Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1877-01-11
VOLUME XXI.


an instructive dislike. And in trutl
Mr.. Slythorpe was not precisely the per
son to win fair lady's fancy. Under
sized, high. .shouldered, with blinking
lashless eyes, and general angularity
not to saw kuobbiness of feature, h'
might have beenexpected torise superio
to any weakness as to personal appear
ance but such was by no means tn,
case. In Mr.. Samuel Slythorpe's owl
opinion, Mr.. Samuel Slythorpe was ,
| gentleman of considerable personal adj
vantages, and it was his constant en-
desvor to make the very best of them
He was obtrusively, We might almos
say offsnsively, clean. His shirt-front
collar, and wristbands were all of intense
whiteness and starchiness, giving hin
the appearance Of being, so to speak,
call shirt - while his hands, which
were naturally coarse and red, were
made still coarser and redder by perpet-
scented, and his short, scrubby hair was
tortured, by the combined use of the
brush and the pomatum pot, into the
semblance of the split almonds where
with tipsy-cakes are wont to be deco
rated. His hats and coats were always
intensely new, and he perpetually
creaked as he moved his patent leather
boots, maintaining friendly rivalry in
this particular with his well-starched
shirt-front. In his habitual gorgeous
array-indeed, if possible, looking even
cleaner and newer than usual-Mr. Sly
thorpe this morning knocked at Mrs.
Murgatroyd's door. That good lady was
at the moment engaged in dusting Miss
Hopes room, and, catching sight of his
approach, exclaimed:
"There that nasty worrying lawyer
again, / do declare. Slythorpe, indeed !
I'd Slythorpe him."
II would be hopeless to endeavor to
express on paper the intensity of mean
ing Mrs. Murgatroyd threw into her
newly-coined verb; but it was evident
that /" Slythorping" in her mind in
cluded all the tortures of the middle
ages, with supplement of horsepond
and other modern Inventions. Mary
smiled at the good lady's vehemence.
"My dear Mrs. Murgatroyd, you
really shouldn't be so severe. Mr.. Sly
thorpe is little peculiar, but / have no
doubt he means kindly, and you know
he is the trustee of poor papa's will"
"I know he is, my dear, and / wish
he wasn't. i know he shouldn't be
trustee to tomcat OF mine, dat him."
"Now really, Mrs. Murgatroyd, you
are too bad" said Mary, smiling in spite
of herself. 81 am sure poor Mr.. Sly
thorpe isn't nearly so dreadful as You
make out"
At this point the conversation was in
terrupted by the entrance of the gentle
man in question, and Mrs. Murgatroyd,
passing him with final sniS of abhor-
renee, quilted the apartment.
Mr.. Slythorpe, for once in his life,
appeared i'll at ease. He was got up
with his accustomed care, and the sug-
gestion of scented soap which accompa-
MED him was even stronger than usual;
but his usual self satisfied air was want
ing. He evidently had something on
his mind-some piece of rascality, a
pnysiognomist would have conJectured,
which he either had recently perpetrated
or was about to perpetrate. Let Ms
hope that the physiognomist would have
been wrong.
"My dear Miss Hope" he began,
after the first greetings had been ex-
changed, 81 grieve to be the bearer of
very unpleasant intelligence.
Mary looked up with quiet indiffer-
ence, scarcely believing that, after all
she had gone through, any news, good
or bad, could have for her more than the
most passing interest. Slythorpe con-
tinued:
"Iem sure that yeu will believe Ibid
il for the best /; but misfortunes viii
happen, you know, even with the ut
most care and caution. 1 am sure /
the investment as safe as the
bank but there's no trusting anything
"What is the misfortune, Mr.. Sly
thorpe, for you haven't yet told me'
Nothing very serious, hope"
"Only too serious, my dear Ma
he tried to say Mary" but couldn't
get it out, and substituted Z" Miss Hope"
-"nothing less than the loss, fear, of
the whole Of your little fortune"
Mary turned very pale, but gave no
other sign of emotion. "How did it
happeni" she said, with an effort.
"Your money was, as You know, In
the 3-per-cents, where it produced
miserable EGO year. In the hope of
doing better for you, i sold out, and
invested it in q new mining company,
the Wheal Marina, which promised to
pay q minimum dividend Of 10 per
cent, and so would have just trebled
your income. And this morning / am
grieved to find frsm the Times that the
company is an utter smash. The Di-
rect0rs have bolted, and the sharehold-
ers will lose every penny of their
money.
"Is all gomez Nothing iefti"
"Not a sixpence, and you remain liza
BILE for calls to the amount of about as
much more"
Poor Mary's fortitude quite gave way.
"Oh, dear, what shall dol / haven't
q friend in the world"
"No, no, don't say that, Miss Mary"
said Slythorpe, in q gently patronizing
manner; cit isn't as bad as that comes
to. i haven't dis 8uised my own feelings
toward you; and, though you've lost
your money, you know that needn't
make any difference between you and
me. Ny affection amt Of the mercenary
sort; in fact, as / got you into the mess
(though with the best of intentions,
mind you(, it's only fair 1 should get you
out of it."
Mary had hidSen her face in her
hands, but she became aware, from the
increased intensity Of the all pervading
scented soap aroma, that Slythorpe was
drawing nearer to her, and, in another
moment, biz arm was around her waist.
She drew herself up proudly:
"Su, I am willing to believe you
mean kindly, but your offer under such
circumstances is an insult. BE good
enough to leave me-"
Slythorpe would have parleyed, but
with the air Of an outraged queen Mary
Hope rang the bell, and, obedient to the
summons, Mrs. Murgatroyd appeared.
"Open the door for Mr.. Slythorpe,
il you please"
You'll be sorry for this, you'll find,
Miss Hope" said Slythorpe; but Mary
vouchsafed no answer, and the attorney
retired discounted, Mrs. Murgatroyd
holding the door for him with an ex-
preston of thorough enjoyment. AS
soon as it was closed upon him, she
bounced back into Msry's room, and
a. Al