The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1849-01-25
Do,'s Christmas Gale.
THE HAUNTED MAN AND THE GHOSTS
BARGAIN....A FANCY FOR CHRIsTMAsTIME.
BY CHARLES DICKENS.

BARGAIN -. A FANCY FOR CHRIsTMAs-TIME.
BY CHARLES DICKENS.
[Contnued.]
The student, recalling the thin hand which had
remained so long untouched, raised himself on the
couch, and turned his head
" Mr.. Redlaw 20 he exclaimed, and started up
Redlaw put out his arm.
Do MT come nearer to me. | will sit here. Re-
main you where you are -
He sat down on chair near the door, and, hav-
ing glanced at the young man standing leaning
with his hand upon the couch, spoke, with his eyes
| averted toward the ground.
Z" heard, by an accident, by what accident is no
matter, that one of my class was i'll and solitary.
received no other description of him than that he
lived in this street. Beginning nv inquiries at the
first house in it, have found him.
81 have been ILL., SIR returned the student, not
| merely with modest hesitation, but with kind of
fever-of the brain, beeve-has weakened me,
but am much better. / cannot say have been
solitary, in my Illness or should forget the minis
| tering hand that has been near me-
You are speaking of the keepers wife" said
Redlaw.
"Yes.'' The student bent his head, as if he
| rendered her some silent homage.
The Chemist, in whom there was a cold mono
tOnous apathy, which rendered him more like a
| marble image on the tomb of the man who had
started from his dinner yesterday at the first men
ton of the Students case, than the breathing man
glanced again al The student leaning with
his hand upon the couch, and looked upon the
ground, and in the air, if for light for his blinded
mind.
/" remembered your name,'' he said, "when it
was mentioned to lie down stairs, Just now and |
recollect your face. We have held but very little
personal communication tOgether!"
every little"
"You have retired and withdrawn from me,
more than any of the rest, think 20
1.-The student signified assent.
" And why!' said the Chemist not with the
least expression of interest, but in moody, way
ward kind of curiosity. why How comes ii
that you have sought to keep especially from me
the knowledge of your remaining here at this sea
son, when all the rest have dispersed, and of your
being ill :. want to know why this is.
The young man, who had heard him with in
creasing agitation, raised his downcast eyes TO his
face, and clasping his hands together cried with
sudden earnestness, and with trembling lips:
Sc MIR. Redlaw! You have discovered me. You
know my secret.'
"Secretl % said the Chemist, harshly "Tknow1"
"1es! Your manner so different from the inte-
rest and sympathy which endear you to so many
hearts, your altered voice. the cOnstran there is in
everything you say, and in your looks replied the
student, warn me that you know me. That you
would conceal it, even now, is but proof to me
God knows | need none y of your natural kind
ness, and of the bar there is between u.s.
vacant and contemptuous laugh was all his
answer.
g But, Mr.. RedIaw," said the student. "as a lust
man, and good man, think how innocent | am,
except in name and descent, of participation in any
wrong inflicted on you, or in any sorrow you have
borne...'
" Sorrow!" said Redlaw, laughing "Wrong
What are those to me -
i" For Heavens sake" entreated the shrinking
student, d" do not let the mere interchange of few
words with me change You like this sir, Let me
pass again from your knowledge and notice. Let
me occupy my old reserved and distant place
among those whom you instruct. Know me only
by the name | have assumed, and not by that of
Longford-"
"Longford - exclaimed the other
He clasped his head with both hands, and for
moment turned upon the young man his own INTEL
ligent and thoughtful face. But the light passed
from it, like the sunbeam of an instant, and it
clouded as before.
The name my mother bears, SIR" faltered the
young man, Sc the name she took, when she might,
perhaps, have taken more honored Mr.. Red
law, hesltatlng; Il believe know that history
Where my information halts my guesses at what is
wanting may supply something not remote from the
truth. am the child of a marriage that has not
proved itself weli-assoited or a happy one From
infancy, have heard you spoken of with honor
and respect-with something that was almost reve-
renee. have heard of such devotion of such ris-
ing up against the obstacles which press men down.
that my fancy since | learnt my little lesson from
my mother has shed a lustre your name. At
last, a poor student myself, from whom could
learn but you!''
Redaw, unmoved unchanged, and looking at
him with a staring frown, answered by no word or
sign.
81 cannot say" pursued the other, " should try
in vain to say, how much it has impressed me, and
affected me- to find the gracious traces of the past
in that certain power ofwinning gratitude and con-
fidence which is associated among us students
(among the humblest of us, most with Mr.. Red
laws generous name. Our ages and positions are
different sir, and am so accustomed to regard you
from distance, that | wonder at my own pre-
sumption, when touch, however lightly, on that
theme. But 10 one who-I may say. who felt no
common interest in my mother Once-it may be