The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1858-12-29
s elfft MlisteIIang,
From Household Words.
FAUNTLEROY, THE BANKER

| 1t was certainly dull, little dinner-party.
Of the four guests, two of US were men be-
tween fifty and sixty, and two of were
youths, between eighteen and twenty and we
had no subjects in common. We. were all in
timate with our host; but We were only slight
ly acquainted with each other. think we
should have got ON better if there had been
some ladies among us; but the master of the
house was a bachelor, and, except the parlor
maid, who assisted IN waiting on US at dinner,
no daughter of Eve was present to brighten
the dreary scene We tried all sorts of sub
jects but they dropped in the most disastrous
manner, one after the other. The elder gentle
men seemed TO be 1ffafd- of committing them
selves by talking too freely within hearing of
US juniors; and we, our side, restrained our
youthful flow of spirits, and youthful freedom
of conversation, out of Difference to our host,
who seemed once or twice to be feeling little
nervous about the continued propriety of our
behavior in the prescnecsof ehis respectable
guests. To make matters worse, we had dined
at sensible hour. When the bottles made
their first round, at dessert, the clock on the
mantelpiece only struck eight. / counted the
strokes; and felt certain from the expression
of his face, that the other Junior guest, who sat
on ono side of me at the round table, was count
ing them also When We came to the final
eight, We exchanged looks of despair. 1.-TWO
hours more of this! What on earth is to be-
come of us p" In the language of the eyes,
that was exactly what we said to each other.
The wine was excellent; and / think we all
canie separately and secretly, to the same con-
our chance of getting through
the evening was intimately connected with our
resolution of getting through the bottles. The
Port was of some famous vintage, / forget
which; the Madeira was forty years old; the |
Clarct was a present from Bordeaux. As
matter of course, we talked wine. .- t-4r.,. |
The stream of talk, on either side of the |
hosts chair, was beginning to flow cheerfully |
and continuously; the wine-conversaton had |
worn itself out and one of the elder guests,
Mr.. Wendell, was occupied in telling the 9TH
er- elder guest, Mr.. Trowbridge, of small |
fraud which had been lately committed on him
by a clerk in his employment. The first part
Of the story 1 missed altogether. The last
part, which alone caught my attention, followed
the career of the clerk to the dock of the Old
Bailey. ~ 1.y0Ia NJ L ,GL1Hll-IIa1 -.
$50, as | was telling you,' continued Mr..
Wendell, N1 made up my mind to prosecute,
.obate, sir, if ever there was one yet; and !
believe, in my conscience, that he wanted moth
ug but the opportunity, to be as greata william
IS Fauntleroy himself" ~ ,i's1s u. --t. y
At the moment when Mr.. Wendell personi-
led his idea Of consummate villany by quo
ing the example of Fauntlerey, ! saw the 9TH
IT middle-agedC gentleman, Mr.. Trowbridge,
'olor up on, sudden, and begin to fdget in his
hair. f..y- ~, f. .r-. = --1@I1 H.. -
'eThe next time you want to produce an in
tance of william, SIR said Mr. Trowbridge,
Il wish you could contrive to quote some other
Example than Fauntleroy." .-..s
Z "Fauntleroy7 committed an unpardonablei
rhine, and died disgraceful dealh,[' said Mr.. (
rrowbridge ':But, for all that, FauntleroyI
vas a friend of mine; and in that character \
hall always acknowledge him boldly, to my I
ying day. i have a tenderness for his memo
Y, though he violated a sacred trust and died I
or it on the gallows. You young gentlemen"
ontinued Mr.. Trowbridge, addressing himself I
o US juniors, shave heardof Fauntleroy, though I
e sinned and suffered, and shocked all En-
land, long before your timer" i.
We answered that we had certainly heard of s
inl as one of the famous criminals of his day. Ia
We knew that he had been partner in great ia
.ondon hiking house; that he had not led t
cry lvirtueus life J; that he. had possessed him
elf, by forgery, of trust-moneysl which, he was hI
oubly bound to respects and that he had been 4
anged ferohis offence, in the year eighteen {
undred and gtwenty -four, when the gallows y
as still set up for other crimes than murder,
nd when Jack .Ketch was in fashion as one of '
ne Woodworking reforners of the age
Every good, said Mr. Trowbridge. "a You /
9th of You know quite enough of Fauntlerey f.
be interested in what am going to tell you;
Kheni the bottles have been round the tablet t
i'll start with my story biss 10 4sa1s, .sa. l..
The bottles. went nennd-claret for the de- 5t
eneratc youngsters; port, for the sterling, t
eady-headed, middle-aged gentleman. Mr.. g
rowbridgc slipped his wine-medtated little v