The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1904-07-01

word OF Kindness. Of respect. Now,
hen, he has come 10 the end he told
me 10 conae 10 yoa and heer his word
He told me TO say to you that tais Is
the last time he viii imDortune. the
last time that he will implore. Oh,
I lady Catharine, Once before | car
/ ried 10 you a message from John Law
from John Law. not in distress then
J more than he is now, even in this hour
1 Of his success"
Lady Catharine paled as she sank
back into her seat Her white hand
! caught at the lace at her throat Her
/ eyes grew dark in their emotion.
Eyes. madam" went on VIII Law
tears shining in his own eyes. twas
I, an unfaithful messenger. who. by
an error, wrought ruin for my brother
and for yourself, even as | did for my
self Madam, hear me! | would be
better messenger to-day"
The old wrinkle OF perplexity gath
cred between the brows of the woman
before him. Her face was clouded,
the changeful eyes now deep covered
by their lids.
Lacking the precise word for that
crucial moment, Will Law broke fur
Their on into material details. ITO
be explicit. as | have sail," resumed
he, everything seems to center about
my brother, the director-general of
finance He took the old notes of the
government, worth not half their face,
and in a week made them treble their
face value. The king owes him over
one hundred million livres to-day. My
brother has taken over the farming
of the royal taxes. And now he forms
a little Company of the Indies; and to
this he adds the charter of the Senegal
Company. Not content, he adds the
entire trade of the Indies, of China
and the South Seas. He has been
given the privilege of the royal farm
ing of tobacco. for which he pays the
sing the little trife of two hundred
million livres. and assures to the king
certain interest moneys, which, | need
not say, the king will actually obtain.
In addition to these things, kv has
lately been given the mint of france.
The whole coinage of the realm has
been made over to this Company of
the Indies My brother pays the king
ifty million liyres for this privilege, |
and this he will do within fifteen |
months. ALI France is indeed in the |
hands of my brother. Now, call John |
Law an adventurer, a gambler, if you |
will, and if you can; but at least ad- |
NIT that he has given life and hope to |
the poor of France, that he has given |
back to the king people which was
despoiled and ruined by the former
king. He has trebled the trade of |
France, he has saved her honor, and
opened to her the avenues of a new |
world Are these things nothing?
They he a. Been done by my |
brother, this man whom you believe
of faith and constancy. Good
God! 1t surely seems that he has at
least been constant to himself"
ooh, | hear talk of it all. hear
that share in the new company prom
ses dividends of two hundred livres
hear talk of shares and SUBSIDIARIES,
called mothers and daughters and
and know not what
1t seems as though half the coin were
divided into confines, and as though
each centime had been planted by
rour brother and had grown to be
worth a thousand pounds. l admit
somewhat of knowledge of these
True, Lady Catharine. Can there
lot be one miracle more?"
Lady Catharine Knollys bent her
ace forward upon her hands, unhap-
,iness in every gesture.
Sir" said she, lit grieves my heart
0 say it, yet this answer you must
axe to your brother, John Law That
miracle hath not yet been wrought
which can give us back the past
gain"
"This." said Will Law, sadly sis this
ii the message may take?"
sit is all" 4
Though it is the last?"