The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-10-29


"Well, it's all over" eaid Charles. ~ have
not sold my commission, that's one good thing,
and shall be no worse eff than was before"
Besides" said Mr.. Spoken, "the girls a
fool, and can't make will. She's old and
unhealthy; you must come in before long as
her natural heir"
"Next of kin again said Charles, smiling.
mo, thank you; one tumble's enough" added
he, quoting the Fire-king's opinion.
he was in haste to leave the scene of his
short-lived fortunes; but he waited, for the sake
OF his unwelcome cousin, to break to her the /
change of her fate BE returned to the cottage
where the old woman's corpse lay, in the grand
serenity of old age, upon the bed, and the for
lorn ancient girl sat solitary by it. /
" Wan. to speak to yos, Phillis," said he
"come this way, will you?" and she followed
him into the little kitchen. whats to become |
of you, now that your friend there has left
your"
Smother, do you mean?" said Phillis.
"Aye'
Mother said was to bide in the house."
said Phillis
But what shall you do for money!"
There's some in the box; and mother said |
was to have it."
Have you the key? said Captain Ora
burn.
10 . III INQUIRER 3 pOCkeJ, SalQ
Charles babe her fetch it, and unlocked the
box, to see what effect the wealth therein con-
tanned would have on her. She looked at it
quite unmoved.
There is a great deal indeed, - said Charles.
"Shall you ever spend it, do you Think"
Yes, suppose" said Phillis.
+" Yes, yes, money slides away; and SO it
would, if you we're much richer"
Phillis made no answer, bat began to dust the
inside of the box.
Sand you know, Phillis," said Captain Ora
burn, that you are much richer? Mr.. Chin
Gway-you know? the master, mean, who
died last month he has left the castle to
you"
Phiis went on busting but the tears squirt
ed out of her eyes, and she hung down her head.
She was so accustomed to be the object of mock.
cry and jeering, that she believed herself to be
so now; and Charles Graburn perceived it.
"Dont think am making a joke of you,"
said he. " You can hardly believe it; but,
upon my honor, you are his daughter, and every.
thing he has comes to you."
She put down the lid of the box, busted the
top, and went back to the bedroom, plainly con-
WINGED that the grand gentleman was amusing
himself at her expense, and that she must be
patient as usual.
he got up to follow her, but reflected that, as
she took it in this way, the news would come
better by means of some of the people she was
accustomed to talk with !; and having no mind
| to dwell on it more himself than was necessary,
he went back to the castle, sent for Mr.. Spoken,
and delivered up everything to him, just rs it
had been when he came first, and commended
to his care the hapless heiress.
If she prove quite natural" said Mr..
Spoken, she must be made ward in chancery;
and as you are next heir, the court will give
you the management Of the estates. But if
she have wits enough to get along for herself,
somebody must be found to live with her."
"Aye, aye; that's the best way; want moth
ing more to do with it," said Charles. "And
thank you, Mr.. Spoken, for your good Offices
throughout the affair, (besides professional SER
vices, which we'll settle j ! heartily wish you
farewell | shall run to the station, and catch
the up-train and you'll be so good, will you,
as to send my traps after me-"
"Fare you well, sir" said old Spoken, and the
tears came in his eyes. "Ycu are an honorable
man as ever lived wish to my heart you had
not gone into the South tower
CHAPTER III
1t was very short time after these events
that old Phillis became Miss Chinaway, and that
Mr.. and Mrs. Spoken lived with her in Hark.
stone Castle. Mr. Spoken continued bis practice
as usual, and was little at home. His wife and
their little boy were constant inmates of Hark.
stone, and, more or less, companions to Phillis.
But her habits were too much confirmed by age,
and by her very limited intellect, to alter in pro.
portion to her fortunes. She skunk about, drop.
ping cOurtesies to the footman, till strictly for.
hidden by Mrs. Spoken, and busting her room
with unconquerable pertinacty. When the idea
could be conveyed to her that any particular
thing was wrong she would forbear that thing
why it was wrong she never reflected, the fact
was enough; but, as to other prohibitions, she
disregarded them. Courtesying to the footman
she left of, but busting she adhered to. She
made an enormous quantity of worsted stock
ings, ceasing to knit only at those times when
! she had no more worsted for it was very long
before she understood that she had money to
spend in procuring things she wished to have.
Idleness, unhappily, she could not enjoy; nor
was the labor she had been trained to any
!, pleasure to her; if anything occurred which
could fill her vacant hours, therefore, it was a
} boon. One of Mr.. Spoker's brothers brought
the old heiress dogs and this dog she dimly
looked upon as her charge, and fed and attended
upon it, till it dotted upon her. Its real name
was Fido; but she called it by the general
name of poppy" which she was accustomed
to apply to dogs of all ages.
| "Pooppy," she would say, "come, poppy,
poppy" and he fawned on her aud frolicked
around her, much the more aristocratic possess
or of the castle of the two By slow degrees,
she came to assert this dogs right to do what
he liked-to lie on the chairs, to drink the cream,
TO run over the garden. An order not to allow
these things from Mrs. Spoken would have been
obeyed, but eluded, nay, perhaps, resented ;
and Mrs. Spoken had her own views, which in.
duced her to cultivate the affections of the heir.
ess.
Her little boy was four years old; and an.
cient Phillis made many advances to him,
which the mother was very anxious to promote.
But Phillis's notions of children were all drawn
from those who occasionally had been confided
= to her old guardians care and among whom
she had always been a favorite but then their
habits were not so tender as little Harry
Spoker's. What she beard other people say,
she was much in the habit of adopting her
addresses to these young persons, therefore,
had usually been in the style of her mothers.
"I1l give you the stick, naughty boy 5" or I"
warrant I'll soon make you remember" No idea
of execution had attached to these menaces,
either in her own mind or that of the urchins, who
proceeded m their own course quite regardless of
. her. But Harry Spoken thought of them more
seriously; and in his answers he treated them
as though they had been truths. dNauphty,
ugly, old miss" would he reply; "I will whip
you, for hate you" Phillis paid no kind of
attention to these hard words, but would pour
her tea into the saucer, and hold it out for him,
as if no bad language had passed on either
side. If he took fancy to pull her gray hair,
or to search her pocket for her housewife, Hs
was quite welcome; and when he once or twice
hid his face behind the screen, she PLAYED at
bo peep with him till he was himself exhausted.
, I've laughed out all my laugh" said he /;