The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-03-30
THE EIGHT %FORTY-FIVE.
A IDYL.

Every body outside the office of Jona-
than Grcysark & Co., East India mcr-
chants, of Rood Lane City, knew Mr..
Jonathan Grcysark simply as a very we'll
TODD bachelor, of tive-and- forty-fresh-
faced, wcll-dressed, genial, and affable
az q man tolerably we'll fitted out with
the good things of this life and unham-
pered by ties and encumbrances should
be. But Mr.. Philip Penn, whose days
were passed within the Office, regarded
his wealthy and popular employer from
= somewhat different point of view.
Mr.. Penn had by his steadiness and
business knowledge in no small degree
helped Jonathan Greysark to his envi-
able position in the commercial world I;
he had served the house faithfully for
upward of twenty years yet he was still
simply a clerk, in which position, dcs-
pite frequent prayers and petitions, Mr..
areysark was apparently determined to
keephim until the time came for dispen-
sing entirely with his services. Alto
gether, poor PENIS life was by no means
q happy one, for in addition to his com.
mercial troubles, he had an e~ternally
grinning domestic skeleton, in the shape
OF q BLACKBOARD brother, who had stood
49, a. , . NOShO I'll u CudlSC VI cAlSU-
s1ve forgery, had passed many years in
: prison, and who now could only be kept
quietly in the background by the allow
ance which the unfortunate Penn made
him out of the. exceedingly moderate sal
airy he drew from the Rood Lane office,
Greysark knew this, and was also aware
that a furnished name was an almost
1nsuperable bar to his clerks advance in
+, Qnv nthar linn nf 1Sfa. ,~ ln roo,-1. xzal.
advantage of the fact by g%ettlng.a most
unfair amount of work out of Penn, and
paying him a miserably inadequate salary
for it.
Jonathan Greysark lived at Brighton,
and came up to town every morning on
the 40 express. In this famous train he
had acquired from long usage prescrip-
tive right to a particular seat in a partic-
ular compartment of q particular car
rage, and the guard suffered a consider
able reduction in his weekly largesse if
he allowed q stranger to usurp this
place.
But, the old guard having been
shuntcd elsewhere, and a strange official
who knew not Jonathan, having been sub
stltuted, it so happened that one morn
ing Greysark, his rug on his arm and his
paper i'll his hand. staggered gravely
and magisterially up to the carriage,
only to find his particular compartment
and, In fact, his very seat-occupicd.
Under ordinary circumstances he would
nave resented this unwarrantable intru-
slon,. In an unmistakablc manner. but
upon this occasion, as the occupant v as
q pretty, modestly dressed girl of eigh-
teen or thcreabouts, he could only vent
ms feelings in grunts and scowls, and
betake himself to another seat. But
when, the next morning, he found his
place similarly occupied, his position be-
came somewhat embarrassing, and only
the girls pleasant face checked audible
expression OF his discomfort. The same
thing occurred the morning after, and the
morning after that, and the young 8:45
bucks, who, of course, regarded the
affair as a capital joke, remarked that
the great man, instead Of ramping and
raging away to another carriage, not
only contentedly went into the same one.
put passed a much greater part of the
hour and a quarters Journey in looking
at the girl over the top of his newspaper
than in studying the city article. In n
fortnight's time it was observed that he
handed her out, carried her little parcels,
and saw her safely into an omnibus for
the Mansion House; and in three weeks
time it was noted that he chatted as
easily and familiarly with her as if he
had known her for years.
In short, it became very evident that
the wealthy bachelor of Rood Lane was
enamored of the young lady. When his
attentions first became marked she as
sumed the proper attitude of unpro-
tected virtue and confined her answers
to rather curt monosyllables, but when
her feminine perspicuity assured her that
her admirers behavior was inspired by
the most honorable of intentions. she un-
bent and told him that her name was
Phyllis, that she was q student at the
South Kensington School of Art, and
that she resided at Brighton with her
aunt.
'.Miss Phyllis" said Greysark one
morning, as they walked along the
London Bridge platform, las some sort
of assurance that I only entertain the
most genuine feelings of respect and
and admiration for you, / think I should
mention that my name is Greysark, tina,
] am the head Of one of the most respect.
ed houses in the city Of London, and
that, asI am quite aware that an &C
quaintance of this casual nature is apt tt
give rise to erroneous impression in the
minds of people who only Judge by
appearance, with your permission, moth.
ing will give me greater pleasure thar
to call upon your aunt at Brighton"
AT; the mention ofthe name Greysark,
the girls color decpened somewhat, and
she raised her eyes to his face for q few
seconds. Then she said: