Year: 1879

John Riddel was young man in whom con- fidence was justly placed by Messrs. Moon stone & Co.,, jewellers, his employers, in whose establishment, at the time we became acquain- ted with him, he occupied the post of foreman. He was not ''self made man" as yet, but he was on the road to it. For. as we all know, Providence has still the advantage of priority in this particular {: it makes it's man (such as he is) at a comparatively early date, whereas when 8 man makes himself, he seldom accom- plishes it before he is ve-and forty at the very least-when, indeed, the other cannot be con- pared with him. John never drank, except a glass of beer with his early dinner; he never smoked, nor of course took snuff he never handled anything in the shape of billiard cue unless it was his neatly and tightly rolled-up umbrella he never-I was going to add he had no weakness as regards the ladies, but this hardly dare to write, because of the ex- treme attention he paid to his very fine head of hair. Why should any man, not being a Narcissus, take such great pains with his hair unless to make an impression on the ladies?

 Yet even here l must hasten to do John Rid del justice; it would have shocked him to have supposed that he had any general views in this direction. He was not Don Juan, nor even gay Lothario if he had had serious designs, they would have been upon one lady only, and by no means induced by any mere. tricious attractions such as youth or beauty i; he would in accordance with precedent, have attached himself to his masters daughter, though she had been twenty years older than himself, or a black woman, or an alblno. Unfortunately, Mr. Moonstone had only neph- ews, whom our hero could not marry, and who would, in all probability, become partners in the concern before him. Still, he cultivat- ed that fine head of hair, narrowed it with a tortoise shell comb, drove furrow straight across 1t from his brow to the nape of his neck and top dressed It with macassar-oil and other unguents. It shone in the sun as brightly as any of Messrs. Moonstene &Co s costly wares, over which he presided.

 There were other assistants in the shop, and with them am sorry to say Mir. John Riddel was not popular-young men rarely appreci- ate in their associates so much virtue as resided in our hero, and especially if that virtue has not been its own reward, but has enabled its possessor to walk over their heads and stop there. There was hardly one among them but at some time during his servitude with Messrs. Moonstone had mislaid ring or a trinket for few hours, or had even caused some loss to the firm, not so much through careleSSness as from not being quite as wide awake as weasel.

 For the way of jewellers assistant is set with springs. It is calculated that about one per cent of the customers at such establish ments are rogues and vagabonds, people who come to spy out, not the nakedness of the land, but it's riches, and if possible to possess them selves of them by force or fraud. And these look as little like rogues as nature (and art) can enable them to do Notwithstanding all that has been written upon the deceitfulness of riohoc # io difioult fn halia hot who drives his own mail phaeton, or lady who comes in a chariot upon c springs, are bli gands in disguise. Yet the young men at Messrs. Moonstone's had been, most of them, taken in by appearances, and at least once in the lives of each their employers had paid for the experience. One of them had taken jew elry to newly married couple at fashionable hotel Ion approval" and had been so success full in his recommendations that they had ''col- lared' the whole lot, and given him such a dose of cblorOform in exchange for them that he was unable to give any clear account of his adventures for hours afterward Another had been set upon by whole gang of thieves, in such promiscuous and overwhelming fashion that he could recall nothing of what happened except that he had been ''struck with an in- strument like the ace of spades" which the newspapers expressed the hope would afford some clue to the Police; they thought It show ed, suppose, that the perpetrators of the out rage must be either gardners or gamblers; but nothing came of the suggestion. Others, again, had been exposed to the seductions of the fair sex, and in losing their hearts had sacrificed the diamonds of their employers.

 In this last regard MT. John Riddel, being adamantine, was invaluable. His youthful as we'll as handsome looks attracted these ladies of industry, who, on entering the shop, gravi- tated toward him quite naturally. A man of that age as they fattered themselves, and one so particular about his hair, must surely fall an easy victim to their Vaccinations. Thieves as they were, they were still women, and perhaps they allowed their feelings to carry them too far; if they had stopped half way, where Mir. BOltby the Cashier sat, or at the desk over which MT. Nation (the hero of the ace of spades) presided, thay would have had bet ter chance; but Boltby was bald and Nation was gray, and women never will understand that 1t is from forty to fifty that men are most impressionable with respect to female charms Your conceited young fellows think it nothing surprising that any lady should fall in love with them, but when a man comes to that more mature period which we call Cor at least l calD the prime of life, he appreciates the compliment. t

 1 do not say that MT. John Riddel had not some admirers among the fair sex who loved him for his own sake. Indeed it was whisp- cred among his detractors that, like the first Duke of Marlborough, and other great men who ought to have known better, he derived pecuniary advontage from their devotion to him; that the sums expended in macassar- oil, &c., for the adornment of his appearance, came back to him twenty-fold in substantial tokens from Duchesses and Countesses and the like. Goodness knows whether there was any truth in such stories. Perhaps it pleased his rivals to invest the drudgery that was their daily lot with thls halo of romance. For my part my tastes are sensational, and do what can to make my beliefs correspond with them but on the other hand. my strong common sense declares for moderation as regards Mr. Riddel and the ladies of rank; therefore draw the line at Duchesses. But he was certainly as fascinating as he was hardhearted When any lady customer who was unknown to him got out of her brOughan-for no one ever came in a cab to Messrs Moonstones establishment and moved up the shop in his direction, he would look at her through his half-shut eyes for they were of the dreamy order of beauty and murnlur to himself, Now, is this swindler or a bona fide party ?" and many bona fide party did he serve with much exter- nal politeness who little dreamed of the suspi-! cion which she excited within him.

 AIc tiiouSuC lI d Udu BE WHeD Lncv LOOK OH their gloves, and under such circumstances would always decline to show them those spe- cimens of rough diamonds which wet finger can carry away with it. And when they offer ed to pay for their little purchases by check, it was quite pretty to hear him explain, in his soft voice, how the system" of the firm was ready-money one, and that no exception could be made in favor of any one, however highly connected, who was not personally known to it.

 You might have thought. perhaps, that the entertainment of such suspicious, not to men, tion the 'evil communications (when they turned out to be we'll founded) to which he was necessarily exposed, would have corrupted his own integrity but this was not the case; his employers intrusted hlm quite literally with untold gold, and he was the last man to have abused their confidence. And yet, as 1 have said, he was not popular. Indeed, the story which am about to relate concerning him, and which is certainly of character to arouse sympathy and compassion, was told me by his fellow clerk, MT. Nation, (who has given me