Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-05-27

L ~. 1856
sne Eaaa II was her m.perna. dnry % point out
to him thaf-whatever Sophia might say-hs
was injuring her prospects n he kept up suy
understanding with her. HEnrnrxmeut. Of
course" the little woman said, As not 20 bs
thought Of But even an arrangement--a
promise that each VIII secretly whit for
danger to Sophias prospectsn
ANot," added Mrs Worldly Wisewoman.
sthat these promises are sper kept. Facts are
too much even for lovers l have seen ffty
Of these Understandings made In perfect good
faith, and from motives that were quite
pretty, but none ever came TO anything.
Still, object 10 arrangements"
@Your daughter Is as free as II she never
saw me, Percival said. Il have made her
promise that she viii consider that there q
not shred to bind her 10 me. She Is TO feel
that she may engage herself and marry, and
never think that there Is any intimarion to
be sent TO me, except through the news
paper"
@And may / ask-dont think me rude, Mr..
Brent, am simply doing my duty-if you
are as free on your sidei II you marry,
shall she hear of It through the newspaper,
toof'
She looked at him sharply, almost humor.
ously, as she put this penetrating question.
o, we must pay tribute to our little
mother who had tact that in wider fields of
action might have smoothed the feelings of
ruff1ed empires.
@Yes, am quite as free as she, y he an.
swered. "We promised each other that we
should feel So"
1t was quite true. They had promised ex
actly In these terms, only the four lips that
exchanged the treaty were immediately after
ward engaged together sealing quite another
sort Of bond Was this what Shakespeare
meant by aplain and holy innocence n won
deri And yet possibly Mrs Barbara Temple
guessed the true state Of the case, but she was
satisfied. There being no engagement, she
felt sure that time, fckleness, and her great
ally, this present world, would do all she
wanted.
"Iregret whathas happened, she said grace
fully, "and regret it not alone on your ac-
count, but on my own. / should have been
pleased with the connection. hope you will
prosper and be happy, for am sure you de-
serve it.
Egerton Doolittle, having, after careful in
tellectual filtration, so to speak, got the facts
Of the Brents' case fairly deposited in his
mind, expressed great commiseration for the
two men, as he called them. He told Car
that 1--WE ought all to give our minds to the
thing" and see what can be done. And after
long period of cogitation he informed his
wife that he had hit on plan which would
restore the fortunes Of the Brents, and-of
this he made a great point-without their
undertaking anything that could not be done
"with clean hands"
"A gentleman under no circumstances should
soil his hands, Egerton said; "and the great
merit of what propose Is that it can be done
with clean hands"
Car at first thought that this implied that
the pursuit Egerton had in his mind was one
morally defenst'" or not felonious; but it
appeared that h. ,.erred only to aristocratic
notions and traditions.
"My plan is this, Egerton said, after three
quarters Of an hour of preamble which had
nearly fdgeted his wife into ft II hear
there is new joint stock opera company
going to be started Let them take shares In
that 1t will be gentlemanly, musical kind
Of thing, and the great point is it can be done
with clean hands"
Caroline, not being able to see the practical
value Of this suggestion, Egerton resolved to
open his scheme to his great brother-in-law
Goldmore That elephantine millionaire wa3
forced, for courtesy's sake, to listen whiz
Doolittle, in a speech of extraordinary length
and maddening circumlocution, brought ont
his preface; but, vexed as he was, he could
not restrain his laughter when the young
man wound up with the recommendation
that Brent senior and junior should take
shares in the Forthcoming Italian Opera
Joint Stock company.
@My great point is, Goldmore," said Eyer
ton, "that it is gentlemanly musical sort Of
thing, and one that can be carried on
with clean hands. think a gentleman
should never soil his hands, Goldmore, don't
your
1.-THE difficulty is," replied the great
man, overlooking this question, "where are
the poor men to get money to buy their
shares!"
"At whatr Egerton asked.
"Money to buy their shares" repeated
Goldmore "Shares are not given away; you
have to pay for them in hard cash. Now in
the present case the difficulty is that there is
no cash at all"
"Then suppose you don't approve Of my
schemeP answered Egerton, with some irri-
tation. aVery well One can only suggest.
withdraw the proposition. Still, repeat,
Goldmore, it is not every day of the week
you can find gentlemanly musical under
taking that can be carried out with clean
hands"
So he took his leave. But his visit had
some result, after all; for that afternoon
Archibald Goldmore called upon young
Brent, and asked for a little private conver-
sation with him. Goldmore was very kind,
inquired what his young friend was going to
do, nodded his head approvingly over the
details Of the Australian scheme, and marked
the young fellow out as a man that would
rise.
"Let me say one thing to you, Mr.. Brent"
he said, as he rose to 60 II am in most re-
speets self-made man. know the difficult
ties which even industrious and clever young
fellows have to face who start without CAPT
tai. Now, from what my wife tells me, you
have gained the affections of my sister-in-law
and may add that from what have seen Of
you am not surprised at it As member
Of the family, take an interest in all that
concerns them. Now, Brent, if few hun
dreds will help to start you can lend you
the sum, and shall require no security but
your word. You shall. pay me"-this he
added pleasantly you are half as rich
as am"
Brent colored very red with gratitude and
pleasure; but for all that, his reply was not
what the great man expected.
u don't know how to thank you" he said;
"it Is SO kind an offer. But have already