The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-08-16
rs. OF HI. Great wealth there could lie


antcd by Frank Peters. n young man.
who was confidential clerk to Scharx &
Maneeters. n Wall street firm The gen
eral had but one man servant bnt he en-
tertained a rood many visitors in quiet
way. dining them however at his club
He took quite fancy TO young Peters
no did business with Scharx & Maneeters
at times. not in the way of speculation,
but investment. il was known that the
general had acquired his fortune in Peru
and had come upon the winning side
there in one Of the revolutions, but his
side was out of power at last. and he had
"rcalizcd" and left. He spoke exceed
ingly good English. without particle of
foreign accent, and had acquired some
Americanisms Of speech. He was very
agreeable and popular. He was gallant,
too, i'm spite of few gray hairs In his
beard and hair and used 20 come into the
parlor, which was for the common use of
dodgers and their visitors. and chat for an
hour or so with Miss Bysshe or Adela, if
he found them there, and tell stories of
adventures i'm Peru always entertaining,
and though told in the third person these
were evidently his own. He was particu.
larly polite to Miss Adela though not
quite so much at ease with Miss Bysshe
The elder sister thought him the most
delightful, as well as the most polished,
gentleman she had ever met. And then
he paid nearly n third of the rental the
house brought and gave no trouble.
Bit by bit the general slid into kind Of
friend of the family position. Miss
Bysshe had more or less trouble at times,
and she grew into the habit of consulting
him Suddenly a notion entered into her
head Adela was only Is, it is true, and
the general was AZ, rs she had heard him
soy But he hadn't a wrinkle and looked
some years younger. He was most ex-
celent man, even tempered and exceed
ingly rich. Why couldn't she engineer
match between these two? For Miss Bys-
she never thought of herself She was
%, and though her glass told her that she
was still beautiful and looking younger
than her age, yet she felt that her marry
ing days were over and she could end her
life as respectable old maiden lady. She
had her bit of romance tOo-mOst women
have. She was very Young at the time,
Just out Of her fifteenth yea A young
civil engineer was marking the boundary
line Of Il property on which she was stay
ing for visit in the country, and between
her and the good looking young gentle
man an acquaintance sprang up. They
were, or thought they Were, very much in
love with each other Her father, in spite
Of his folly about his will, was a sensible
man. He neither stormed nor even
groaned, but said he would think it over.
lie sent for young Brenner-John NJ
Bremen was tho young surveyors name
and had friendly tall. with him. He
told him there were two objections to the
match. one a disparity of means and the
other the youth of his daughter. Now.
said ne, young man, | hear nothing but
good of You Your character. your habits
and your family are iTeproachable. You
must have money enough to support u
wife, and think you have independence
enough to disdain living off II
father law Go to some place
where you can rise. In five years time,
if YOU have bettered your condition, re
turn. If YOU aud Cornelia are Of the
same mind then shall make no opposi-
ton But this is on the condition that
there shall be in the meanwhile no CORE
spondence. ] shall then know whether
my daughter is under girlish fancy or has
a serious attachment 1t will test you
also" After some demur Bremen agreed,
and he and Cornela parted with signs
and tears after exchanging fragments Of
a broken ring. But five years passed and
ten and fifteen, and Bremen never re
turned and was never heard of, except
that he had gone to Mexico and had left
there. Possibly he was dead. He and
the romance faded from Cornelia's life
though she always carried the bit Of ring
in a lOcket 1t had grown to be faded
memory. But her heart was wrapped up
in the future of Adela 1t was on her
account she rented the rooms All she
made over their expenses went to the saw
ngs bank to furnish a dot for her sister.
And if she could engineer "a match with
Gen Martinez, so rich, 50 irreproachable,
50 noble in thought and word, what
great thing it would b.! She thought
him the best OF men. She almost wOr
slipped him As husband for herself
she could see thai that was impossible; but
as a brotheIin-law, all
The general undoubtedly admired Adela
very much While the rest of the dodgers
were kept at arms length and treated
with freezing politeness, the general was
allowed to slide into an easy familiarity.
He got in the habit Of going less to the
club of evening" and staying oftener at
home passing deal OF time in the par
lors. where he admired Adela's embroid.
cry and chaffcd her about il and other
matters He was not so we'll at ease. with
Miss Bysshe, and had an awkward habit
of blushing like schoolgirl when she
addressed him. Frank Peters, as u par
ticular friend of the general, grew into
the habit Of coming in also. But Cornelia
didn't mind him. He was a nice young
fellow, but mere boy-not much over
2j He was down town until 4, and then
his dinner consumed time, and he never
got in till dark. CoInelia was glad to see
him come in and spend an evening at
home 1t was better than rambling
around town The general, who was a
great book worm, read always for four
hours in the morning in the library, and
found perpetual delight in the departed
Mr. Bysshe's books
Without a particle OF warning the
skeleton popped from his closet and threw
his bony arms around the neck of Miss