Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-08-24

before>'
Because NJ. Ecstace said | was not to
give it unless YOU .sked after him"
VERY good. Johnson!'
Yes. 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 will he dismissed"
Very 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 and
the soft wax lights; ut the marble mantei
pieces and the bright, warm fires (for il
was N~oveinber); at the rich wall paper and
the soft. ~deep-hied carpet, and reflected
that they were all his. And then he
sighed, aud his coarse, heavy face sank in
and grew sad. or what use was this last
extremity of luxury to him? He had no.
body To leave ii to, and, to speak the truth,
II gave him but little pleasure. Such
pleasure IS he had in life was derived
from making money, not from spending it.
The only times when he was really happy
We're when he was in his counting house,
directing the enterprises of his vast es-
Enlistment, and adding sovereign by soy
ereign 10 his enormous accommodations.
That had been his one JOY for forty years,
and il 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 10 the
LAD III his own coarse way. aud it was a
blow 10 him to cut himself loose from him.
But Eustace had delied him, and-what
was worse-he had told him the truth.
which he, of all men, could not bear. lie
had said that his system of trade was dis
honest, that he took more than his due.
aud il was 50. lie 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 tarnished-stamped as i'll gotten;
least of all could he bear il from his de-
pendent. He was not altogether IA bad
man: nobody is. lie was only a coarse,
vulgar tradesman, hardened and defiied
by a long career of sharp dealing. At the
bottom he had his feelings like other men.
DOt he could not tolerate exposure or even
contradiction; therefore he had revenged
himself. And yet, as he sat there in soli-
tary glory, he realized that to revenge
does not bring happiness, and could even
find ii 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 a clergyman, and, like most clergy
men, not overburdcned with the good
things of this world. When Mr.. Smithers
or, rather, the Rev. James Smithers-
had died he left behind hin n widow and
two children--Augusta, aged fourteen,
and JEANNE, aged two. There had cen
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, Il life interest
in Il sum of seven thousand pounds, which,
being we'll invested, brought her in three
hundred and fifty pounds II year; aud, in
I order 70 turn this little income 10 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 cur;re,
into the city Of Birmingham. Here She
lived in absolute retirement for soine seven
years and then suddenly died, leaving the
t,ya oiplg than ,.SpastiNnlV ninatapp onl
eight years of age, To mourn her loss, and,
fricndlesS as they were, TO fight their way
IN the hard world.
Mrs. Smithcrs had been a saving woman,
and on her death it was found that, after
| paving all debts, there remained a sum Of
six hundred pounds for the two girls to
live on. and nothing else, fortheir mothers
fortune died with her. Now, ii Will 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 a strong literary
tendency, and shortly after her mothers
death She published her first book ut her
own expense. 1t was a dead failure. and
cost her tifty-two pounds, the balance be-
tween the profit and loss account. After
! a while. however, she recovered from this
blow and wrote "Jemima's Vow which
was taken up by Nelson's, and, strange
rs it may seem, proved the success Of the
year. OF the nature of the agreement into
| which she entered with Nelson's the read
er is already acquainted, and he will not
therefore be surprised to learn that under
its cruel provisions Augusta, notwith.
| standing her name and fame, was abso-
lutely prohibited from reaping the fruits
of her success. She could only publish
with Nelson's, and ut 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.
Smithers, and it will therefore be obvious
that there was not much remaining Of the
six hlndred 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 a
child between twelve and thirteen years
| of npa ~, that xprr ,,n.nin.r rtrA