The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1894-03-10

| III IaSC came Wnen L IOunu that the Iynl-
pet name, highly as we rated it, was of
little value on the back of bill. Com
mercial people-hard, practical men
looked at it askance, and requested the
additional security of some wretched Jones
or Smith, who could not trace his pedigree
beyond his grandfather. In short, | was
becoming financially embarrassed, and, what
was worse, did not know how to extricate
myself | had no occupation, no profes-
sion. My father had designed me for the
church, for he was the patron Of Il very
snug living on his Irish property; but,
alas while | was still at school, the man
Gladstone came along with his axe and
Topped the Irish church away like the
diseased limb of Hawarden oak. Thus
prevented from serving the church, would
have been very willing to serve the state;
bh these are evil days for Lympets-the
system of competitive examination proved
a barrier | was unable to surmount, and
! England lost a valuable servant. As trade
was out of the question and the bar offered
no opening, | decided to adopt the career
for which my talents best fitted me, and to
do nothing at ALL And did it in excel
lent style, too, as Lympet should; the
honor of our name suffered nothing at my
hands, can assure you. My allowance
from my father, which was small-for my
sisters had to be provided for, and Cum
berground my elder brother was wickedly
extravagant-and small private fortune
which | had inherited from my mother, |
employed mainly as pocket-money; almost
everything else obtained on credit. And
so, throwing an occasional sop to Cerberus
in the shape of payment "On account"
to the more pressing of my creditors, and
resorting to an elaborate system of paper
when | was in want of ready money, l con-
trived to live in honorable ease for a good
many years.
But time brings all things to perfection
and bills to maturity. Then they have to
be renewed, and renewed bill is re-
doubled difficulty. Living on paper is ike
skating on ice. So long as it is strong
enough to bear you, you can flourish about,
cutting figures with the best; but if you
overweight it, it suddenly gives way beneath
your feet, and you vanish out of sight.
Early last year certain unmistakable groans
aud cracks warned me that my footing was
dangerous. Bill discounters who had al
ways smiled on me began to frown, every
post brought letters requesting payment of
little accounts, and tradesmen besieged my
doors or lay in wait for me in the street.
Altogether the outlook was very black, or,
at best, dun-colored. Many night sat
in my rooms gloomily smoking my pipe
and reviewing the situation, but | could
only see one way out of my difficulties.
My debts were so large that could never
hope to pay them unaided, and where was
that aid to come from2 Not from my
father, who had no money to spare. The
Irish property of Kilproctor, from which
the chief title of our house is derived, is
situated in particularly lawless corner of
the country, the inhabitants of which al
ways had a rooted objection to paying any
body, and latterly under the Land League
they have evaded their legal obligations in
the most shameless manner, so that most
of them owe arrears of rent, which they
can never hOpe-and never intend-to pay.
In fact, the Kilproetor estates might as
well be in Spain as in Ireland, for all the
money my father gets out of them. No,
it was useless to appeal to him, and equally
so to apply to Cumberground, who was in
debt himself. Obviously there was only
one course TO pursue; l should have to
marry money.
But it was necessary first to catch my
heiress. Luckily knew where to lay my
hand on two who, hattered myself were
disposed to look kindly on me- l had been
acquainted with them for about a year,
and | had already paid them a certain
amount of attention, for the idea of
wealthy marriage had always been more or
less in my mind, though I had wished to
defer the evil dag as long as possible One
was Miss Merrick, the other was Miss
Slugg. Both were young and both were
wealthy, without encumbrances in the shape
of fathers. 1t is true that their fortunes
had been amassed in trade, but, after all,
that was a triHing drawback. The Lynn
pet pride permitted me to spend the money
which had been grubbed up by another; it |
merely forbade me to spoil my fingers in
grubbing it up for myself. The deceased
Merrick and the deceased Slugg had grub
bed to some purpose in their time, and |
their daughters were undoubted catches.
Which should strive to land? Miss Mer-
rick was much the prettier of the two, but
she was also the elder, and had more
knowledge of the world, more suitors, and
a better idea of her own value. 1 could
see that she would require skilful handling,
and perhaps more time than l had at my
disposal. Miss Slugg, on the other hand,
was very romantic, rather shy, and not par
ticularly clever. She was not yet of age,
and she had seen little of society of any
sort. Her father dying soon after she left
school, she had not entered the world till
she was twenty; and her aunt, with whom
she lived, had no very grand acquaintance
nj w ..onl xr,oc lilyalrv - sko1l - |