The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1850-01-23

became another's; and thus possessing
it, how the goldsmith had placed it in
his window, as type ofhis trade, and
as rare specimen Of antique chasing.
This jew had now been dead some
years, but old John Glover, of green
lcafed Charnwood, turning round and
round that aagon in his broad fat hands,
till his eyes glistcned like the dripping
water on his own millwhcel, did pres,
emily say that this same Langley should
be sought for; whcreupon, over another
brown jug, old Adam Hayward did
pledge that his own hammer should not
again clink till he had given hearty
helping hand.
Days went by No obscure lane or
street was unvisitcd by the miller
Apothecaries' shops were many, thick
crowded in the streets where bread
was scarce, where misery kept watch
and ward, where churchyards housed
the countless dead, but no apothecary
answering to the name Of Langley
could be found. As old John had come
purpc scly to London to settle somc
disputed claim with the agent of the
estates on which he rented his mill, it
was hot till he found the entire useless
ness Of his search that he took in hand
the real business Of his journey. This
agent, whose name was Whitmore, liv-
cd richly in the western part of London,
and being man of many occupations,
and having some secret reasons for dis.
like, it was not till the honest miller had
made many fruitlcss applications at the
agents residence, that he was admitted.
He here had waited some time in room
adjacent to Whitmorc's study, when
the intervening door was gently opened,
and there emerged lean hungry look
ing man, wh), when fairly out, and the
door was closed. looked back upon it
witha grinning lccr.
At length, as he passed the miller with
acatlike tread, and the lccr still broad
upon his face. the door was rc.opencd
bv Wlitnorc himself, who instantly
saw the mil!cr's wondering and curious
look. The moment he bchrld this, his
colour went and came, and then like
one forced into an act of grace, he
bcckoncd John Glover to follow him. -
With voice unusual for its blandncgs,
Whtmorc talked; in all his widest
dreams, tho old miller had never sur
posed that the long disputed point about
his ancient lease would have been so
SON or SO amicablv settled Even
wine was poured out and offered, even
an enquiry was condcsccudingly made
as 70 the trout in the mil stream; aud
old John knew hY these signs that fear
was in this bad mans heart
Some evenings after this event, the
goldsmith making his enquiries at
drug warehouse in the city, got tidiugs,
that an obscure apothecary, answering
the description of Langley, came there
sometimes for drugs. IIo dwelt, it was
said, in garret: in some part Of South,
wark
That very night, the miller and the
apothecary went th;thcr to search and
make enquiry. After much trouble,
they found the apothccary's room, in an
obscure house, and ascending four
flights of a common staircase, and pass.
ing doors rotting on their last hinge,
and haunts of abjcct squalor CT riotous
profusion, they knocked, and entering,
bcheld the man they sought He was
evidently starving; yet, still his eyes
glistcncd as they addrc Led him, as if
they meted ont, and weighed in a broad
balance, some hopeful secret. A very
small fire burnt in the wrctchcd crate,
asaucepan simncrcd, which emitting
savoury smell gave signs of supper;
and one knife, one plate, ole candle,
and one suspicious bottle, graccd the
solitary table beside which Langley
sat.
Whitmorc, the friend Of this Langley.
was now man past middle life, and
had been agent to an ancient family Of
the name of Vcrdun for many years
Originally of extremely low birth, he
had been noticed, when a boy, for his
aptitude in such learning az is common
y taught in far-away country schools.
For aptitude thus shown he had been
fostcrcd by the Vc:duns, and raised in
position by being made their steward,
and afterwards their agent, some thirty
years before this inquiry by the miller
and the goldsmith. No great while af:
ter this second great step in his for
tunes, Mr.. Vcrdun, to whom he was
thus become agent, died while vet a
young man, leaving a wife and four
children "a son and three daughters.
This son was younger than his sisters,
and as he was tioughtlcss, generous,
and gay-hcartcd, and Whitmorc avari,
cious and cxactins, they had never as.
simulated, even in the elder Mr.. Yer
dun's lifetime, with anything like an