The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-12-23

in thinking SO ?'' pleaded she, timidly, looking
into his face. n
fro BE Continued p
copyright secured according % La~l II
For the National Era ;
& JASPER: A ROMANCE.
BY EDWARD SPENCER.
HoO Ms. Fleming Played the Queen.
ltHAPrER SEVENTH coNcLupEDl
"womans spite You wear s,eel-mail
woman takes housewife from her breast,
And pucks the decairsl needle out
As twerr rose and prie ks you carefully,
'Nra,h nails, meath eyeiids. in your rs,-say,
A beast would roar, so tortured, but p man,
human create must not, sh all not finch,
No, not for shame :"
And Mrs. Morninglory found poison as
sharp as the aooorali, in which to dip her nee
dies.
The other leader of the opposition, Mr.. Gin
quaint, was a much more formidable opponent
than even Mrs. Morninglory. The embodi-
ment of selfshness, he was equally the en-
bodiment of success. Tact, experience, pre-
tension, and unscrupulousness, had seated him
upon an undsputed pinnacle, where he man.
aged to retain his position by the same means
that had helped him into it, Society did not
possess more attractive, nor, let me add
more dangerous member than Aulicus Gin
quaint, Esq. Under an assumption of "trip
perry, insouciance, and that innocence of char
acter said to be peculiar to the sons of genius,
he concealed the far-seeing mind of a skeptical,
practiced, secretive scheuer. Ever working
for himself and for his own emolument, he
affected the simplicity of the witto, the ear
nestness of the deep thinker, the levity of
the bel esprit, as he listed, efectually making
himself all things to all men. Even if any
one managed to solve his character, and ac-
quaint himself with the falseness that lay at
the base, he could not easily refuse this singu-
lar man kind of admiration. For Aulicus
Clinquant had made himself, and solely by his
own efforts had achieved, that success which
gave him prominence. And it was a wonder
to every one how man of his antecedents
should have been able SO completely to assimi
late himself with the society to which he had
climbed up. Born ignobly, in the widest sense
of the word, he had conquered difficulties that
would have totally disheartened an ordinary
man. He had begun as the errand-boy of
third-rate theatre-the nameless child of a
wretched ballet.dancer, who had left him, and
gone off reckless, to die in we care not to tell
what lowest depth of degradation. 1t argued
no little innate power in the man, that now, at
the age Of forty, he was distinguished author
and an acknowledged leader of ton Most per-
sons, dazzled at his eminence forgot to inq uire
the means he had resorted to in arriving at it,
He himself scarce dared look back at his past,
though he affected to make a virtue of it in his
hippant way, i'll conversation. He had picked
up, here and there, some little education, and,
beginning upon this basis, had gotten into col.
lege, as the protege of a religious institution,
which he threw overheard as soon as it was of
no further use to him. His proclivities were
artistic, and, by a dexterous use of that tact in
which he was unrivalled, he had gone to Italy,
to become painter, under the auspices of gen
tlemen who promised themselves the credit of
having fostered one OF the most deserving of
geniuses. In Florence he ingratiated himself
with the artist fraternity, and painted some
creditable pictures. But here he began to see
something of society, that material upon which
his plastic fingers most delighted to work. This
was his field, and he was not long without sue
cesses. Handsome, fluent, brilliant, he found
no difficulty IN marrying an heiress. Return
ing home, he had written book that made
him famous at once, and got rid of his wife,
whose money was all he wanted, and whose
idolatry of him bored him. How? Didst never
see poor soul sneered to death? Didst never
hear OF those worst of fiends, strdnsengel haas
teuJdl Thenceforward his progress was ever
onward. One of the most wonderful converse
tlonists, one of the closest readers of charac-
ter, one of the most skilful performers upon the
organ OF human passion, he had made but
single mistake, and had never once failed to
help himself to the best. No man was more
in request everywhere; and, unlike most popu-
lar fellows, he never forfeited the respect of
those who sought him. Some, perhaps were
afraid of him, but more believed in him. AT
forty, he was one of the handsomest of men.
Tall well-formed, graceful, no one could gaze
for the first time at his eloquent speaking iea-
lures, his flashing eye, SO expressive, so capa-
BILE OF emotion, his quick mobile lip, his breezy
ripping curls, his white, small hand, without
involuntalily envying him. And to hear him
talk, whether he affected wit or seriousness, one
could not help believe, here is glorious man.
Thank GOD! there are not many such glorious
ones in this world of ours
Not the least among those whom he had de-
ceived was Mrs. Fleming. When he entered
society as the set-made man, and the au-
thor OF a genuine earnest book that plead elo
quently tor noble principles, she had been pleas
ed with him, attracted towards him as an honest
deserving man. She had helped him forward,
as ne meant she should do, and had given him
credit for ali that genuineness of character
which he so well knew how to affect. She had
patronzed and introduced him, so long as she
thought he needed such assistance and he had
long been one of those favored ones who were
admitted into her select coterie. This was be-
cause she really and truly liked him for what he
pretended to be-the self-made son of genius.
Slightly frivolous perhaps she thought him at
times, but twas merely the exuberance of an
oerfowing fancy. She was proud of him, for
he seemed to her one of those rare examples in
which the earnest striving of selfhelper had
shown itself adequate to conquer and obliterate
the innate snobbery of the parrenu.
Why, then, did Aulcus Clinquant hate Mrs.
Fleming, and why was he at the head of the
opposition to her sovereignty? She herself
could not have guessed only the malice-whet-
ted acuteness Of Mrs. Morninglory had been
able to solve his secret, and so far she held the
reins on him. 1t was this the one sole mis-
take he had ever made, as a man of the world,
since he entered society, was in regard to Mrs.
Fleming, and he hated her because of that
mistake. Mrs. Fleming had received him, had
treated him well, had evidently taken delight in
his company. He was not Malvolio, by any
means selfesteem never clouded his other
faculties to his disadvantage. 1t was his pride
to believe himself capable OF finding out behind
the conventional mask what people really
thought Of him. But in the case of Mrs. Flem-
ing he deceived himself, or was deceived by his
vanity, for once. He knew his own attractive
qualities, he saw how much Mrs. Fleming made
Of him, he had studied and mastered the heart
,f woman and--he fanc;ad tb;, pJx, wnyn an