Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1894-07-18

tall< An, GnOuBnG sol udNe uouiSeu
that men and women love their opposite in
color, no invariable rule indeed, but good
for guess"
'sYou are very clever, senor."
''No, not clever, but trained, as you will
be when you have been year in my
hands, though perchance you do not intend
to stop so long in Seville Perhaps you
came here with ON object and wish to pass
the time proftsbly till 1t is fulfilled. A
good guess again, think. Well, so be 1t.
Twill risk that-object and attainment are
often far apart. Do you take my oferS
II incline to do SO.
tThen you will take it. NowI have
something more to say before we come to
terms. do not want you to play the part
Of an apothecary's drudge. You will fig
ure before the world as my nephew, come
from abroad to learn my trade. You will
help me in it indeed, but that is not ali
your duty. Your part will be to mix in
the life Of Seville and to watch those
whom I bid you watch, to drop word
here and hint there, and in a hundred
ways that I shall show you to draw grist
to my mill-and to your own. You must
be brilliant and witty or sad and learned,
as 7 wish; you must make the most OF
your person and your talents, for these &c
far with my customers To the hidalgo
you must talk Of arms, to the lady of love,
but you must never commit yourself be-
yond redemption. And, above all, young
mainland here his manner changed, and
his face grew stern and almost fierce
s'you must never violate my confidence OF
the confidence Of my clients. On this point
will be quite open with you, and pray
you for your own sake to believe what
say, however much you may mistrust the
rest If you break faith with me, you die;
you die, not by my hand, but you die.
That is my price; take 1t or leave 1t.
Should you leave 1t and go hence and tell
what you have heard this day, even then
misfortune may overtake you suddenly.
Do you understand"
II understand For my own sake I will
respect your confidence.
young sir, like you better than ever.
Had you said that you would respect it be-
cause 1t was o confidence, should have
mistrusted you, for doubtless you feel that
secrets communicated so readily have nc
claim to be held sacred. Nor have they,
but when their violation involves the sad
and accidental end Of the violator it Is
another matter Well, now, do you &C
cept?"
II accept"
"Good. Your baggage, suppose, is at
the inn. will send portcrs to discharge
your score and bring it here. No need for
you to go, nephew. Let us stop and drink
another glass Of wine Tho sooner VIC
grow intimate the better, nephew"
Itwas thus that first became acquaint-
ed with Senor Andres de Fonseca, my
benefactor, the strangest man have ever
known. Doubtless any person reading this
history would think that I, the narrator,
was sowing plentiful crop of troubles for
myself in having to deal with him, setting
him down rs rogue of tho deepest, such
as sometimes for their own wicked pur-
poses decoy young men to crime and ruin.
But 1t was not so, and this is the strangest
part of the strange story. All that Andres
de Fonseca told me was true to the very
letter.
He was q gentleman of great talent who
had been rendered little mad by misfor-
tunes In his early life. AS physician l
have never met his master, If indeed he
has one in these times, and as man versed
in the world and more especially In the
world Of women have known none to
compare with him. He had travelled far
and seen much, and he forgot nothing.
In part he was quack, but his quackery
always had meaning in it. He fleeced
the foolish indeed and even juggled with
astronomy, making money out of their su-
perstition, but on the other hand he did
many q good act without reward. He
would make rich lady pay 10 gold pesos
for the dyeing Of her hair, but often he
would nurse some poor girl through her
trouble and ask no chargc-yes, and find
her honest employment after it. He who
knew all tho secrets of Seville never made
money out of them by threat of exposure,
as he said because it would not pay to do
so, but really because, though he affected
to be selfish knave, at bottom his heart
was honest.
For my own part, found life with him
both easy and happy, so far as mine could
be quite happy. Soon learned my role
and played it we'll 1t was given out that
Twas the nephew Of the rich old physician
Fonseca, whom he was training to take his
place, and this, together with my own ap-
pearance and manners, insured me well
come in the best houses Of Seville. Here
took that share of our business which our
master could not take, for now he never
mixed among tho fashion of the city.
Money I was supplied with In abundance,
~ hn hnS
soon it became known that I looked to
business as well as to pleasure.
Often and often during some gay ball OF
carnival O lady would glide up to me and
ask beneath her breath if Don Andres de
Fonsoca would consent to see her private
1y on matter Of some Importance, and
would fix an hour then and there. Had 1t
not been for me, such patients would have
been lost to US, since, for the most part,
their timidity had kept them away.
In the same fashion when the festival
was ended, and prepared to wend home
ward, now and again gallant would slip
his arm in mine and ask my masters help
In somc affair of love or honor or even OF
the purse. Then would lead him straight
to the old Moorish house where Don An
dres sat WI ting in his velvet robe like
some spider IN his web, for the most OF
our business vas dono ut night, and
straightway the matter would be attended
to, to my masters profit and the satisfac-
tion Of all. BY degrees it became known
that though was SO young, yet had dis
cretion, and that nothing which went in
at my ears came out of my lips; that
neither brawled nor drank nor gamblcd
to any length, and that though I was
friendly with many fair ladies, there were
none who were entitled to know my Sc
crcts; also it became known that had
some skill in my art of healing, and 1t
was said among the ladies of Seville that
there lived no man In that city so deft at
clearing the skin Of blemishes or chang
ing the color of the hair rs old Fonseca's
nephew, and as any one may know this
reputation alone was worth fortune.
Thus it came about that was more and
more consulted on my own account. In
short things went SO well with us that in
the first six months of my practice I add
ed by one-third to the receipts Of my mas
ters practice, large as they had been be'
fore, besides tightening his labors not q
little