and say to himself, "It is limestoneit has crinoids and

corals in itthe rock is right" Then he would throw it down with a sigh, and say, "But that is nothing; where

coal is, limestone with these fossils in it is pretty certain to lie against its foot casing; but it does not

necessarily follow that where this peculiar rock is coal must lie above it or beyond it; this sign is not

The thought usually followed:"There is one infallible signif I could only strike that!"

Three or four tines in as many weeks he said to himself, "Am I a visionary? I must be a visionary; everybody

is in these days; everybody chases butterflies: everybody seeks sudden fortune and will not lay one up by

slow toil. This is not right, I will discharge the men and go at some honest work. There is no coal here. What

But he never could do it. A half hour of profound thinking always followed; and at the end of it he was sure

to get up and straighten himself and say: "There is coal there; I will not give it up; and coal or no coal I will

drive the tunnel clear through the hill; I will not surrender while I am alive."

He never thought of asking Mr. Montague for more money. He said there was now but one chance of finding

coal against nine hundred and ninety nine that he would not find it, and so it would be wrong in him to make

He had been working three shifts of men. Finally, the settling of a weekly account exhausted his means. He

could not afford to run in debt, and therefore he gave the men their discharge. They came into his cabin

presently, where he sat with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his handsthe picture of

"Mr. Sterling, when Tim was down a week with his fall you kept him on halfwages and it was a mighty help

to his family; whenever any of us was in trouble you've done what you could to help us out; you've acted fair

and square with us every time, and I reckon we are men and know a man when we see him. We haven't got

any faith in that hill, but we have a respect for a man that's got the pluck that you've showed; youv'e fought a

good fight, with everybody agin you and if we had grub to go on, I'm d d if we wouldn't stand by you till

the cows come home! That is what the boys say. Now we want to put in one parting blast for luck. We want

to work three days more; if we don't find anything, we won't bring in no bill against you. That is what we've

Philip was touched. If he had had money enough to buy three days' "grub" he would have accepted the

generous offer, but as it was, he could not consent to be less magnanimous than the men, and so he declined

in a manly speech; shook hands all around and resumed his solitary communings. The men went back to the

tunnel and "put in a parting blast for luck" anyhow. They did a full day's work and then took their leave. They

called at his cabin and gave him goodbye, but were not able to tell him their day's effort had given things a

The next day Philip sold all the tools but two or three sets; he also sold one of the now deserted cabins as old,

lumber, together with its domestic wares; and made up his mind that he would buy, provisions with the trifle

of money thus gained and continue his work alone. About the middle of the after noon he put on his roughest

clothes and went to the tunnel. He lit a candle and groped his way in. Presently he heard the sound of a pick

or a drill, and wondered, what it meant. A spark of light now appeared in the far end of the tunnel, and when

I'm to have a job in the Golden Brier mine by and byin a week or ten daysand I'm going to work here

till then. A man might as well be at some thing, and besides I consider that I owe you what you paid me when

Philip said, Oh, no, he didn't owe anything; but Tim persisted, and then Philip said he had a little provision

now, and would share. So for several days Philip held the drill and Tim did the striking. At first Philip was

impatient to see the result of every blast, and was always back and peering among the smoke the moment

after the explosion. But there was never any encouraging result; and therefore he finally lost almost all

interest, and hardly troubled himself to inspect results at all. He simply labored on, stubbornly and with little

Tim staid with him till the last moment, and then took up his job at the Golden Brier, apparently as depressed

by the continued barrenness of their mutual labors as Philip was himself. After that, Philip fought his battle

alone, day after day, and slow work it was; he could scarcely see that he made any progress.

Late one afternoon he finished drilling a hole which he had been at work at for more than two hours; he

swabbed it out, and poured in the powder and inserted the fuse; then filled up the rest of the hole with dirt and

small fragments of stone; tamped it down firmly, touched his candle to the fuse, and ran. By and by the I dull

report came, and he was about to walk back mechanically and see what was accomplished; but he halted;

"No, this is useless, this is absurd. If I found anything it would only be one of those little aggravating seams

"I am conquered . . . . . . I am out of provisions, out of money. . . . . I have got to give it up . . . . . . All this

hard work lost! But I am not conquered! I will go and work for money, and come back and have another fight

Arrived at the mouth of the tunnel, he threw his coat upon the ground, sat down on, a stone, and his eye

sought the westering sun and dwelt upon the charming landscape which stretched its woody ridges, wave

His reverie continued, and its burden grew more and more gloomy. Presently he rose up and, cast a look far

"There it is! How good it looks! But down there is not up here. Well, I will go home and pack upthere is

He moved off moodily toward his cabin. He had gone some distance before he thought of his coat; then he

was about to turn back, but he smiled at the thought, and continued his journeysuch a coat as that could be

of little use in a civilized land; a little further on, he remembered that there were some papers of value in one

of the pockets of the relic, and then with a penitent ejaculation he turned back picked up the coat and put it

He made a dozen steps, and then stopped very suddenly. He stood still a moment, as one who is trying to

believe something and cannot. He put a hand up over his shoulder and felt his back, and a great thrill shot

through him. He grasped the skirt of the coat impulsively and another thrill followed. He snatched the coat

from his back, glanced at it, threw it from him and flew back to the tunnel. He sought the spot where the coat

had lainhe had to look close, for the light was waningthen to make sure, he put his hand to the ground

He lit a candle and ran into the tunnel; he picked up a piece of rubbish cast out by the last blast, and said:

He swung his pick with hearty good will till long after the darkness had gathered upon the earth, and when he

trudged home at length he knew he had a coal vein and that it was seven feet thick from wall to wall.

He found a yellow envelope lying on his rickety table, and recognized that it was of a family sacred to the

He opened it, read it, crushed it in his hand and threw it down. It simply said:

It was evening when Philip took the cars at the Ilium station. The news of, his success had preceded him, and

while he waited for the train, he was the center of a group of eager questioners, who asked him a hundred

things about the mine, and magnified his good fortune. There was no mistake this time.

Philip, in luck, had become suddenly a person of consideration, whose speech was freighted with meaning,

whose looks were all significant. The words of the proprietor of a rich coal mine have a golden sound, and his

Philip wished to be alone; his good fortune at this moment seemed an empty mockery, one of those sarcasms

of fate, such as that which spreads a dainty banquet for the man who has no appetite. He had longed for

success principally for Ruth's sake; and perhaps now, at this very moment of his triumph, she was dying.

"Shust what I said, Mister Sderling," the landlord of the Ilium hotel kept repeating. "I dold Jake Schmidt he

"Yaas, I know. But d'old woman, she say 'You sticks to your pisiness. So I sticks to'em. Und I makes noting.

"Vell, dere is so many peers, and so many oder dhrinks, I got 'em all set down, ven he coomes back."

It was a long night for Philip, and a restless one. At any other time the swing of the cars would have lulled

him to sleep, and the rattle and clank of wheels and rails, the roar of the whirling iron would have only been

cheerful reminders of swift and safe travel. Now they were voices of warning and taunting; and instead of

going rapidly the train seemed to crawl at a snail's pace. And it not only crawled, but it frequently stopped;

and when it stopped it stood dead still and there was an ominous silence. Was anything the matter, he

wondered. Only a station probably. Perhaps, he thought, a telegraphic station. And then he listened eagerly.

Would the conductor open the door and ask for Philip Sterling, and hand him a fatal dispatch?

How long they seemed to wait. And then slowly beginning to move, they were off again, shaking, pounding,

screaming through the night. He drew his curtain from time to time and looked out. There was the lurid sky

line of the wooded range along the base of which they were crawling. There was the Susquehannah, gleaming

in the moonlight. There was a stretch of level valley with silent farm houses, the occupants all at rest,

without trouble, without anxiety. There was a church, a graveyard, a mill, a village; and now, without pause

or fear, the train had mounted a trestlework high in air and was creeping along the top of it while a swift

What would the morning bring? Even while he was flying to her, her gentle spirit might have gone on another

flight, whither he could not follow her. He was full of foreboding. He fell at length into a restless doze. There

was a noise in his ears as of a rushing torrent when a stream is swollen by a freshet in the spring. It was like

the breaking up of life; he was struggling in the consciousness of coming death: when Ruth stood by his side,

clothed in white, with a face like that of an angel, radiant, smiling, pointing to the sky, and saying, "Come."

He awoke with a crythe train was roaring through a bridge, and it shot out into daylight.

When morning came the train was industriously toiling along through the fat lands of Lancaster, with its

broad farms of corn and wheat, its mean houses of stone, its vast barns and granaries, built as if, for storing

the riches of Heliogabalus. Then came the smiling fields of Chester, with their English green, and soon the

county of Philadelphia itself, and the increasing signs of the approach to a great city. Long trains of coal cars,

laden and unladen, stood upon sidings; the tracks of other roads were crossed; the smoke of other

locomotives was seen on parallel lines; factories multiplied; streets appeared; the noise of a busy city began

to fill the air; and with a slower and slower clank on the connecting rails and interlacing switches the train

It was a hot August morning. The broad streets glowed in the sun, and the whiteshuttered houses stared at

the hot thoroughfares like closed bakers' ovens set along the highway. Philip was oppressed with the heavy

air; the sweltering city lay as in a swoon. Taking a street car, he rode away to the northern part of the city, the

newer portion, formerly the district of Spring Garden, for in this the Boltons now lived, in a small brick

He could scarcely restrain his impatience when he came in sight of the house. The window shutters were not

"bowed"; thank God, for that. Ruth was still living, then. He ran up the steps and rang. Mrs. Bolton met him

"She is very ill, but quieter than, she has been, and the fever is a little abating. The most dangerous time will

be when the fever leaves her. The doctor fears she will not have strength enough to rally from it. Yes, thee

Mrs. Bolton led the way to the little chamber where Ruth lay. "Oh," said her mother, "if she were only in her

Mr. Bolton sat by Ruth's bedside, and he rose and silently pressed Philip's hand. The room had but one

window; that was wide open to admit the air, but the air that came in was hot and lifeless. Upon the table

stood a vase of flowers. Ruth's eyes were closed; her cheeks were flushed with fever, and she moved her head

Ruth's eyes unclosed, there was a gleam of recognition in them, there was an attempt at a smile upon her face,

and she tried to raise her thin hand, as Philip touched her forehead with his lips; and he heard her murmur,

There was nothing to be done but to watch and wait for the cruel fever to burn itself out. Dr. Longstreet told

Philip that the fever had undoubtedly been contracted in the hospital, but it was not malignant, and would be

little dangerous if Ruth were not so worn down with work, or if she had a less delicate constitution.

"It is only her indomitable will that has kept her up for weeks. And if that should leave her now, there will be

"Your presence, more than anything else, will inspire her with the desire to live."

When the fever turned, Ruth was in a very critical condition. For two days her life was like the fluttering of a

lighted candle in the wind. Philip was constantly by her side, and she seemed to be conscious of his presence,

and to cling to him, as one borne away by a swift stream clings to a stretchedout hand from the shore. If he

was absent a moment her restless eyes sought something they were disappointed not to find.

Philip so yearned to bring her back to life, he willed it so strongly and passionately, that his will appeared to

After two days of this struggle with the grasping enemy, it was evident to Dr. Longstreet that Ruth's will was

beginning to issue its orders to her body with some force, and that strength was slowly coming back. In

another day there was a decided improvement. As Philip sat holding her weak hand and watching the least

"You will; darling, you must," said Philip in a tone of faith and courage that carried a thrill of

Slowly Philip drew her back to life. Slowly she came back, as one willing but well nigh helpless. It was new

for Ruth to feel this dependence on another's nature, to consciously draw strength of will from the will of

another. It was a new but a dear joy, to be lifted up and carried back into the happy world, which was now all

aglow with the light of love; to be lifted and carried by the one she loved more than her own life.

"Sweetheart," she said to Philip, "I would not have cared to come back but for thy love."

"Oh, thee may be glad enough of that some day, when thy coal bed is dug out and thee and father are in the

When Ruth was able to ride she was taken into the country, for the pure air was necessary to her speedy

recovery. The family went with her. Philip could not be spared from her side, and Mr. Bolton had gone up to

Ilium to look into that wonderful coal mine and to make arrangements for developing it, and bringing its

wealth to market. Philip had insisted on reconveying the Ilium property to Mr. Bolton, retaining only the

share originally contemplated for himself, and Mr. Bolton, therefore, once more found himself engaged in

business and a person of some consequence in Third street. The mine turned out even better than was at first

hoped, and would, if judiciously managed, be a fortune to them all. This also seemed to be the opinion of Mr.

Bigler, who heard of it as soon as anybody, and, with the impudence of his class called upon Mr. Bolton for a

little aid in a patent carwheel he had bought an interest in. That rascal, Small, he said, had swindled him out

Mr. Small also came with a similar story about Mr. Bigler; and Mr. Bolton had the grace to give him like

advice. And he added, "If you and Bigler will procure the indictment of each other, you may have the

satisfaction of putting each other in the penitentiary for the forgery of my acceptances."

Bigler and Small did not quarrel however. They both attacked Mr. Bolton behind his back as a swindler, and

In the pure air of the highlands, amid the golden glories of ripening September, Ruth rapidly came back to

health. How beautiful the world is to an invalid, whose senses are all clarified, who has been so near the

world of spirits that she is sensitive to the finest influences, and whose frame responds with a thrill to the

subtlest ministrations of soothing nature. Mere life is a luxury, and the color of the grass, of the flowers, of

the sky, the wind in the trees, the outlines of the horizon, the forms of clouds, all give a pleasure as exquisite

as the sweetest music to the ear famishing for it. The world was all new and fresh to Ruth, as if it had just

been created for her, and love filled it, till her heart was overflowing with happiness.

It was golden September also at Fallkill. And Alice sat by the open window in her room at home, looking out

upon the meadows where the laborers were cutting the second crop of clover. The fragrance of it floated to

her nostrils. Perhaps she did not mind it. She was thinking. She had just been writing to Ruth, and on the

table before her was a yellow piece of paper with a faded fourleaved clover pinned on itonly a memory

now. In her letter to Ruth she had poured out her heartiest blessings upon them both, with her dear love

They never would know. And the world never knows how many women there are like Alice, whose sweet but

lonely lives of selfsacrifice, gentle, faithful, loving souls, bless it continually.

"Yes, Phil, and we can spare a great deal of love for her, our own lives are so full."

Perhaps some apology to the reader is necessary in view of our failure to find Laura's father. We supposed,

from the ease with which lost persons are found in novels, that it would not be difficult. But it was; indeed, it

was impossible; and therefore the portions of the narrative containing the record of the search have been

stricken out. Not because they were not interestingfor they were; but inasmuch as the man was not found,