Year: 1875

"o " u"u VI cSt"o'"""OhO VI u


it only boarding.house, that yor


mean I"


"No; no boarding.house," wa.


the reply. "My dwelling.house


come along ; if you have any more


questions to ask, you may ask


them with your feet under my ma.


hogany.'


So adjured, of cOursesI accom-


panied, and of course without any


more questions, though | confess to


having had a trihe of curiosity
whether this was one more of the


proverbial cases Of the rising clerk


marrying the masters daughter


and thus stepping into his place


We had but a. few blocks for ouI


walk, and then l found myself in a


very handsome sitting room in a


costly four-story brown stone, on Il
cross street on the lower edge of


Murray Hill, not far from Fifth


Avenue. Two minutes, and the of.
fees of a noiseless servant flooded
the room with the sOftened light
usual for summer (for l should
have said that the time was late
june and enabled me to scan the
surroundings of my old friend in
his new home.


They were both luxurious and
tasteful so much was easy to see.
That the room was Toms especial
one in occupancy, was evident from
his producing from a corner a pair
of slippers. and from the mantel u
box of magnificent Trabucos, with
the lights thereunto belonging.
We seemed to drop into a couple of
easy chairs worthy of the name,
and l took my second and longer
survey of the room through those
fragrant clouds which genial J ohm
Brougham so eloquently describes
in "Och hone and a dhudeen !"


One Of the features of the room
was pictures-probably twenty or
thirty in number. and all sizes.
Most of them were admirable in
quality, frcm modern artists but
the largest, and the one holding the
place Of honor, was by no means
good picture, artistically, though
pleasing in subject and free in
drawing. l suppose that my eyes
wandered to it in a tritle of won
der, more than once and Tom saw
the expression.


There were three girls on a
heavy stone balcony, in front of
what was evidently country
house of rich surroundings, to
judge by the balcony itself and the
rich, wooded lawn, which stretched
away in the middle distance. One
Of the girls was on her knees, with
basket Of overturned flowers be.
fore her;a second, standing, was
making sort of Crazy Kate Of
herself by attempting to wreathe
one in her hair and the third, also
standing, against the railing of the
balcony, had rose in her right
hand. 1t was only at a third or
fourth glance that J saw that the
kneeling girl held up u rose in her
left hand (the drawing in this por-
tion was very bad,) and that she
was looking off the balcony with
gaze in which apparent mirth was
softened by deep aud eager inter
est.


~ am glad that you have closely
observed that picture" said Tom,
after some moments of fumatOry ST.
lence. sit makes all the easier
what am about to tell you, Joe
for really that picture is the story
of my fate-I may almost say of
my life :"


"Indeed p was all that l could
reply.


eyes," he went on, but for what
that picture conveys, should not
be here, tonight, and everything
would be so different-Oh, so differ
ent That is why it holds the place
Of honor, here though l am quite
as we'll aware as yourself that it is,
lrtisticalIy, the worst thing in the
'OOm.
"You asked me, just as we were
eaving the club, if I had house.
You see that I have. and the
picture together shall tell you how
md why. have not only house,
)ut wife and two babies. They {
ire at Saratoga, and l am to join
them there next week. And that ,
8 why you see me temporarily a
Let me tell you, in a ,