The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-04-26
lcoNcLuDED FROM FIRST rAaE.]

may just inquire to what particular line o
business your talents are devOtedW
ITO no line at all, just at present. The fact
added my voice +" ass pfepe
shout q year ago, and am up in London look
ont for q sound business Investment Bn
Eve met with nothing to my hkng, 80 1 asiif !,
fact, I'm getting tired of town, ana have haH
~is% me- no 70 back h'"' an" take my l''"''
could see the old scdmp's eyes brighten as be
drank in my words eagerly:
"My dear young friend, if You will allow me
to call you so," he began in blnndly persuasive
accents, "'Iet counsel YOU to do nothing n!
rashly. There are thousands of excellect in
vestments in London. But what you want Is q
man at your back who knows all the ms and
outs of this great city; who knows now 70 sep yep,
arate the wheAtfrom the chah ana VINO can
distinguish, almost as it were by lnstlnct'
sound Investment from rotten one."
IAN very fine. But where IL greennorn IKE
The gesture with which my ssampsh friend
bowed 70 me, and laid his hand on his heart,
had in IL . touch Of the sublime. 1T is not
for q modest man like me to yaunt himself or
have lived in Lonaoa, all my life, and have
not lived with my eyes shut. Although am,
measure ander acloud, my fortunes, am proud
TO soy, have not always beenat their present
low ebb. Ny wife-she is dead now, poor crea-
pair; and had my hack for the park, and
. hunter down 1t Melton. But those days IRE
gone, never to return. Drink mp, sir, and let
year Of the great panic All the more, then,
am fitted, after passing through such . bitter
experience, to fill the part of o judicious Mem
tor to inexperienced youth with capital at it's
back. Sir, my humble services are yours to
"Well,' said, with u dubious air, " it is just
possible that you might be able to put me up to
q useful wrinkle or two. Bnt, in any case, this
il not the spot to discuss such matters. Come
and have bit of dinner with me at my rooms,
aud we can talk things over afterward, with
tho assistance of a pipe and tumbler."
"a bit of dinner, a pipe, and n tumbler! Ha,
ha! will attend you. my young friend, with
the utmost satisfaction
/ hailed the first cab / could find and we
ratified off to my lodgings. No conversation
took place while we were going over the
stones !; but in imagination I saw before me n
certain sweet, teal full face and felt more deter
mined than ever to go through with the scheme
wild and TfsPestefeus as it might have seemed mt
any other time, which had suddenly flashed
across my brain while I was following the ras-
cal by my side up st. Martins Lane.
Having instructed my lnndlady to put down
another outlet, and to send out for one or two
extras, VIC assembled to my rooms.
.'In the hope, my dear sir. that our friend
ship will be long aud Hourishing one" said
my unwelcOme guest, "allOw me, as q neetlfil
preliminary, to present you with my card"
He handed me, as he spoke, IA very limp, and
rather dirty piece of pasteboard, which he had
had some difficulty in finding among his multi
farious pockets, and On-which inscribed
the name OF ME- Reginald lrlcN." Ut course.
1 could do no less than return the compliment.
Dinner was served few minutes later; and
while 1t was IN progress, the conversation be-
tween Mr.. Tracy and myself was of the most
intermittent character. gathered enough,
however, to enable me to discover that he was
= man of some education, and must, at one
time, have mixed in superior society. BY the
exercise of what knavish arts he had contriyed
to forfeit the position he once held, could not
of course, tell therein, NO doubt, lay hidden
the great secret Of his life. Poor wretch! 1t
was easy to see, from the style in which he got
through with his food, that IL plentiful and
wholesome meal WINS what he had not partaken
of for some time. At length, he lay back in
his chair in a state of happy REPETITION. Not
bengnant smile. " Positively. could not |
Let good digestion wait ON appetite you |
know the rest. A bountiful meal! But, 'Provi-
donce tempers the wind to the shorn lamb y |
And now for the pipe and the tumbler, Ha,
ha! have not fOrEotten. ~
AS We're fairly under way with
our first tumhler. Mr.. Tracy broke ground on
the subject that was evidently uppermost in
his thoughts. eff, SIR he said, Z" you would
favor me with n hint to the special class of |
Investment in which You are DESTROYS of laying
out your capital and would also furnish me
with some idea of the amount of the capital it
self, should then have positive data to
work upon, and could give You the benefit off
my experience in that particular line of proce-
dure which your ineliHatiens may lead you to
prefer"
Capital, three thousand; line of investment
not decided on,"I said. "Soincthing light and
genteel would be preferred"
Such "a an importer of wines and spirits,
for instance" said Mr.. Tracy.
That would do capitally, dare say, only
happen to know nothing in the world about it,"
Qnife unnecessary. my dear sir, that you
should Only find tie money, and l will en-
gage to find the brains. and to make your for
tune into the bargain
Mr.. Tracy sighed deeply, took II long pull at
his tumbler; and then proceeded to enighten
my Ignorance as to the various methods by
which extraordinary profits might be realized,
without the slightest risk of failure, by any
one who, combining capital with brains might
choose to appear before the world as an i'm
porter of wines and spirits. That some of the
methods indicated by Mr.. Tracy were several
degrees on the shady side of honesty, might at
once have been predicted from the character of
the man; but he certainly had a very neat way