The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-12-15

uldWlllS -IOOll. L WAS ODllTeu 10 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, | am quite free to own:
but he might have remembered that |
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 l 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 ladl-this
is the way the world is managed" And
so the subject dropped, and Lewis and |,
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
good fortune which my parents had left
me [ had something less than three hun
dred 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
81, lou IL, l.
the castle no longer; and young Lewis
could keep only one horse nov, and was
oblis ed 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 man 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 should
accept couple of rooms in her house, to
be with Lewis. She saw, | expect, that |
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
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 relation in the world.
But | do take little credit to myself for
my pluck in holding to the wreck; for-I
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 a difference between us !;
and when there was any slight advantage
in Lewiss share he made it up to me, for
was shrewd enough to 600 that he could
not do without me. He was full of dreams.
lie was forever talking about his uncle and
the grand days and whether he could not
redeem the fortunes of the family.
laughed at him, [ confess, and advised him,
with the small fortune that remained, to
put himself in some good business in 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
w-suit, and win back the tens OF thou
sands of pounds 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. | was
to have my share of the glory-when he
got it, The case came again and again be-
fore the courts ! had been called to the
bar meantime and Lewis had insisted that
| should be employed, and that my brief
should be handsomely marked. 1t was
business to me, and any business to a
young barrister is. welcome. So / APP
peared 1t was really an effort of friend
ship on my part; for the bar was laughing
outright at young Lewis as fool who was
throwing away good money away 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 Intatuation had
enough of it now"
Lcwis's brother died when he was about
nineteen; and Mrs. Lewis followed soon
after. | thought Lewis would have gone
mad. He was certainly an affectionate
son; but who would not have been atfec-
tionate with such a mother? Had it not
been for his precious lawsuit he would
have followed Mrs Lewis in a month or
two; but, as the difficulties increased and
the chances became less, he only grew
firmer in his resOlve-to spend his last
farthing and the last hour of his life in the
fight. He spared me all / asked from him
which was not much; and he contrlved
that we should continue to live together,
so that might carry on my profession. L
intended, you may be sure, to refund to
him to the utmost penny, some day but
who can tell what the morrow may bring
forth? | don't think he expected to be
repaid. He never said so-and there were
times, know, when l had money and he
had none. Nay, there were two or three
occasions on which he was locked up lie
actually carried on his plans in the spong-
ing honse, and when he was let out he
walked straight away.to his lawyers. He
would meet me with that strange, sad
smile on his face, and his first question
would be, How was l getting on! Did l
want anything? In few months all
troubles would be over, and we should be
i'm clover. For | must do him this justice
ono leaf of every trefoil he might gather
was to be for your humble servant. Yet L
never liked him.
To tell how, on sudden, fortune came
upon us would be To make a long story
The tenacity of Lewis's character carried
him through He looked sickly; but in
the weak casket was the mothers heart
lie had the art of waiting When he was
in Cursitor street one day overtures were
made to him, 10y the acceptance of which
he would have secured to himself hand
some income for life But he discaimed
it and went quietly up to bed, on a Novem-
Der night, in the shabby sponging house,
with the observation that he was in no
hurry. So that when an extraordinary
turn i'm the law suit took every lawyer by
and the legal world stood aghast,
dumbfounded at a decision that
put him i'm possession of the entire wealth
of that remarkable uncle of his who used
IN p;noh MY aarc no alono uae cool / CON