The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1909-04-02
CHAPTER VI.

The solicitor drove away, luHins VIZ.
Indignation. "Pompous. poverty-stricken
were the epithets he applied to the squire,
In these first moments of his wrath. Even
a usurious solicitor is possessed OF prlde
of some kind, and though he may hold IL
in tolerable subsection during the early
stages of his career, like other men s.
it wakes fat and thrives wonderfully UNI
der the accumulation of wealth. haroiu
Denison had trampled it remOrselessiy IN
der foot Then the irritation subsldeo'
and the astute old head once more began
to reckon up the chances OF the game. he
played it all over again in his own mlno.
"No." he muttered: don't think L made
any mistakes! l was a fool to lose my
temper, though. Hadn't l made up my
mind, all along, that he'd take it pretty
much in that way. to start with? When
l think how many of 'em I've seen run
rusty about their family names. places
and plate! 1t was foolish-ay, very fool
ish-to be annoyed at Denison's tantrums.
Names BAH" continued the old man.
contemptuously. IF it came all the way
from the Conqueror, it's worth on stamp
ed paper is the only valid test"
Sam Pearman, when he heard the re-
suit of his fathers mission, took rather
a different view of it from his progenltOr.
As a Younger man he lacked the patience ;
and then, moreover, was there not the
blow to his self-esteem? Between twenty
and thirty we feel that acutely; from
thirty to forty, with sort OF modlhed
soreness at fifty the cOnceit has been
taken out of most of us, and we are no
longer astonished at finding that the world
rates us a little lower than our own val
uation. Electroplate may pass for gold
for a short season, in these days, but So
ciety is pretty certain to detect the ring
of false metal ere very long
Samuel the Junior had so far been
fortunate man in pursuit of his ambi-
tions. Though not so successful as he
could have wished, yet, to certain ex-
tent, he had worked his way into the
county society. There were many houses
that he was occasionally asked to, as an
odd bachelor to make up. Despite all his
father had said at the time, man with
Sam Pearman's eye to the main chance
could not conceive a man in Harold
Denison's position rejecting proposal so
very much to his own advantage. He
might recognize certain amount of diff
ficulty on the part of the lady, but men
of his age are not wont to. be difident
about their own powers of attraction on
these occasions, and Sam Pearman was
one of the last to entertain apprehensions
on that score.
'He don't know what's good for him,
and that's about the size of it ~ was that
gentleman's remark, as his sire retailed
the account of his interview with Deni-
son. I'VE shall have to exercise little
gentle pressure. I'm not going to be
choked off my game, at all events at this
stage of the proceedings. Invalids often
require coercion to make them take the
tonics necessary for their existence, and
it will be for you to make Denison under
stand that he will cease to be Denison of
Glinn, at all events, unless he is prepared
to welcome me as son-ln-law."
leave it to me, Sam, and don't be
in hurry. l made up my mind about it
the other night. l don't say all, my boy,
but a good many things 1 have made up
my mind to have come to pass in course of
time. Leave me alone to work the oracle
just now, and, depend upon it, I'll give
you due notice when it's time for you to
make a move"
The son acquiesced. If at times he
thought his father was getting a little
slow at turf tactics-a pursuit from which
he had in great measure withdrawn-he
still held a firm belief that his parent
was difficult to beat in the great game Of
life, more especially when he held a win
ming card or two in his hand.
Some two or throo wonko o1o Dood opd
then, one spring morning, Harold Deni-
son received a letter to the effect that Mr.
Pearman of Mannersley felt it incumbent
on himself to call in his money lent on
mortgage, more favorable opportunity
for investment having offered.
That this would probably be the result
Of their last interview, the squire had
foreseen. Yet, as days went by without
any such notince, he began fondly to hope
that the attorney had seen the presump-
ton he had been guilty of, and that things
would still jog quietly along in their old
way. How ephemeral that way had now
become, under almost any circumstances.
he still kept locked within his own
breast. But as he read that letter the
squire knew well that the rubicon was
passed, that his ships were burnt, and
himself defeated. He knew, too we'll. that
to raise that ten thousand anywhere else
would result in an exposure of his af-
fairs tantamount to ruin. He was quite
aware that Pearman was equally convers-
ant with the fact. He prepared himself
for the impending crash.
But there is a certain amount of notice
requisite on the calling in of a mortgage.
and this gave Harold Denison time to
refect-whether for good or evil the read
CTS of this story must determine. Had
the blow fallen at once, he would have
abandoned Glinn, grimly, and set I'D his
lonely tent in some remote watering place.
But the crafty solicitor had measured the
strength of his prey with great accuracy.
1t was not without design that the notice
OF the foreclosure of the mortgage had
been delayed. "Give it time-giye it
time" quoth that fisher of feeble human
lty. He was right; and day after day
did Harold Denison ponder over the old
hsherman's terms at first contemptuous-
~, then modify, until at last he began
to think that it was his duty to retain
Giinn at all hazards. Once arrived thus
far, the speciousness of the reasoning
N