Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-12-22

abe was holding while she talked to me;
and she called up Lewis and told him, in
her serious, impetuous way, that he was to
look upon me ~ brother, and be always
kind to me.
Mrs. Lewis was an indulgent mother;
but she was strict too, as her step-father di-
rected her to be, and his word was, to her,
law in everything. Lewis went to bed at
nine, 80 did while l was at the castle.
We begged half an hours grace sometime;
but she would never yield-even when she
was in the middle Of . song. She sang
divinely, and Lewis loved to hear his
mother. Sometimes he would keep me
awake for whole hour after we were In
bed, listening to Mrs. Lewis voice in the
drawing room. I was obliged to keep
awake, being his guest but this shows how
inconsiderate he could be-
He had begged Mrs. Lewis to allow him to
give me one of his Shetland ponies on my
birthday; and he had surprised me with
it, with bran new saddle and bride which
was very good, l am quite free to own;
but he might have remembered that l
liked fishing much better than riding, and
that should have been more pleased with
handsome rod and tackle.
One day Mrs. Lewis step-father seeing
me on the terrace alone called me to him,
and began to question me on the
life that my guardians had projected for
me When / told him that l had
not heard from them for year, and
that had not the least idea of their inten-
tons in regard to me, he pulled my ear.
and muttered, "Poor lad! poor lad!-this
is the way the world is managed" And
so the subject dropped, and Lewis and l,
at the end of the holidays, returned to
school.
MisfOrtunes overlook me when was on
the point Of entering the Middle Temple.
My guardians died, and to my horror and
amazement, was informed that their af-
fairs were involved, to my utter ruin. They
had speculated with my money, and out of
q good fortune which my parents had left
me had something less than three hun
bred pounds left. communicated my dis
tress to Lewis, and he sympathized with
me. He would have been stone had he
done less, seeing how intimate we had
been from our early boyhood. Mrs. Lewis
had been for some time in bad health. Her
great-stepfather had died overwhelmed
with ruin in a great law suit; and she had
the castle no longer; and young Lewis
could keep only one horse nov, aud was
blised to give himself fewer airs. The
wreck was more than respectable, but it
was wreck. was among those who did
not desert them, and did not disdain to
ride in the modest brougham to which
poor Mrs. Lewis was reduced, and with
but one an-servant to wait at table
Lewis never forgot my birthday and Mrs
Lewis was good enough to insist, when she
heard of my misfortunes, that | should let
her pay my Temple fees and that l should
accept couple of rooms in her house, to
be with Lewis. She saw, expect, that l
exercised very salutary influence over
him. How could look churlish and re-
fuse-especially when Lewis Joined his en-
treaties to those of his mother? 1t wanted
no little moral courage, however, to keep
with the Lewises, although they loaded me
with attentions, because people talked
about them in the neighborhood; and the
tradesmen sneered and jeered when the
the plain little brougham rolled past their
doors or and Lewis walked home to din.
ner. had no other'home, however, and
hardly farthing in my pocket. l have
said, was without a relation in the world.
But l do take little credit to myself for
my pluck in holding to the wreck; for-l
can make no secret Of i'll never liked
Lewis.
Mrs. Lewis paid all my expenses while
she lived, Just as she paid those of her own
child l could hardly see anything in
which she made difference between us
and when there was any slight advantage
in Lewis's share he made it up to me, for
was shrewd enough to see that he could
not do without me. He was full of dreams.
He was forever talking about his uncle and
the grand days, and whether he could not
redeem the fortunes of the family. l
laughed at him, | confess, and advised him,
with the small fortune that remained to
put himself in some good business jim the
city. He shrugged his shoulders, and
would not hear of it, but went dreaming
on and believe his mother encouraged
him. He pinched himself to employ law
yers, who were to reopen the old horrible
law suit, and win back the tens Of thou
sands ofpounds and the old castle We
were to walk on the old terrace once more,
and smoke our cigars again in the familiar
wineries. 1t was sad to see the infatuation
which possessed Lewis like his blood, not
to say the vanity. He was not unmindful of
me, / must say, in all his dreams. l was
to have my share of the glory-when he
got it. The case came again and again be-
fore the courts. I had been called to the
bar meantime and Lewis had insisted that
l should be employed, and that my brief
should be handsomely marked 1t was
business to me, and any business to a
young baEfiisssser-is welcome. 80 / ap-
peared. 1t was really an effort of friend
ship on my part for the bar was laughing
outright at young Lewis as a fool who was
throwing away good money after
bad. There was no hope for him. The
Judges Uttered when rose; the public
smiled when Lewis took his seat among
the attorneys. When we failed, my Tenn
pie friends would come round me and
ask: "Well, has Young Infatuation had
enough of it now?"
Lewls's brother died when he was about
nineteen; and Mrs. Lewis followed soon
after. l thought Lewis would have gone
mad. He was certainly an affectionate
son but who would not have been afiec-
tionate with such mother? Had it not
been for his precious lawsuit he would
have followed Mrs Lewis in month or
two; but, as the difficulties increased, and
the chances became less, he only grew
firmer in his resolve-to spend his last
farthinp and the last hour of his life in the