Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1878-03-07
90 = 40 q
THE USURER'S GIFT.

A few months ago in London an
old man sat in large pareled room
in one of the streets near Soho square
Everything in the apartment was
brown with age and neglect, Moth
ing more superlatively dingy could
well be imagined. The leather COW
ers of the chairs we're white and CLOS
sy at the edges; the carpet was al
most of uniform tint, Eotwithstand-
ing its original gaudy contrasts; !;
there were absurd old engraSings
upon the walLs-relics of the infancy
Of the art--and curtains 10 the vim
dows which the smoke of years had
darkened from a delicate iawn 10 n
rusty chocolate color. In the cen
tre of the room, as it were, the sun
of this dusty system, stood an Office
table of more modern manufacture,
at which was seated the old man atu-
ded to, sole lord and master Of the
dismal domicile. He was by profess
sion a money lender. His age might
have been from sixty to sixty-fivc
years his face was long, and his
features seemed carved ont OF box
wood or yellow sandstone, so desti-
tute were they Of nobility; his eyes
were Of a cold, pale, steel color, hat
his brows were black and tufte1l, like
a grim old owl; a long aquilino nose,
n thin and compressed mouth, and 4
vast double chin, buried in Il voIuni-
nous white neckcloth Of more tban
one days wear, completed the por-
trait. Nor did the expression Of his
countenance undergo any perceptible
change as, after n timid knock, tfe
door opened, and young man Gu
tered of singularly interesting appear
ance. II
The new conner was we'll dressed,
though his clothes were none of the
newest, and had the air of man ac-
customed to society. His pale brow
was marked with those long horiznll-
tai lines of which time is rarely the
artist. His dark, deep-set gray eyes
flashed with a painful brightness; his
long chestnut hair, damp with per-
spiration, clung in narrow strips to
his forehead his whole manner i'm
Piled the man who bad made up his
mind to some extraordinary courses
from which no wavering or weakness
on his part was likely to turn him
aside, whatever the opposition of oth-g
ers might compel him to abandon or
determine. Bending his tall figure
slightly, he addressed the money-lend-
ed in a tone Of constrained calmness.
"You lend money, 1 believer"
"Sometimes-on good security :,
replied the usurer, indifferently, form
ing critical summary at his visitors
costume at a glance.
The stranger hesitated; there was
a discouraging sort of coldness in the
mode of delivering this answer that
seemed to PREJUDICE his proposition.
Nevertheless, he resumed with an ef-
fort: II saw your advertisement in
the paper" The Insurer did not even
nod in answer to this prelude. lie
sat bolt upright in his chair, waiting
further inform alton. Il am as yUu
will see by these papers, entitled to
some property reversion."
The usurer stretched out his hand
for the papers, which he looked over
carefully with the same implacablc
tranquility, while his visitor entered
into explanations as to their sub
stance.
Once only the money-.lender peered
over the top of the document he was
scanning, and said, gruffly: ''Your
name, sir, is Bernard West!"
SIT is," replied the stranger, me
chanically taking up a newspaper, in
which the first thing whichicaught his
eye was the advertisement alluded to,
which ran thus: Money to- any
amount advanced immediately on
every description ofsecuyity,, leal or
personal. Apply, betweenythe hours
Of 10 and 5, to Mr.. John Brace,-
street, Soho square 9
After a brief interval of silence the
usurer methodically re-atTanged the
papers and returned them to the
stranger. ''They are of no use" he
said, s'no use, whatever-the rever-
sion is merely contingent. You have
ne available security to offerf''
ssCould you not adyance,something
upon these expeetations-not even 8
small sum?'
"Not even farthing,'' ssid the
money-lender.
sis there no way Of raising fifty.
tbirty-evcn twenty peunds?o said
the stranger, anxiously,, and with the
tenacity of drowning man graspine
at straw.
/ ssThere is no way, said the usurer
carelessly. West in his turn was 81
Ilent, awaiting the explanation Of hi