Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-02-07
THE EIGHT FoRTY-FIvE.
Ifoaam Trn,h.l

tcsyoVVy VHtetuS eho v"'S~ -
than Greysark & Co., East India iner-
chants, Of Rood lane, city, knew Mr..
Jonathan 6reyssrk simply as very
well-to-do bachelor Of iive-and-forty--
ffssn-facsd, wsll-dresscd, genial, and
afIsble Is . man tolerably well fitted
out with the good things Of this life
and unhampered by ties and encum-
ORANGES should DO. But Mr.. Philip
Penn, whose days were passed within
the Office, regarded his wealthy ard
popular employer from a somewhat diff.
ferent point Of view. Mr.. Penn had
by his steadiness and business know
ledge in no small degree helped
Jonathan Greysark to his enyia-
bic position in the commercial
world. He had served the house faith
fully for upward Of twenty years, yet
he was still simply clerk, in which
position, despite frequent prayers and
petitions, Mr.. Greysark was apparently
determined to keep him until the time
came for dispensing entirely with his
services. Altogether, poor Penn's life
was by no means happy one, for, in
addition to his commercial troubles, he
had an eternally grinning domestic
skeleton in the shape Of blsckguard
brother, who had stood in the felon's
dock on q charge Of extensive forgery,
had passed many years in prison, and
who now could only be kept quietly
in the background by the al
lowance which the unfortunate
Penn made him out Of the
exceedingly moderate salary he drew
from the Rood-lane Office. Greysark
knew this, and was also aware that q
furnished name was an almost insu-
persble bar to his clerks advance in
any other line of life; so he meanly
took advantage Of the fact by getting q
most unfair amount Of work out OF
Tenn, and paying him q miserably In
adequate salary for it.
Jonathan Greysark lived at Brighton,
and came up to town every morning by
the s:45 express. In this famous train
he had acquired from long usage pre-
scriptive right to particular seat IN
particular compartment of particular
carriage, and the guard suffered con-
siderable reduction in his weekly
lsrgesse il he allowed q stranger to
usurp his place.
But the old guard having been shunt-
cd elsew here, and strange official who
knew not Jonathan having been substi-
tuted, it SO happened that one morning
Greysark, his rug on his arm and his
paper in his hand, staggered grayely
and magisterially up to the carriage only
to find his particular compartment
and in fact his very seat--occupied.
Under ordinary circumstances ne would
have resented this unwarrantable intru-
sion in an unmistakale manner but
upon this occasion, as the occupant was
a pretty, modestly dressed girl Of eigh-
teen or thereabouts, he could only vent
his feelings in grunts and scowls and
betake himself to another seat. But
when the next morning he found
his place similarly occupied his
position became somewhat embarass-
ing. and only the girls pleasant face
checked audible expression OF his dis
content. The same thing occurred the
morning after and the morning after
that, and the young S:45 bucks, who,
of course, regarded the affair as capt.
tai Joke, remarked that the great man
instead of ramping and raging away to
another carriage, not only contentedly
went into the same one, but 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 fort
nights time it was observed that he
handed her out, carried her little par
cells 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 familiarity 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
assumed 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 in
spired by the most honorable OF inten-
tions, she unbent and told him that her
name was Phyllis, that she was stu
dent 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 Lon
don bridge platform, "as some sort OF
assurance that | only entertain the
most genuine feelings Of respect and
and admiration for you, think that l
should mention that my name is Grey
sark; that / am the head Of one Of the
most respected houses in the city of
London, and that as ! am quite aware
that an acquaintance Of this casual ma
ture is apt to give rise to erroneous i'm
pressions in the minds Of people who
only Judge by appearances, with your
permission, nothing would give me
greater pleasure than to call upon your
aunt at Brighton"
At the mention Of the name Greysark
the girls color deepened somewhat,
and she raised her eyes to his face for
. few seconds. Then she said:
81 am sure that my aunt would be
delighted to make your acquaintance,
MIR. Greysark."
Accordingly, on the following Sum-
day Mr. Greysark, instead of perform
ing his usual weekly duty to society by
an afternoon lounge on the green, be-
took himself to Regency Square and
was ushered into the presence of a
smiling, gray-haired lady, who might
have stepped from an ancestral picture
frame, and who received him with the
stately urbanity Of courtier OF the
old school. Being man of business,
Jonathan Greysark lost no time In
beating about the bush, but plunged at
once in mediasres, described the origin oil
acquaintance with Phyllis. expressed
himself in such happy language, blew
his own trumpet in such q pleasant, un'
daclaral his 6avnttop