Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-07-18
CHAPTER x.
MR.. NUGENT GIVES WAY


The next few months passed without
materially altering the condition of af-
fairs, though as far as Jack was con-
cerned he found the situation far more
bearable than he imagined would be the
case, when Nugent, with such brutal
frankness forbid him the house Grace,
in fact, had risen to the occasion. She
absolutely refused to give her father the
assurance he demanded, that she would
not meet Jack. 'tOf course, she said ,
you can prevent him from coming to see
me here, but shall see him, where and
when / can, outside the house We are
in the Nineteenth century now, Dad 4,
dear, and hard hearted fathers are moth
ing short of anachronisms, and so she
spent more of her time than eyer at Mrs
Vandeveer's, and here she and Jack dis
cussed their somewhat predetermined
future, for one concession Grace did
make to parental authority. 81 won It
marry you, Jack, until Dad gives his
consent-no sir, you needn It go on
in that ridiculous fashion, be-
cause 7 have made up my mind, and
won't. But l we made up my mind to
something else, too, ana that is, I
won t marry anyone else, if Dad persists
in not giving his consent, so you ought
to be satisfied. No, Jack, | won t give
you another one.' Though what the
"one'' might be no man, save Jack
alone, knoweth. The lovers met other
where than at Aunt James for Grace
saw no reason why, because she was in
love with Jack, she should not enjoy
her first season, and so she went through
the usual round of pleasure of a New
York damsel-the morning gallops in the
ha of Oh
balls, the theaters, the merry expedi-
tions to Tuxedo or Hollywood, the pre-
fences at seriousness in the shape of
afternoon lectures given in crowded
drawing rooms by the latest fashionable
English author, the ''circles of one
complexion or another-she enjoyed
them all, though none the less, perhaps,
that wherever it was possible Mr.. Jack
was at her side, as devoted as though
the caurse of their love had met with no
obstacle
With Mr.. Nugent matters had not
gone so smoothly. He had found that
what he inwardly termed the one weak
act of his life, namely, his submission to
Strange s first demands. had borne bitter
fruit. He might have known, only
somehow men never do seem to know
when they are bent on making fools of
themselves, that knave such as Lemuel
would not rest content with his first vic
tory, but would ever be craving some
new surrender on the part of his victim
and SO it proved. Strange himself, in
toxicated with his success, threw his
former cautiousness to the winds and
rushed with an almost savage ardor into
the widest sort of speculation. He
dreampt of corners III every sort of COM
modify and bought rashly here, there
and everywhere as a preliminary step,
then lacked the courage to advance still
further, and SO simply threw his money
away. He lent willing ear to those
promoters who are fast assuming a
definite position in the New York bust
ness world, aud whose mission seems to
be to bring the lamb and the shearer
into communion with incidental profit to
the SAID promoters themselves, he
even dared TO measure swords with that
little gray man, whose name has be-
come a synonym for craftiness as
for wealth, and as many a cleverer
man before him had done, he bitterly
regretted his presumption and with
each fresh failure came fresh demand
upon his partner Nugent for funds a
demand which was perforce complied
with. Under the nervous strain Nugent
became Visibly aged and worn. From