Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1894-01-18


"Oh, there is no great hurry. By tn,
way. l understand from what you sait
Just now that he has partner"
"Yes. my boy is the junior partner
Pearson is the senior. was introduced
to him years ago, and he offered Harold
the opening. Of course we had pretty
stiff premium to pay"
Mrs Westmacott had stopped and wa:
standing very stiffiy, with her red Indian
face even grimmer than usual.
Pearson said she. Jeremiah Pear
sonY'
1.-THE same"
Then it's all off," she cried. "Yor
need not carry out that investment.
VERY well, ma'am."
They walked on together side by side,
she brooding over some thought of hel
own and he a little crossed and disap-
pointed at her caprice and the lost com
mission for Harold.
"Pn tell you what, admiral" she ex.
claimed sud ienly, IF l were you
should get your boy out of this partner
ship"
"But why. madam
Because he is tied to one of the deep.
est. slest foxes in the whole city of Lon.
DON"
Jeremiah Pearson, ma'am? Wha:
can you know of him? He bears good
name"
mo one in this world knows Jeremiah
Pearson as l know him, admiral /
warn you because have friendly feel
ing both for you and for your son. The
man is rogue, and you had best avoid
him"
But these are only words, ma'am.
Do you tell me that you know him better
than the brokers and jobbers in the city?'
MAN." cried Mrs. Westmacott, twill
you allow that know him when tel
you that my maiden name was Ada
Pearson, and that jeremiah is my only
brotherT
The admiral whistled. "WhewT cried
he. ''Now that think of it there is a
likeness"
He is man of iron, admiral-a man
without heart. / should shock you if
/ were to tell you what have endured
from my brother. My fathers wealth
was divided equally between us. His
own share he ran through in five years,
and he has tried since then by every
trick Of cunning, low minded man, by
base cajolery, by legal bubbles, by bru-
tai intimidation, to juggle me ont of my
share as well. There is no villainy of
which the man is not capable. Oh, I
know my brother Jeremiah. Iknow him,
and I am prepared for him."
"This is all new to me, ma'sm. 'Pon
my word, l hardly know what to say to
it. thank you for having spoken SO
plainly. From what you say this is a
poor sort of consort for a man to sail
with. Perhaps Harold would do well
to cut himself adrift"
"without losing day."
"Well, we shall talk II over. You
may be sure of that. But here we are
ct the station, SO will just see you into
your carriage and then home to see what
my wife says to the matter"
AS he trudged homeward. thoughtful
and perplexed, he was surprised to hear
q shout behind him and to see Harold
running down the road efIer him.
why, dad" he cried, II have irst
come from town, and the first thing l
saw was your back as you marched
away. But you are such quick walker
that had to run to catch you"
The admiral's smile Of pleasure had
broken his stern face into thousand
wrinkles. You are early today" said
he.
"Yes, 1 wanted to consult you"
Nothing wrong"
"Oh, no; only an Inconvenience"
what is it, then?
"How much have we in our private
account
Pretty fair. Some esOO. think"
"Oh, half that will be ample. 1t was
rather thoughtless of Pearson"
What, then?"
"Well, you see, dad, when he went
away upon this little holiday to Havre
he left me topay accounts and SO on. He
told me that there was enough at the
bank for all claims. I had occasion on
Tuesday to pay away two checks, one
for ESQ and the other for e120, and here
they are returned with bank notice
that we have already overdrawn to the
extent of some hundreds"
The admiral looked very grave.
whats the meaning of that, thenT' he
asked
"Oh, it can easily be set right. You see,
Pearson invests all the spare capital and
keeps as small margin as possible in
the bank. Still it was too bad of him to
allow me even to run a risk of having
check returned l have written to him
and demanded his authority to sell out
some stock, and l have written an ex-
PLANTATION to these people. In the mean
time, however, have had to issue sever
al other checks, SO had better transfer
part of our private account to meet
them"
"Quite so, my boy. All that's mine is
yours. But who do you think this Pear
son is? Heis Mrs. Westmacott's brother
Really? What a singular thing! Well,
can see likeness now that you men
ton it. They have both the same hard
type of face"
'She has been warning me against
him-says he is the rankest pirate in
London. hope that it is all right, boy,
and that we may not find ourselves in
broken water"
Harold had turned little pale as he
heard Mrs. Westmacott's opinion of his
senior partner. 1t gave shape and sub
stance to certain vague fears and suspi-
cions of his own which had been pushed
back as often as they obtruded them
selves as being too monstrous and fam
tastic for belief.
HE is well known man in the city,
dad" said he.
"Of course he is-of course he is.
That is what told her. They would
have found him out there if anything
had been amiss with him. Bless you,
there's nothing SO bitter as a family
quarrel. Still it is just as well that you
have written about this affair, for we
may as well have all fair and above
board"
But Harold's letter to his partner was
crossed by letter from his partner to
Harold. 1t lay awaiting him upon the