Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-17

Their honest and somewhat dirty faces shining
with good will; the factory girls came about
him with dancing leyes and "Ehi but ah'm rect
fain to see thee back aginr' The little trades
people in Mergatroyd-the chemist, the baker,
the grocer, ran out of their shops when he
passed. to give word Of congratulation. The
brother manufacturers-those who had been
rivals even-caled to see him and express their
pleasure. The wives also dropped in-they
could not await the chance of seeing him, they
must come to his house and both see the man
returned from the dead. and learn from his
own lips why he had made them all believe he
had perished. To all he gave the same account
he had been ILL., and when he recovered found
that he was already adjudged dead, and he re-
solved not to undeceive his relatives till he had
| seen how his nephew ''framed"-that is the
word he used-an expressive Yorkshire word
chat means the fitting and shaping of man
Tor place new to him.
Near Mergatroyd was a spring of water called
California" 1t had its origin thus. The owner
| Oh a held fancied there was coal beneath the
surface, and he hired borers, who perforated
the several strata that underlay his turf till
they were stopped by the uprush of water, that
| played like a fountain for many months, and
remained as permanent spring. The owner
had made great boast of the fortune he was GO
ing to make out of the coal mine, and when he
came to nothing but water the people nick
named the spring California. But it was no
ordinary spring; the water was SO charged with
| gas that when lighted match was held to it
| tiames flashed and flickered about it. The
water was so soft as to be in great request for
teamaking "Eh," said an old woman, "Cali-
| forney water be seah (so) good, tina wants nowt
but an owd kettle and twater to max tn best
O. tea."
1t seemed to jeremiah as if he had tapped
California, a fountain of sweet. flashing
abounding affection. He was moved, hattered
by it. and greatly surprised, for it was wholly
unanticipated. He was ignorant what he had
done. to occasion it.
But, indeed, great deal of genuine regard
and attachment grows imperceptibly about
man who has lived for long time in place
without making any demands on his neighbors,
has been just, reliable and blameless in life.
All this latent regard now manifested itself.
Philip was still in the house of his uncle
week after the temperance of the latter.
jeremiah had not been able to go through the
accounts and examine the condition of the bus
iness as thoroughly as he had intended. He
had been distracted by visitors and his mind
unsettled by absence and by astonishment and
provoked by his return. He had said nothing
more to Philip about leaving; Philip. however,
had been in the little town inqulring for lodg-
ings, but could find nothing that would suit. In
that small place it was not usual for furnished
lodgings to be let There was indeed set of
rooms over the bakers, but they were
overrun by cOckroaches; at the chemists
were two vacant rooms, but no &C
commodations for the nurse and baby. Then
he had to face another difficulty: the nurse was
young and good looking, and there was no say
ing what scandal might be aroused by his mi
grating to lodgings with this nurse, if his wife
did not return to him. at the draper's there
we're rooms but they had a north aspect and
looked cold and damp. There was a cottage,
unfurnished, he might take, but that adjoined
a shoddy MILL and the atmosphere was clouded
with devils dust" injurious to the lungs.
Moreover, how could he purchase furniture
when he had no money! His condition was un-
certain, his prospects underlined and he shrank
from speaking to his uncle about them till
jeremiah had made his thorough investigation
of the state of the business and had matured
his opinion on Philips management of it. Per-
haps also jeremiah had not as yet decided on
what was to be done with regard to his nephew
and it would be injudicious to press him to
decision. In the meantime the uncertainty was
distressing to Philip.
He read his wife's letters with mingled feel
ings. He could decide nothing with respect to
her till his own future was made clear to him.
He still harbored his resentment against the
imposition, and, though he now no longer
thought that Salome had been privy to it, he
could not surmount the repugnance evoked by
the fact of being related to that unprincipled
rogue, Schofield. He was alive to the danger
of such an alliance. Schofeld was not the man