Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1881-05-25
CHATTER II.

CHATTER II.
"Wcll, about five years passed IN
that way. The firm Of Billings 4
Weathcmncld was getting rich and No
mistake about II, There are several
ways Of conducting q business. One Is
to take no risks at all, and add penny IA
pcnny Another IL to risk everything
and hit or miss. ! have never had any
liking for either. / go for rsking and
hitting every time, which can DO N"nc
by brains,
Billings was the stay.at'h home part
ner, did the travelling and prospect
ing. was getting rich. ! had not
been back to tho town whore Alice
lived, and had never heard from her,
not 80 much rs line. You see, old Mr.,
Hale was 80 honorable aud had treated
me no much like gentleman that did
moi caro- to treat him otherwise, lie
had heard from me, however / will
tell YOU what mean. ] kept up cor.
rcspondcnce with the folks At home, and
one day / got n letter which told me
this. Mr.. Hale was falling fast and his
creditors were pressing hiIa. One OF
them was such dog as TO press him to
the very wall, though the old man had
been tho fellows friend and patron.
Well, that was too uuch. / bought
claims against the creditor and ruined
him. Mr. Halc's debt / paid and tho
property was settled on Alice--she and
he knew nothing about it. Meanwhile,
] had made the acquaintance OF Madam
Hermoncieux."
When Weathersfleld said he had made
the acquaintance Of Madam Harmon
cieux his face had q curious expression.
1t was satirical and interchangeable ex-
preston of man who comes suddenly
upon mttlesnake, but feels that he has
A club in his hand with which he is GER
tain to crush it.
"Madam Hcrmoncicux," Wcathcrs-
field went on, quietly, "was arich creole
proprietaire, who lived on Bayou Teche,
which empties above Alexandria into
Red River This bayou is navigable
at high water, and steamboats, 60 there
For three or four years / had been doing
business with the planters in the conn
try, and, among others, with madam,
whose husband had recently died. L
said she was rich, but l soon found that
her fine estate was loaded down with
debt. She lived splendidly, but the
whole thing was only shell. She was
n beautiful woman of twenty-nine or
thirty, black eyes, black hair, lips as
red rs blood, and the most beguiling ex-
preston | ever saw in woman.
"Well, we soon became intimate, and
/ was highly fattered by her attentions.
The planters entertained me finely, and
| met madam often. Very soon she in
vited my to visit her at her plantation,
and did so, staying days alta time. She
was woman of business, and took great
interest in railroads. l was then setting
on foot the Atafalqua and Terrebonne
connection, and she made me tell her
everything gall l would-about my af-
fairs. 1 may have talked big about my
prospects, as men will suppose 1 did,
for every day the creature was getting
faster hold of me- had not forgotten
Alice, but had given her up in despair
and here was this superbly beautiful
woman looking at me in way that was
enough to turn vonr head. In less than
year things had gone so far that was
her acknowledged suitor, and in the fol-
lowing spring l was engaged to be mar
ried to her.
81 will now go on and tell you how
things came to point. | was busy all
the time working up the Terrebonne
connection line, putting the stock on
the market and engineering the whole
business. But that did not monopolize
me. l had not let my old irons get
cold, and kept up the iron business.
The business of the firm had extended
to Mexico and South America, and |
had contract to furnish the rails and
iron for the manufacture of the rolling
stock of railway in Peru, which was
sure to make my fortune. l had made
this contract with a man named Perez, q
Spaniard L had known at Vera Cruz,
from which city he had gone to Peru
and started the railway there.
81 mention this to say that it was
this great Peruvian contract which
seemed to interest Madam Hermon-
cieux more than anything else. She
was never done talking of it. Sitting
in her fine drawing-room, looking out
on the Bayou Teche, she would listen
to me for hours. leaning forward in her
chair and looking at me as if she was
hanging on my words. l thought this
little strange, but then she was a
woman who had head for business,
and told her-as was natural in man
engaged to her-all about the affair.
The contract was not yet definitely con-
cluded, that is, signed, though it was as
good as made. There was condition
about the agreement which l did not
like. I was willing, of course, to en-
gage under heavy penalty to perform
the iron contract, but Perez wrote me
that the directors required me to take
out policy of insurance on my life to
secure them in case of failure. The
thing was unbusiness like and the pre-
MUM was heavy, for the amount of the
penalty was eight hundred thousand
dollars. I protested, but Perez de-
clared, 'to his great regret he said,
that lie could do nothing with the Peru
Wan Dons, and this was the state OF
things at the time that am now going
to tell you about.
"First, 1 will say, however, that I was
getting crazy about Madam Hermon-
cieux-I had lost my head. For years
/ bad not heard word from Alice Hale,
and never expected to see her again
and here was this beautiful creole hold
ing out her arms and ready to marry
me. ] had the strangest feeling about
IL - La L.. LII nln cno.. al