Litchfield enquirer., 1871-03-16
MIR FITZ-HUMES' EXPERIMENT.

MT. Augustus EICZ-Hum6S sat Ill hlS lux urious bachelor establishment on B. street, and pondered deeply. The subject of his cogitations WAS wife, or, rather, how to get one There were enough young ladies who would be glad to bless their lucky stars for the privilege of becoming mistress of his home, as he we'll knew; but he also felt tolerably we'll assured that the home was all they cared for. For the for tune they would wed it's owner.
 ''Deuce take the money!" he exclaimed 'sI wish I'd never had cent, and then but botheration!-the I should have been too poor to marry, anyway. Why couldn't t I have had just wealth enough for all my wants, and nothing more? I'll foil them though, the mean adventuresses!'
 A furious pull of the bell cord brought the housekeeper to the room in hurry.
 ''Pack up your traps, Mrs Ashfeld," he exclaimed abruptly; sfor am going to close the house."
 It was evident he had come to some con- clusion.
 ''Shut up the house, MT. Fitz- Humes!" ejaculated the housekeeper, almost believ- ing she had lost her reason. "Why, such a thing has not occurred since your la- mented uncle took possession fve-and-f forty years ago"
 ''That makes no difference, ma'am, I'm master here now. and shall close it for the present. Meanwhile your pay can still go on, and that of such domestics as you consider indispensable. Have you no relatives you wish to visit?" he inquired.
 The proffer of continued pay removed Mrs. Ashfield's scruples quite effectualy. She then remembered she had friends she had not seen for years. E
 Three days later, Mir. Augustus Fitz- Humes was safely domiciIed in a quiet boarding house, and shortly afterwards he began to sell his diamond rings. and seals, and other paraphernalia of fashionable life, as well as to dress himself in plainer clothes. A rumor that his property had been lost through an unlucky speculation was soon ahoat.
 He lost friends rapidly. By twos and threes they ceased to know him as he met them on them on the street. He only laughed and snapped his fingers at them behind their backs. Had his diversity been real, he would not have felt like laughing.
 Then came the time when this circle of acquaintances got narrowed down to three. But three of all his former friends still wonder that he grew misanthropic.
 
 carriage containing some of his former acquaintences, who had been absent from the city since he closed his house. He thought they would not notice him; but each inmate of the carriage bowed as po- litely as of old.
 ssThey have not heard the news," he muttered, cynically.
 He was mistaken. That night the owner of the carriage came to see him.
 Rather close quarters, my friend" he said as he took calm survey of Augustus s not very pretentious surroundings.
 Pretty close, that's fact," said MT. Humes, icily."
 "But since lost my property, of which 1 suppose you havn't heard, have become quite economical"
 .'But I have heard" cried his auditor, abruptly, ''and that is why I came, knew you needed friends now if ever, and the fact is-well-my daughter sir mean, I came to offer the position of head clerk in my counting room. Will you accept it?"
 "Ahem! Well. will think of it. But it is long way from my boarding-house
 ssDeuce take your boarding house! You can board in my family as a-well, as 8 sort of guest, you know" F
 Augustus looked him over closely. Reu- ben Stanley was wealthy man-yery wealthy, he was called-and in his face there was nothing to warrant the suspicion that he had learned Augustus's secret, and wished to curry favor, aiding him while under an apparent cloud; so that idea was speedily dismissed. Or course. he quickly thanked him, and accepted.
 ! Once costly snugged in Stanley's man. sion, it was not long before he wondered why he had not noticed Nellie Stanley be-