Year: 1866

Ingot Beardmore, dry-saltef ahd common
Of the city Of h0hdoR, to Dor
othea Elizabeth, widowed sister-in-law
who had applied TO him for pecuniary
suecor about three months after the death
of his younger brother Isaac, her hus-
band. There was harshhess and stubborn
determination enough IN his reply, but
there was no niggard cruelty. Mrs Isaac
wanted money, it is true, but only in the
sense in which we all want it. She was
only poor in comparison with the wealth
of this relative by marriage. Her in.
come was large enough for any ordinary
Mr.. Ingot said Legitimate
but not sufficient for sending her boy "a
Eton, and finishing him off atthe univer.
sites, as it was the maternal wish to do
Mr.. Ingot hated such genteel intentions
Christ's Hospital had been fashionable
enough school for him, and he had '6n-
ished off as a clerk at forty pounds year
in that very respectable house of which
he was now the senior partner. With
the results of that education as exempli.
fed in himself, he was perfectly satisfied
and if his nephews only turned out hall
as well, their mother, he thought, might
think herself uncommonly lucky. Her
family had given themselves themselves
airs upon the occasion of her marrying
Isaac-'allying herself with commerce
some of them colled it-and Ingot had
never forgiven them. He gloried in hi:
own profession, although government had
never seen fit to ennoble any member oi
it, and perhaps all the more on that &C
coaat for he was one of those radical,
who are not 'snobs' at heart, but rather
aristocrats. He honestly believed tha
noblemen aud gentlemen were the lower
orders, and those who toiled and strove
the upper crust Of the human pie. When
he was told that the former classes otter
toiled in their owa way as much as the
others, he made a gesture of contempt
and blew like an exasperated whale. i
was vulgar sort of retort, of course, but
80 emlnently expressive, that his oppo
ncnt rarely pursued the subject,


He rather liked his sistcr-in-law, il
spite of her good birth, and would doubt
less largely have assisted her had sh,
consented to bring up her children &C
cording to his views bat since she pre-
ferred to take her own way, he Withdrew
himself more and more from her society
until they saw nothing at all of each 9th
er He had no Intention of leaving hi
money away from his brothers children


he had much too strong 4 sense of dut,
for that and as for marriage, that wa
an idea that never entered into his hare
old head. He had had not made foo
of himself by falling in love in middl,
age as Isaac had done, (in youth, he hat
not time for such follies, and it was no
likely that at sixty FIVE no shonld commi
any such imprudence. So his nephew
and nieces felt confident of being provi
ded for in the future. In the present
however, as time wore on, and the educa
tion of both boys and girls grew more ex
pensive, Mrs. Isaac's income becam
greatly Strengthened. Her own famil


very much applauded the expensive wa


in which she was bringing up her chi


dren, and especially her independence O
spirit with relation to her tradesma


brother-in-law, but they never assiste


her with a penny. The young gentle
man at Cambridge was therefore KEEP
upon very short allowance; and the youn


ladies, whose beauty was something re
markable, affected white muslin, an


wore no meretricious jewelry. Their pi


money was very limited, poor things, an


they made their own clothes at home b
the help of sewing machine. If Uncl
Ingot could have seen them thus dill
gently employed, his heart would perhaI
have softened toward them but, as


have said they now never got that chanc'
Julia, the elder, had been but six year
old when he had last called at their higl
ly-rented but diminutive habitation j


Mayfair, and now she was eighteen, an


had never seen him since. Although sh


had of course grown out of the old man


recollection, she rememt cred his fgur


head, as she wickedly called his rigid fei


lures, uncommcnly we'll /; and, indeed


nobody who had ever seen it was likely I
forget it. His countenance was not 8


much human as ligneohs . and his pr'


file, Nephew Jack had actually seen upo
a nobby tree in the lime walk Of Clal


Hall, at Cambiidge-much more like tina
any Silhouette ever cut out of black pape


They had laughed at the old gentlema


in early days, and snapped their fngeI
at his churlishness, but it had become I


laughing matter now.


4 That remark of Uncle Ingot's, "if ev'


you or yours get FIVE pounds out of m


madame, before die, promise you 20
shall have FIVE thousand ; and l am ma
} of my word," had become very serio,


sentence, condemning all the family to,
not poverty, at least very urgent want
What it meant of course was, that he W;


resolutely determined to give them not
ing. In vain the young ladies worke


for Uncle Ingot's slippers and book.mar


ers for his birthday, and sent to him the
, best wishes at Christmas in Rimmel
highly scented envelopes; in vain Jac
, sent him pound of the most excelle


snuff that Bacon,s emporium could fu
: nish, at the beginning of every term


He always wrote back civil letter
=. thanks, in clear and clerkly letter, b
e there was never any enclosure. Wh'
t Mrs. Isaac asked him to dinner, he d


clined in caustic manner-avowing tn
3 he did not feel himself comfortable at Il
d aristocratic tables of the West End-al


sent her pine apple for the desert of b


own growing. He had really no ill-fet


ing toward his relatives, although he ke


himself SO estranged from them; but