Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-04-04
READY MONEY.


smiling through Christmas. After Christmas
the deluge i have come to the conclusion" he
continued thoughtfully, "that there is nothing
In the world like ready m. ney do you know.
my boy, and for this simple reason. To-day is
yours, tomorrow belongs to nobody. Give me
health and day, says that old optimist.
Emerson, and will make the pomp of einpe-
rors ridicurousr 1 say, 'Give me health and
half sovereign always in my waistcoat pocket
and will forget the past, rejoice in the present,
and regard the future
Here De Baltedaw paused. The fact is. De B.
never had a future. My dear fellow" he re-
sumed- what is the use of talking about the
future? There is really no such thing. 1t is
the mere bUgbeaI OF poets and moralists. 1T
has no real existence for you until it becomes
the present and have quite enough to do to
deal with that have seen people worry them
selves into their graves over things which,
myself exclusively with things which do come
to pass, while they coming to PASS: l find
that answers best. AS TO bills, / don't bother
how they are to be paid-till / can pay them,
what's the use: They come in to-day and you
may die tomorrow, or some one else may die
and leave you money, or you may let some
empty house at any moment, or your shares
may rise, or you may sell that horse that you
bought out of n cab and fed up for twice the
purchase money, or you can claim That little
commission paid on never mind what, by
and then added with extreme compoSure,
''No one can say De Batledaw is Of the worry
ing sort" said Jones to his wife that evening.
81 wish / could take things conly, and 1
wish had hall his luck Tie fact * JONES' too,
was in debt. The wateT-Vatc man sat for
hour in the hall and wouldn't go without the
money. The coal man had PITT all his Goals into
sacks again and taken them off, on finding that
his last little bill was not going TO be paid just
then. The pastry cock grumbled at being asked
toSend in q nali dozen OF champagne for Christ
mas day. TeInaIEing hat he had an account for
ices for the summer months, still unpaid. Then
the cook had asked for her wages twice, and
there was absolutely not a sovereign in the
iTl. bod irNIf-
sable doctors brOGgham was bOthering for the
last quarter. Such Jones state at Christ
married pretty wife. He treated the poor for
nothing. His brass plate shone, but his only
paying patients seemed to have gone out OF
town for Christmas and had forgotten to settle
I'm a few weeks said he to Mrs Jones,
"they will come back the worse for Christmas
If all goes well. and there may be few surgi-
cal operations tonsls and that sort of thing, but
in the meantime we want ready money"
Exactly So. says Aurelia. (Aurelia had
married little beneath her station-so her
mother said.l Exactly so, Edward. You're
always ridiculing Archelaus De Batedaw, but
he Is quite right; ready moneys the thing. The
large bills will get paid in the season. when you
are called in TO see old Gorbei as usual; and the
Gushingtons, who sprain their ankles regularly
every year trying to skate; and De Palsy, who
always tumbles off his horse in the park; and
Lady Dekolty, and all the others who catch
cold at the Queens drawing-room and suffer
agonies with the earache, and think they want
surgeon; but now ready money is what we
Jones knew she would.
do YOU think our banker will put couple
Of hundred to our credt?'
Don't talk nonsense, Edward. If were to
ask him he might; but that remedy is worse
than the disease You know you don't mean
to ask him. You Overdrew the bank fifty
pounds only last week. You men are never
any use in an emergency, you've got no IDEAS"
whats to be donee' says poor Jones.
self a bread-winner indeedr' And the lofty
Aurelia. with one of her most superior locks,
tossed her head, took Oft her thimble, threw it
into her work basket and swept out of the con-
sulting room.
Aurelia had not the slightest idea what to do,
but she meant to do something. Jones had
lately taken little house in a respectable
neighborhOod not hundred miles from Har-
ley street, where doctors most do congregate
The brass plate was small and looked very neat
and reliable. If he could hold out another
year, he believed that he would greatly through
G ms wiies connection, get along. But this
a crisis Jones sat down and did what perhaps
was the most unwise and depressing thing
possible under the circumstances; he began to
look over his bills.
Presently he heard his wife go down stairs.
She was in one of her scornful moods. She had
apparently got Batledaw on the brain She
seemed to think her husband ought to have
ready money. He did not care to face her i'm
mediately-besides, she had taken things into
her own hands, and when woman does that
you had best leave her alone. The street door
opened and shut with bang. Aurelia was
gone Jones felt half inclined to go after her
but on second thoughts he staid where he was
1t was well for him that he did.
Aurelia soon got into Oxford street: she
stopped mechanically at shop window to
look at some Christmas cards. She was a clever
artist herself; she thought she could do cards as
good as many of those which seemed market
able, and went in to make inquiries for an
artist-a friend of hers she said-who had some
choice things to offer. They told her that the
market was completely overstocked
There was a chemist close by who made up
her husbands prescriptions. The man had a
patent inhaler that cured everything. He had
written twice to get signed testimonial out OF
Jones affirming its sovereign efficacy. Should
she go in and promise the coveted autograph
and then wheedle it out of her husband? The
man had offered a fee of f5, but the doctor had
treated the matter with contemptuous and in
dignant silence. AureliaS foot was on the door
step, but her pride got the better of her in an
other moment she turned away. She knew her
plicftly, but not to tamper with his honor The
bank was close by; she had only to go In and
speak to the manager, an old friend of her
fathers Her father was Macbone of Bonely
Hall; he had been rich, but the farms brought
in nothing now, and Macbone's own account at
the bank was small For his sake however. the
manager, who had often danced Aurelia on his
knee when child, would have been accommo-
dating, and even handed her over the much
coveted ready money; indeed, he had done 1t
before. 1t was a temptation-not so sor-
did as the last-but Aurelia put il aside She
knew that all this bland trading upon the cour-
teSy OF bank managers was only sowing of the
WIND w hat was she to do next? She had a
truly feminine horror of applying to her family
solicitor for money,yet that seemed the only
other royal road open. She had bounced out of
her house with an air of superiority almost de-
nance; she could not bear to go back crestfalIep
II was lunch time. She was very hungry: but
she wasn't going home to sit opposite Edward
and parry his satirical questions as to where she
had con'rived toget all the ready money from
Had she not said, Leave il to me-? Her spir-
its were rapidly going down. At one moment
she felt regularly inclined to cry, but she was a
girl OF spirit and gulped down her ANNOYANCE
Finding herself close to pastry cooks shop
she went in, sat down, and ordered herself a
cup OF coffee and bun. Her mind
seemed a complete blank. There were some
chocolate creams in box close by AureIia
never could resist chocolate creams
AMER paying for coffee and n
bun she would just have sxpence left: she
spent 1t on the box and began eating the choc-
oates. She was so miserable that she seemed
to court even that trifiing sensation of pleasure
70 distract her from her own thoughts. As She
finished her coffee her mind seemed to revive
she felt herself coloring up, and with a child
ike revuision of feeling, she thrust the half
empty box into her pocket and again went out
into oxford street. The coffee seemed TO have
ward the Circus, not knowing well where she
was going; she was not sanguine so much as
desperate. In another moment several people
came rushing up against her; they seemed all
going one way. She was almost thrown into
the road.
self from being actually knocked down began
running with the crowd. In another moment
ehe was aware OF a surging mass of people
Swervlng on 10 the pavement and with a
smash, came hanson into the very midst of
them. She had got to a raised doorstep
Inc crowd parted and fashionably dressed
young girl of about seventeen was flung mon
the pavement. On these occasions people
always cluster round the horse Oddly enonph
there Is great iudispoeition to touch the nm.