Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1888-11-02

suddenly ma leFSeu TINS SlTaUge pDSE
ton, with every man on board that great
vessel at her beck and call. But she was
human, and therefore, of course, she en-
joyed it. 1t is something when one has
been wandering for hour after hour in the
wet and melancholy night, suddenly tc
see the fair dawn breaking and burning
overhead, and to know that the worst il
over, for now there viii be light whereby
to set our feet. 1t is something, too, to the
most Christian soul, to utterly and com
pletely triumph over one who has done all
in his power to crush and destroy you:
whose grasping greed has indirectly beer
the cause of the death Of the person you
loved best in the whole world round. And
she did triumph. AS the story Of Mr.. Nee
sons conduct to her got about, the little
society Of the ship-which was, after all,
very fair example Of all society in minia-
ture-feu away from this publishing
prince, and not even the jingling Of his
money-bags could lure it back, He the
great, the practically omnipotent, the
owner of two millions, and the hard mas,
ter of hundreds upon whose toll he bat
tened, was practically cut. Even tho
clerk, who was going out on chance Of
getting place in a New Zealand bank,
would have nothing TO say to him. And,
what is more, he felt it more even than an
ordinary individual would have done. He,
the ''Printer-devil,' as poor little JEANNE
used to call him, he to be Sighted and
fouted by pack of people whom he could
buy up three times over, and all on ac-
count of q wretched authoress-an au.
thoress, if you please! 1t made Mr.. Nee
son very vida state of affairs which was
brought to- climax when one morning
Lord Holmhurst, who had for several days
been showing growing dislike to his so
ciety, actually almost cut him dead; that
is, he did not notice his outstretChed hand,
and passed him with a slight bow.
"Never mind, my Lord-neyer mindw
muttered Mr.. MeesOn after that somewhat
pompous but amiable noblemau's retreat
ing form. "We'Il see if can't come square
with you. I'm dog who can pull string
or two in the English press, | ami Those
who have the money and have got hold
of people, so that they must write what
they tell them, amt people TO be cut by
any Colonial Governor, my Lord" And
in his anger he fairly shook his fist at the
unconscious peer.
"Scem to be little out of temper, Mr..
Mceson," said a voice at his elbow, the
owner of which was big young man with
hard but kindly features and large mus
tache. ''What has the Governor been do
ing to yOu"
Doing, Mr.. Tombey? He's been cut
ting me, that's all-me, MeesOn!-cutting
me as dead as ofal, or something like it.
| held out my hand and he looked right
over it, and marched by"
"Ahr said Mr.. Tombey, who was a
wealthy New Zealand landowner; "and
now, why do you suppose he did that?"
"Why? I'll tell you why. It's all about
that girl"
"Miss Smithers, do yOu moan?" said
Tombey the big, with a curious flash of his
deep-set eyes.
eyes, Miss Smithers. She wrote book,
and | bought the book for fifty pounds,
and stuck clause in that she should give
me the right to publish anything she wrote
for five years at priCe-a common sort Of
thing enough in one way and another,
when you are dealing with som9 idiot
who don't know any better Well as it
happened, this book sold like wildlire, and,
in time, the young lady comes to me and
wants more money, wants to get out Of the
hanging clause in the agreement, wants
everything, like n female Oliver Twist;
and when | say, No you don't loses her
temper and makes Il scene. And it turns
out that what she wanted the money for
was to take a sick sister, or cousin, or
aunt, or some one, out of England; and
when she could not do it, and the rela ion
died, then she emigrates, and goes and
tells the people on board ship that it is all
my fault
"And l suppose that that is u conclu-
sion that you do not feel drawn to, Mr..
Mceson"
mo, Tombcy, [ don't. business is bust
ness; and if l happened to have got to
Windward Of the young woman, why, so
much the better for me. She's getting her
experience, that's all; and she amt the
first, and won't be the last. But if she
goes saying much more about me, go for
her for SANDER, that's sure"
ION the legal ground that the greater
the truth, the greater the libel, 1 pre-
sumc?"
"ConfoEnd her!" went on MeesOn, with
out noticing his remark, and contracting
his heavy eyebrows, there's no end to the
trouble she has brought on me. | quar-
relied with my nephew about her, and now
she's dragging my name through the dirt
here, and I'll bet the story Will go all over
New Zealand and Australia"
Eyes" said Mr.. Tombey, II fancy you
will find it take lot of choking; and now,
Mr.. Mecson, with your permission, 1 will
say a word and try and throw a new light
upon very perpleXing matter. 1t never
seems to have occurred to You what an
out-and out black guard you are, so may
rs well put it TO you plainly. If you are
not thief, you are, at least, a very we'll
Colorcd imitation. You take n girls book
and make hundreds upon hundreds out of
it, and give her fifty. You tie her down
so rs to provide for successful swindling
of the same sort during future years, and
then, when she comes to beg a few pounds
of you you show her the door. And now
you wonder, Mr.. Meeson, that respectable
people will have nothing to do with you'll
Wei, now, tell you, my opinion is that
the only society to which you would be
really suited is that of a cowhide Good
morning." and the large young man
walked of, his very muStachios curling
with wrath and contempt. Thus, for a
second time, did the great Mr.. Meeson
hear the truth from the lips of babes and
stockings, and the worst of it was that he
could not disinherit Number Two as he
had Number One.
Now this viii strike the reader as being
very strong advocacy on the part Of Mr.
TOmbCy. who, being called in to console
and bless, cursed with such extraordinary
vigor. 1t may even strike the discerning
rcader-and all readers, or at least nearly
all readers, are of course discerning; far
too much So indeed-that there must have
been reason for it, and the discerning
reader will be right. AuguSta's gray eyes
had been too much for Mr.. Tombey, as
they had been too much for Eustace Nee
son before him. His passion had sprung
up and ripened in that peculiarly rapid
and vigorous fashion that passions do on
board ship. \ passenger steamer is Gu
pid's own hotbed, and in this way differs
from n sailing ship. On tho sailing ship,
indeed, the preliminary stages are the
same. The seed roots as strongly, and
grows, and flowers with equal Sigor; but
here comes the melancholy part-it withers
and decays with equal rapidity. The voy-
age is too long. Too much is mutually re-
vealed. The matrimonial iron cannot be
struck while it is hot, and long before the
weary ninety days are over it is once moro
cold and black, or at the best glows with
but 4 feeble heat. But on the steamship
there is no time for this, rs any traveller
knows. Myself, the historiau-have.
with my own eyes, seen q couple meet Sor
the first time at Madeira, get married at
the Cape, and so on as man and wife in
the same vessel to Natal. And, therefore,