Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-10-25

| because Mr.. Eustace said was not to
| give it unless you asked after him.
every good. Johnson!'
Eyes, sir"
"You will give orders that Mr. Eustace's
name is not to be mentioned in this house
again. Any servant mentioning Mr.. Eus
| faces name viii be dismissed"
Every good, sir" and Johnson went.
| Mr.. Meeson gazed round him. He looked
at the long array of glass and silver, at
the spotless napery and costly flowers. He
looked at the walls hung with works OF
art, which, whatever else they might be,
were at least expensive; at the mirrors ana
| the soft wax lights; at the marble mantel-
pieces and the bright, warm fires (for it
was November); at the rich wall paper and
the soft, deep-hued carpet, and reflected
| that they were all his. And then he
sighed, and his coarse, heavy face sank in
and grew sad. OF what use was this last
extremity Of luxury to him? He had no
body 90 leave it to, and, to speak the truth,
| it gave him but little pleasure. Such
pleasure as he had in life was derived
| from making money, not from spending it.
| The only times when he was really happy
were when he was in his counting house,
directing the enterprises Of his vast es-
tabhshment, and adding sovereign by SOW
ereign to his enormous accommodations
That had been his one joy for forty years.
and it was still his joy.
And then he fell to thinking Of his
nephew, the only son Of his brother whom
he had once loved, before he lost himself
in publishing books and making money,
and sighed. He had been attached to the
lad in his own coarse way, and it was a
\ h,
But Eustace had def1ed him, and-what
was worse-he had told him the truth,
| which he, of all men, could not bear He
had said that his system Of trade was dis
honest, that he took more than his due,
| and it was so. He knew it, but he could
not tolerate that it should be told him,
and that his whole life should thereby be
discredited, and even his accumulated
gold furnished stamped as i'll gotten;
least of all could he bear it from his de-
pendent. He was not altogether bad
man; nobody is. He was only coarse,
vulgar tradesman, hardened and defiled
by long career of sharp dealing. At the
bottom he had his feelings like other men,
but he could not tolerate exposure or even
contradiction; therefore he had revenged
himself. And yet, as he sat there in soil
| tary glory, he realized that to revenge
does not bring happiness, and could even
find it in his heart to envy the steadfast
honesty that had defied him at the cost of
its own ruin.
Not that he meant to relent or alter his
determination. Mr.. Meeson never relent-
| ed and never changed his mind; had he
done so, he would not at that moment
have been the master of two millions of
money.
| CHAPTER III.-AUGUsTA's LITTLE SISTER.
| When Augusta left Nelson's she was in
a very sad condition of mind, to explain
! which it will be necessary to say a word
or two about that accomplished young
! lady's previous history. Her father had
been clergyman, and, like most clergy
men, not oYerburdened with the good
/ things of this world. When Mr. Smithers
! or, rather, the Rev. James Smithers-
| had died he left behind him widow and
| two children-Augusta, aged fourteen,
i and JEANNE, aged two. There had been
| two others, both boys, who had come into
the world between Augusta and JEANNE,
but they had both preceded their father
| to the land of shadows. Mrs. Smithers
had, fortunately for herself, a life interest
in o sum of seven thousand pounds, which,
| being well invested, brought her in three
hundred and fifty pounds year; and, in
order to turn this little income TO the best
| possible account and give her two girls
the best educational opportunities possible
under the circumstances, she, On her hus-
bands death, moved from the village
where he had for many years been curate,
| into the city of Birmingham. Here she
| lived in absolute retirement for some seven
/ years and then suddenly died, leaving the
| two girls, then respectively nineteen and
eight years of age, to mourn her loss, and,
| friendless as they were, to fight their way
in the hard world.
| Mrs. Smithers had been a saving woman
! and on her death it was found that, after
| paying all debts, there remained a sum of
six hundred pounds for the two girls to
| live on, and nothing else, for their mothers
| fortune died with her. Now, it viii be
obvious that the interest arising from six
| hundred pounds is not sufficient to sup
| port two young people, and therefore Au-
| gusta was forced to live upon the princi-
| pal From an early age, however, she
| (AuguSta) had shown strong literary
| tendency, and shortly after her mothers
| death she published her first book at her
| own expense. 1t was a dead failure, and
| cost her fifty-two pounds, the balance be-
tween the profit and loss account. After
a while, however, she recovered from this
| blow and wrote Terminals Vow" which
was taken up by Nelson's, and, strange
| as it may seem, proved the success of the
| wear. OF the nature of the agreement into
| which she entered with Nelson's the cad
| er is already acquainted, and he will not
! therefore be surprised to learn that under
] its cruel provisions Augusta, notwfth
| standing her name and fame, was abso
lutely prohibited from reaping the fruits
of her success. She could only publish
with Nelson's, and at the fixed pay of
seven per cent on the advertised price
| of her work. Now, something over three
years had elapsed since the death of Mrs.
| Snlithers, and it will therefore be obvious
that there was not much remaining of the
six hundred pounds which she had left
/ behind her. The two girls had indeed
! lived economically enough in a couple of
| small rooms in a back street, but their eX-
| penses had been enormously increased by
| the serious illness from a pulmonary
/ complaint of the little girl JEANNE, now
| child between twelve and thirteen years
of age. On that very morning Augusta
| had seen the doctor and been crushed into
the dust by theexpression of his conviction
that, unless her little sister was moved to
a warmer climate tor a period of at least a
year, she would not live through the win
ter. and might die at any moment.
| Take JEANNE to warmer climatei He
might as well have told Augusta to take
| her to the moon. Alasi she had not the
money, and did not know where to turn
to get it, Oh! reader, pray to Heaven that
it may never be your lot to see your best
beloved die for the want of a few hundred