, 1888-09-14

the floor. the front hall room being ten
anted by sFrank Peters, a young man,
who was confidential clerk to Scharx &
Maneeters, n Wall street firm. The gen
eral had but one man servant. but he en-
tertained a good many visitors in a quiet
way, dining them, however, q. his club.
He took quite a fancy to young Peters
he lie business with Scharx & Maneeters
at times, not in the way of speculation,
but investment. 1t 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
realized" and left. He spoke exceed
ingly good English. without a particle of
foreign accent, and had acquired some
A-mericanisms of speech. lie was very
agreeable and popular. lie was gallant,
too, in spite of a few gray hairs in his
beard and hair. and used to 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 in 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 Mas 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 a third of the rental the
house brought and gave no trouble.
Bit by bit the general slid into a 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 10, it is true, and
the general was 42, as she had heard him
say. But he hadn't a wrinkle and looked
some years younger. He was a most ex-
cellent man, even tempered and exceed
ingly rich. Why couldn't she engineer a
match between these two? For Miss Bys-
she never thought of herself. She was
BE-, 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 a 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 year. A young
civil engineer was marking the boundary
line of q property on which she was stay
ing for a visit in the country, and between
her and the good looking young gentle
mar an acquaintance sprang up. They
were, or thought they were, very much in
love with each ther. Her father. in spite
of his folly about his will, was a sensible
man. He neither stormed nor even
groahed, but said he would think it over.
He sent for young Brenner-John NJ.
Bremen was the young surveyors name
and had a friendly talk 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 he, young man, l hear nothing but
good of you. Your character. your habits
and your family are irreproachable. You
mnGf hnua Tnnnnu 41o-oh - ----
wife, and l think you have independence
enough to disdain living off a
father-in-law Go to some place
where you can rise. In five years time,
If you have bettered your condition, re-
turn If you and Cornelia are of thu
same mind then 1 shall make no opposi-
ton But this is on the condition that
there shall be in the meanwhile no CORE
spondence. 1 shall then know whether
q serious attachment. 1t will test you
also" After some demur Brenner agreed,
and he and Cornelia parted with signs
and tears after exchanging fragments of
a broken ring. But five years passed and
ten and fifteen, and Brenner 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 q locket. 1t had grown to be a faded
memory. But her heart was wrapped up
in the future of Adela. It Was on her
account she rented the rooms. All she
made over their expenses went to the saw
ings bank to furnish a dot for her sister.
And if she could engineer a match with
Gen. Martinez, so rich, SO irreproachable,
SO noble in thought and word, what a
great thing it would bel She thought
him the best of men. She almost wor-
shipped him. AS a husband for herself
she could see that that was impossible; but
as a brother-in-law, ahl
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 evenings and staying oftener at
home, passing a deal of time in the par
Tors, where he admired Adela's embroid-
cry and chaffed her about it and other
matters. He was not so well at ease with
Miss Bysshe, and had an awkward habit
of blushing like a schoolgirl when she
addressed him. Frank Peters, as a par
ticular friend of the general, grew into
the of coming in also. But Cornelia
didn't mind him. He was a nice young
fellow, but a mere boy-not much over
%. He was down town until 4, and then
his dinner consumed time, and he never
got in till dark. Cornelia was glad to see
him come in and spend an evening at
home. 1t was better than rambling
roun town The general, who was a
great book worm, read always for four
hours in the morning in the library, and
found a perpetual delight in the departed
MI. Bysshe's books.
Without a particle of warning the
skeleton popped from his closet and threw
his bony arms around the neck of Miss
Bysshe.
Savings banks are excellent institutions
so long as they save the deposits and pay
interest promptly to the depositors. But
when the officers use the savings to in
crease their private fortunes by specula-
ton in stocks savings banks become do