The true northerner., 1872-01-05

are calle, but few are CHOSEN. faul
had no bets. The attorneys did not
come nea him. He was reported to be
lazy, whib he certainly was not, and
literary, which he certainly was, and
each repft tended more and more to
ruin his chances. He was handsome,
CAV, geIerous, and he didn't get on.
He dre' pretty freely OH his uncle's
purse; nd he satisfied his conscience
as well he could by assuring himself
that hi failure was his uncle's own
fault. Why must he make me a gen.
teman" Paul would ask, with a laugh.
81 shoild have got on capitally, ! dare
say, at he Australian diggings. Why
didn't le let me 90 out to the United
States md fight for the North | might
have hen LieutenantGeneral Middle
mist h this time. | dare say | should
have hen. Or why didn't he allow me
to encourage the advances of the public
housckeeper's fat widow? She used to
look lnutterable things at me and she
had Dts of money. And now she has
marred the bar-man, who isn't within
three inches of my height and they
havesold their business and keep car
riage"
AL this was Paul's fun. The latter
partwas especially his fun, for he was
talk ing to sweet Lydia Ranthorpe, sister
of Tom Ranthorpe, Pauls daily com
panon in Essex Court, Temple; and
Paul was madly in love with Lydia.
Now lydia and her brother were very
poor Tom Ranthorpe came up to Lon
1
spirits TO feed and clothe him; and
pending his making his way to be AT
torney. General or Lord Chancellor, he
wrote as often as he could find accept
ance for newspapers and magazines; /;
and Lydia and he had pleasant little
lodgings at Forest Hill. Ranthorpe had
his name painted up along with that Of
Middlemist on the door Of the cham
bers in Essex Court; but he did not
live there. as Paul did. Every night
regularly he went home, late or early,
to Forest Hill; and often, when no
amusement Of any kind kept him in
town, and he went home early to n cup
of tea with Lydia, Paul went with him.
Soon Mr.. Paul began to find all the
Joys of London life vapid and dull when
compared with an hour of Lydia's COM
pany. And so, utterly reckless OF his
uncle's certain wrath and resistance,
Paul chose to fall in love with Lydia.
TO make matters worse, she chose to
fall in love with him. To deepen the
darkness of the situation, Tom Ran
thorpe, instead Of wisely demonstrating,
and sternly opposing to such folly his
a. "a Il, hn,, w
as a brother, chose to be delighted with
the whole affair. The consequence of
all this was that Lydia and Paul were
engaged before they had well thought
of what they were doing, and, for aught
any one could tell to the contrary,
might make up their minds to be mar
ried any day.
"Seems to me, Paul, your uncle's a
confounded old mercenary humbug,
Tom Ranthorpe remarked one evening,
as they talked over the whole situation
with that charming frankness which
usually characterized their converse
ton.
" No." said Paul, thoughtfully, as he
stroked the mustache which his position
as captain Of volunteers authorized
him, learned advocate, to wear-"no,
it isn't that. The dear old boy isn't
mercenary. 1t isn't money he wants
me to get so much as rank Confound
it, Tom, why aren't you the younger
son, or even the second cousin. of a
lord? 1t wouldn't matter if Lydia
hadn't a sixpence, if she were only the
Honorable Lydia Ranthorpe. Ny uncle
would give half his fortune, verify be-
lieve, to help me to run away with the
seventh daughter of the poorest peer
in England, even though the flight in
volved the loss of every penny that
might possibly have been hers
Honorable Lydia Ranthorpe Why,
there is an Honorable Lydia Ran.
thorpe" said Tom, musingly. I'VE
read her name the other day among the
list Of presentations at court, and we
were amused at the coincidence. l
haven't the slightest doubt we belong to
the same family"
I'm afraid the relationship is not
quite clear and certain" Paul remark
ed, with shake of his head, and |
don't see that it helps us any the fur
ther."
" don't know" Tom replied. 81
am quite with Falstaff in valuing highly
a commodity Of good names. One
doesn't know when something may
come of it. You are going down to your
uncles place tomorrow
"Yes; it's terrible bore, just now es-
pecially but it can't he helped"
No; it may serve us, perhaps. |
don't quite see my way yet. But, while
| am thinking about the whole affair, |
have one thing to impress upon you if
you receive marked newspaper from
London, be sure to leave it lying some.
where under your uncle's eye; and do
the same with the letter of Lydia's that
reaches you in an envelope from me.
Come, promise swear ~ and Tom Ran
thorpe fell into an attitude of intense
dramatic heroism.
" But why? what do you mean?"
Be Innocent of the knowledge,
dearest chuck,'" replied Tom, in the
language of 4" Macbeth" q" till thou
applaud the deed | don't know vet
1t may all come to nothing; but |
have an idea. About, my brains.
Good-by, old fellow. Go and see
Lydia"
With this parting injunction Paul
Middlemist DrOmptlv compliad Navt