Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-01-07

very soon asked what chances there
were in his favor? Would his gentle
blood stand for anything?"
/ Not a farthing's worth with old
Broadbent, He came To Manchester
without crown, and considers the
mayor of Manchester quite as great
person as a royal duke
And his daughter will have a great
fortune2"
Il don't think she is his daughter;
seems TO me her mother was Broad
bent's sister-but daughter or niece, it
is all one, she will have everything.
Not much chance there, Tom, unless
you have money with your birth"
But for some reason best known to
himself and his aunt, Tom thought diff
ferently. Mrs Peale, indeed, laughed
at her husbands doubts, and thought
"Nellie Broadbent would choose for
herself" Doubtless Mrs Peale knew
that she had good reasons for her con-
fident opinions. Anyway, Tom began
now to seriously improve the business
advantages his uncle had SO generously
opened to him; and no sooner had he
set his heart upon making money than
everything set with him in the same
direction.
He got a letter from latham, of
Whitehaven, Offering to give him four
thousand pounds for his cottages; and
before he could reply, Dykes, who had
never noticed h:-a since they parted,
wrote and begged him on no account
to sell just yet. The railway mania
was just then beginning, and Josiah
readily OWNED the cause of these let
tiers.
'Some new company is needing your
land. Tom. I'd do what Dykes says,
for he is a shrewd scoundrel; and
though l don't see his drift, / think
here you may safely follow mis- lead. "
So Tom refused Tatham's offer and
very soon forgot it, for the frenzy, with
Hudson as its leader, swept over Eng
land like an epidemic. Very few had
strength to resist it. still fewer had
wisdom to guide it for their own adj
vantage. Old Broadbent made thou
sands and hundreds of thousands, and
then lost every shilling. Josiah Peale
stubbornly refused to touch bond, but
his influence and the fate of Nellie's
father hardly saved Tom. Some days
he was almost ill-tempered with every
one who said a prudent word to him.
One morning he found among his let
tiers one from Tath am, Offering, in the
name of the Whitehaven & Lancaster
Railway Company, twenty thousand
pounds for his cottages-the land on
x hich they stood having become abso-
lutely necessary for a depot. Tom
asked thirty thousand pounds, and got
it. Strangely enough, no sooner was
the transaction completed than Dykes
wrote, Offering to sell Sweetheart back
again for thirty thousand pounds.
THE old rascal has got the railway
fever; it will be your Nemesis, Tom.
VIII you accept hi( Ter? Don't you
think you could do with the thir-
ty thousand pounds?f
Tom hesitated, and his uncle watched
him keenly. But it was only for mo-
ment. His eyes fell upon the ring, and
he said:
1T may be foolish sentiment to
you, uncle, but to me it is the redemp-
ton of my word and honor. | shall go
and buy Sweetheart back tomorrow"
Good, lad! You will be none the
worse merchant for being gentleman;
and they keep money best who keep
truth and honor first. But why not go
to-day?"
II must see Mr.. Broadbent about
Nellie; they are in trouble, and Nellie
viii seel every hours delay a wrong :"
you will get nothing there now,
lad"
''All want is Nellie. A gentleman
values truth and honor and love above
money, uncle"
Josiah laughed heartily
you have me there, Tom. Nellie is
good girl, and welcome to thee
Mr.. Broadbent's losses had inclined
him to listen respectfully to Toms
offer
1T is wonderful" he replied, chow
often we lift the broken threads in
life's warp. Nellie is not my daughter;
she is my niece; but no daughter could
be dearer; and she was born at Sweet
heart. Now you ask her back there
it is strange enough"
'Nellie born at Sweetheart"
Eyes. My sister married the steward.
1t was very unhappy match; but We'll
let the past alone. She left him when
her daughter was five years old and
| came to me With all her faults she
was my twin sister, and / loved her"
Tom was almost staggered. He
knew that Dykes wife had left him,
and he had heard that Dykes, had
daughter But it was the one
subject the steward allowed no one to
speak about, and Tom never dreamed
that Eleanor Broadbent could be that
daughter. 1t cost him few minutes
fierce struggle to accept the circum-
stances, but he did it; and, before he
left Nellie that night, had taught him
self to believe that the fathers debt
was cancelled in the love and lowell
ness of the daughter.
He went to Sweetheart the next day,
and found both house and gardens in
such beautiful keeping that he re-
| joiced over and over in the prospect of
being its master again. Dykes offered
| him his hand as he dismounted at the