The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1883-09-19


"That II do, Perkins. want to hear
no more. Look thee here and Benja-
min drew long bill from his pocketbook,
and pointed out certain items against
which he had put pencil-mark. what
Goes ia mean by charging me / this way
Use niver pay it--niuerl"
Business, Brierley business"
i" Ii it's business, then thou sud hev
taken out license to steal. want to
start an action against Jonathan Bottomy
Tor melting wi my beck, but thou sail
not touch paper till this bill is settled.
Now, then, what is ia going to do about
it? Pm regular in T. courts, and I'm
Almost as good lawyer AZ thysen."
Perkins laughed, and ran his pen
through the Objectionable items zone
bear doesn't bite another bear, Brierley,
and Pm none going to eat thee up"
at wadn't pay thee. There's outsid-
ers to whet thy teeth on. See here, now"
Then be laid before the crafty lawyer his
complaint and his instructions, and seemed
forgotten the news about his son.
But he had not. AS he drove back to
his mill he was quietly triumphant over
the matter He had begun life as one Of
Bradley's "hands," and in subsequent
years the relations between the men had
often been of an aggravating kind.
He snubbed me, and set me in Cowd-
Shoulder-Lane as often as liver he could"
said Ben amin to himself "and to think
he were working, and tuaing, and saving
for our Joe all e time 1t fair caps me !"
and he flicked his whip so empbatically
that the horse really imagined him in a
hurry, and went at pace that astonished
Brierlev village, and would have aston.
ished Ben amin himself, if he had been
conscious of it.
But in that hour some very unusual
thoughts had possession of his mind. IN
consciously Joe had done thing which
seemed to Joe's father a particular provi-
dence for the settlement of his claims on
the dead. and-gone Bradley. He could be-
dertook the righting of bis personal
grievances. It's fair wonderful p he
kept circulating and l hev no doubt
t proud, miserly fellow knows a. bout it !!
II he does, why, then, our Joell plague
him worse than ovid Satan hissen can do"
Then it occurred to him that he might
go into Bradford and buy the handsomest
bit of silverware or iewelry he could lay
his hands on. He had never said he
wouldn't give Joe's wife present, and he
could send it without name, so as to avoid
the bother of thanks. But in the morning
everything looked different to him. The
evil angel had whispered most irritating
supposition to him during the night /:
what if Joe had married Bradley's daugh-
ter Just because he knew how he hated
her father ?-or because he knew that by
doing so he could at once place himself
financially and socially above all Brierley
considerations 7
His experiences of life led Benjamin
always to attribute the lowest motives to
the human heart, and he allowed these
second thoughts to rule him. For day
or two he was unusually morose, and then
there cam to him one morning note in
white satin and silver-an invitation to
attend the marriage of Joseph Brierley
and Elizabeth Bradley, at Bradley Hall.
Inclosed was slip of ordinary paper, on
which Joe had written four words, " Do
come, dear father" He held the whole in
his great, brown, hairy hand few mo.
ments, looking steadily at them. Then,
with smile in which were queerly
blended anger and satisfaction he dropped
the gay festival cards into the fire, and as
he watched them turn to ashes, he slowly
fingered the strip of paper that had &C.
companied them.
He hesitated about burning it /; and to
hesitate is generally to give up or to give
in he opened his pocket-book and put it
into compartment which was intended
for postage-stamps, and which he never
used. For moment or two the thought
OF wedding present again crossed his
mind but this time everything was ad.
verse. He needed all his ready cash, and
it suddenly struck him that silver or Jew
elry was just so much money buried in a
closet or drawer, and not paying penny
of interest. 81 niver owned aught but a
silver watch mysen," he muttered; and
Ben was not the man to think the require
ments of any other person greater than
his own. So every kindly thought per-
ished in suspicion and avarice and Joe,
who had anxiously watched for some an
swer, was heartburn and disappointed.
The more 80 as Aunt Martha also de-.
clined to he present She had taken a
dislike to Elizabeth at their first inter-
view, having fancied that the young lady
tried to patronize her-a mode of treat
ment that highly offended the independent
little Yorkshire woman. "She wanted
nothing that Elizabeth had got. She
wer welcome to her fine house and her
fine friends, and her fine husband, too.
She had naught to say either for or
against t. wedding;" yet to her favorite
Wesleyan preacher she admitted that
elizabeth Bradley was that kind o.
young woman as set her teeth on edge"
cher tenants speak we'll of her, Miss
Thrale," he rejoined, sand we must hope
for the best"
Gay, but she's sweet as May flowers, no
doubt, to them as she can order and
hector. Niver mind 1t won't be vary
long till our Joe will get to see into his
folly"
But, though Martha stayed at home to
please her own kind pride, she deeply re-
GREETED not having seen all the fine dresses
and wedding presents, and the not having
been present at feast which included
among its guests bishop, baronet, and
a member of Parliament. There was a
full report of all the grand doings in the
local papers, and Martha read every word
of it with minute attention.
Benjamin also read it, and he had his
own opinions of the proceedings and their