The Merchant of 
 Mount Vernon 
 
GIFT OF 
 
 I b 
 
 DE WITT & SWELLING 
 
THE MERCHANT OF 
 MOUNT VERNON 
 
 By 
 
 John Leonard Smith 
 
 Has Angeles 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 
 1907 
 
Copyright, 1907, by John Leonard Smith 
 
ftefar* 
 
 The main object of this book is to reunite a mother and 
 daughter, if the mother is still living. 
 
 The mother left a home of luxury in England to share her 
 lot with a poor Englishman. The marriage was bitterly 
 opposed by the parents of the lady, who cast her off, and 
 together the pair came to Toronto, Canada, and a short time 
 later a baby girl was born. 
 
 The young husband went on the road as a commercial trav- 
 eler, and was killed in a railway wreck. The mother, reared 
 in the lap of luxury, was unable to care for herself and babe, 
 and left her at the home of a wealthy lady, who had given her 
 employment on several occasions. 
 
 She never returned for the babe, and her fate is unknown. 
 
 Full information concerning names, dates, watch and locket 
 may be obtained by applying to the author, 
 
 JOHN LEONARD SMITH. 
 
 Los Angeles, California. 
 
 260324 
 
THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 
 <M far War 
 
 James Vernon was the leading merchant and president of 
 the Savings Bank of Mt. Vernon, Michigan. At the time the 
 principal events of this tale began to take place it was the 
 chief lumber center of the lower peninsula, and had a popula- 
 tion of about six thousand and five hundred souls. The sup- 
 plies of all the lumber camps in the central part of the State 
 were purchased there, and it bore the reputation of being the 
 most important lumber and commercial city of its size in the 
 lower peninsula. 
 
 Mr. Vernon was a shrewd, far-seeing man, who went there 
 when the place was a forest, and by dint of hard work and 
 perseverance had changed the place from a wilderness of trees 
 to a bustling little city, with noisy mill wheels and screaming 
 steam whistles. 
 
 The city is situated on the banks of the Chippewa River, 
 about seventy-five miles west of Saginaw Bay. 
 
 The river at this point forms over a mile of rapids, and 
 Mr. Vernon's practical eye saw the excellent opportunities to 
 use the water power for manufacturing purposes in the future, 
 and, with this end in view, purchased six hundred and eighty 
 acres of land bordering on the river front, which afterward 
 became the site of Mt. Vernon. 
 
 It is here quite appropriate to give the reader a short his- 
 tory of James Vernon's early life. Born in Culpepper, Vir- 
 ginia, in 1843, he was a descendant of one of the oldest and 
 proudest families of that grand old State noted for its beauti- 
 ful women and chivalrous men. 
 
 9 
 
10 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON". 
 
 His father used to point with pride to the records of his 
 illustrious ancestors and their deeds of heroism in the Revo- 
 lutionary War under the leadership of that glorious man, 
 General Washington. But he was destined to have the counsel 
 of that noble Christian father but a short time. His birth 
 was the cause of his mother's death, and his father followed 
 her when James was but a child, scarcely twelve years of 
 age. 
 
 Upon the death of his father, James was left under the 
 guardianship of his uncle, Thomas Mansfield, who was his 
 mother's younger brother. 
 
 The uncle proved false to his trust; the fine old plantation 
 which had been the home of his ancestors since the Declara- 
 tion of Independence, was heavily mortgaged ; the funds in the 
 bank dwindled down to a mere pittance, and the best of the 
 stock was disposed of in various ways while James was attend- 
 ing a northern college. 
 
 It was here that James first began to learn the ways of the 
 world, and many things which had transpired in the past 
 had seemed all right and proper at the time, but now assumed 
 an entirely different aspect, and a vague suspicion of wrong- 
 doing entered his mind for the first time. 
 
 Old Colonel Green, whose plantation adjoined that of the 
 Vernons, had been his father's closest friend, and upon the 
 death of the latter he filled the place of father toward the 
 orphan boy as near as he could, and it would have been much 
 better had he been appointed James' guardian instead of his 
 uncle Thomas. 
 
 It was to this kind friend that James now turned for coun- 
 sel and assistance, and accordingly wrote him a long letter, 
 telling him of his suspicions. 
 
 The Colonel was a fiery, hot-tempered old fellow, very pro- 
 nounced in his likes and dislikes, and always spoke his mind 
 wherever he happened to be, utterly regardless of whom he 
 might offend, and as a result he had several times got into 
 trouble in his younger days. But he was a famous athlete, 
 
OFF FOR THE WAR. 11 
 
 an expert swordsman and a dead shot ; consequently the other 
 man in each case had got the worst of the argument. 
 
 He had long had his doubts of the good intentions of Mr. 
 Mansfield toward the orphan boy, and, with the characteristic 
 bluntness of his nature, had accused him of bad faith. 
 
 This, as a matter of course, caused a breach in their friend- 
 ship, and they had never spoken to each other since. 
 
 On receiving the young collegian's letter the peppery old 
 Colonel went straight over to see Mr. Mansfield, but, on 
 reaching the home of that gentleman, a darkey informed him 
 that the master was away on business, and would not be back 
 for several months. Bottling up his wrath, he fairly tore back 
 home, vowing that he would have an explanation from the 
 rascally uncle the moment he set foot in the neighborhood, 
 and some pretty lively times were promised sleepy old Cul- 
 pepper when Mr. Mansfield returned. 
 
 When it became noised around the neighborhood that 
 trouble was brewing between the Colonel and Mr. Mansfield, 
 it was freely hinted by the wiseacres that Mr. Mansfield was 
 afraid and cleared out. 
 
 The affection of the Colonel for James was well known, and 
 it was the general impression of everyone that the latter would 
 some day marry Colonel Green's beautiful granddaughter, 
 Jessie Hamilton. 
 
 The two had been sweethearts from childhood, and it was 
 the dearest wish of Colonel Green's heart that they should be 
 united in marriage. 
 
 The Colonel was never known to yield a particle to anyone 
 when they crossed his will, and when his only daughter mar- 
 ried Joseph Hamilton against his most express wishes, he 
 never forgave her or saw her face in life again. 
 
 The young couple went north to live, and both were killed 
 in a railway wreck in Boston while returning home from a 
 musical entertainment. 
 
 They had been married two years when the accident 
 occurred, and they left a little blue-eyed baby girl behind. 
 
12 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 The stubborn old Colonel, upon hearing of the fatal accident, 
 hastened to Boston at once, gave the couple a splendid burial, 
 and took the orphan girl home. 
 
 All the pent-up affection of the old man's heart was lav- 
 ished on the child of the daughter who had dared to disobey 
 him. Nothing was too good for her. He named her Jessie, 
 and she grew up as beautiful as a dream both in mind and in 
 body. The best tutors of the day were obtained for her educa- 
 tion, the Colonel refusing to send her to an institution of 
 learning because he would not be parted from her. 
 
 He forbade his meek little wife ever mentioning their 
 daughter's name in his presence, and whether or not he was 
 sorry because he had treated her so harshly was a secret 
 known only to himself and his Maker. 
 
 The old man's affection was returned by the child, and she 1 
 was the only one who could do anything with him when he 
 was angry, which, by the way, was generally rather often. 
 
 She never crossed his wish in any way, and when he would 
 have an outburst of anger, she would throw her soft, white 
 arms about his neck and whisper words in his ear that were 
 as oil upon the troubled waters of the sea. 
 
 When James and Jessie announced their engagement it was 
 the happiest moment of Colonel Green's life. The old southern 
 mansion was thrown open for a grand ball, and all the neigh- 
 borhood was invited. Before the ball was over, the Colonel 
 was gloriously intoxicated, and his meek little wife was obliged 
 to put him to bed. 
 
 James left for college a week after the ball, with the sweet 
 remembrance of his sweetheart's kisses on his lips and her 
 vows of undying love ringing in his ears. 
 
 It was the second year of his college career when the terrible- 
 news of the secession of the Southern States was flashed 
 throughout the world. 
 
 James' stay in the North and his learning at college served 
 to give him an insight into the future, and he saw the terri- 
 ble results should the seceding States come out victorious. 
 
OFF FOR THE WAR. 13 
 
 There was a long, hard struggle in his breast, and he was 
 torn by conflicting emotions. The love for his native State, 
 his grand old southern home, his sweetheart and the friends 
 of his youth appealed to him on one side, and on the other side, 
 what he considered duty. 
 
 He knew the hot-headed old Colonel would never forgive 
 him should he take up arms in behalf of the North, for imme- 
 diately on learning of the forthcoming struggle, he wrote the 
 young collegian, bidding him come home at once and take up 
 arms in defense of the South. 
 
 It was with a heavy heart that James turned homeward, for 
 he had made up his mind to don the uniform of the blue, 
 cost him what it may. 
 
 That the interview with the Colonel would be a stormy one 
 he knew full well, but what would the little girl, whom he 
 had not seen for the past year, say? Would she receive him 
 with open arms when he told her he was about to don the uni- 
 form of the blue and fight against his native State, the friends 
 of his childhood, but, worst of all, against her grandfather, 
 the stubborn old man who never gave in to any one, and when 
 Colonel Green should learn of his determination to fight for 
 the North, might he not forbid him to ever see or speak to 
 Jessie again? 
 
 Upon arriving at Culpepper he made his way to the only 
 hotel the place boasted of, and changed his travel-stained gar- 
 ments for others more suitable for the climate. 
 
 The Colonel's home lay between his home and Culpepper, 
 and, not wishing Colonel Green to see him until after he had 
 held an interview with Jessie, he waited until after dark 
 before starting for home. 
 
 He just reached the familiar driveway in front of his grand 
 old-fashioned southern home, when he chanced to look down 
 the road and saw a horse and carriage rapidly approaching. 
 
 A peal of silvery laughter that sent the blood tingling 
 through his veins told him who at least one of the occupants 
 of the carriage was long before he was able to distinguish 
 
14 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 a mere outline of their forms. Stepping out to the roadside, 
 he waited, hat in hand, until they were nearly abreast of him, 
 and then he hailed them with a hearty " good evening, ladies 
 and gentlemen." 
 
 A low, glad cry was the answer of Jessie, while the occu- 
 pants of the buggy, who proved to be the Fredericks boys and 
 their sister, greeted him with genuine affection. 
 
 Jessie had been their guest for the past week, and they were 
 driving her home when they chanced to meet James in the 
 road. 
 
 A few words of explanation served to make each acquainted 
 with the facts of their meeting, and, after a few minutes' con- 
 versation relating chiefly to James' absence in the North and 
 the terrible news of the impending war, they drove away. 
 
 The Fredericks boys had been loud in their denunciation of 
 the president and the northern people in general, so much 
 so that neither noticed the silence of James. 
 
 Jessie, who knev every trait of his straightforward charac- 
 ter, guessed the reason at once, and it was with a feeling of 
 relief that she saw her friends depart for home. 
 
 She had alighted from the buggy as soon as it came to a 
 standstill, saying she would walk the remaining short distance 
 home with James. 
 
 Side by side they stood, watching the carriage disappearing 
 in the distance, and when the last outline faded from sight 
 in the dusk he strained her to his breast, saying, " Jessie, I 
 have something of the gravest importance to say to you 
 to-night; something that may part our ways in life forever." 
 For answer she threw her white arms about his neck, crying, 
 " Nothing can ever part us nothing." 
 
 " Not even if I were to tell you that I am to become what 
 the people down here will call a traitor, aye, what even your 
 grandfather will term me ? " 
 
 " You could never be a traitor in my eyes," she said. " Your 
 noble, generous nature could never stoop to that. What you 
 
OFF FOR THE WAR. 15 
 
 are about to tell me I have already guessed, even before I 
 alighted from the buggy this evening." 
 
 "You did? " he said, wonder ingly. " How? " 
 
 " By the expression on your face as well as by your actions/' 
 she said ; but as an afterthought she added, " they did not 
 notice anything denoting your thoughts to be otherwise than 
 their own." 
 
 " But how did you notice it ? " he persisted. 
 
 " 0, I know you better than you know yourself," she said. 
 Then, in a graver voice, she added, " I know that you have 
 decided to fight for the North because you believe it is your 
 duty to do so." 
 
 " And you will not hate me for so doing ? " he cried, eagerly. 
 " You will not believe as the rest are bound to believe, that I 
 am a traitor to my native State and my principles ? " 
 
 " Never," she cried, looking lovingly at her strong, hand- 
 some young lover, who hung on her words as if life and death 
 depended on them. 
 
 " I would still believe in you even if the whole world turned 
 against you," she said, earnestly. 
 
 "Thank God for that," he cried, fervently, straining her 
 to his breast again. " I feel that I could indeed face the whole 
 world and bid it defiance now that I know your confidence 
 in me is so unshaken," and he added sadly, " God knows I will 
 need your confidence and support." 
 
 " Put your faith and trust in Him who rules all things," 
 she said, solemnly, "for all things work together for His 
 good, and I can see the finger of the Almighty pointing to 
 some great good that has been done when the black clouds of 
 war have been dispelled and the white wings of the dove of 
 peace shall have once more settled down over our beloved 
 country." 
 
 " Would that you were that dove, endowed with the power 
 to settle down and. dispel the dark gloom hanging over us 
 which will rend and sap the vitality of the Union to the 
 utmost." 
 
16 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VEENON. 
 
 " God has decreed otherwise, and we must bow to His will/' 
 she answered. 
 
 " But what are your sentiments in regard to this impend- 
 ing disaster, sweetheart ? " he asked, anxiously. 
 
 " As a daughter of the South, I can but remain loyal. All 
 my sentiments and love are in favor of this sunny land, which 
 has been my home longer than memory can travel backward/' 
 she said. 
 
 " And you can still love and trust me, in spite of the fact 
 that in a few days I will probably be fighting against the 
 South, which is even more my home than your own, for you 
 were born in the North, while I was born and reared in the 
 home which even now stands within a stone's throw of us ? " 
 he asked, doubtfully. 
 
 " I love and respect you more for the manly stand you have 
 taken in the face of so many difficulties than if you were to 
 fight for the South, even though I love it well enough to lay 
 down my very life should duty call me to do so/' she answered, 
 earnestly. 
 
 " I, too, would lay down my life most cheerfully, could I 
 but see a way to stop the North and South from becoming 
 embroiled in this fearful struggle. I love the South with my 
 whole heart, but I love the Union still more. My teachings in 
 the northern colleges have taught me many things which here- 
 tofore I never dreamed of, and the voice of duty calls me to 
 take up arms and fight for the preservation of the Union," he 
 said. 
 
 " I fully understand your sentiments, James, and I shall 
 not try to persuade you to waver from the path you think is 
 right/' she replied. 
 
 (( You are an angel, Jessie/' he cried, rapturously. " Though 
 we may be foes, we shall still be friends." 
 
 "Yes, and lovers, too," she said, nestling closer to his 
 breast. 
 
 " Was a man or lover ever placed in a more trying or strange 
 position than I am?" he asked, gazing sorrowfully into the 
 
OFF FOR THE WAR. 17 
 
 beautiful upturned face of the maiden whom he loved better 
 than life itself. 
 
 " Let your love for me be your shield and guide for right, 
 and justice will some day reward you as you deserve. 
 
 " 'Tis always darkest just before dawn, and the dark clouds 
 about to burst over our unprotected heads will soon spend 
 themselves from their own fury, and then will come sunshine, 
 and we shall look back upon these dark days, which shall have 
 become but a memory, and say, * 'Twas all for the best/ and 
 out of the ashes of the past has risen a golden future, strewn 
 with the roses of success, which will never fade nor grow dim/' 
 
 " You are a wise little prophet, and I hope all will be well 
 with us yet," said James, fondly. "But come, sweetheart; 
 the hour grows late, and I must see you safely under the roof 
 of your grandfather, and if we tarry longer the servants will 
 be in bed. To-morrow I will call and see your grandfather 
 and tell him the position I feel in duty bound to assume." 
 
 " He will be dreadfully angry with you, James," she said, 
 "and I know he will forbid you ever seeing or speaking to 
 me again. But I will meet you in the woods down by the 
 spring back of the house at 3 o'clock to-morrow afternoon, 
 and we can lay our plans for the future." 
 
 Jessie's home was soon reached, and, after taking an affec- 
 tionate good-bye of her, he wended his way slowly and thought- 
 fully homeward. 
 
 That they were not pleasant thoughts the gentle reader must 
 accept as a matter of course, but there was one gleam of sun- 
 shine through the dark rift of clouds Jessie's assurance of 
 her trust and confidence, which buoyed up his spirits and 
 gave him strength to follow up the path of his convictions. 
 
 When he reached home, he found all quiet and the servants 
 in bed; but his faithful old dog Eover came out scampering 
 and barking to see him, which aroused old Uncle Joe and 
 Aunt Lizzie, the two faithful black servants who had been in 
 the service of the Vernons all their lives, and their parents 
 before them, having been slaves of James' forefathers. 
 
18 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 Uncle Joe met him at the door, exclaiming, " My goodness, 
 Marse James ! we suah didn't expect to see you home at dis 
 time. Here you, Lizzie," he called out to his spouse, " get up 
 dis berry minute. De young marse has done come home 
 again." 
 
 There was no need to call Aunt Lizzie, however, for she 
 knew the footfall of her young master as does the mother that 
 of her own child. She had been his nurse in childhood, and, 
 although black, no more loving heart ever beat in the bosom 
 of woman than in the breast of this faithful, loving old colored 
 woman. 
 
 She watched him grow to almost young manhood with a 
 pride that was almost idolatry. 
 
 Uncle Joe and Aunt Lizzie were the only servants left on 
 the plantation out of over twenty that had been kept by James 7 
 father. The rest had all been sold by his Uncle Thomas. 
 
 Uncle Joe's and Aunt Lizzie's married daughter and her 
 husband had been among the number. 
 
 They were taken to Mississippi by a planter to toil their 
 lives away under a hot tropical sun, with no hopes of the 
 future, and when they should become too old for further ser- 
 vice be turned out as a worthless horse which has outlived its 
 usefulness. 
 
 The parting of Uncle Joe and Aunt Lizzie from their 
 daughter had been a most bitter one, although belonging to a 
 race forever debarred from the inner circles of society by the 
 laws of nature, the parting was none the less hard, not know- 
 ing whether they would ever be able to see or communicate 
 with each other again in life. 
 
 What must have been the feelings of those poor, helpless 
 black creatures, sold into bondage to first one master and 
 then another ! 
 
 It is true that they had a good home and were happy and 
 contented as slaves on the Vernon plantation, but this very 
 fact would make it so much the harder when they fell into 
 
OFF FOR THE WAR. 19 
 
 the hands of masters less merciful than James' forefathers 
 had been. 
 
 But I am wandering from my subject, and, with the readers 
 kind permission, we shall leave our hero to repose until morn- 
 ing, when we again find him wending his way back over the 
 same road traversed the night before. 
 
 On reaching Colonel Green's home, he was at once ushered 
 into the presence of that friend whom he was now about to 
 lose through the fortunes of war. The Colonel opened the 
 conversation by alluding to the forthcoming struggle and 
 making plans, and in them he already had the Yankees 
 routed out and Jefferson Davis installed as president of the 
 whole American continent. 
 
 " My boy, we will wipe them off the face of the earth in six 
 months' time," he exclaimed, warming up to his subject. " I 
 shall organize a regiment, and you shall be captain. 
 
 " 0, I tell you I am growing young again amidst all this 
 excitement. Abe Lincoln will soon be a back number, and 
 I should not be a bit surprised to see you become Commander- 
 in-Chief of the Confederate forces before the end of the 
 war." 
 
 "I hope nothing so disastrous as that will happen me," 
 said James, slowly. 
 
 " What's that ! what's that ! " shouted the Colonel, spring- 
 ing to his feet instantly. " You must have misunderstood me, 
 my boy. I said you may become Commander-in-Chief of the 
 Confederate forces before this war ends." 
 
 "I heard perfectly well what you said, my more than 
 friend," said James, slowly, " but I cannot fight on the side 
 you wish me to." 
 
 " You cannot fight on the side I want you to ! " repeated the 
 Colonel, evidently unable to comprehend the full import of 
 James' speech. 
 
 " Colonel, you have been both father and mother to me," 
 said James, sorrowfully, " and it grieves me more than you 
 
20 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 can imagine to speak the words which I fear will make you 
 my mortal enemy for life." 
 
 " Your enemy I can never be/' said the Colonel, interrupt- 
 ing him. But James gently laid his hand on the old man's 
 shoulder, and with as few words as possible told him of his 
 resolution to fight for the Union. 
 
 " My boy, you cannot mean what you say ! " he said, like 
 one in a dream. " That you, above all men on the face of 
 the earth, should become a traitor to your State I cannot, will 
 not, believe." 
 
 "Nevertheless, it is true," said James, gently, but firmly. 
 " My ideas of right and wrong differ from yours, and I must 
 act as my conscience dictates." 
 
 " Think it over, my boy ! Think what it means to you, think 
 what it means to us all! Jessie is the worst little rebel in 
 Culpepper, and should she even so much as suspect that you 
 have given one kind thought to the North, she would denounce 
 you as a coward and a traitor." 
 
 A vision of Jessie as she had stood before him only a few 
 hours before in all her loveliness and purity, counselling him 
 to act as his conscience dictated, arose before his eyes, and a 
 half-sad smile arose to his lips unobserved by the Colonel, 
 who as yet could not fully master the complete surprise that 
 had overtaken him. But presently the storm would break, 
 as James well knew, and what the outcome would be James 
 was at a loss to know. 
 
 " I would act as my conscience directed me to act toward 
 my country and my God regardless of the whole world," said 
 James. 
 
 " Even your love for Jessie cannot alter your determination 
 to become a traitor ? " said the Colonel, now white with sup- 
 pressed anger. 
 
 " No," said James. " Nothing on earth can alter or change 
 my determination to act as I think right." 
 
 " Then hear me, you cowardly traitor ! If I had the power, 
 I would have you swing from the nearest tree as an example 
 
OFF FOR THE WAR. 21 
 
 to all other traitors to their country. I could forgive or over- 
 look anything you have done except that you should turn 
 traitor." 
 
 " Jessie, oh Jessie ! " he called in a loud voice, vibrating 
 with passion. " Come here." 
 
 Jessie, who had been close by, answered the summons 
 instantly, walking into the room and glancing from the con- 
 vulsively-working face of her grandfather to that of her pale, 
 but calm, lover. 
 
 Before anyone else could speak, the Colonel burst forth 
 in a torrent of words, exclaiming, " Look at the face of the 
 man whom you love and whom I have loved as a son ! Do you 
 not see the stamp of traitor on his brow? He has "had the 
 effrontery to tell me to my very face that he will fight for the 
 North, regardless of what I or what you or what the whole 
 world says, for that matter ! Jessie, I command you to drive 
 him from your presence as you would a rattlesnake, as a 
 thing to be abhorred, to be shunned by all mankind, for of 
 all the most contemptible things on God's green earth, a 
 coward and traitor is the greatest." 
 
 " James a coward and a traitor ! That I will never believe 
 as long as God gives me the strength and reasoning power to 
 believe otherwise," said Jessie, throwing her arms about 
 James' neck. 
 
 "Wait a minute, you jade," said the Colonel, wrathfully; 
 * ' for, if I am not mistaken, he will with his own mouth con- 
 demn himself." 
 
 " What he would say would make no difference in my eyes," 
 she said, calmly, " or we met in the road last night, and I 
 know all; know of his manly resolution to act as his con- 
 science directs him, even though by so doing he loses all 
 home, friends, and everything that is dear to him." 
 
 " You have met him and still cling to him, after all he has 
 told us both ! You little jade ! I will have you locked up in 
 an insane asylum. I forbid you ever seeing or speaking with 
 him again ! How dare you disobey me before my very face ? " 
 
22 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON". 
 
 said the angry Colonel, pounding on the floor with his heavy 
 cane, an article he invariably carried with him. 
 
 "I dare do anything for the man I love. It is the spirit 
 of the grandfather in the bosom of his granddaughter that 
 now defies you. Hear me, and then turn me out if you will. I 
 swear to be true and loyal to my lover until he shall come to 
 claim me as his wife, and I pray that no bullet cut short the 
 life of my betrothed husband ! " exclaimed Jessie, her cheeks 
 flushed and her eyes sparkling. 
 
 James could hardly repress the mad desire to seize her in 
 his arms and carry her away from her old bear of a grand- 
 father. 
 
 " I will not turn you out, you crafty jade, for that is doubt- 
 less just what you want me to do, so you could fly to the arms 
 of your traitor lover, and you would be man and wife before 
 nightfall/' said the old man, fairly quivering with rage and 
 mortification, for in all her sweet, young life Jessie had never 
 spoken thus to him before. " No, miss," he resumed. " I for- 
 bid you to leave this house until this young traitor has shaken 
 the dust of Culpepper from his shoes/' 
 
 " You need not do that, sir," said James. " I give you my 
 word of honor as a gentleman that I will neither seek nor 
 speak to Jessie again before my departure, which will be but 
 a few short hours at most. We planned a meeting down by 
 the spring, but that we will forego." 
 
 " If I had my way, I would have you court-martialed and 
 hanged," said the Colonel, grimly, but somewhat mollified; 
 for he well knew that James would keep his word. 
 
 James turned to go, and the Colonel, as a parting shot, said : 
 " I shall go to Culpepper this very afternoon and change my 
 will. I intended to leave everything I possessed to Jessie 
 and yourself; but, now that you both defy me, I will cut 
 you both out of my will entirely if you ever dare to marry 
 against my wishes." 
 
 James made no reply to this last unkind threat, but hur- 
 
OFF FOR THE WAR. 23 
 
 riedly took his leave for home after kissing Jessie and Mrs. 
 Green good-bye. 
 
 As the door closed behind the form of the young man whom 
 he loved as a son, Colonel Green quickly made his way to his 
 own room, for he was about to break down, and he would 
 rather have died than have shown one particle of weakness 
 before Jessie or his wife. 
 
 Secretly he respected the young man for the stand he had 
 taken, well knowing that James acted conscientiously; but 
 he had given his word that he would alter his will, and it was 
 his intention to do so, but at the same -time he made up his 
 mind to change it back to the original to the first opportunity 
 and leave everything to them with his blessing and best wishes. 
 
 Ah, foolish old man! Could you but have foreseen the 
 events that were about to transpire in the future, you would 
 not have been so hasty to have the family carriage take you 
 to Culpepper. Instead, you would have hastened to the home 
 of the young man you had driven forth friendless and alone 
 and humbly begged his pardon for the wrong you had done 
 him. 
 
 On reaching home, James immediately packed up what few 
 belongings he wished to take with him, gave Uncle Joe and 
 Aunt Lizzie what instructions he considered necessary regard- 
 ing the plantation, and once more turned his face toward 
 Culpepper and what the future held in store for him. 
 
 As he passed by the Colonel's plantation, he looked up 
 toward a certain window of the second story of the old mansion 
 and saw a white handkerchief fluttering in token of farewell. 
 He kissed his hand in return, and resolutely turned toward 
 Culpepper again. 
 
 On reaching the village, almost the first, person he met was 
 the Colonel, who passed by with his head tilted high in the 
 air, pretending not to see him. 
 
 He barely had time to transact what little business 
 was necessary before the toot of the horn was sounded at the 
 
24 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VEBNON. 
 
 hotel, announcing time had arrived for the departure of the 
 stage. 
 
 Hastily scrambling into the only remaining vacant seat, he 
 was soon rolling over the old turnpike toward the North once 
 more. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 James barely reached the Northern States before the call 
 for troops began. He was one of the first to enlist, going into 
 the service as a private soldier in a New York regiment, but 
 before the end of the first year's service he was given a com- 
 mission as second lieutenant, and in the second year he was 
 raised to captain. It was while holding this commission that 
 his regiment came in contact with that of Colonel Green, who 
 joined the rebel forces at the beginning of hostilities. 
 
 The battle had been a long, fierce one. The rebels were 
 driven back from the summit of a high hill, and the ground 
 was strewn with the bodies of the dead and dying blue and 
 graycoats. 
 
 James was the first to reach the summit of the hill, but 
 little did he dream of the terrible cost of that victory. 
 
 Night fell as a welcome boon to both armies, who imme- 
 diately began to look after the dead and wounded as soon as 
 hostilities ceased. 
 
 James was walking among the slain and fallen, doing every- 
 thing in his power to save a life or soothe the pain of some 
 of his faithful followers, when, to his horror, he saw the blood- 
 stained face of Colonel Green lying among the victims. In 
 the bloody upturned face was the stamp of death, but con- 
 sciousness still held sway, and he recognized James at once. 
 
 " 'Tis the fortune of war, my boy," he said, in a husky voice 
 in which no trace of anger or resentment lingered. 
 
 Kneeling beside the prostrate form of the Colonel, James 
 raised the gray head in his strong young arms. 
 
 " My boy, I am going," he said. " Take good care of Jessie 
 and the little mother at home. Both are waiting and longing 
 for our return ; but the fortunes of war have decreed that at 
 least one of us shall never live to see those two beloved ones 
 
 26 
 
26 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 again. Tell them that with my last breath I forgave you,, and 
 that it was my dying wish you might be united to the faith- 
 ful little girl who defied her old grandfather for your sake. 
 Gad ! " he exclaimed, the memory of her defiant retorts com- 
 ing back to his fast-failing memory. "How beautiful she 
 looked when defending you against what I now know to be 
 my unjust taunts ! She is a true granddaughter of her stub- 
 born old granddaddy." 
 
 Here he fainted from loss of blood, and James, calling some 
 guards, had him laid tenderly upon a stretcher and carried to 
 his own quarters, where a physician was summoned and 
 declared that the patient had but a short time to live. 
 
 A shell had burst just in front of him, and a fragment had 
 penetrated a vital part. Under the skillful work of the doc- 
 tor, the patient soon regained consciousness, but it was the 
 consciousness that precedes death. 
 
 He weakly motioned James to bend over him. 
 
 " What is it, father ? " he asked, unable to steady his voice. 
 
 The dying man's ear caught the word father, and a pleased 
 look came over his face. It was the first time James had ever 
 addressed him thus. 
 
 " I have always tried to be a father to you, my son," he said, 
 weakly, " and I have never done anything but once that a 
 father would not have done, and if God spares my life but a 
 few moments longer I will rectify that." 
 
 " Do not talk of worldly matters now, father. Let us talk 
 of ourselves, of Jessie and the poor little woman who will 
 watch for your return in vain." 
 
 " I know, I know, my boy ; but first I must right a great 
 wrong I did you and Jessie that unfortunate day in Culpepper. 
 Now do as I bid you. The time grows short for me to live. 
 Hasten and get witnesses and the proper officials, that I may 
 change my will while there is yet time." 
 
 The doctor kindly volunteered his services, saying there 
 was nothing else he could do for the injured man. But he 
 was too late. The spirit of Colonel Green winged its flight to 
 
THE SOLDIER. 27 
 
 the great beyond ere he could hasten back with proper 
 officials. 
 
 James managed to send word to Jessie of the Colonel's 
 death. She gently communicated the news to her feeble old 
 grandmother, who never survived the shock, and in three 
 weeks after the fatal news reached her she, too, was laid at 
 rest. 
 
 In the last battle of the war between the opposing forces 
 James' Uncle Thomas was slain. He enlisted as an officer of 
 high rank, owing to his political influence, but, being detected 
 in some underhanded methods and dishonorable conduct, he 
 was greatly reduced in rank, and his death came as a welcome 
 boon to the unfortunate soldiers who chanced to be under his 
 authority. 
 
 James quite by accident heard of his death, but it caused 
 him more relief than sorrow, for his uncle had never shown 
 him a particle of kindness or affection during his life, and 
 the debts on the plantation caused by his depredations nearly 
 equalled its value. 
 
 At the close of the war, James hastened to Culpepper to 
 claim Jessie as his bride. 
 
 The will had long ago been read, which was as follows : 
 
 " I, Harold Green, of Culpepper, Virginia, being of sound 
 mind, do solemnly swear in the presence of witnesses on this 
 day, March 18th, 1861, that, in the event of my death, I leave 
 one-third of all my wealth to Angeline Green ; the other two- 
 thirds to my granddaughter, Jessie Hamilton. 
 
 " If, however, my granddaughter marries James Vernon, of 
 Culpepper, she shall forfeit all right to my estate, and it 
 shall revert to my wife, Angeline Green, providing she does not 
 try to dispose of it in favor of my granddaughter, Jessie Ham- 
 ilton, or James Vernon, of Culpepper. 
 
 " If my wife tries to dispose of the estate in favor of the 
 two above-mentioned persons, my entire estate shall be given 
 to the Associated Charities, to be distributed among the poor 
 according to the judgment of its officers." 
 
28 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 On learning of this strange will, James and Jessie endeav- 
 ored to have it broken, bringing forward the doctor, who was 
 the only person except James who heard the Colonel say he 
 wished to alter his will. The evidence was not strong enough, 
 however, and the will could not be broken. 
 
 Jessie nobly gave up her inheritance, and together they went 
 to Michigan, taking with them the former slaves of James' 
 father, Uncle Joe, Aunt Lizzie and her daughter and son-in- 
 law, who had hastened back to Culpepper at the first opportun- 
 ity after the close of the war. 
 
 Their master in the South had been a most cruel one, and it 
 was horrible to hear them recite the tales of suffering they 
 were forced to undergo. 
 
 They thanked God that freedom had come at last ! 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 ff far % Nro 
 
 The journey from Culpepper to Michigan was a long one, 
 but he had God's three most precious gifts to man health, 
 hope, and the unfathomable love of a maiden's heart, which 
 made the journey seem short. 
 
 The distance had to be covered with teams, each of the 
 negroes driving a team, and James the third one. 
 
 He had no definite point in view, but trusted to providence 
 and his six sturdy horses to carry him to a country where there 
 was more chance of winning back the wealth he had lost. 
 
 The breadth of Virginia was slowly traversed, and then 
 came the muddy roads of Ohio, where traveling was more dif- 
 ficult and there were fewer roads. Several times they missed 
 their way, traveling miles out of their direct course; but it 
 mattered little to them. They were enjoying young love's first 
 pleasant dreams, and all roads had but one destination: the 
 golden future to be shared with each other. 
 
 Several times large rivers were encountered, but James' 
 experience in the army taught him how to overcome the diffi- 
 culties of traveling in a wild, unsettled country. 
 
 At times they came upon smiling, cultivated fields and 
 bustling little cities, and then they would again plunge into 
 the midst of seemingly endless forests. 
 
 Their trusty rifles supplied them with fresh meats at all 
 times, and Aunt Lizzie's skillful cooking always brought words 
 of praise from both James' and Jessie's lips. 
 
 Detroit was at last reached, and the little caravan stopped 
 for a week's rest. While camping here, James heard of the 
 wonderful opportunities offered in the lumber business to any 
 who were brave enough to face the dangers of the forest, and, 
 after holding a consultation with Jessie, it was decided that 
 they would push up north and penetrate the very heart of the 
 
 29 
 
30 THE MERCHANT OP MT. VERNON. 
 
 vast forests. Accordingly they again took up the line of 
 march, finally reaching Saginaw City, at that time the Mecca 
 of all prospective lumber men. 
 
 By dint of much questioning, he learned that the best tim- 
 ber lay along the Tidiabassee and Chippewa Eivers, and, after 
 purchasing certain implements needed in the lumber woods, 
 such as axes, saws, log hooks, etc., they left Saginaw, following 
 the west bank of the Saginaw Eiver to the mouth of the 
 Tidiabassee, thence up that river to the mouth of the Chip- 
 pewa, where the river was crossed by means of a raft. 
 
 From here on, the most difficult traveling of their journey 
 was experienced. Tangled vines, matted weeds, huge trees and 
 underbrush blocked their progress, and at times they were 
 obliged to hew down trees. Where the river was shallow and 
 sandy-bottomed they drove for long stretches in its bed. 
 
 After a journey of five days, they came upon a veritable 
 paradise in the forest. The river at this point formed over a 
 mile of rapids, winding around in the shape of a horse-shoe. 
 At the end of the horse-shoe several Indian huts peeped up 
 among the underbrush, and the Indians were lounging about 
 or fishing in the river; many of the younger generation were 
 engaged in various sports, while the women were either cook- 
 ing or carrying wood to their wigwams for domestic purposes. 
 
 The little caravan approached within a few rods of the 
 Indian encampment before they were discovered, but their 
 appearance seemed to create no excitement, much to the sur- 
 prise of James and the two negroes. Their astonishment was 
 still greater when an Indian of giant stature approached and 
 addressed them in perfect English, asking them where they 
 were going and where they came from. 
 
 In a short time they were surrounded by men and women 
 and children as well. The wagon and negroes were evidently 
 a curiosity to them, but it was evident that they were accus- 
 tomed to the visits of white men, for, after glancing carelessly 
 at James and Jessie, their eyes wandered to the ebony-colored 
 faces of the negroes, who brought up the rear. 
 
OFF FOR THE NEW HOME. 31 
 
 The giant Indian who first addressed James spoke up, say- 
 ing, " Heap black face, no wash for many moons." James 
 explained that it was not dirt, but their natural color, and, 
 seeing his red friend still look doubtful, he called Uncle Joe 
 up where they stood conversing, and then, taking a pail, he 
 stepped down to the river, but a few feet distant. Filling it 
 to the brim,, he bade Uncle Joe bathe his hands and face. 
 
 Seeing that the black did not come off, the chief endeavored 
 to wash it off himself, and, finding he was unable to do so, his 
 face gradually took on a look of fear and then reverence, and, 
 turning to his followers, he spoke rapidly in the Indian 
 tongue, whereupon the whole tribe grovelled on the ground in 
 front of Uncle Joe, who seemed to enjoy his popularity 
 immensely. 
 
 James burst into a laugh, saying : " Joe, you are their great 
 spirit now. They have evidently never seen a black person 
 before, and they think you colored people have come to them 
 as an act of providence. By Jove ! " he chuckled, " let them 
 think so, and we shall have plain sailing from now on. This 
 place just suits my fancy. These rapids will furnish power 
 enough to supply a city as large as New York. I will buy 
 all the land bordering on the rapids, and some day I hope to 
 found a city here." 
 
 To purchase the land from the Indians was an easy matter, 
 for, in their eagerness to have the negroes remain, they offered 
 it for absolutely nothing, but, being a fair-minded man, James 
 could not accept their generous offer, but gave them nearly all 
 of the money left from the sale of the plantation, and got a 
 deed of the land drawn up at Saginaw, 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 8M|* 3fatfctng uf fitttk Buxbi on % Iferatita 
 
 Mr. Vernon's life in the army well fitted him to meet and 
 conquer the difficulties in his path in taking up his home in 
 the wilderness of trees that covered the heart of Michigan at 
 that time. 
 
 With the help of the two negroes, he cut down a small clear- 
 ing in the forest bordering on the river, and built a substantial 
 log house and several out-buildings. After this had been 
 accomplished, he set to work felling the giants of the forest 
 and hauling them to the river. 
 
 In the spring of the year, when the ice broke and the river 
 was at its highest point, the. three men rolled the logs into 
 the water and floated them to Saginaw, where they sold them 
 at the various saw mills. 
 
 This proved to be such a profitable business that in a few 
 years he was able to buy more land and hired large gangs of 
 men to do the work for him. 
 
 Three children blessed the union of James and Jessie. 
 Frank, the eldest, was dark and of a quick and passionate 
 nature and was his father's most valuable assistant in business 
 matters. James, or Jimmie, as he was more familiarly known, 
 was exactly opposite from Frank both in looks and disposi- 
 tion. He had a sunny, careless way about him that won 
 him friends wherever he went. His sister Mary, the youngest 
 of the three children, was dark, like Frank, but had a disposi- 
 tion more like James. 
 
 A few days after the birth of Mary a strange thing hap- 
 pened. The family had just retired for the night one dark, 
 stormy evening in the month of April, when a violent peal of 
 the door bell aroused the whole household. 
 
 Mr. Vernon was the first one to reach the door, and he 
 nearly fell over a small object lying on the threshold, but the 
 
 32 
 
THE FINDING OF LITTLE VIOLET. 33 
 
 person or persons who rang the bell had disappeared as com- 
 pletely as though the earth had opened up and swallowed 
 them. 
 
 The object was picked up and carried into the house, and 
 when unwrapped was found to contain the body of an infant 
 female apparently about three weeks old. Around its neck 
 and suspended by a golden chain was a beautiful gold watch 
 of curious design and of small pattern, evidently for a lady 
 to carry. On the inside lid was engraved the letters " H. H. 
 to N. M., Geneva, May 12, 1859." A locket was also attached 
 to the chain, and in it was the photograph of a gloriously 
 beautiful woman, apparently about twenty-four years of age. 
 The clear-cut features of the lady bore the unmistakable marks 
 of good breeding and refinement. The broad, white forehead, 
 the expressive eyes, the mobile mouth and firmly-chiseled chin 
 gave to her face a look of firmness and resolution. The face 
 was decidedly an English one, and if appearances counted for 
 anything, she belonged to the upper walks of life. 
 
 The watch and locket containing the photograph was the 
 only evidence left by which to trace the parentage of the 
 child. Every effort was made to locate them, but without 
 avail, and the child was finally legally adopted into the 
 family. 
 
 The little stranger and Mr. Yemen's daughter were nearly 
 the same age, and they grew up as sisters. The affection 
 between the two girls was very touching. The little stranger 
 was of a loving, clinging disposition, and that of Mr. Yernon's 
 daughter Mary free and independent, which accounted for 
 their close friendship. As unlike in looks as in disposition, 
 they made a pretty picture when together, the golden locks 
 of little Violet for such they named her mingling with the 
 dark tresses of Mary, made a picture that would have delighted 
 the eyes of an artist. 
 
 But, let us return once more to Mr. Yernon before we drop 
 him out of this tale as a principal. We left him in the lumber 
 business, in which he was fast growing rich. 
 
34 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 A small saw mill was constructed, a number of cottages 
 were built, and a small, but busy, little village sprang up. 
 He started a general supply store, bringing his goods up the 
 river either by raft or by wagon, the latter way being much 
 more difficult. There were as yet no regular highways pene- 
 trating the dense forests. 
 
 After the store was opened, other business enterprises were 
 launched, and in a few years enough business was transacted 
 to warrant the building of a bank. Mr. Vernon was elected 
 president, and a short time later, when the Ann Arbor Kail- 
 road built through the place, it was incorporated as a city, and 
 he was chosen mayor, and the name changed from that of 
 Long Kapids to Mt. Vernon, in honor of the man who, by 
 hard work and perseverance, converted the place from a virgin- 
 forest to a bustling little city, with noisy mill wheels and 
 screaming steam whistles. 
 
 Mr. Vernon's two sons were always the best of friends 
 while young, although the tastes of each were entirely differ- 
 ent. Frank preferred the companionship of books and older 
 persons, while James' greatest delight in life consisted of 
 rambling about the woods with his dog and gun, or going down 
 to the river with a number of companions, where he generally 
 managed to fall into the water, thereby getting a spanking 
 upon reaching home. 
 
 At school he was acknowledged the champion of all athletic 
 contests. In fact, he took more interest in a wrestling bout 
 or a football game than he did in his studies, and as a result 
 he was often at the foot of his class. 
 
 And so time passed on. 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 
 frnm 
 
 Toward the end of one school term, when James was about 
 the age of fifteen, a base-ball game was arranged to take place 
 between the high school students and the basket factory team, 
 a local organization. 
 
 The principal of the school hated sports of all kinds, and 
 took particular pains on all occasions to spoil a game of any- 
 kind. 
 
 Eor the convenience of the factory boys, the game was sched- 
 uled to take place on Tuesday afternoon, and the students 
 obtained permission from the school board to hold a half holi- 
 day to celebrate the occasion. The principal, however, had 
 other views, and insisted on holding a lengthy examination 
 on that particular day. The morning passed very well, but 
 when afternoon came not a student was to be seen anywhere, 
 but shouts on the ball ground a half mile away were evidence 
 enough to inform the old crab that his attempt to spoil the 
 game had failed. He retaliated, however, by marking down 
 the average of each student, James in particular, for he was 
 always at the head of every enterprise where there was a con- 
 test involved. 
 
 The professor took a hearty dislike to James from the first, 
 which the latter returned with interest, and he never lost an 
 opportunity to annoy or disturb the old crank when an oppor- 
 tunity presented itself. The relations between himself and 
 the students had been strained before, but they were ready 
 to burst into open rebellion now at any moment. 
 
 A consultation was held among the students, and various 
 ways were discussed whereby they might play even. Many 
 plans were suggested, but none seemed feasible, until the 
 fertile brain of Frank hit upon the plan of putting tacks into 
 
 35 
 
36 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 his chair, which was a heavy piece of oak furniture, with a 
 solid bottom. 
 
 The professor, who was a little near-sighted, always sat 
 down in his chair with a plump that was audible all over the 
 school-room. The fact that he was near-sighted and sat down 
 so heavily is no doubt what caused Frank to think of this idea. 
 
 A piece of leather, nearly the full size of the chair bottom, 
 was obtained at a shoe shop, and a whole box of tacks were 
 driven through this leather, with their points sticking upward 
 toward the heavens. 
 
 The next thing to be done was to find a way to put it in the 
 chair without being detected, and a committee was chosen to 
 make a midnight excursion to the school house, where they 
 raised a window and made their way to the upper floors, and 
 the leather, with its rows upon rows of sharp tacks, was placed 
 in the chair. 
 
 The next morning all was expectancy. The professor, con- 
 trary to his usual custom, stood up during the opening exer- 
 cises. Becoming interested in a certain lesson which did not 
 interest the scholars in the least, he endeavored to pound its 
 fundamental principles in their unwilling minds. 
 
 The forenoon wore its weary length nearly through before 
 the professor showed any inclination to sit down. He seemed 
 to have forgotten all about his comfortable chair. 
 
 The scholars were unusually dull, and he finally gave it 
 up in disgust, for their notes were so badly muddled up that 
 James actually wrote the word tacks in his composition. 
 
 With a grunt of disgust, he finally threw himself down in 
 the chair with unusual vigor. But, ye gods ! what a sit-down 
 that was, for, with a yell of pain and rage, he leaped high into 
 the air, both hands tightly grasping the seat of his unmention- 
 ables ; the leather stuck tight to its place, no doubt held there 
 by the sharp points of the tacks. 
 
 With many a wriggle and exclamation that did not sound 
 exactly right in a school-room, he finally extracted the offens- 
 ive piece of leather and its complicated pieces of machinery 
 from his person. 
 
EXPELLED FROM SCHOOL. 37 
 
 The faces of all the students were convulsed with laughter, 
 but some unknown impulse prompted him to place all the 
 blame on the innocent head of James, for, with a roar of rage, 
 he made straight for the boy. Not for nought was he called 
 the best athlete in the school, for, seeing the blind rage of the 
 professor, he knew that to tamely submit to him meant to be 
 beaten up in a manner not good for his future appearance or 
 constitution. Before the infuriated man could reach him, 
 James arose from his seat, and, with a well-directed blow, he 
 sent the man sprawling in the aisle. 
 
 The professor was up in an instant, and now, fairly mad 
 with rage, made another lunge at the boy, who met him in 
 exactly the same manner, and with more telling effect, for 
 this time he seemed to be a little dazed and did not get up 
 quite so quickly. When he did rise, he was more cautious, and 
 advanced with the intention of grappling with his youthful 
 antagonist, but here again he was surprised, for James, seeing 
 that he could not avoid him, and being the shorter of the two, 
 he caught the professor around the waist, securing the under- 
 hold, and then issued a struggle between man and boy that 
 was terrific, for both were now thoroughly enraged, although 
 James kept his head with a coolness that would have done 
 credit to a veteran of the prize ring, watching every opportun- 
 ity for an advantage over his antagonist. 
 
 The great bulk and strength of the professor were strained 
 to their utmost, but it seemed to avail nothing against the 
 unaccountable agility of the young giant whom he was endeav- 
 oring to crush. Backward and forward they swayed, the 
 impetus of their exertions carrying them out to the center of 
 the floor. 
 
 Never before had such wrestling been witnessed, even in 
 the city gymnasium, where the brawny sons of the woods were 
 wont to gather when in the city and hold boxing and wrestling 
 contests. 
 
 The professor, who had been a famous athlete at college, 
 seemed to have forgotten none of the old tricks of the game, 
 
38 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 and tried them all, but was met at every point by the young 
 athlete, who now seemed to be gaining a slight advantage. 
 
 With a supreme effort, the professor forced his opponent 
 backward until James' sunny curls nearly swept the floor, but 
 just as it seemed as though the superior weight and bulk of 
 the professor was about to conquer a strange thing happened, 
 so quickly that none were quite able to see exactly how it was 
 done, but James was seen to suddenly loosen his hold and, 
 swiftly slipping from beneath his enemy, he was up quick as 
 a flash, and, seizing his opponent by the collar and the middle, 
 he was seen to raise him high in the air above his head and 
 then, with a mighty effort, the body of the professor flew 
 through the air and struck with a sickening thud against the 
 wall, where he lay as though dead, with the blood flowing from 
 a cut in his head. 
 
 The motions of the two had been so fast and furious that 
 none seemed to think of interfering, but now that it was all 
 over a score or more hastened to the side of the professor, none 
 quicker than James when he saw the consequences of his act. 
 A dozen ran for water, which was dashed in his face, but with- 
 out avail, and a doctor was finally summoned, who worked over 
 him for several hours before restoring his patient to con- 
 sciousness. 
 
 He was confined to his bed for several days, and then a con- 
 sultation was held by the Board of Education, and James was 
 dismissed from school. Frank was the student who had placed 
 the tacks in the professor's chair, but he was to graduate in 
 a few weeks, and immediately after he was to become cashier 
 of the Mt. Vernon Savings Bank, and, rather than see him 
 expelled from school in disgrace and endanger his future pros- 
 pects, James nobly took all the blame of the affair upon his 
 own shoulders, thereby stopping any further inquiries into the 
 matter. 
 
 After being expelled from school, James was employed as 
 a lumber sealer by his father, and Frank became cashier at 
 
EXPELLED FROM SCHOOL. 39 
 
 the bank a few weeks after graduating from the Mt. Vernon 
 High School. 
 
 Violet and Mary made many trips with James to the various 
 logging camps, sometimes both accompanying him; at other 
 times only one would go with him. 
 
 Up to this time there had been perfect harmony in the 
 Vernon household, but soon after the boys left school the 
 sharp eyes of Mrs. Vernon detected the growing love of both 
 boys for Violet. 
 
 Frank managed to conceal his real feelings from all except 
 Mrs. Vernon, but James' frank, open nature could be easily 
 read by every one almost as soon as he became conscious of 
 it himself, and Violet seemed to return his af ectiom 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 against 
 
 Frank was a true Southerner, both in looks and disposition, 
 and all his hot southern nature was aroused when he saw the 
 love they bore each other. 
 
 Seeking the first opportunity, he asked Violet to become his 
 wife. She was sitting in an old grape arbor in the grounds, 
 and gently, but firmly refused him. Losing all control of 
 himself, he grasped her in his arms, swearing that unless she 
 consented lo marry him, he would end both their lives, and, 
 in his mad jealousy and passion, would probably have made 
 good his threat had not James come along, most opportunely. 
 
 Being of an honest and trusting character himself, he 
 never dreamed that Frank cared for her aught except as a 
 sister; but the scared and agitated look on Violet's face and 
 the positively murderous one on Frank's caused the scales 
 to drop from his eyes and the truth lay revealed. 
 
 With a muttered curse, Frank released her and strode away, 
 leaving James and Violet alone together. He well knew that 
 he would be a mere toy in the hands of his younger brother, 
 should it come to a test of physical strength. 
 
 " Did he frighten you, Violet? " he asked, tenderly, putting 
 his arm around her in a brotherly way. 
 
 " Yes/' she replied, tremblingly. " He frightened me ter- 
 ribly/' 
 
 " What did he say to you ? " asked James. 
 
 " 0, don't ask me ! " she sobbed. " I must go away from 
 here immediately, for I fear something dreadful may happen 
 if I remain here another day." 
 
 " Nonsense," said James, in a voice that sounded much more 
 confident than he really felt. " This little storm will soon 
 blow over." 
 
 40 
 
BEOTHER AGAINST BROTHER. 41 
 
 " you do not know all, or you would not speak so lightly 
 of the matter." 
 
 " Has he dared to " began James in a voice hoarse with 
 passion. 
 
 It was the first time she had ever seen the light-hearted 
 James really angry or excited, although she was accustomed 
 to the outbursts of temper on the part of Frank. She began 
 to see there was a strength of character beneath the surface of 
 James' careless nature that she had not dreamed of. His 
 teeth came together with a click, and his muscular hands 
 clinched together until the nails sunk far into the flesh. 
 
 " No ! no ! it is not that, James/' she said, proudly, in an 
 injured voice. 
 
 " Forgive me, little one ; I am so wrought up that I know 
 not what I am saying/"' 
 
 " You must promise me that you will seek no trouble with 
 your brother for my sake nor on my account," she said, 
 earnestly, clinging to his arm. 
 
 A twinge of jealousy shot through James' usually just mind, 
 and he retorted, " Are you afraid your lover will get hurt ? " 
 
 " That is not like you, James," she said, quietly. " You 
 know that your brother would be nothing in your hands, and 
 you know full well that I know it also. It is for both your 
 sakes that I seek your promise. Remember your mother. It 
 would break her heart to know that anything had happened to 
 make you two enemies, and it would kill me to know that I 
 was the cause of making the sons of my kind benefactress 
 enemies." 
 
 She was gazing up into his eyes so piteously, her beautiful 
 eyes wet with dew, her pretty lips parted, showing a row of 
 pearly teeth, and the vision aroused all the pent-up love and 
 passion of his heart, and, bending down, he caught her in his 
 arms, raining sweet kisses on her beautiful, upturned face. 
 This time she did not seek to draw away, and, throwing her 
 arms about his neck, she clung to him. But there was a rude 
 interruption at this point. 
 
42 . THE MERCHANT OF MT. VEENON. 
 
 Frank strode away, leaving the pair alone in the grape 
 arbor, but he did not lose sight of them, for, turning around in 
 a circle, he made his way back on the opposite side of the 
 arbor and stood where he could see and hear all that took place 
 within. On witnessing the scene just described, he lost all 
 control of himself, and, seizing an old rusty axe, he rushed 
 upon the two unsuspecting persons within. His foot chanced 
 to strike against an empty gasolene can, overturning it and 
 causing it to fall with a crash. 
 
 On hearing the noise, James released Violet and turned 
 just in time to catch the swiftly-descending blade aimed at 
 his head. Should the blow have fallen it would have cleft 
 him to the chin. Seizing the handle, he wrenched it from his 
 maddened brother's grasp, and flung it far from the arbor. 
 But the other was mad with fury, and flung himself against 
 James with his whole strength. 
 
 He might as well have tried to throw down one of the giant 
 oaks standing near the arbor. Seizing him by the collar and 
 the middle, James swung him off his feet and raised him far 
 above his head ; but a frightened gentle voice at his side said, 
 " Eemember he is your brother ! " James slowly let the strug- 
 gling form of his brother reach the ground, and released the 
 now for a time completely cowed man, who slunk away, and, 
 sinking on a rustic bench, James let his head rest in his 
 hands. 
 
 A soft voice at his side aroused him, and, turning his gaze 
 toward her, he saw something which drove all other thoughts 
 from his mind. 
 
 " How grand and noble you looked/' she said, " when you 
 put Frank down! You are yourself now, and I know that I 
 can trust you to avoid future trouble with him." 
 
 " Will you trust me always ? " he asked, taking her hand. 
 
 "Yes, always/' she replied, and James, taking advantage 
 of the opportunity, said, boldly, "Will you be my wife, 
 Violet?" 
 
 The question came so unexpectedly that she did not answer 
 
BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER. 43 
 
 at once, but hesitated, undecided. But James caught her in 
 his arms, saying, " Now you have made me promise one or two 
 things, you must promise me this." 
 
 " I will," she replied, slipping out of his arms, " on condi- 
 tion that you keep yours." 
 
 " That is all I ask," he said, trying to catch her in his arms 
 again, but she tripped away through the vines, calling back 
 over her shoulder, " Remember your promise." 
 
 No one but the three principals in this little comedy in the 
 grape arbor ever knew what took place. The relation between 
 the two brothers had been somewhat strained for a few months 
 past, but Frank, on meeting James at the supper table that 
 evening, made himself quite pleasant, much to the surprise 
 of all. 
 
 James, being of an honorable character himself, never 
 thought of treachery, and, thinking Frank to be ashamed of 
 himself, he did all in his power to smooth over the trouble. 
 
 No one but Violet suspected anything, and she resolved to 
 warn James to be on his guard, for she read in Frank's 
 smooth talk and false smiles a terrible meaning. 
 
 The apparently more friendly relations of James and Frank 
 caused a great deal of happiness in the bosom of Mrs. Vernon. 
 Mr. Vernon, being so deeply absorbed in business matters, 
 liad not noticed anything wrong between his two sons, and 
 Mrs. Vernon wisely kept her own counsel. 
 
 Catching the spirit of the evening in his veins, Mr. Ver- 
 non proposed that he should take the two boys into the com- 
 pany, and the name of The Vernon Mercantile, Banking and 
 Lumber Company be changed to James Vernon & Sons' Mer- 
 cantile, Banking and Lumber Company. 
 
 It was decided that James should look after the lumber 
 department, Frank should have charge of the banking system, 
 .and Mr. Vernon the mercantile department. 
 
 The two boys were regarded as the most promising young 
 business men in the city, and for a long time Frank never 
 gave the slightest hint to any one of the mad love that was 
 
44 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 consuming his very soul, and that was soon to break loose and 
 wreck the happiness of two young lives, send himself to prison 
 and break his mother's loving heart and send his father to 
 an early grave. 
 
 Ah, love, what a power art thou for good or evil ! And how 
 by thy aid the worst of mortals may become angels, and vice 
 versa, the best of mortals the worst. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Sttjtf Kng 3am- Jamas' ijmiir &*0n# nf % KtttU 
 Saggein Jlrrlfin from % Sitrcr 
 
 The winter following James' expulsion from school was a 
 most favorable one for the lumber business. The snow-fall 
 had been the heaviest on record, and the great natural res- 
 ervoir twelve miles above the city was full of logs, and for 
 many miles the river banks were lined with thousands upon 
 thousands of the huge giants that had been for countless 
 years the proud monarchs of the forest. 
 
 The water in the reservoir had been stored up until the 
 great dam threatened to give way beneath the tremendous 
 weight bearing upon it. 
 
 The spring launching was the greatest event of the year 
 in those days, and the whole country turned out to see the 
 spectacle. 
 
 The launching was scheduled to take place on the 1st of 
 April, and Mr. Yernon's entire family was present when it 
 occurred. After a short speech by Mr. Vernon, a few replies 
 by some of the most prominent men of Saginaw, the great 
 sluice gates were opened at a signal from Mr. Yernon, and 
 immediately the great flood was pouring through them. 
 
 The huge logs shot through the dam like great rockets, 
 burying themselves far beneath the foam-capped waves. 
 
 A great shout went up from thousands of throats at sight 
 of the beautiful spectacle, but soon changed to one of fear as 
 a ragged little urchin was seen to dart out upon the very 
 edge of the trembling dam and dance gleefully about above 
 the rushing, roaring vortex. 
 
 The sister of the child rushed madly out to drag her little 
 brother back to safety, but she was seized by a brawny lumber- 
 man and held back, while a dozen of the hardy timbermen 
 rushed upon the trembling dam to save the child, but they 
 
 45 
 
46 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VEKNON". 
 
 were too late, for, just as the foremost was about to grasp the 
 little fellow, a great log was seen to rear itself on end, turn 
 completely over and fall with crushing force on the sluice gate 
 beside the child. 
 
 The shock of the great log threw the little fellow off his 
 balance and he fell headlong into the boiling, rushing water, 
 which swept him in an instant far below, among the tumbling, 
 grinding logs. 
 
 A cry of horror rose from the multitude on the shores and 
 the river men were seen to hesitate, and their rugged cheeks 
 to blanch, for to leap into that boiling, seething whirlpool 
 meant what seemed to be certain death by drowning or, far 
 worse, to be crushed like an egg-shell between the tossing 
 logs. 
 
 None but those who have actually witnessed a jam of logs 
 going through a narrow dam can fully realize the terrible 
 danger to the unfortunate one who is once caught in its 
 deadly grasp. 
 
 As the lumbermen stood staring at each other, a lithe form 
 was seen to suddenly dart out upon the dam, throwing off 
 clothes as he ran, and, with the agility and strength of a 
 tiger, leap far over a whirling log, sink for an instant from 
 view, reappear into the roaring vortex of water, and, with a 
 few powerful strokes, direct his course in a line with that 
 of the drowning child. 
 
 It was a matter of chance after this, for no swimmer could 
 alter his course in the mad rush of water; but, just as the 
 little fellow's head WPS about to sink for the third time beneath 
 the foam-flecked waves, the hand of the daring, rescuer came 
 in contact with the child, and he was for the moment saved. 
 
 But, with all of his great strength, the swimmer was unable 
 to make the least headway against the whirling circle of water 
 which gradually clrew him and his unconscious burden nearer 
 its center, where it plunged downward in a rotary motion, 
 dragging whole logs under with it. When the logs again made 
 their appearance they would be a great distance down the 
 stream. 
 
THE LOG JAM. 47 
 
 Even should he escape the whirlpool, he had but one chance 
 in a thousand of escaping being crushed to death between the 
 logs, which struck together with a force that peeled the bark 
 off and sent the splinters flying into his face in showers. 
 
 He was fast growing exhausted; his efforts were growing 
 weaker and weaker, and he seemed about to sink from sight, 
 when a great pine log was seen to strike him a fearful blow ; 
 but he managed to cling to it and climb upon it with his 
 limp burden, one arm hanging helplessly by his side. 
 
 The huge log he is astride of is the same one which so nearly 
 crushed the great sluice gates. The struggle between the 
 whirlpool and the giant of the forest is tremendous. The 
 log disappears from sight at intervals, but only for an instant. 
 Sometimes it spins around like a top, as if trying to shake its 
 human burden off ; but, lo ! just as the great log is pulled 
 directly over the vortex for the hundredth time, the current 
 changes for an instant, and the log is thrown with great vio- 
 lence clear of the whirlpool, and shoots like an arrow down 
 the stream. The crowd looks with bated breath. Surely he 
 must have loosened his hold that time, for no human being 
 could have had the strength and endurance to cling to that 
 shooting monster as it flows through a sea of foam ! But he 
 is there ! in the same position, and, wonder of wonders, he still 
 has the child ! 
 
 But the danger was by no means past yet. The stream 
 becomes narrower a few hundred feet below the dam, and 
 there is a sharp bend in the river. Here is where the greatest 
 danger will be. The logs had become wedged at this point and 
 formed a jam fully forty feet in height, the high banks on 
 either side hemmed the water until it made a cataract, over 
 which the loose logs shot with terrible velocity. 
 
 To go over this meant to be crushed to death, and, making 
 a desperate effort, he gained an upright position on the rolling 
 log, holding his unconscious burden in his one good arm. 
 
 His only chance of life now lay in his being able to regain 
 the shore before reaching the great jam. To do this he would 
 
48 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 have to make his way by leaping from one log to another 
 when they came close enough together. But would he be 
 able to accomplish this before it was too late ? 
 
 Less than six hundred feet intervened between himself and 
 certain death, and the logs were moring with the speed of 
 an express train! 
 
 Closer and closer the logs closed together as the stream 
 became narrower, and in a short time he stood upon the near- 
 est log, which was within six feet of the shore. 
 
 Gathering himself for a desperate effort, he leaped. But, 
 hampered with the child, he could not quite make it, and fell 
 into the rushing waters. But another log, rushing down from 
 above, was soon within reach, and he managed to clamber 
 upon it and, made his way within a few feet of the shore, 
 when the jam was reached. 
 
 He had made an excellent fight for life, but it seemed now 
 as if all his efforts were to be in vain. 
 
 The log, with its precious burden, was whirling tantalizingly 
 near the shore, but just out of reach. It was now too late to 
 plunge into the water and try to swim the few remaining 
 feet, as he would have been swept down instantly by the 
 under-tow and ground to death. Nearer and nearer they 
 were swept to the fatal precipice, until the front end of the 
 log struck the jam with a crash, swung sideways across the 
 small opening in the center of the jam, and in an instant was 
 swept beneath the surface, but not before James had leaped 
 onto the tossing logs, where he made his way from one to 
 another, now falling down on his knees, sometimes crawling on 
 his hands and knees, amidst the blinding spray, but slowly and 
 surely making his way to the shore and safety. 
 
 Once a giant pine, caught like a wedge, snapped in two like 
 a jackstraw, the splinters striking him in the temple and 
 knocking him down, while a great cry of horror went up from 
 the watchers, but he was up in an instant, the blood flowing 
 down his face and into his eyes, nearly blinding him ; but he 
 was close to the shore now, and a dozen strong hands were 
 
THE LOG JAM. 49 
 
 stretched out to render assistance, and just in time. Ex- 
 hausted nature would stand no more, and he sank fainting in 
 the arms of a brawny woodsman, his precious burden still 
 clasped in his one strong arm. 
 
 They were tenderly carried under the shade of a great oak 
 tree. A doctor bent over them and soon brought James to 
 consciousness, but it was many hours before the little one 
 could be aroused, as it had swallowed a great quantity of water. 
 
 James was found to have sustained a broken arm and many 
 cuts and bruises, but the doctor cheerfully announced that 
 there was no serious danger if the patient had good care and 
 was kept quiet. 
 
 A vehicle was quickly procured, and they were removed to 
 Mt. Vernon, James being taken directly home, and the child 
 to the home of his parents, who proved to be one of Mr. Ver- 
 non's tenants, its father, William Manning, being the engi- 
 neer in one of the saw-mills belonging to Mr. Vernon. 
 
 Our hero was confined to his bed for several weeks, and 
 every day brought forth a visit from Marguerite Manning, the 
 sister of the little fellow whom he had saved. She always 
 brought a beautiful bouquet of flowers to decorate his room, 
 and her fresh, happy young face was watched for with eager- 
 ness by the patient, because she always reminded him of the 
 sun just peeping from behind some dark cloud. 
 
 When our hero was at last convalescent and able to be about, 
 he found himself to be the lion of the hour. The rough, but 
 kind-hearted, people of the little lumber city were both loud 
 and profuse in their praises, much to the embarrassment of 
 our modest hero. 
 
 Mary's eighteenth birthday anniversary fell on May 7th, 
 just one month after the log-jam episode. Violet was nearly 
 the same age, although no one knew exactly on what day her 
 anniversary would fall; consequently they had always cele- 
 brated on the same day, and this year was to be the same as 
 usual. 
 
 Grand preparations were made for the fete and invitations 
 were sent to several friends in Saginaw. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 imim fag % to HtU iam 
 
 While James is slowly recovering from the rough usage 
 of the river, let us turn our attention to Frank as he leaves the 
 Vernon residence one Thursday evening shortly after the- 
 usual evening meal was over. 
 
 We find him wending his way up town to the club of which 
 he was president as well as its originator. 
 
 Of late he had taken to drinking quite heavily, and it was. 
 rumored around the city that he was to be seen any night in 
 Joe McCally's gambling house, wooing the goddess of chance. 
 It was even hinted that there was a woman's name coupled 
 with his. He had been seen down by the river several times 
 strolling with pretty Marguerite Manning. His visits were 
 always made after dark, and it was predicted that no good 
 would ever come of it. 
 
 After taking several stiff drinks of brandy and soda, and 
 exchanging a few words with some of the members of the club,, 
 he left and made his way down to the river below the dam. 
 
 Seating himself on a fallen log, he lighted a cigar and 
 prepared to wait for someone.' 
 
 He was evidently well acquainted with the place, for, after 
 smoking thoughtfully a few moments, he arose, went over to 
 the butt of an old tree and thrust his hand into a hollow space 
 within. 
 
 " Nothing there," he said, with a sigh of satisfaction. 
 " She will be here to-night, if nothing happens." 
 
 After making this somewhat obscure remark, he again 
 seated himself on the fallen log. He did not have to wait 
 long, for a rustling in the underbrush was soon heard, and,, 
 without turning his head, he remarked, " Nice way to keep a 
 fellow waiting. I ought to be up to the club even now." 
 
 " There was a time when you did not think so much of the 
 
 50 
 
DOWN BY THE OLD MILL DAM. 51 
 
 club/' remarked the newcomer, who was no other than Mar- 
 guerite Manning, the engineer's pretty daughter. 
 
 But how changed was that beautiful face now. There was 
 an anxious, worried look on her countenance as she spoke 
 again, saying, " Frank, you must keep your promise to me 
 before it is too late." 
 
 " well, of course I will," he replied, irritably. " But 
 before I do, you must do me one favor, and then we shall 
 go to Saginaw, hunt up a preacher and be quietly married." 
 
 "But why must we go to Saginaw? You have promised 
 that we should be married and live here in Mt. Vernon." 
 
 <f We shall live here," he replied, " but you must keep the 
 marriage a secret for awhile yet, as it is of the utmost import- 
 ance to me that you should do so; and, by the way, there is 
 another little matter of which I wish to speak to you." 
 
 Eising and throwing away his cigar, he folded his arms 
 about the girl whose ruin he had accomplished, and, kissing 
 her lips, said, " Now, listen to me, dear, and, if you promise 
 to do exactly as I tell you, we will be married in just three 
 weeks from to-day." 
 
 The heartless young scoundrel knew exactly how to manage 
 the poor, weak creature who had fallen a prey so easily to his 
 oily tongue and smooth ways. 
 
 " Ah ! Frank," she said, " how good it seems to have you 
 take me in your arms as you once did. It almost makes me 
 happy again, except when I think of the future ! " And 
 here she broke down and sobbed. The villain comforted her, 
 stroking her hair and calling her endearing names, until she 
 was somewhat calm again, and then he proposed his plan to 
 her which ran as follows: 
 
 She was to attend the birthday party, and by some 
 manoeuver get James into the old grape arbor, and he (Frank) 
 would manage to get Violet near the arbor. When this was 
 accomplished, Marguerite was to accuse James of perpetrat- 
 ing her ruin and promising to marry her. 
 
 The details were carefully gone over and minutely explained 
 
52 THE MERCHANT OE MT. VERNON. 
 
 by the fiend, who, after making sure that she thoroughly 
 understood them, asked : 
 
 " Well, dear, what do you say ? Will you do it if I give you 
 my sacred word of honor to marry you within three weeks 
 of to-day?" 
 
 " What do I say ? " she repeated, with blazing eyes. " That 
 I would rather die than do this wicked thing. I have sunk 
 low, very low, indeed, but I am not base enough to wreck those 
 two lives ! Do you forget that it was James who sprang into 
 that terrible dam and rescued Brother Walter from its terrible 
 clutches? There was no other brave enough to risk their 
 lives but him. Even the brawny woodsmen, who are thought 
 not to know what fear is, hung back and did not dare risk it. 
 You were there, and in my mad fear and anguish I called 
 on you to save him ; but, coward that you are, you hung back. 
 I tell you I would rather die than do it ! " 
 
 " Then die you shall ! " he cried, furiously, and, picking 
 her up in his arms, he strode with her to the river, where he 
 made as if to throw her in ; but, thinking better of it, he let 
 her fall to the ground and stood gloating over the half -faint- 
 ing form of the girl. 
 
 "No; I will not do that," he cried. "That would be too 
 easy. I will let you live and face the world with that unborn 
 brat of yours." 
 
 " Have mercy ! " she wailed. " It would kill me ! " 
 
 " Then do as I tell you, and I will marry you to-morrow." 
 
 " Never, never ! I will seek the cold water at my feet first." 
 And, rising, she continued, " I will go to-morrow and put 
 them on their guard, for now I know you for what you are 
 a base deceiver and liar, who would stop at nothing to gain 
 your ends not even murder." 
 
 " By heavens ! you shall pay for this," said the now thor- 
 oughly-frightened and baffled man. " You shall never live to 
 tell them the story of your downfall at my hands, and, most 
 of all, my intentions toward Violet, for I mean to make Violet 
 
DOWN BY THE OLD MILL DAM. 53 
 
 Vernon my wife by fair means or foul ! Do you know what 
 I mean to do ? " he said, with a hiss. 
 
 " I know you would do almost anything, but you shall not 
 prevent me from telling them the truth," she cried, defiantly. 
 
 " Then die ! " he shrieked, hoarsely, giving her a violent 
 push. She staggered on the very brink of the dam, regained 
 her balance, and would have got away safely, but the man, 
 mad with fear at the thought of his villainy being made known 
 to Violet, seized her roughly in his arms, and, swinging her 
 completely off her feet, hurled her down to the cold, dark 
 depths of the rushing mill race. 
 
 One wild scream of terror and anguish rang out upon the 
 still night air, and then all was silence. Once a white hand 
 was thrown above the surface of the water, grasping vainly for 
 support, but it soon sank from sight, and nothing was left 
 but the rushing waves of the swiftly-moving current. 
 
 The guilty man sank down, pale and haggard, on the saw 
 dust, and wiping the perspiration from his face, looked search- 
 ingly about to see if his act had been observed by any one. 
 
 Nothing suspicious was to be seen, and no sound marred the 
 stillness of the calm, beautiful night. The murderer arose 
 and swiftly made his way home. Passing up the back stair- 
 way, he quickly sought his own room, and, flinging himself 
 face downward on the bed, he tried to think of various ways 
 to divert suspicion from himself. 
 
 " Thank heaven ! " he muttered, " no one saw me, and they 
 will probably think she accidentally fell into the water." 
 
 But he was wrong in thinking that no person saw him com- 
 mit that horrible crime, for Elph, the fourteen-year-old son 
 of Hattie (Hattie is old Aunt Lizzie's daughter, and one of 
 the negro servants who accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Vernon 
 from Culpepper to Michigan, it will be remembered) had been 
 an eye-witness to all that was said and done in that fatal scene. 
 
 He had gone down to the river to fish for bull-heads, and in 
 order that he might reach the deepest water he climbed down 
 
54 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 the slippery sides of one of the piers of the dam, and, sitting 
 astride of a cross timber, was busily hauling in the bull-heads, 
 when the sound of voices reached his ear, and, looking up, 
 he distinctly saw the forms of Frank and Marguerite. Being 
 in the dark shadow of the dam, he could hear and see all that 
 took place without himself being seen. 
 
 He remained perfectly quiet, observing all that took place, 
 and when Frank hurled the unfortunate girl in the river he 
 quickly dived after her. But the murderer had done his work 
 well, as he had hurled her far beyond the quiet little eddy 
 into the rushing water, and she was instantly swept down the 
 swift current ; and, try as he would, Elph was unable to find 
 the slightest trace of her. He searched the banks on both 
 sides far down the river, but in vain, and he finally gave up in 
 despair. 
 
 Frank had always been cruel to him, and Elph felt the 
 greatest fear of him. Fear kept him from running to the 
 city and telling what he saw, and, quieting his conscience 
 the best he could, he stole back home and crept up to his little 
 bed in the barn, there to dream of the terrible spectacle he wit- 
 nessed in the evening. 
 
 The next morning all was excitement. Marguerite, the 
 engineer's beautiful daughter, had disappeared. 
 
 She had complained of a headache, and went to her room 
 early in the evening, but on calling her in the morning and 
 receiving no response, her mother opened the bed-room door 
 and found the room empty. The snowy white bed in the cor- 
 ner had not been occupied. The window was open, and, cross- 
 ing over to it, she looked down on the soft earth and saw the 
 foot-prints of Marguerite, where she had lightly leaped from 
 the window to the yielding soil. A strange sensation of mis- 
 giving seized Mrs. Manning, and she sank to the floor with 
 a spasm of fear; but, recovering herself, she hurriedly sent 
 word to where Mr. Manning was working, and he hastened 
 home. 
 
DOWN BY THE OLD MILL DAM. 55 
 
 A brief consultation was held, and it was decided to give a 
 general alarm. 
 
 The mills closed down, and the men all joined in the search, 
 some dragging the river and others scouring the woods, but 
 nothing was seen or heard of her that day. 
 
 The searching parties returned in groups of twos and threes, 
 but all had the same sad news to report : 
 
 Failure ! 
 
 At daybreak the whole city was aroused; the search was 
 renewed with more vigor than ever; searching parties were 
 sent far down the river, but no news came until about four 
 o'clock in the afternoon, when she was seen in a pile of drift- 
 wood, seven miles below the dam, whither the swift current 
 had carried her. 
 
 The beautiful face was bruised and swollen beyond all 
 recognition from contact with the sharp rocks, and the lovely 
 golden hair hung down her back and streamed over her face 
 like a golden halo. 
 
 Frank, who had been the most active in the search, was 
 the first one to discover her. He led a searching party down 
 the river. In fact, it was by his suggestion that they searched 
 the river further downward. 
 
 The poor girl was brought home and buried in the little 
 cemetery on the hill, and no person was more profuse in their 
 regrets and expressions of sorrow over the fate of the unfor- 
 tunate girl than Frank Vernon. 
 
 As for Elph, he was too completely cowed by his fears of 
 Frank to say anything of what he knew, and the verdict of 
 the coroner was: "Death by drowning, caused by acci- 
 dentally falling into the water some time between the hours 
 of 8.00 p.m. and 7.00 a.m. on the night of April 22d, 1886." 
 
 The birthday party was postponed two months on account 
 of the tragedy, and the fertile brain of Frank hatched up a 
 scheme whereby he hoped to still carry out his original plans 
 to humiliate and disgrace James in the eyes of Violet. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 5% Smmmt 3temk Wlm 
 
 One bright morning in the early part of June, a few days 
 before the grand ball and birthday party to be celebrated at 
 Greenwold, the beautiful Vernon home, we find Frank in his 
 " den," a spacious room on the second story, opening off of 
 his bed-chamber. Looking around the richly-furnished room, 
 we observe Frank, clad in a garnet velvet dressing-gown, and 
 reclining in a large easy chair before the fire-place, his feet 
 perched upon the fender, evidently taking his ease. Close to 
 his elbow stood a small, round table, covered with a snowy 
 linen spread, upon which was the remains of a light breakfast. 
 Near-by, on his left, was a mahogany stand, strewn with books 
 and magazines, but he did not appear to be in a reading mood. 
 A cigar in his fingers, his head resting on the cushioned back 
 of the easy chair, he was thoughtfully blowing blue rings of 
 smoke above his head. His eyes were half closed, and he 
 appeared to be thinking deeply. 
 
 " Yes," he muttered, " she is dead, and it is better so ! " 
 And, after a pause, " I would have had to look elsewhere for 
 aid in any case, the obstinate little minx ! " 
 
 Several minutes were passed in silence, when suddenly, 
 with a start, he exclaimed, in a low voice : 
 
 " The very person, I believe ! How is it that Susanne Roth- 
 ford's name has not occurred to me before! I know that 
 Susanne is infatuated with James, and she will be only too 
 glad to break up the match between James and Violet. More- 
 over, I am well enough acquainted with Susanne to propose 
 my plan to her and trust her to keep silent in regard to con- 
 fidential matters." 
 
 Crossing the room, he sat down at his writing desk and 
 penned the following note: 
 
 56 
 
THE DECISION FRANK WINS. 57 
 
 " To MlSS SUSANNE KOTHFORD, 
 
 Mt. Vernon, Mich. 
 66 My Dear Susie : 
 
 66 1 beg to request you to favor me with a few min- 
 utes' interview,, if you will be at liberty this after- 
 noon and can spare a half hour of your valuable 
 time, as I wish to speak to you about something of 
 importance. 
 
 " May I hope for a favorable reply immediately ? 
 " Sincerely yours, 
 
 " FRANK VERNON." 
 " Greenwold, June 3, 1886, 10.00 a.m." 
 
 After addressing and sealing the above missive, he pulled 
 the bell-rope, and in a second Elph appeared. 
 
 " What can I do for you, Marse Frank ? " he inquired. 
 
 " Take this message to Miss Susanne Rothf ord, at The 
 Corners, and wait for a reply," commanded Frank, handing 
 him the envelope. " Now, be quick about it ! " 
 
 Touching his cap respectfully, Elph disappeared. He was 
 not gone very long before he returned and handed Frank a 
 pink-tinted envelope addressed in a woman's fine handwriting. 
 Frank opened the envelope, drew out the note paper and read 
 the following: 
 
 " To MR. FRANK VERNON, 
 " Greenwold, 
 
 " Mt. Vernon. 
 "Dear Friend: 
 
 " If you will call at my home at 2.30 this p.m., I 
 shall be at liberty to give you the audience you 
 requested. " Sincerely, 
 
 " S. KOTHFORD." 
 " The Corners, June 3, 1886." 
 
 " Ah ha ! " muttered Frank. " I will be punctual/' Tak- 
 ing his watch from his vest pocket, he glanced at the time, 
 
58 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 remarking, " I shall not be able to spend much time at the 
 bank to-day/' 
 
 Half-past two o'clock that afternoon found Frank standing 
 on the veranda of The Corners. In response to his ring the 
 door was opened by a very tall young man, who looked decid- 
 edly English, who wore a uniform which looked English 
 and who spoke in a manner and voice that could not be 
 mistaken for anything but English. He was evidently the 
 butler, and led Frank to a small reception room, waved him to 
 a chair, and then disappeared in response to Frank's inquiry 
 to see Miss Eothford. 
 
 Directly a tall girl entered the room, and a clear voice pleas- 
 antly greeted him. Susanne Eothford is more than a comely- 
 looking girl. Tall and slender, but well built, she moves 
 about with easy grace, and there is a sprightliness as well as 
 determination in her step which commands one's admiration. 
 A face which was at once delicate, lovely and expressing great 
 determination and independence, with features almost clas- 
 sical in outline, and a clear, ivory complexion. Framed in its 
 coils of dark hair, it makes a pleasing face to look upon. 
 Yet, one observing very closely the face of Susanne Rothford 
 would discover unpleasant lines about the firmly-chiseled 
 mouth and a certain faltering, half -cruel light lurking in the 
 depths of her luminous dark eyes which spoke of a treacher- 
 ous side to her character and warned one not to trust her 
 too far. 
 
 Susanne led Frank to the garden, and, as they slowly walked 
 up the rose path, he began, " Susie, I have come to confide 
 to you my trouble and annoyance and to ask your aid, well 
 knowing that I can trust you. You know that my brother 
 James and Violet Vernon are about to be married, and, Susie, 
 I love her and cannot give her up. I cannot give her up," he 
 repeated, his eyes burning with a smoldering, passionate 
 light, " and I am going to ask you to help me to part James 
 and Violet. Besides," he added, with a queer little smile, 
 "you would be interested in seeing James break faith with 
 
THE DECISION FKANK WINS. 59 
 
 Violet/' speaking with a slight emphasis on the "you/' A 
 flush of pride mounted to her cheeks, and Frank hastily con- 
 tinued, " Susanne, if you will aid me, I will be your debtor 
 for life, and matters will take a different turn more to the 
 satisfaction of both you and I." 
 
 After a few moments of silence, she asked, " Well, Frank, 
 what is it you wish me to do, and how shall I aid you ? " 
 
 " Susie, there is only one way that I can think of which 
 would be effectual, and you will forgive me and not be 
 offended if I speak quite plainly ? " 
 
 " You may say what you wish," she replied. 
 
 <e Knowing as I do Violet's loyal, true nature, I am certain 
 there is only one way of making her look with disfavor upon 
 her lover, and that is to make James appear dishonorable and 
 in a worthless light to her. To accomplish this you would 
 liave to accuse James within her hearing of ruining your life, 
 and bitterly reproach him for his heartless conduct in refusing 
 to marry you, and then plead with him to save you from 
 facing the world in your shame and sorrow, framing your 
 appeals in a picture of despairing and agonizing words which 
 will brand him as a heartless, contemptuous scoundrel, dishon- 
 orable in Violet's eyes." 
 
 Susanne's eyes flashed with pride; her lips parted as if to 
 emit an indignant answer, but Frank, not giving her time to 
 speak, rapidly continued: 
 
 " In a few nights there will be a grand ball at Greenwold, 
 and everybody and everything will be gay and merry. All 
 will go well if you will only do as I ask. After one of the 
 dances in which James is your partner, you will request him 
 to take you for a short walk in the garden, as you feel so faint 
 and warm, and must have a, breath of fresh air, and you will 
 lead him to the grape arbor. You know where it is. Enter, 
 both you and James. In a moment you'll hear footsteps 
 approaching, as I will lead Violet down that path, and we 
 shall hear low tones within the arbor. Presently, when we 
 are quite near, you will accuse James as I said, and plead with 
 
60 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 him. She will hear, and you know the rest. Will you do 
 it?" 
 
 Susanne's bosom rose and fell; her face was flushed, and 
 she exclaimed, " How dare you ask me to do such a thing ! n 
 
 Frank spoke slowly and calmly, saying, " And you wish 
 to let Violet Vernon continue to be James' sweetheart, and 
 their marriage take place serenely the future one long 
 blank." 
 
 " The future one long blank/' he repeated, a subtle meaning 
 in his tone, which conveyed to her the impression he desired 
 to make, and yet not in such a way as to strike upon her 
 nature harshly and wound her pride. Her eyes fell beneath 
 his gaze; a change came over her face; she hesitated. When 
 Frank spoke again of a marriage between Violet and James 
 a look of passionate resentment flashed into her eyes. 
 
 Frank spoke again, continuing his request in a persuasive 
 tone, firing her jealousy of Violet, until at last he gained her 
 consent to do as he wished and part them. 
 
 After going over every part, down to the minutest detail 
 of how it was to be carried out, Frank left her, saying, " I 
 shall rely upon you, Susie." 
 
 Susanne walked slowly to the house and passed in at the 
 side entrance. As she passed through the dining-room her 
 mother entered. Their eyes met, but Susanne's turned guilt- 
 ily away, and, after exchanging a few words, she passed 
 quickly on to her room. 
 
 " What would mother think ? " she whispered, as she stood 
 by the window, meditating, and for a moment her eyes were 
 radiant with a noble light in them, an expression of good- 
 ness and purity overspread her countenance, and she mur- 
 mured, " I must not ruin their lives ; let them be happy and 
 at peace with each other." 
 
 Then, in an instant her face hardened ; her eyes burned with 
 a jealous fire. " Happy ! " she repeated. " ko ! She shall 
 not have him, and Susanne Kothf ord will stoop to conquer ! " 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Sty* IBtrtlf&uj purig atttn Sail at 
 
 The night of the party fell clear and bright. The beauti- 
 ful grounds of Greenwold were lighted up with many gor- 
 geous-hued Japanese lanterns. Inside, the spacious rooms 
 were decorated with trailing smilax and ferns, and tall vases 
 filled with beautiful roses and carnations garnished the 
 mantlepieces. The large, old-fashioned fireplaces were 
 banked with fair white lilies, while from their holders of 
 heavy wrought silver numerous wax candles threw their 
 beams over the richly-decorated rooms. 
 
 Uncle Joe and Aunt Lizzie were arrayed in their best. 
 Uncle Joe, stiff and dignified, occupied the very important 
 position of butler and felt the full responsibility of his post. 
 
 Aunt Lizzie, dressed in her best black cashmere gown (one 
 made from some of Mrs. Vernon's old ones), also felt the 
 importance of her position, for did she not have full charge 
 of the mysteries of the kitchen? 
 
 Hattie, her daughter, had charge of the ladies' dressing 
 room, and Tobias, Hattie's husband, looked after the young 
 men's wraps in the gentlemen's dressing room. 
 
 Elph, that young imp, was to be the chief dispenser of 
 good things later on, but, judging from his bulging pockets, 
 he had already dispensed with a goodly amount of Grandma 
 Lizzie's choicest cakes and dainties. At present he was 
 assisting his grandfather at the door, for the young couples 
 came in groups so closely that he became slightly flabber- 
 gasted, as he expressed himself confidentially to Mary and 
 Violet, who, radiant and fair in their dainty white muslin 
 gowns, were assisting Mrs. Vernon in receiving the guests. 
 
 The imp's hands were a little sticky from the icing on 
 Aunt Lizzie's cakes, and Mary sent him to the kitchen to 
 wash his hands. 
 
 61 
 
62 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 Aunt Lizzie had left her kitchen for a few minutes to come 
 into the drawing room and see the young people arrive. Her 
 sharp eyes spied Elph as he was slipping into the kitchen, 
 and thinking he was going to make a raid on her treasures 
 she immediately started in pursuit. 
 
 " See here, you dirty little black nigger," she exclaimed, 
 trying to corner him, " Fs done gwine to break youh neck 
 if you done touch any mo'h dem cakes! " 
 
 But the imp was too quick for her. Dodging under her 
 arm he ran out the back door, washed his hands under the 
 hydrant, and scurried around to the front entrance. Giving 
 the door bell a violent ring, it was opened by Uncle Joe with 
 his most dignified bow, but he ended up with a snort of dis- 
 gust upon raising his woolly head, which had been bowed 
 down nearly on a level with the floor. 
 
 "Young nigger, what for you come into dis front door? 
 Don't you done know dat nothing but the most spectacle 
 white folks of dis town comin' through dat door to-night? 
 I's done gwine to break dat black head of youhs when I 
 gets time/' which was a favorite expression of Uncle Joe's 
 when threatening dire vengeance on the head of the imp, 
 while the fact was^ he had never struck him during the four- 
 teen years he had acted as grandfather to Elph. It was dif- 
 ferent with Aunt Lizzie, however, for many were the spank 
 and swat she had administered to the anatomy of that young 
 gentleman. And he seemed to appreciate it, for no sooner 
 did the memory of the last sting fade away than he would 
 come back for more, which, in every case, was cheerfully 
 given. 
 
 The guests made an adjournment to the lawn, where 
 various games were indulged in until 10.30, when a light 
 luncheon was served, Aunt Lizzie tastefully arranging the 
 tempting viands while the imp passed them around, showing 
 his delight by displaying a shiny row of ivory that would 
 have made a society belle envious. 
 
 Aunt Lizzie was kept busy between her tasks of preparing 
 
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY AND BALL AT GREENWOLD. 63 
 
 the viands and watching the imp, who, observing this, made 
 many a wriggle and movement with his hands as soon as he 
 was handed a fresh plate loaded down with dainties. His 
 back being turned, poor old Aunt Lizzie was unable to see 
 whether he was doing any mischief or not, but feared the 
 worst, which caused the little scamp so much joy that he was 
 careless and did not see Frank, who was coming through the 
 door on some errand, and Elph ran full tilt against him, 
 causing the contents of the plate to bespatter that young 
 man's evening dress in a way that rendered him unfit to 
 re-enter the room among the guests until he made a change 
 of clothes. 
 
 Frank's violent temper was instantly aroused, and giving 
 the imp a blow with his open hand sent him reeling against 
 the door, causing his head to strike the sharp corner of the 
 casing, rendering him unconscious. 
 
 With a muttered curse Frank made his way up the rear 
 stairway to his room, where he changed his wearing apparel. 
 
 Noticing the non-appearance of Elph, James and Mary 
 made their way toward the kitchen, where they found the 
 poor little fellow lying unconscious upon the floor. 
 
 Both guessed the cause instantly, for they had observed 
 Frank going in this direction, and it was by no means the 
 first time he had done an act of this kind. Quickly raising 
 Elph in his arms James carried him to his own room, where 
 restoratives were applied and he was soon restored to con- 
 sciousness, and related the particulars of the case to James. 
 
 In the meantime Mary returned to her guests and ex- 
 plained that Elph had fallen against the door and slightly 
 injured himself, and Uncle Joe was now detailed to fill the 
 place of the imp. Frank had made his way back, looking 
 as cool and unconcerned as if nothing had happened to ruffle 
 his temper. 
 
 Violet was anxious and insisted upon going to see Elph, 
 and soon drew the whole story of the affair from him. She 
 was deeply shocked and hurt to learn of Frank's cruelty 
 
64 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 toward the little fellow. She had known of his abusing the 
 poor boy before, but not in this shocking manner. After 
 promising to come and see him again, she made her way 
 downstairs, mingling again with her guests who had scarcely 
 missed her from the chattering, laughing throng. 
 
 Her steady gaze met the eyes of Frank, which dropped 
 before her scornful look, for he saw that she knew the truth 
 about it. 
 
 Eefreshments having been served, the merry throng now 
 made their way to the ball room, where the orchestra struck 
 up a popular air while the merry dancers whirled through 
 the good, old-fashioned polka. 
 
 Prank and Violet danced together; James and Susanne, 
 much to that young lady's delight, and Mary was the partner 
 of John Wellington, a neighbor. Frank tried to open a con- 
 versation with Violet, who only answered in cold mono- 
 syllables. Losing his temper, he exclaimed hotly: 
 
 " You could talk if it were James who was dancing with 
 you! 
 
 This was the first time he had spoken thus to her since the 
 scene in the grape arbor. 
 
 She was too surprised to answer for an instant, but regain- 
 ing her composure, she replied, coldly, "You forget your- 
 self, sir." 
 
 Frank could have bit his tongue off for having made this 
 indiscreet speech, and he hastened to humbly beg her par- 
 don, which Violet readily granted. 
 
 The dance being over Frank and Violet wended their way 
 toward the garden, soon followed by James and Susanne, 
 who leisurely strolled down to the old grape arbor. Susanne 
 had suggested resting in the arbor, after the fatigue of the 
 dance, and, unnoticed by the others, they parted the tangled 
 vines and entered the arbor. 
 
 Frank and Violet slowly strolled among the rose bushes, 
 the full moon throwing her radiant light upon them, the 
 light breeze playing with Violet's golden curls. Finally, 
 
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY AND BALL AT GREENWOLD. 65 
 
 turning down a path toward the right, they came directly 
 before the grape arbor. Stretching out his arm, Frank 
 touched the vines, as if to part them for Violet to enter, but 
 she hung back, unwilling to enter in Frank's company, the 
 memory of the scene between him and herself that had once 
 taken place there flashing into her mind. As she stood 
 hesitating, the low, impassioned tones of Susanne fell upon 
 her ear. She was pleading with James to marry her before 
 it was too late. 
 
 Throwing herself on her knees, Susanne began in wild, 
 incoherent words to beg of James by all that was sacred not 
 to dishonor her and her unborn babe. 
 
 James could only ejaculate, "Susanne! Susanne!" so sur- 
 prised and astonished was he that he stood stupefied, listen- 
 ing to her wild words, thinking that she had suddenly taken 
 leave of her senses. 
 
 The acting was perfect. 
 
 Frank chuckled to himself as Violet, with a moan of 
 anguish, leaned heavily upon him, but spoke no word. Now 
 was his chance, and putting his arm around her he led her 
 away, in the direction of the house. Violet begged him to 
 let her go to her room, and make excuses for her to the 
 guests regarding her non-appearance. 
 
 Pressing a judicious kiss upon her brow, he murmured sor- 
 rowfully, "Poor little girl! Poor, wounded, little dove!" 
 With well-simulated sympathy he opened the door of her 
 room, permitting her to pass through, and closing the door 
 after her. He then made his way to the ball room, and made 
 excuses to the guests, saying that Violet was ill and had 
 retired, begging the party not to mind her absence, as it was 
 only a slight attack of headache. 
 
 Left alone, Violet threw herself on the bed, where she 
 wept and moaned as only a trusting heart can which has 
 been cruelly wronged and deceived. 
 
 Aunt Lizzie, hearing her darling honey bird, as she was 
 -called by that great-hearted creature, instantly made her way 
 
66 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 to Violet's room, where she unceremoniously entered, and 
 clasping the form of the sobbing girl in her arms, picked her 
 up as if she was yet the baby that she had rocked in child- 
 hood. 
 
 Violet, who had always confided all her troubles to her 
 black mammy, was strangely reticent now, and no amount 
 of coaxing by Aunt Lizzie could get the desired information 
 from her. At last, giving up in despair, she disrobed her 
 young mistress, and at the urgent request of Violet left her 
 alone to fight out love's bitter awakening. 
 
 But what of James and his strangely-acting charge. 
 
 He was completely bewildered and dumbfounded, for as 
 soon as the footsteps of Frank and Violet died away she 
 began laughing and crying in a manner that greatly alarmed 
 our bewildered hero, who was about to hasten for assistance, 
 which fact seemed to bring her instantly to herself, for she 
 grew more calm immediately and imperiously ordered him 
 to take her back to the house, where she at once became one 
 of the gayest of the gay dancers. 
 
 Poor James began to half-suspect that he had been dream- 
 ing, and actually pinched himself to see whether he had not 
 really fallen asleep while watching the dancers. But his 
 social duties called him to himself, and he was soon whirling 
 over the polished floor with a fair partner, whose noisy 
 tongue caused him to half-forget the unpleasant little occur- 
 rence of the past half hour. 
 
 The absence and reported slight indisposition of Violet 
 caused him much worry, however, as he knew that nothing 
 but a serious illness could keep her from her guests, and he 
 was glad when the fete was at last over and the last guest 
 had departed. 
 
 Frank and James met at the foot of the stairs as they were 
 about to go to their rooms. 
 
 The former seemed to be in the best of spirits, and 
 jovially punched James in the ribs, remarking that he looked 
 more as if he had just come from a funeral than a birthday 
 party. 
 
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY AND BALL AT GREEN WOLD. 67 
 
 James answered rather coldly, and his brother laughed 
 and replied: 
 
 " Oh, well, old man, you have not entirely recovered from 
 your recent struggle in the log jam and are tired out after 
 the fatiguing events of the day. Now go to bed and get a 
 good rest and you will be your old self in the morning." 
 
 " By the by, brother," said Frank, as they were about to 
 part for the night, after ascending the stairs, " better come 
 into my room and get a sip of brandy; it will brace you up 
 wonderfully." 
 
 "No, thank you," replied James; "I advise you not to 
 take so many bracers, either." 
 
 Frank had come home slightly under the influence of 
 liquor several times of late, but always managed to conceal 
 this fact from all but the imp, who, being out at all times 
 of the night, had confidentially imparted the secret to James, 
 after extracting a promise from him not to inform any one 
 where he got his information. 
 
 James went up to Elph's little room in the attic to see how 
 the little fellow was getting along. He found the imp curled 
 up in his bed, having sobbed himself to sleep, the white 
 bandage across his forehead, soaked with red blood, forming 
 a strong contrast with his black face; and a feeling came into 
 James' heart for an instant which had never been there 
 before. But it lasted an instant only, as, remembering his 
 brother's hot, passionate nature, he felt only sorrow for 
 him, forgetting his faults and thinking only of his virtues. 
 But could he have known of the dark, treacherous trick 
 played upon himself and Violet by the plotters, which was to 
 wreck two loving hearts and send a third to a fate far worse 
 than death, his feelings would have been far different. 
 
 Ah, could he have but known! How much suffering and 
 misery would have been avoided, how many loving hearts 
 would have been spared many an unhappy hour in the 
 future! 
 
 But it is not for us poor mortals of earth to see into the 
 hidden future. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 %rnk*n Ettgagntmtt 
 
 The next day Violet was too ill to leave her room and a 
 doctor was called. He pronounced it to be a case of nervous 
 prostration, and gave orders that all persons be kept out of 
 the room except the nurses, saying that she needed perfect 
 quiet, as there was danger of brain fever setting in. 
 
 But, thanks to her vigorous, young constitution, she was 
 soon up again, but how changed from the laughing, merry- 
 hearted, blue-eyed little girl of a few weeks ago. No merry 
 laughter rang through the house now. She avoided James 
 on all occasions. He tried desperately to obtain an inter- 
 view with her, but she always met him with the plea of being 
 too tired, or ill, or else Frank was on hand to prevent it, 
 fearing lest they should talk together, Violet reproach him 
 for his falsity, and an explanation follow which would have 
 been exceedingly embarrassing for Frank, as well as upset- 
 ting all of his well-laid plans. 
 
 The sharp eyes of Mrs. Vernon detected the greater part 
 of this by-play, but she never once dreamed of the dark, 
 treacherous depths to which Frank was capable of de- 
 scending. 
 
 As time went on James became desperate and resolved to 
 seek an interview with Violet, whether or no. Meeting her 
 quite unexpectedly in the garden one afternoon, he stood 
 directly in her path as she essayed to pass him. 
 
 "Violet, why do you avoid me? " he asked, reproachfully; 
 and taking her gently but firmly by the arm he led her to 
 the old grape arbor which had been the scene of their be- 
 trothal, and now the fatal place where it would soon be 
 broken. 
 
 Seating her on a rustic bench, James sat down beside her 
 
 68 
 
THE BROKEN ENGAGEMENT. 69 
 
 and repeated his question before receiving an answer from 
 those quivering lips, for whose owner he would have given 
 his very life to spare one moment's pain or suffering. 
 
 " Oh, James, how could you have done it?" she tearfully 
 said; " and I loved you so, believing you to be the very soul 
 of honor and fidelity." 
 
 "What can you possibly mean?" asked the bewildered 
 and astonished James. 
 
 "Can you ask me that?" indignantly exclaimed Violet. 
 " Why, I saw and heard it all myself, though quite by acci- 
 dent." 
 
 James was more puzzled than ever to know her meaning. 
 The unpleasant little incident in the arbor on the night of 
 the party had quite escaped his memory. The strange be- 
 havior of Violet had crowded out everything else. 
 
 Violet was growing stronger now, her indignation getting 
 the better of her naturally timid and loving nature. It is 
 thus that we ofttimes find the most timid natures the 
 strongest when put to the extreme test, and so it was thus 
 with Violet. 
 
 What she deemed his utter baseness was bad enough, but 
 to add deceit to guilt and wrongdoing was too much and tak- 
 ing the engagement ring from her finger she flung it at his 
 feet, saying, " Go give it to the girl to whom it rightfully 
 belongs, and at least make what reparation you can while 
 there is yet time." 
 
 A light was breaking over the bewildered mind of James 
 at last, and he exclaimed, "Were you here that night and 
 heard that poor misguided girl's wild words? " 
 
 " Yes, I was here on the scene, very fortunately, in time 
 to hear the greater part of that disgraceful interview," she 
 scornfully replied, "and you must make full reparation to 
 her. Is not ruining that poor girl enough? Would you still 
 seek to link my life with yours, despicable man that you 
 are? " 
 
 " Oh, Violet, I have not deserved this! Would you let the 
 
70 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 wild, incomprehensible words of a half-mad girl wreck our 
 two lives ? " he asked, sorrowfully. 
 
 " Don't try to deceive me, sir! " she exclaimed. " No one 
 could have made me believe that the brave lover to whom 
 I had given my love, aye, my very life, could have been so 
 utterly false and base." 
 
 " Violet, you cannot, shall not, spoil both of our lives 
 because of the wild, senseless words of that girl. I was en- 
 tirely ignorant of what was to take place and of her false 
 accusations when I came here with her." 
 
 " So it seems," she replied, ironically, "or you would have 
 deferred the interview to some other time and at a place not 
 quite so public. You are evidently quite an adept in arrang- 
 ing secret meetings, for no one has ever known of your clan- 
 destine meetings with your sweetheart of whom you now 
 seem heartily tired. I wonder how many times you have 
 held her in your arms, whispering words of tender devotion 
 and promising to always love and cherish her? More times 
 than you have me, no doubt. James, don't make me despise 
 as well as hate you. If I kept my promise to marry you, you 
 would soon tire of me as you have of that other unfortunate 
 girl." 
 
 " As for your accusation," replied James r " I can prove 
 that it is utterly false. Hate me if you will, for I cannot 
 prevent you, but despise me you never can, for I am an 
 honorable man among men," and throwing his sturdy shoul- 
 ders back he folded his arms and stood proudly before her. 
 The sinewy cords working with the excess of his emotion, he 
 looked the very picture of the king of men, and had he made 
 but one more appeal then Violet would have fallen in his 
 arms, believing him against the very evidence of her own 
 senses. 
 
 But he made none, and walking out of the arbor he turned 
 and said, " Some day, when it is too late, you will learn of 
 the cruel injustice you have done me as well as yourself." 
 
THE BROKEN ENGAGEMENT. 71 
 
 Without another word he quickly faced the other way and 
 strode rapidly in the direction of the house. 
 
 Violet sank back upon the seat from which she had risen, 
 all her strength and courage ebbing away as her lover disap- 
 peared from view. Covering her face with her hands, she 
 burst into such bitter tears as fall only when the heart is 
 broken. 
 
 "James, James, come back!" she wailed in grief and 
 despair, and could he have but heard those heart-breaking 
 words all barriers would have been swept aside, all explained 
 and forgiven, but, alas, he was far out of hearing, and the 
 next time he was to look upon her beautiful face she would 
 be the wife of another. 
 
 That evening James announced his intention of resigning 
 his position and going to Ann Arbor, there to learn the 
 medical profession. 
 
 The whole family, outside of Mr. Vernon, understood per- 
 fectly well why he was going to leave. The latter could not 
 see the tragedy that was taking place in his own home. He 
 pleaded, scolded and threatened, all in vain. James was 
 determined to go, and his father finally gave in, and Tuesday, 
 one week after the engagement was broken, was the date speci- 
 fied for his departure for Ann Arbor. 
 
 Violet did not appear at the supper table on the night pre- 
 ceding his departure, neither did she put in an appearance 
 at the breakfast table the next morning, although all the 
 rest of the family arose and breakfasted together and 
 escorted him to the 6.30 train. Frank was profuse in 
 expressing his regrets at parting with him, which caused 
 the imp to grunt with disgust and resolve to keep a closer 
 eye on " Marse Frank," for James' sake. 
 
 Catching sight of the imp's sharp, ferret-like eyes fast- 
 ened upon his face, Frank growled in an undertone for him 
 to make himself scarce, or it would be the worse for his black 
 hide when he caught him in the barn. 
 
72 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 The words were not spoken so low but that James heard 
 them, and turning to his brother he said, " Frank, let the 
 little fellow remain. Can you not see that he misses me as 
 much as the rest?" 
 
 " Oh, well, let him remain if he wants to," replied Frank, 
 carelessly, but giving the imp a black look which boded no 
 good for that youngster later on. But Elph did not notice 
 the look, being too busy with his present sorrows to think of 
 the future, and had he done so it would have made no differ- 
 ence, as he was always on the alert when Frank was around. 
 
 The train finally steamed up, the last good-byes were said, 
 and James was fairly launched upon the road to his career 
 as a physician. His mother was the last to wave her hand- 
 kerchief, as the train slowly pulled out of the station, and 
 wish her boy God-speed and success. 
 
 It was with a sinking heart that he watched the old 
 familiar landmarks fade from view, and a strange foreboding 
 of evil hung heavily upon him which he was unable to shake 
 off. 
 
 The sad parting with Violet troubled him not a little, and 
 he wondered what the outcome would be, little dreaming of 
 the terrible events to take place in a short time after his 
 departure. 
 
 Ann Arbor was reached about noon, and James went at 
 once to his hotel. He was kept busy the rest of the day 
 looking after his luggage and straightening up and arrang- 
 ing his room. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Bmt* in 
 
 While James is beginning his college career let us return 
 again to Mt. Vernon. 
 
 His departure gave Frank a savage kind of joy that was 
 more like a wild beast's pleasure than a human being's, and 
 he resolved to take good care that no communication passed 
 between them. 
 
 Violet tried to hide her aching heart from the world by 
 assuming a forced gayety. She attended the theaters and balls 
 and was the life and light of every party, and no one ever 
 guessed her secret outside of the immediate family. Mr. 
 Vernon's eyes were opened to the truth at last, and he was 
 grieved to the heart. 
 
 Frank was ever at her side and accompanied her every- 
 where, but he was far too wise to speak a word of love to 
 her yet, contenting himself by merely being her escort. He 
 bided his time and laid a snare whereby he hoped to make 
 Violet his wife and stop forever all danger of a reconcilia- 
 tion between James and Violet. Susanne had served him BO 
 well that he resolved to seek her aid again, and accordingly 
 set himself to watch her movements, and when she left her 
 home one afternoon to do some shopping uptown (it must be 
 remembered that Mt. Vernon was but a small city, and its 
 inhabitants usually walked to the business center), he man- 
 aged to overtake her as if by accident. Raising his hat, he 
 politely saluted her, suavely inquiring after her health. 
 Susanne greeted him, and at once guessed that he had some 
 object in view. Some few moments were passed, and com- 
 monplace remarks exchanged, Frank walking by her side. 
 Finally Susanne asked abruptly, " Frank, what new scheme 
 is it that you now have in mind ? " 
 
 73 
 
74 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 " Ah, Susie ! " he exclaimed, " how refreshingly plain you 
 are ! You make my task so much easier." 
 
 " Out with it, then ! And if you have any plans as good as 
 the last, you may count on my aid." 
 
 They turned into a side street, where there was less chance 
 of being interrupted, and Frank unfolded his plot, which was 
 as follows: 
 
 Susanne was to go to Violet and tell her the same tale that 
 had been told in the grape arbor on the night of the party, 
 and ask Violet's advice as to what course to pursue. They 
 well knew that Violet would advise her to go to James and 
 implore him to marry her. Susanne was to apparently follow 
 Violefs advice, but in reality go on a visit to some relatives 
 in Jackson City. She was to remain a few days, and then 
 return and tell Violet that he had scorned and laughed at her 
 appeals, saying that he meant to marry Violet in a few 
 months. 
 
 This, as a matter of course, would harden Violet's heart 
 toward him, and he (Frank) would manage to ask her to be 
 his wife while she was yet angry. 
 
 Upon being informed that Violet was alone almost any 
 afternoon, Susanne promised Frank she would call upon her 
 the following day, and then they parted, Frank retracing his 
 steps in the direction of the bank, while Susanne headed for 
 the one department store the town boasted of. 
 
 The next afternoon fell clear and bright. Susanne stood in 
 a flood of sunlight on the veranda of The Corners, stylishly 
 clad in a dainty gown of white. Lifting her white silk sun- 
 shade, she walked orer to Greenwold, the distance being 
 hardly long enough to make it necessary to order the carriage. 
 
 Arriving at thQ Vernon home, her ring was answered by 
 old Uncle Joe, and Susanne asked to see Miss Violet. Violet 
 came down, looking very sweet in her negligee of white silk 
 and lace. After greetings were exchanged, Susanne said, 
 " Violet, will you kindly grant me an interview in some 
 secluded place, where there is no danger of interruption ? " 
 
THE DOVE IN THE EAGLETS NEST. 75 
 
 Violet kindly assented, and led her upstairs to her room and 
 closed and locked the door against all intrusion. 
 
 " Violet," began Susanne, " I am so miserable and unhappy. 
 I have no dear, kind sister at home, nor any trusted friend 
 to whom I feel as if I could tell my trouble and ask advice, 
 and I would rather die than to tell my mother. So you will 
 pardon me for coming to you, and bear kindly with me, will 
 you not, dear Violet ? " 
 
 Violet looked kindly at her. She spoke the words so sin- 
 cerely that Violet's heart was touched, and there was pity in 
 her gaze. Susanne continued: 
 
 " You are such a good, sweet girl, Violet ; you are so kind 
 and generous-hearted toward others, and I know how thor- 
 oughly trustworthy you are in keeping faith with others, and, 
 knowing that my secret would never pass your lips, is it any 
 wonder that I was tempted to come to you for counsel and 
 advice? Besides, Violet, what young girl in this city have I 
 known longer or could trust more than you ? " 
 
 Susanne covered her face with her hands, and her form 
 trembled as with an excess of emotion, while she let her head 
 droop a little, lightly touching Violet's shoulder. Violet laid 
 her hand gently on Susanne's brown hair and spoke softly, 
 saying in a sympathetic voice, "My poor girl! Do not be 
 afraid to tell me all, and if my sympathy will give you a slight 
 consolation, you have it all." 
 
 Thus encouraged, Susanne lifted her dark eyes to Violet's, 
 and, with many tears and sobs, recited the story of her wrong- 
 doing and of her grief and anguish, begging Violet to more 
 pity than blame her, she had suffered so much. When she 
 came to James' name, Violet's face turned white, her eyes 
 became hard and stern for an instant, and she pressed her 
 hands tightly together. With an effort, she controlled her 
 emotion and forced herself to speak calmly to Susanne, advis- 
 ing her to go to Ann Arbor and interview James at once and 
 implore him to save her honor and marry her immediately. 
 
 At last, after gaining a promise from Violet to divulge her 
 
76 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 secret to no one, she took her departure, Violet expressing 
 her sympathy and kind offers of help in any way that she 
 might be able to render her assistance. 
 
 Walking slowly homeward, Susanne was revolving in her 
 mind the balance of her plan of campaign, a slow, sarcastic 
 smile flitting over her lips as she thoughtfully read the address 
 on a slip of white paper which Violet had given her, mur- 
 muring aloud, " James Vernon, Esq., The Calumet House, 
 Ann Arbor, Michigan." "Yes," she continued, her smile 
 broadening ; " I'll go to Ann Arbor, but I don't think I shall 
 present myself at The Calumet House, nor inquire for Mr. 
 James Vernon. I will tell mother to-night," she mused, " that 
 I am going to take to-morrow afternoon's train for Ann Arbor 
 and expect to spend a few days there with my old chum, 
 Henrietta Valentine, who wrote me to meet her there on Sat- 
 urday morning and stay over Sunday with her to attend 
 the special opening service of the Church of the Redeemer, 
 after which she would return to her father's farm in Monroe 
 County, and I to The Corners. I am quite sure that mother 
 and father will not oppose my going nor question me too 
 closely. They always let me have my own way. Then I think 
 I had better go to Ann Arbor instead of Jackson City. I 
 can engage a room at some hotel and stay in closely for a 
 few days. It might prove embarrassing for me afterward 
 should Aunt Emma refer to my visit there and ma should find 
 that I went there, when I told her I was going to Ann Arbor, 
 and it is best to tell ma that I am going to the same place as 
 Violet thinks I am bound for." 
 
 Thinking thus, she finally reached home, and that evening 
 made her excuses to her parents for her visit to Ann Arbor. 
 
 The next day Susanne hurriedly made the necessary- 
 preparations for her journey, and, dressed in a neat, black 
 traveling suit, and carrying a small grip in her hand, she 
 wended her way to the depot to board the four p.m. train. 
 She had not more than reached the station platform when 
 her eye fell on a tidy little phaeton approaching, its sole occu- 
 
THE DOVE IN THE EAGLETS NEST. 77 
 
 pant being Violet herself, who was driving her special pets, a 
 pair of beautiful little Shetland ponies. Violet quickly drove 
 up to her side, and the two girls had barely time to exchange 
 good-byes before Susanne was obliged to board the train 
 which in a moment was puffing out of the station. 
 
 On the fifth day after her departure Susanne returned to 
 Mt. Vernon, reaching the town about 9.00 a.m. As she was 
 walking up the street which led to her home, she met Frank 
 Vernon, who greeted her cordially, and pleasantly inquired 
 how she had enjoyed herself. She sarcastically replied that 
 Ann Arbor was a very pretty place, but she had to imagine 
 what the most of it looked like. Saying that she was ready to 
 play the rest of her little part, and wishing him success, she 
 started to proceed on her way, but was stopped by Prank, 
 saying : 
 
 " Susie, all the folks at home are going to attend a large 
 social function this evening, but I hardly think Violet will 
 go. If she doesn't, I will skip over early in the evening to let 
 you know, and you go over to interview her to-night, will 
 you?" 
 
 " Yes, Frank/' she answered, " I might as well go to-night 
 as any time/' 
 
 With these words she left him and proceeded on her way 
 homeward. 
 
 Everything favored their plans. That evening at the sup- 
 per table Violet excused herself from accompanying the 
 family, saying that she was tired and did not feel well from 
 the effects of a slight cold she had taken the night before 
 while at the Grandon's ball. 
 
 Frank told his father that he wished to work over his books 
 at the bank that evening, and soon after supper called on 
 Susanne and informed her that Violet would be alone during 
 the evening. She was to call on Violet, tell her of her recep- 
 tion at James' hands, declare that she meant to kill herself 
 and then depart, leaving the coast clear for Frank. 
 
 She felt there was no chance of winning James herself, but 
 
78 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 she took a fierce delight in torturing and making trouble for 
 the girl whom she felt had always stood between them. 
 
 The clock struck eight, and Violet sat alone in the drawing- 
 room. She was seated in an easy rocker,, her head resting 
 on her hand and thinking so deeply that she did not hear the 
 ring of the door-bell. The second peal aroused her, and she 
 answered the summons. Flinging back the door, she 
 exclaimed, " Ah, Susanne ! So you have returned." 
 
 " Yes, and with such despairing tidings," she murmured, 
 in a low voice, as Violet sank on the sofa. Susanne threw 
 aside her wrap and seated herself on a low stool at Violet's 
 feet. 
 
 " Ah, Violet, what is there left for me to do but to die ! " 
 she said in a low, quivering voice, letting her head rest lightly 
 against Violet's knee. " My God ! " she went on. " I cannot 
 bear it ! Have I sinned so that I must needs suffer and drain 
 the cup of sorrow to its very dregs? Do I deserve to be put 
 so completely aside, no grain of justice must be meted out to 
 me ? He is cruel ! cruel ! shamefully cruel ! " 
 
 "How did he receive you?" asked Violet mechanically, 
 her voice dry and hard. 
 
 " How did he receive me ! Yes, indeed, how did he receive 
 me? Unfeeling wretch! He who once pretended that he 
 loved me received me with ridicule for seeking him at Ann 
 Arbor, and laughed at my appeals." 
 
 Violet sat looking straight before her, a great pain tugging 
 at her heartstrings. It was so hard to really condemn the 
 man she had loved so well. But Violet's nature was an ardent 
 worshipper of straightforwardness, loyalty and constancy in 
 a human being, and nothing shocked her sensitive nature so 
 much nor could so thoroughly call up her anger and contempt 
 for a person as the act of perpetrating or helping to bring 
 sorrow and distress upon another person and then being dis- 
 loyal and deserting his victim, leaving them to face their 
 despair alone. Slowly an armor of steel was encircling her 
 
THE DOVE IN THE EAGLETS NEST. 79 
 
 heart, and she looked pityingly into Susanne's tear-stained 
 eyes denouncing James bitterly. 
 
 "Yes," repeated Susanne tremulously, her bosom rising 
 and falling rapidly ; " to ridicule me and laugh at my appeals ; 
 to have the utter heartlessness to order me from his presence, 
 saying that he meant to marry Violet Vernon within a few 
 months ! " 
 
 Susanne had risen, and at these words a flash of anger 
 leaped from Violet's eyes as she sprang from her chair and 
 stood facing Susanne. " Marry me, indeed ! " she exclaimed, 
 her voice full of contempt, while her whole form trembled 
 with pride and anger. " We shall see how near his disgusting 
 boasts come to the truth." 
 
 With a gesture of despair, Susanne said, brokenly, "Ah, 
 Violet, we hare both been deceived. Your awakening is very 
 nearly as bitter as mine, and I dare say you suffer about as 
 much as I do/' She took a few steps forward, which brought 
 her near the door. Turning, she lifted her dark, expressive 
 eyes to Violet's and said, tremulously, "Ah, well, there is 
 nothing for me to live for now, and I cannot face the world 
 much longer, and I will never live to face disgrace. I swear 
 that before many days pass over my head I shall seek relief in 
 death, and the only course to pursue is to kill myself. Fare- 
 well ! " 
 
 She passed quickly through the door, closing it behind her. 
 
 The stage remained minus a fine actress as long as Susanne 
 Rothford did not appear upon it. 
 
 Frank was waiting in the garden nearby, and when he saw 
 Susanne retreating down the path he hastily made his way 
 to the house, where he found Violet sitting on a couch gazing 
 straight before her, a hard, set look upon her face, which 
 Frank had never seen there before, and he was really afraid of 
 her for a moment, but muttering, " Now or never," he sat 
 down beside her, and, taking her hand, he began: 
 
 " Violet, I forgot some papers and returned for them. 
 
80 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 And I met Susanne as she was leaving the house. Of course, 
 I cannot but guess as to the import of her visit, and I feel so 
 sorry for you both. Who would have believed that my beloved 
 brother would have turned out to be such a villain ? It nearly 
 breaks my heart, and it is killing you ! " 
 
 " You need not fear for me," she said, in a hard voice. " I 
 shall not let it trouble me ! " 
 
 " Oh, the villain ! to ruin that poor girl's life and then 
 laugh at her appeals for justice ! " 
 
 " I hate him ! hate him ! hate him ! But he shall see that 
 I am not breaking my heart over his falsity," Violet said, 
 passionately. 
 
 " Frank," she exclaimed, recklessly, " you once asked me to 
 be your wife, and I refused; but I have changed my mind 
 now, and if you still desire me to marry you, knowing as you 
 do where my heart lies, I will be your wife." 
 
 The villain's heart gave an exultant bound, and he hid his 
 face in his hands to conceal the malicious smile that over- 
 spread his countenance when he heard her utter those words. 
 Still keeping his face averted, he said in a hypocritical voice, 
 " Violet, are you quite sure that you know what you are 
 saying ? " 
 
 " Yes, quite sure," she affirmed, speaking in the same hard 
 tone. " If you wish me to marry you I will do so, providing 
 the marriage takes place immediately." 
 
 That was just what the young scoundrel wanted above all 
 things, for he was afraid that she would change her mind 
 after reflecting the matter over. 
 
 Taking her hand, he said, " Violet, you have made me the 
 happiest man on earth to-night." 
 
 Receiving no answer, he ventured to put his arm around her 
 slender form and attempted to kiss her, but she drew away 
 with a shudder, and he arose muttering, "Never mind, my 
 haughty lady; my turn will come when we are married, and 
 then you shall pay dearly for every repulse I have met at your 
 hands. Aloud he said, " I will leave you now, dearest, for you 
 
THE DOVE IN THE EAGLETS NEST. 81 
 
 are tired, and had better retire and get a good night's rest." 
 Passing through the door, he murmured, " Good-night, dear." 
 
 " Good-night," she replied absently. 
 
 When he had gone, she arose and went to her own apart- 
 ments and threw herself on the bed without disrobing, but 
 sleep did not visit her eyes that night. Poor, deceived Violet ! 
 Could you have but known the misery your rash act was to 
 inflict upon yourself and the noble man who loved you, what 
 a different ending would this tale have had ! 
 
 Frank was astir early the next morning, contrary to his 
 usual custom, and at breakfast announced that he and Violet 
 would be married that afternoon and start on their honey- 
 moon trip at 4.00 p.m. The family was struck speechless with 
 surprise, but Frank was bubbling over with joy and merri- 
 ment and laughed and joked at their astonishment. He went 
 to the bank to make the necessary arrangements for his depart- 
 ure, and then went forth to engage the services of a minister. 
 In those days there was no such formality as the marriage 
 license. 
 
 Violet did not appear until later in the forenoon. Her 
 cheeks were flushed and there was an unwonted brilliancy in 
 her eyes. She apologized for the abruptness of their marriage, 
 saying that they had made up their minds quite suddenly. 
 
 Poor Mrs. Vernon suspected all was not right, but she was 
 powerless and could do nothing. It was with a heavy heart 
 that she set about making the preparations for the forthcom- 
 ing wedding. Mary was more outspoken, and declared she 
 believed they were both crazy, but Frank only laughed at her. 
 He could afford to be forgiving now. The game was as good 
 as won. Mr. Vernon said nothing. It had always been his 
 dearest wish that James and Violet would some day be united 
 in marriage, and it had never entered his mind that she and 
 Frank would ever bear that relationship to each other. He 
 was greatly puzzled at the rapid changes which were taking 
 place of late, but was powerless as was Mrs. Vernon to do any- 
 thing in regard to them. 
 
82 THE MEKCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 The ceremony took place at 3.00 p.m., and no person out- 
 side of the immediate family, and the servants, who retired 
 to a far corner of the drawing-room, witnessed it. Mr. Ver- 
 non gave the bride away, and Mary acted as bridesmaid, much 
 against her will. 
 
 Elph refused to be present at all, and upon learning of the- 
 forthcoming marriage he hurried away to the woods and did 
 not put in an appearance for three days, loyal little fellow to 
 James that he was ! 
 
 Violet was as pale as death, and her responses were so low 
 and tremulous that the man of God had to bend his head to 
 catch her words. When the words, " Do you promise to love, 
 honor and obey ? " were reached, she faltered and would have 
 fallen, but Frank sustained her, saying in an undertone, 
 "Don't be a fool!" 
 
 She aroused herself with an effort and managed to go 
 through the rest of the ceremony without faltering, and in a 
 few minutes they were being whirled toward the depot. 
 
 They visited several of the Western States, even penetrating 
 to far west Colorado, but even the lofty Eocky Mountains of 
 that beautiful State had no interest for her, and nothing 
 seemed to be able to arouse her out of her apathy. 'Frank 
 tried every means to arouse her, but made a dismal failure of 
 it, and finally, losing patience, he grew sulky and started for 
 home. There a beautiful little cottage overlooking the river 
 had been prepared for them by Mr. and Mrs. Vernon. 
 
 Mrs. Vernon had arranged the interior with her own hands, 
 Mary refusing to have anything whatever to do with it, saying 
 it was a shame the way Violet had treated James. Her mother 
 remonstrated with her, but Mary was stubborn, and firmly 
 stood her ground, and she finally gave up, and with a sigh said, 
 " Well, I hope all will come right in the end." 
 
 Mary, with a disdainful shrug of her shapely shoulders, 
 remarked, " It is all wrong from beginning to end, and there 
 is a mystery here which I mean to solve." 
 
 Frank's parents and his sister were at the depot to meet 
 
THE DOVE IN THE EAGLETS NEST. 83 
 
 them on their return, and they immediately escorted them to 
 their new home. 
 
 The travelers laid aside their wraps and baggage, refreshed 
 themselves by a thorough application of soap and water and a 
 touch of eau de cologne, after brushing well their dusty gar- 
 ments, and then repaired to the beautifully-appointed little 
 drawing-room. The family group had conversed but a few 
 moments when the folding doors of the dining-room were 
 thrown open, and Aunt Lizzie's shining face smiled at them 
 from the archway. With a courtesy to Frank and Violet, she 
 said: 
 
 " Welcome, Marse Frank and Missy Violet, and Ise indeed 
 very glad to see you home again safe and well. Ole Missy 
 Vernon desired to have youse eat yuh first meal upon arriving 
 in de town in yuh new home, and I done spec'ally requested 
 the pleasure of preparing it for yuh. Will yuh please to come 
 dis way ? " waving her hand toward the dining-room, " and 
 also the rest of the party, and partake of my pooh efforts ? " 
 
 Violet took her old mammy's hand and thanked her warmly 
 for her kind thoughtfulness, and Frank smiled at her and 
 thanked her kindly. Frank and Violet then led the way into 
 the dining-room, and the party seated themselves at the 
 splendidly-arrayed table, which shone with silver and cut glass. 
 The decorations were simple, but beautiful, and were in purple 
 and white. The center piece was a beautiful " Hearts and 
 Flowers " done in violets. On either end of the table stood 
 tall vases of lovely white roses, exhaling their delicate perfume 
 around the room. The little party did ample justice to the 
 dainty, appetizing viands which Aunt Lizzie placed before 
 them. 
 
 When luncheon was over Mr. Vernon showed them about the 
 house, and both Frank and Violet admired the tastefully and 
 well-appointed rooms. 
 
 Upon coming to the window overlooking the old dam, he 
 called his son's attention to the picturesque view. 
 
 As Frank looked upon that scene a vision of a girl pleading 
 
84 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VEKNON. 
 
 for life, love and justice arose in his mind, and then the wild, 
 horrible struggle on the brink of the rushing waters, followed 
 by a sickening splash and then silence! 
 
 With a sickening sense of guilt and fear, he sank into a 
 chair. Mr. Vernon quickly sprang to his side, saying, " What 
 is the matter, my son ? Are you ill ? " 
 
 " No ! no ! it is nothing ; only a dizziness caused by my 
 long journey on the train." Eecovering himself with an effort, 
 he stepped out on the veranda with his father and made a 
 pretense of admiring the beautiful lawns. 
 
 They soon took their leave, believing that Frank was tired 
 out and needed rest, and in truth they both did. 
 
 It was decided that Hattie and Tobias should live with 
 Frank, Hattie to do the cooking and Tobias to be man of all 
 work, and Mrs. Vernon employ white persons to fill their 
 places in her establishment. 
 
 As soon as they were alone Frank put his arms about Violet, 
 saying, " Welcome home, little wife, and may our home be a 
 peaceful and happy one." 
 
 For the first time a feeling of tenderness toward Frank 
 entered her heart, and she put her arms around his neck and 
 said, " Frank, I will try to make our home a happy one ! " 
 
 A look of joy overspread his face, for, with all his faults, 
 he loved her, loved her madly with a love that was fatal to 
 him and all who came between them. 
 
 For the first time she noticed how pale he had grown of late, 
 and her conscience smote her. " How he loves me," she mused 
 to herself. " I am now his wife and I will try to make him 
 as happy as I can." 
 
 Ah ! could she have but known that his paleness was caused 
 by fear as the memory of that fatal April night came rushing 
 to his mind. Not that he had ever forgotten! Ofttimes in 
 the midst of his slumbers he would start up with a shudder of 
 fear, that last wild cry of Marguerite ringing in his ears. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 With the reader's kind permission we will leave Frank and 
 Violet to begin their wedded life in peace while we once 
 more take up the thread of James' career as he enters 
 college. 
 
 His prowess as an athlete was well known, as he had taken 
 part in several contests in various parts of the State before 
 entering college. 
 
 He had little heart left for sports now, but there was no 
 chance to escape from it, and he was elected captain of the 
 baseball team, and his pitching soon made him the pet and 
 pride of the University. 
 
 A rival team from the University of Ohio had won the 
 pennant for the past two years. Wilford Ellis, an Ohio 
 student, and a famous athlete, had been the cause of the 
 Ohio team winning all the games for the past two years. 
 This was his last year at college, and he determined to finish 
 his college career with the greatest victory he had yet 
 achieved, and it must be confessed that things did look 
 pretty blue for Ann Arbor until James arrived. His pitch- 
 ing was the marvel of the University, and the hopes of all 
 were built upon his skill with the ball. " Vernon," they 
 would say, "will surely set us up straight this time." 
 
 Both colleges determined to make a supreme effort to win 
 the pennant this year, and the series of games scheduled to 
 take place promised to be the most exciting in the history of 
 the Universities. 
 
 On the same day that James was elected captain of the 
 baseball team Frank and Violet were united in marriage. 
 As he proudly led his team to the diamond for the first time 
 he little dreamed that his little lost sweetheart at home was 
 
 85 
 
86 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 at that very hour breathing the solemn vows which made her 
 the bride of another. 
 
 A few days later a newspaper clipping announcing the 
 marriage of Frank and Violet was sent him by his father, 
 not one of the family having the courage to pen the bitter 
 words themselves. Had a bolt of lightning fallen from a 
 clear sky he could not have been more surprised, and the 
 news utterly crushed that proud spirit. 
 
 He had not even dreamed that Violet would do such a 
 thing, although he was well aware that she believed him to 
 be false to her. Many a sleepless night he spent after read- 
 ing that fatal bit of newspaper clipping, which meant so 
 much to him, severing him forever from the woman who was 
 all the world to him. 
 
 There were many strangers in the city trying to get a 
 glimpse of the great pitcher at work. 
 
 Old baseball fans had at first laughed at the idea of the 
 junior being pitted against the seasoned veteran of three 
 years, but the two previous games had opened their eyes and 
 betting was at fever height. It started out at three to one 
 in favor of the Ohio team, but on the day of the great game 
 it dropped to even money, so confident were the followers of 
 each team. 
 
 The faculty forbade any wagers being made on the ball 
 grounds, but plenty of bets were made in spite of the pre- 
 cautions. 
 
 The city of Mt. Vernon was nearly depopulated on the 
 day of the great ball game. A general holiday was declared, 
 and everybody went who could raise the carfare. James had 
 been a universal favorite at home, and they all went to cheer 
 him on to victory. 
 
 Such a thing as defeat was not to be tolerated in Mt. Ver- 
 non, and any one daring to venture an opinion otherwise was 
 in danger of sustaining great bodily harm. 
 
 Elph was James' most ardent admirer, and it would not 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 87 
 
 have been safe to mention defeat in that young gentleman's 
 presence. 
 
 All the Vernon family went, including Uncle Joe, Aunt 
 Lizzie, Tobias, Hattie, and the imp as a matter of course. 
 He would have gone if he had been obliged to have walked 
 all the way. But that young gentleman had shown an 
 unusual zeal in fishing of late, and he had saved up about 
 seven dollars, which was bet in Ann Arbor at even money 
 with a colored barber of Ohio, a great admirer of Wilford 
 Ellis. 
 
 Frank had to go and take Violet, of course; but it was with 
 a wish to see James defeated and humiliated in her eyes that 
 he went. 
 
 Since their marriage they had been drifting steadily apart, 
 in spite of all Violet's good resolutions to be a true wife to 
 him in every sense of the word and make him happy. She 
 tried, God knows how hard, but it was impossible, and her 
 indifference aroused all of his old-time jealousy of his 
 brother, and they quarreled openly several times, Frank 
 accusing her of still loving her false lover, which Violet 
 neither affirmed nor denied. 
 
 Several times, when under the influence of liquor, which 
 was often of late, he threatened to strike her, but there was 
 a calm, quiet dignity about her which warned him not to go 
 too far. 
 
 What Violet's feelings were, at the prospect of going to 
 Ann Arbor, can be better imagined than described. The 
 mad desire to see him, and the mingling of fear and dread 
 lest she should break down entirely, entertaining the de- 
 cision not to go, struggled for supremacy in her bosom. A 
 few remarks made by her husband while intoxicated, and his 
 strange fright at times, had caused her to half believe she 
 had fallen the victim of a vile plot, and she bitterly re- 
 proached herself for promising to become his wife against 
 all her better nature and woman's instinct; but Frank had 
 
88 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 played his cards well and she was cleverly trapped and now 
 helpless, for they had been married nearly seven months and 
 she was soon to become a mother. 
 
 The Mt. Vernon train arrived at Ann Arbor at 11.30 a.m., 
 on the day of the great game, and James was at the depot to 
 meet them. With a steady voice he congratulated Frank 
 and Violet, and wished them much happiness. 
 
 Frank was equal to the occasion, and placing his arm 
 about the waist of Violet, said with a smile, " We are as 
 happy as two doves, are we not, little wife? " The movement 
 caused a spasm of pain to shoot through the heart of poor 
 James. She looked so pale and wan, unconsciously repel- 
 ling the advances of Frank. Ah, how different had she 
 looked when his arms had been about her hundreds of times 
 in the past, a past which is but a dream now, and the bitter 
 awakening only just beginning to make itself felt to both of 
 those loving hearts, which by every law of nature should have 
 been united. 
 
 She looked so white and ill James feared she was going to 
 faint, and he was about to hasten for a glass of water when 
 his brother stopped him, saying that the attack was momen- 
 tarily caused by her somewhat poor health of late, and the 
 excitement of the journey and game was a little too much 
 for her. " With a little rest," he remarked, " she will be all 
 right and able to cheer with the rest of them for the victory 
 of Ann Arbor." But under his breath he muttered a deep 
 curse, wishing the defeat of his brother and devoutly hoping 
 he would somehow manage to break his neck in the coming 
 scrimmage. 
 
 The party repaired to a hotel, when dinner was partaken 
 of, and then went to the ball grounds, where a little prelimi- 
 nary practice was done by both teams before the game was 
 called. 
 
 During a lull in the practice James made his way to the 
 grand stand, where they were sitting. Frank opened the dis- 
 course by saying that after seeing the rival team it was his 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 89 
 
 candid opinion the Michigan team did not stand the ghost 
 of a show, which only caused James to smile and say, 
 " Wait." 
 
 Frank's remark seemed to anger Violet, who aroused her- 
 self from her usual indifference long enough to say: 
 
 " He has never been defeated in a contest yet, and I would 
 stake my very life that he won't be this time! " 
 
 James said nothing, but the look in his eyes as they met 
 hers seemed to say, " I have lost the one great contest that 
 made life worth living." But the thought that he still held 
 a small share of her confidence made him resolve to win in 
 spite of the heavy odds which he knew were against him. 
 
 Frank said lightly, although there was a dangerous gleam 
 in his eyes, " I have not heard you speak so enthusiastically 
 for several months upon any subject." 
 
 Her old-time spirits seemed to return, and she exclaimed, 
 <e Who is there here that is not enthusiastic? Is this not the 
 day when Michigan shall do herself proud, and who but our 
 dear Jimmie shall lead them on to victory? " 
 
 "Hurrah for Ann Arbor!" shouted little Elph, rising in 
 his seat, unable to keep still any longer. The shout was 
 taken up by the rooters of the Michigan University, and a 
 defiant shout was hurled back from the ranks of the Ohio 
 supporters. 
 
 Seeing the impression the imp had made on the crowd, 
 Mr. Vernon raised him up at arm's length, telling him to 
 hurrah for Michigan again. 
 
 This caused a great shout to go up of " The mascot! the 
 mascot! " and instantly a dozen eager hands were raised to 
 catch the imp and hurry him off to a seat of honor. The 
 pennant was placed in his hands, which he took as a matter 
 of course, and seemed to feel the full importance of his; 
 position. He did not forget to turn around and grin sar- 
 donically at Aunt Lizzie, however. That old lady was too 
 wrought up now, however, to let such a trifle ruffle her feel- 
 ings, and seemed glad to see the imp at the post of honor. 
 
90 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 "Rubbish," muttered Frank, contemptuously, under his 
 breath, but not so low as to escape the sharp ears of Mary, 
 who said: 
 
 " Why, brother, you act as if you really wanted to see our 
 team defeated." 
 
 " Nonsense," replied Frank. " Of course, I want them to 
 win, but this tomfoolery positively makes me sick." 
 
 " Well, it don't me," said Violet, " and I mean to cheer 
 myself hoarse every time the Michigan team scores." 
 
 " Well, you will be spared the suffering of much hoarse- 
 ness, then, for if I am not mistaken they will not be able to 
 make a single score against that great, strong team from 
 Ohio. Why, every man of them outweighs the Michigan 
 team by at least several pounds, and they've got the best 
 pitcher in the country." 
 
 " Pardon me," said Violet; "that is simply a matter of 
 opinion, which will be decided in a very short while. For my 
 part, I think James made by far the best showing in the 
 exercise a short while ago." 
 
 " You are wilfully blind to-day," said Frank, savagely, los- 
 ing all self-control, and a scene was probably narrowly 
 averted by the umpire calling time. 
 
 Short speeches were made by the presidents of both Uni- 
 versities, and the game opened up with the Ohio team in the 
 field and the home team at the bat. 
 
 The ball whizzed over the plate with the speed of a verita- 
 ble cannon ball, and one batter after another was struck out 
 in quick succession by the champion of Ohio. A prolonged 
 " Ah! " went up from the Ohio delegation as each batter 
 resumed his seat and another quickly took his place. 
 
 Three men were struck at the plate without a single hit, 
 which caused a great shout of laughter and derision from 
 the rival rooters, but it was answered as defiantly as ever by 
 the home team, although some began to look a little glum. 
 
 As the teams changed places, and James took his place in 
 the box, the imp arose and delivered the following speech: 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 91 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen, Marse Jimmie will now give you 
 an exhibition of his wonderful pitching, which will consist 
 of putting nine balls directly over the plate and not letting 
 any of the batters to strike them, which action will be an 
 exact duplicate of what Marse Will has just done." 
 
 The last speech of the imp simply brought the house 
 -down. It caused the whole audience to be convulsed with 
 laughter, and a large, black-whiskered man in the crowd 
 shouted out: 
 
 " You little black cuss, if he can do that times enough to 
 win this game, HI buy you the best suit of clothes in Ann 
 Arbor. I have two thousand dollars bet that Ann Arbor 
 wins." 
 
 "Well, dat am my suit of clothes all right 'nough," re- 
 turned the imp, as if the matter was already settled and he 
 was strutting about the streets of Mt. Vernon showing his 
 trophy of the ball game. 
 
 " Play ball/' shouted the umpire at this point, putting a 
 stop to further conversation. 
 
 The eyes of James wandered over the vast throng in the 
 grand stand and met those of Violet, fixed upon him with 
 a look that made him forget she now belonged to another. 
 A little white handkerchief was waved at him, and forget- 
 ting all else save that look and a grim desire to win now at 
 all hazards, he threw the ball, straight and swift as an arrow, 
 directly over the plate. The move was so quick, and the ball 
 was thrown so hard, that the batter had not time to even 
 raise his bat. The umpire shouted in a hoarse voice, " Strike 
 one! " A prolonged " Ah! " was heard from the wearers of 
 the blue, the Michigan team. (The Ohio team chose yellow 
 for their color.) 
 
 The catcher threw the ball back. The batter gritted his 
 teeth, struck his bat on the ground defiantly, and dared 
 James to throw another ball just like it. James seemed to 
 take the challenge, for the ball whizzed straight for the 
 plate. The batter got ready to fairly knock the cover off. 
 
92 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 but lo! when within a few feet of him it suddenly shot toward 
 him, and he hastily stepped back and the ball flew past. The 
 umpire in a hoarse voice again called out, "Strike two!" 
 Another prolonged "Ah!" from the blue, a yell of delight 
 from the imp, and the ball was again tossed back to the 
 pitcher. 
 
 James' eyes again wandered to the grand stand, a little 
 white handkerchief was once more waved and the ball again 
 shot straight as an arrow over the base, fooling the batter, 
 who was now on the lookout for the much-talked-of curves- 
 of the Michigan pitcher. 
 
 " Strike three and the batter out," shouted the umpire 
 once more. 
 
 The batter took his place on the benches and another took 
 up his position, only to share a like fate. The third one 
 fared no better than his brethren, and the teams again 
 changed places, neither side scoring the slightest advantage 
 thus far. 
 
 It now seemed to be purely a pitcher's battle, and was 
 growing a little monotonous for the rest of the players, who 
 were beginning to wish something would happen to enable 
 them to win a few laurels. 
 
 The game progressed nearly in the same manner for seven 
 innings, neither side being able to reach first base, although 
 one hit on each side was made. 
 
 Never before had such ball playing been seen in the State, 
 and the excitement was intense, people shouting, laughing, 
 gesticulating and cheering the players on to victory, the 
 only cool persons on the grounds being the two pitchers, who 
 remained as cool and calm as if nothing out of the ordinary 
 had happened. It was purely a question of endurance now 
 between them, although the stalwart figure of the Ohio man 
 seemed bound to win in the end, being fully twenty-five- 
 pounds heavier than his opponent, and the muscles stood out 
 on his brawny, dark arms like huge whip cords. 
 
 The fair white arms of James, although large and well 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 93 
 
 proportioned, looked like mere reeds when compared to his 
 rival's, but the sinewy muscles concealed beneath his white 
 skin were like bands of solid steel, and one had but to grasp 
 them in their hands to realize the enormous strength and 
 endurance that lay beneath the exterior. 
 
 In the eighth inning the Ohio team scored one tally. The 
 batter got to first base on a dead ball, and another got a base 
 on balls. This left a man on first and another on second 
 base, with the heaviest batter of the Ohio team at the bat; 
 in fact, it was this same batter who scored the only hit 
 in the game so far. 
 
 They had thrown two balls. One was declared a strike by 
 the umpire and one a ball. 
 
 The third whizzed through with dizzy speed, but the bat- 
 ter managed to connect somehow with the ball and knocked 
 it to left field, where it was stopped by the fielder, who threw 
 it to the pitcher's box, but the ball flew high and sped over 
 James' head and toward the grand stand, with the man on 
 second base now around on the home stretch. James ran to 
 the home plate while the catcher pursued the ball, but he 
 was too late to stop the runner, who sprawled on the home 
 plate just as the catcher threw the ball to James. This gave 
 the Ohio team the advantage. It was now the eighth inning 
 and they had one tally with two men on bases, one on second 
 base and the other on the third. 
 
 The pitcher of the rival team came to the bat and chal- 
 lenged James to throw one over the plate so that he could 
 knock the cover off. 
 
 The excitement was now intense. With two men on bases 
 and one tally to nothing, it was looking exceedingly blue for 
 the University of Michigan. 
 
 The Ohio rooters were howling themselves hoarse, but 
 they were still answered defiantly by the Wolverines. The 
 fat man was now wildly excited and arose from his seat, 
 shouting, " Hold them down, young man! Hold them down, 
 young man! Five hundred dollars is yours if you beat 
 them/' 
 
94 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 "Don't you worry 'bout dat, Mr. fat man," bawled out 
 the imp. " We's gest agoing to win dis hereh game in a 
 walk. Why, Marse James is only fooling with dem fellers. 
 Jest you wait till de next round of dis hereh fight; we's 
 agoing to make dem Buckeye fellers look like thirty-cent 
 pieces." 
 
 There were some, however, who were not so sanguine, for 
 they remembered the eight hard-fought innings with no 
 scores on either side. 
 
 The batter waved his bat defiantly at the pitcher. He now 
 imagined James was about fagged out, and it would be easy 
 to find him. He was sadly disappointed, for James was now 
 desperate. Three balls were thrown directly over the plate 
 in quick succession, with a savage fury that exceeded all of 
 the pitching done thus far during the game. 
 
 The umpire called the first one a strike, and the batter 
 framed the air the last two, leaving the two men to die on 
 bases. 
 
 The teams changed places once more. It was the home 
 team's last chance to score, while the Ohio team had yet 
 another chance. The first batter was struck out, but Slim, 
 the second batter, got a base on a dead ball, and James came 
 to the plate. It was now the last chance to win the game, 
 but there was small hope, for even should he succeed in con- 
 necting with the Ohio man's dizzy curves, he would have to 
 make a home run. The next to bat was Felix Murphy, a 
 first-class second base man, but his one weak point was being 
 a poor batter, and there was absolutely no chance whatever 
 of any assistance from that source. 
 
 The first two balls thrown were too high and the umpire 
 called out two balls. The third and fourth were strikes. 
 Nearly every one had now given up all hope of Michigan 
 winning the game. 
 
 The fat man arose in his seat and bawled out, " Young 
 man, you have done well, but the other fellow was too big 
 and strong for you. I have lost two thousand dollars, but 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 95 
 
 I don't regret the bet, and would bet another two thousand 
 even money on another game. It is the greatest ball game 
 I ever witnessed." 
 
 A cheer greeted this speech, but the imp instantly arose, 
 mad as a hornet. 
 
 " See hereh, you big, good-f or-nothin' stiff," he shouted, 
 "who tole you we done gwine to lose dis hereh game? Is 
 you trying to get out ob buying dat air suit of clothes? If 
 you is, youse gwine to habe trouble with dis hereh young 
 col'od gentleman cause Fs a man ob honor and allus pays 
 when I loses and wants ma dough when I wins. Marse 
 James is gwine to make a home run dis next time." 
 
 " Oh, that's all right, young man, you'll get your suit of 
 clothes and a gold watch in the bargain." 
 
 "Golly, am dat so?" shouted the imp. "Well, just wait 
 until Marse Jimmie makes this home run." 
 
 These remarks were greeted with a yell of derision by the 
 crowd of Ohio rooters, who now thought there was not a 
 ghost of a show for the Michigan team. 
 
 James' eyes once more wandered to the sea of faces in 
 the grand stand, where Violet and the rest of the family 
 were sitting. He saw the face of Frank light up with a cruel 
 smile, while Violet's face was deathly pale with anger. 
 Frank saw James looking at them at that moment, and said 
 something to Violet. She turned her head, and seeing 
 James gazing at her, spellbound, she arose from her seat, 
 but was quickly pulled back by Frank. James watched 
 closely and he saw Frank look at her sternly and say some- 
 thing to her, the import of which James had to guess. 
 
 All this transpired in much less time than it takes to tell 
 it. The Ohio pitcher had seen the little by-play going on in 
 the grand stand, and was so interested a spectator that he 
 neglected to throw the ball during this short space of time; 
 in fact, let the man on first base steal down to second base. 
 Had he thrown the ball, the result of the game would have 
 been much different. James was so dumfounded at the scene 
 
96 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 enacted before his eyes that in all probability the pitcher could 
 have thrown the ball and he would not have been prepared 
 to strike at it. But he was now, however, for he saw the look 
 in his brother's eyes and the cruel desire on Frank's part to see 
 him defeated and humiliated in Violet's eyes. 
 
 Even had he lost the game, it would have made him none 
 the less popular. The gallant fight he put up against the 
 heretofore invincible Ohio man who had enjoyed easy vic- 
 tories over all his antagonists so far would have won him the 
 admiration of the base-ball fans of both sides. 
 
 The umpire was getting impatient by now and called out, 
 " Play ball/' The Ohio champion doubled himself up like a 
 jack-knife, threw the ball with a downward shoot, nearly 
 touching the plate. James' bat flew back quick as lightning ; 
 there was a swish, a sharp report as the bat struck the ball 
 fairly. Away sped the ball, far over the heads of the outfield- 
 ers, who, seeing the ball was bound to pass them, made a wild 
 run for it. Further and further it sped, over the heads of the 
 outfielders, and fell on the exterior of the high board fence 
 erected for the purpose of keeping out dead-heads and persons 
 who wished to see ball games without paying for the privilege. 
 
 Such a feat had never before been accomplished, and the 
 yells and shouts that went up from thousands of throats had 
 never been equalled on that diamond before, and it is doubtful 
 if it ever will be again. 
 
 James was scudding around the bases with the speed of a 
 whirlwind, and the long legs of Slim, who was flying along in 
 front of him, worked like piston rods. Third base was quickly 
 covered and passed by Slim, with James half way to second. 
 As Slim's foot touched the home plate James passed third, 
 having run three bases while Slim ran two. At this instant 
 the ball was seen to fly over the fence straight as an arrow 
 toward the pitcher's box. The throw was a marvel, as it had 
 to be thrown by guess. It fell straight into the hands of the 
 burly Ohio pitcher, who threw it with all the force of his 
 mighty strength to the home plate. 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 97 
 
 Which would win ball or man? It looked like an even 
 chance, and was nearly so, for the runner and ball both arrived 
 at exactly the same time, but the catcher staggered for a 
 moment, and James fell headlong over the plate just as the 
 catcher reached down and touched him, but just a second too 
 late. 
 
 The umpire called out, " Safe ! " amidst the cheering of the 
 crowd. Some of the players, however, were inclined to dispute 
 the decision, but were instantly hushed by the pitcher of the 
 Ohio team, who said, " He was safe." This manly declaration 
 of the Ohio man was wildly cheered and probably saved the 
 umpire from being mobbed, for the nerves of the vast throng 
 had been on the extreme tension so long that the least excuse 
 would have served to create a riot. 
 
 The words of the pitcher had a greater effect than this, how- 
 ever, as they served to bind together two men in a friendship 
 that lasted a lifetime. 
 
 The game now stood two scores to one in favor of the Michi- 
 gan team, with two men out and one more chance for the Ohio 
 team to go to the bat to win back the other score. The next 
 man was struck out, and the Michigan team took the field for 
 the last time. 
 
 One man got to first by being struck with the ball, which 
 everybody could see was intentional. The second two fared no 
 better, leaving the first batter to die on first base, and the 
 great game was ended, the Michigan team winning by James' 
 phenomenal hit. 
 
 Big Will Ellis was the first to congratulate James upon his 
 great play. 
 
 " It beat anything I ever saw on the diamond," he declared, 
 " and while, of course, I regret losing the game, I am glad 
 that it was by so gallant a foe I met defeat." 
 
 The ball game over, the crowd mingled together, the 
 Ohioans and Wolverines discussed the game together, and, of 
 course, the great theme was the play made by James. 
 
 Three cheers were proposed by Wilford Ellis, and they were 
 
98 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 given with a will by both sides, the Ohio delegation not to be 
 outdone in chivalry by their pitcher. 
 
 The vast throngs now vacated the ball grounds and went to 
 their various destinations. 
 
 Wilford Ellis went with James at the latter's request, and 
 was introduced to his relatives. 
 
 Mr. Vernon, in a few well-chosen words, congratulated Mr. 
 Ellis upon his excellent playing, saying that except for his 
 natural pride in seeing his son victorious, he heartily wished 
 that Mr. Ellis had won, and that his splendid work certainly 
 merited a victory. 
 
 Grasping his son's hand, Mr. Vernon said in deep, earnest 
 tones, "James, my son, what a proud day this is for your 
 father ! With what pride and joy do I stand here and see my 
 boy come out victorious in this splendid game, to see the favor 
 which he has found with these multitudes of people and to 
 hear them applaud him! I can hardly find words sincere 
 enough in which to congratulate you and express my pride, 
 James, but perhaps the most sincere words which I may 
 address to you now, my son, is the heart-felt wish that my 
 boy may come out just as victorious in the more serious games 
 of life with his success as well merited. Now I will make 
 way for the rest of the family to tender their congratulations," 
 and, with a smile, he stepped aside. 
 
 " Marse Jimmie ! Marse Jimmie ! " exclaimed a saucy little 
 voice, " A t'ousand congratulations. You done the splendidest 
 playing I ever seed," said Elph, as he came hurrying up, his- 
 little black fingers clinging to the hand of a large black-whis- 
 kered man. "I done tole dis gentleman dat youh'd surely 
 win. And, Marse James, allow me to present one ob de finest 
 gentlemen on dese grounds, Massa Milton Le Marr, of Ann 
 Arbor. Massa Le Marr, Massa James Vernon, son ob my dear 
 old master, ob Mt. Vernon, Michigan," said Elph, bowing low. 
 
 " Most delighted to meet you," said Mr. Le Marr, as the 
 two men shook hands. He had admired James a great deal, 
 but had never before happened to have the opportunity to meet 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 99 
 
 him personally. James then made him acquainted with the 
 members of his family, and with his new friend, Wilf ord Ellis. 
 
 After greetings and congratulations were exchanged on all 
 sides, Mr. Le Marr gave the party a very pressing invitation 
 to partake of the hospitality of his apartments in the Palais 
 Belvidere. After some consideration, they accepted. Together 
 they all quitted the grounds and made their way uptown to a 
 handsome huge gray-stone building, which was a sort of a 
 hotel and club combined. They ascended to the fifth floor, 
 and Mr. Le Marr led them down a long corridor. Arriving at 
 a heavy oaken door, he stopped and inserted his key. Flinging 
 it open, he said, with a smile, " Enter, ladies and gentlemen, 
 and, pray, try and make yourselves at home in the den of an 
 old bachelor." 
 
 They entered the richly-furnished rooms, and Mr. Le Marr 
 touched a bell, whereupon a maid appeared and took charge 
 of their wraps. 
 
 A pleasant hour was spent in chatting and admiring Milton 
 Le Marr's choice collection of works of art and antiquity, 
 and finally supper was announced. 
 
 They all did ample justice to the delicious supper, and big, 
 handsome Will Ellis sat directly opposite Mary, much to his 
 delight, where he could feast his eyes upon her pretty face. 
 Mary's cheeks grew crimson as she met the admiring eyes of 
 Wilf ord Ellis bent upon her whenever she looked toward him. 
 But Mary seemed to enjoy the admiration for her expressed 
 in those deep gray eyes, and a mutual compact seemed to 
 unconsciously spring up between them. They had eyes and 
 ears for no one else the rest of the evening. 
 
 Many topics were discussed during the evening, and when 
 the gentlemen joined the ladies in the parlor, after having 
 their cigars and wine, the conversation turned upon inci- 
 dents and conditions of their various lives. Before the 
 evening was over the Vernons learned more about the lives 
 and pursuits of their two new friends. 
 
 Their host, Milton Le Marr, seemed to be quite alone in 
 
100 THE MERCHANT OP MT. VERNON. 
 
 the world as far as relatives were concerned, but being a 
 man of attractive personality, gracious, generous-hearted 
 and handsome, he never lacked friends nor admiration, and 
 his hospitable doors were always open to his many friends 
 and acquaintances. Born in France, of poor but respectable 
 parents, he was brought to America when a small child, and 
 his father and mother labored together for several years to 
 earn an honest living and give their son the semblance of 
 an education. At the age of fifteen he lost his parents, 
 their deaths having occurred but a short time apart, and 
 Milton was left upon his own resources. He was never discour- 
 aged, but persevered, during the years of trials and hard 
 work that followed, and slowly but surely mounted the steps 
 of success and fortune until now in his forty odd years of age 
 he found himself at the head of a large and well-established 
 business, a rich man, enabled to enjoy the good things of 
 this world. 
 
 One by one his near relatives in France and England (his 
 mother was an Englishwoman) had dropped off until only 
 a few very distant remained, and of these Milton Le Marr 
 had lost all track. 
 
 Wilford Ellis was left an orphan early in life, and is the 
 only grandson of Jeremiah and Hannah Ellis, who have idol- 
 ized him from the time they took him to raise as their own 
 son when he was a mere boy of five years of age, and when 
 their beloved son was laid at rest beside the grave of his 
 young wife, who had preceded him by two years. 
 
 The Ellises were old pioneers of Toledo, Ohio, and several 
 branches of the family were now scattered in different parts 
 of the State. Some were men and women of mark; some rich 
 and some poor; but all honorable, upright and just. Wil- 
 ford's grandparents were situated in fair circumstances 
 financially, and able to give their grandson an excellent edu- 
 cation. Old Mr. Ellis had been for many years in the fur 
 business, besides having quite extensive real estate interests 
 in Toledo. The old gentleman had, however, retired from 
 
COLLEGE LFS.; ^ ; , > 
 
 active business on account of failing health, and as Mrs. 
 Ellis was in delicate health the old couple lived very quietly 
 in their pretty, rambling cottage, surrounded by its neat 
 lawns and flower gardens on the outskirts of the city. Three 
 old domestics, who had been in their service for many years, 
 lived happily with them, and tendered them their services, 
 for which they were well recompensed by Mr. Ellis. Many 
 serene and happy years had Wilford spent in his quiet, 
 pretty home, with his gentle and loving grandparents. With 
 pride they have watched him grow up to young manhood, 
 and they see him now, a young fellow of twenty-three, just 
 in the flush of his splendid young manhood and strength, 
 genial, handsome, kind-hearted and generous, a great favor- 
 ite with his friends and well liked and admired by all with 
 whom he came in contact. 
 
 The evening passed away rapidly, and our friends realized 
 they must be moving toward the depot if they wished to 
 board the 11.15 train, and so Mr. Le Marr ordered carriages 
 for the whole party and they drove rapidly to the depot 
 accompanied by Mr. Le Marr, Wilford and James, to see 
 them off. 
 
 At the depot both Milton Le Marr and Wilford Ellis 
 received cordial invitations from Mr. and Mrs. Vernon to 
 come and make them a long visit at Greenwold whenever 
 they might find it convenient. 
 
 As Wilford Ellis helped Mary on the train he could not 
 refrain from requesting her to give him the white rose 
 pinned on her corsage, "in commemoration of the happy 
 meeting with her and his new friends," as he laughingly 
 explained. The request was accompanied by a look amount- 
 ing almost to adoration, and she blushingly handed it to 
 him. There was a merry twinkle in Milton Le Marr's black 
 eyes as he watched them, and he said audibly, in Mr. Ver- 
 non's ear, "Have a care, Mr. Vernon. Put up strong bar- 
 ricades. I foresee that you may be in danger of losing your 
 lovely daughter." Mary gave him a saucy look, which seemed 
 
102 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 to say, "Father, pay no attention to his babbling," and 
 regretfully bade him good-bye, telling him what an enter- 
 taining host he had been, and how much she had enjoyed 
 the evening. 
 
 At last the good-byes were said. Mrs. Vernon was the last 
 to take leave of her son and kiss him good-bye, but Violet's 
 face was the last one he saw as he turned toward the city 
 with the other two, and when at length the three men 
 parted for the night each mind was occupied by its own 
 visions, and each heart was saddened or brightened by its 
 individual longings. 
 
 Wilf ord Ellis' slumbers were disturbed by visions of Mary 
 Vernon's sweet face, lighted up by its soulful dark eyes and 
 framed by its wealth of glossy dark hair. 
 
 Violet's radiant yet sorrowful face, with a wistful, long- 
 ing look in her dark blue eyes, her golden curls forming a 
 halo around her white brow, haunted James' dreams. 
 
 Milton Le Marr slept on in his deep, dreamless, unbroken 
 rest. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Slip Hamas* uf Wttfiurfc att& 
 
 Three months passed away and July is here with its light 
 breezes and drowsy summer days. 
 
 Greenwold was looking its best, the lawns green and beau- 
 tiful, the gardens gorgeous with bright-hued flowers, and 
 the giant oaks and elms waving their branches as if inviting 
 one to come and rest in the hammocks under their rustling 
 green leaves and enjoy their beautiful shade. 
 
 It was early on this particular morning, and Mary was 
 moving about the house light-hearted and gay, and Mr. and 
 Mrs. Vernon were joyous and expectant, for James and Wil- 
 ford Ellis were expected to arrive this morning. 
 
 The two young men had become fast friends and planned 
 to spend the summer holidays together. They spent the 
 month of June at Wilford's home, in Toledo, and now 
 intended to while away the rest of the beautiful summer at 
 James 5 picturesque home. 
 
 They arrived in due time, and Wilford was not a little 
 joyous and elated as the lovely summer days went by, spent 
 in the company of Mary Vernon. It was not long before he 
 asked Mr. Vernon's permission to pay addresses to his 
 daughter, receiving Mr. Vernon's hearty wishes for his 
 success. 
 
 Wilford lost no time in his wooing, and the pleasant little 
 picnics and country excursions arranged for their entertain- 
 ment gave him plenty of opportunity to ardently press his 
 suit, and before school opened that fall handsome Wilford 
 Ellis, the envy of his college chums, and the admiration of 
 the girls, had secured Mary Vernon's promise to become his 
 wife during the Christmas holidays. 
 
 September came at last, and with it the boys' return to 
 their classes. The commencement of school was a great 
 
 103 
 
104 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 relief to James, who wanted to be far away from the object 
 which he still loved far better than his own life. 
 
 It may have been disloyal, but he was only human after 
 all, and who shall censure him for failing to conquer a pas- 
 sion stronger than his own nature. 
 
 Whatever his mad longings were, he was at least loyal to 
 his brother in every action, for he avoided her whenever 
 it was possible; but the sad, reproachful look in her eyes 
 haunted him for months after, his departure for college. 
 
 The Christmas holidays came around, and we find the 
 three friends James, Wilford and Milton Le Marr on the 
 eve of their departure for Mt. Yernon. 
 
 On the train Wilford was full of enthusiasm over his 
 approaching marriage, and drew such rosy pictures of the 
 future that it caused poor James' heart to swell to almost 
 the bursting point. Had he not drawn those same pictures 
 with Violet as his wife, and rosy-cheeked children romping 
 over the floor? 
 
 Wilford saw the look of pain in James' eyes, and silently 
 grasped his hand. There are times when words are not half 
 as valuable as silence. James returned the pressure, and 
 they rode .the rest of the way in silence. 
 
 As they approached the depot at Mt. Vernon, Wilford said, 
 kindly, " Come, old fellow, you must not look as if you were 
 going to a funeral instead of a wedding. What will the 
 folks say?" The kindly look from Milton Le Marr's deep 
 black eyes fastened upon James' blue orbs seemed to cheer 
 and sustain him. 
 
 " I can see them now at the station your father, mother, 
 sister, the imp, and, by Jove! there is Frank also," and under 
 his breath he muttered, "the infernal scoundrel! I'll wager 
 he has come here to gloat over his brother by giving him an 
 invitation to remain with him during the Christmas 
 holidays." 
 
 Wilford was right. Frank grasped them both by the hand, 
 
THE MARRIAGE OF WILFORD AND MARY. 105 
 
 pressing them, together with Mr. Le Marr, with invitations 
 to share his hospitality. 
 
 James thanked him coldly, and in an easy manner he 
 genially inquired after the health of all. 
 
 "By Jove! he'll do all right," muttered Will to himself; 
 " no fear of him making a scene. He is true grit." 
 
 The keen eyes of Wilford Ellis long ago detected the love 
 that James still bore for Violet, and the look in her eyes on 
 the day of the great ball game, when she threw prudence to 
 the winds, had also revealed her feelings toward James. 
 
 Why she had married Frank was a mystery which he some 
 day meant to solve. He felt an unaccountable aversion to 
 Frank, and in his mind he mentally compared him to some 
 great snake, ready at any moment to fold his deadly coils 
 about some helpless victim. Not that Frank had ever been 
 aught but polite and friendly toward him, but the feeling 
 would somehow remain in spite of all his efforts to shake 
 it off. 
 
 The wedding was the great social event of the season. 
 All the friends of Mary in Mt. Vernon were invited, as well 
 as Wilford's grandparents and friends from Ohio. 
 
 The old mansion was beautifully decorated with a profu- 
 sion of cut flowers and with wreaths of holly. Branches of 
 evergreen and mistletoe were intermingled with the greenery 
 of the decorative scheme. 
 
 The spacious drawing room, converted into a veritable 
 floral bower, was a fair setting for the daughter of the 
 house, radiant and beautiful in her robes of white satin and 
 lace, blushing shyly beneath her transparent veil as she 
 entered upon the arm of her father and took her place beside 
 the bridegroom under the floral bell beneath which the cere- 
 mony was performed. 
 
 Mr. Vernon gave the bride away. James acted as best 
 man. Susanne attended the bride as maid of honor (muck 
 to the secret disgust of James). 
 
106 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 After the nuptial knot was tied the company repaired to 
 the handsomely-decorated dining room, and were seated at 
 tables glittering with silver and cut glass, and the daintiest 
 of wedding breakfasts was served. 
 
 One of the guests proposed a toast, wishing the health of 
 the bride. Ex-Senator Thurman, of Michigan, a great wit 
 and after-dinner speaker, was called upon to act as toast- 
 master, and made the following somewhat lengthy, but pleas- 
 ant toast. Rising and clearing his throat, he began: 
 
 "The pleasant and somewhat difficult task of proposing 
 what we shall all agree is the toast of the present happy 
 occasion has been entrusted to my care. I have been asked 
 to propose long life and health and happiness to the bride. 
 The task is exceedingly pleasant, but somewhat difficult, the 
 point of the difficulty being this: that I scarcely know how 
 to find words that will fitly and fully express the warm and 
 enthusiastic desires we all cherish for the future happiness 
 of our dear friend, the bride. There was a very learned man 
 named Chrysostom, who died many centuries ago, who was 
 so eloquent that men gave him the name of the golden- 
 mouth. 
 
 "Now I feel that a man need have a golden mouth, and 
 that mouth full to the lips with most eloquent phrases, to 
 be equal to the present occasion. No words can give com- 
 plete utterance to what we all feel in this joyful hour. We 
 sometimes ask our friends to read between the lines. I must 
 trust to the kindness of the bride to endeavor to hear 
 between the sentences, for I assure her there are undertones 
 of deep affection for her that no common words can express. 
 
 "The present occasion is very joyous, partly because of 
 the sacredness of the relations into which our friends have 
 entered. The marriage festival is somewhat more than a 
 record of the triumphs of love. Our gentle friend has been 
 wooed and won, and love was crowned as she plighted her 
 troth to-day before God and her friends. But to-day she 
 steps forth from the maiden beauties of life's morning to a 
 
THE MAEKIAGE OF WILFOKD AND MAEY. 107 
 
 larger and nobler career. And as she enters that untrodden 
 path we gather round and with one heart and thought wish 
 for her and for him whom she calls husband for the first 
 time to-day, long life, and joy and peace. 
 
 " Leaving to-day the peace and gladness of her early 
 home, leaving behind her the sweet associations of her glad 
 young days, she takes with her larger life of wedded woman- 
 hood the best wishes of us all. From this happy day we 
 look out to her future and pray heaven to make it radiant 
 and serene. 
 
 " I will not trespass further on your patience. I ask you 
 all with all our hearts to join with me: The bride: long life 
 and happiness and peace." 
 
 At the conclusion of the toast the Senator drained his 
 .glass, and amid much applause resumed his seat. 
 
 Wilford now arose and began in a somewhat shaky voice: 
 
 " Believe me, my dear friends, when I say that I appre- 
 ciate with all my heart the kind and enthusiastic manner in 
 which you have expressed your love and good wishes for the 
 lady whom I am proud and happy as proud as happy and as 
 happy as proud this day to call by the endearing name of 
 ''wife/ 
 
 " The tenderness and affection you have manifested for her 
 only serves to deepen the assurance that in life's great lot- 
 tery I have indeed won a prize. To be worthy of a lady so 
 much beloved will henceforth be the one ambition of my 
 life. And if I may so soon begin to represent my dearer and 
 better half, I feel I ought to say on her behalf that she will 
 treasure in her heart of hearts and among her most sacred 
 memories all the kindness of to-day, and as years come and 
 go, I trust that I also may have a place in your good favor. 
 
 "But as I look around this festive scene I cannot but 
 express my gratitude to the fair bridesmaids who have made 
 this occasion so joyful. I beg on behalf of Mrs. Ellis and 
 myself that they will accept our loving gratitude. 
 
 " Their grace and beauty have indeed enriched our mar- 
 
108 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 riage festival, and if they would receive one kindly word of 
 advice from the bride of to-day it would be couched in 
 scriptural language ' Go thou and do likewise/ I trust the 
 bachelors present will take the hint and render the brides- 
 maids all the assistance that lies in their power. (Much 
 laughter.) They have spoken many nattering words to-day 
 out of their kind, warm hearts. I beg to remind them of 
 that old trite proverb, ' Imitation is the highest kind of flat- 
 tery/ (More laughter.) And I trust before many moons 
 are passed some, at least, of these young ladies who have 
 graduated as bridesmaids to-day will themselves be decked 
 with orange blossoms. I beg you will join me in drinking 
 to the bridesmaids." 
 
 James now responded on behalf of the bridesmaids. He 
 was a noted speaker in college circles. He always repre- 
 sented his fellow collegians at public functions and had a 
 great flow of wit and humor, and I fear but small regard for 
 the truth on an occasion like this. 
 
 Rising to his feet, he looked about the room with an 
 assumed timid air and then began: 
 
 "I beg to assure this audience that I have occasionally 
 been in what is called ' a tight place/ in my somewhat short 
 experience, but never in the whole course of my life have 
 I been in as ( tight a place ' as I find myself at this moment. 
 (Smiles.) I am asked to represent the bridesmaids! I never 
 represented anybody in my life. Indeed, I have hardly had 
 the courage to represent myself. (Laughter.) And when 
 I look around on the grace, the beauty and the winsome 
 loveliness of these charming bridesmaids, and think I have 
 to represent all that, I am appalled. My heart sinks within 
 me. 
 
 " Speaking on behalf of these fair ladies, I can only say 
 that I, that is to say we, are profoundly happy if we have 
 been able to conduce in the least to the brightness and joy 
 of this memorable occasion. I, that is to say we, have known 
 our dear friend, the bride, a long time, and we have known 
 
THE MARRIAGE OF WILFORD AND MARY. 109 
 
 her only to love her very dearly. I trjist the bridegroom 
 will understand that I am speaking in my representative 
 capacity. 
 
 " I, that is to say, we, congratulate the bride on this auspi- 
 cious day, and if we do not exactly envy her, we assure her 
 that at the very earliest possible date, we will all follow her 
 example; for, to tell the truth, we're tired of waiting, and 
 some of us are growing a little anxious. (Laughter.) I don't 
 know whether this is exactly what the bridesmaids would say 
 themselves, but, as their representative, I am trying to keep 
 as near the truth as possible. I, that is to say, we, have been 
 to-day glad spectators in a memorable scene. We confess to 
 having felt more than a little nervous; but what must it be 
 to be the chief actress on such an occasion? (Mary's blushes 
 chase each other in charming confusion over her beautiful face 
 at this last remark.) To solve this problem will be henceforth 
 the ardent ambition of every one of us. 
 
 " In conclusion, and to be serious for a moment, I am sure 
 that the ladies who have fulfilled the office of bridesmaids 
 to-day desire with all their hearts to congratulate their friends, 
 the bride and bridegroom, and wish them all possible happi- 
 ness through many long years." 
 
 James then kissed his sister and congratulated Wilford, 
 which was a signal for a general ovation, and the merry crowd 
 surrounded the happy pair, wishing them joy and happiness 
 through their wedded life. 
 
 After a few moments, Mary left her guests, but soon reap- 
 peared, clad in her velvet traveling attire and rich furs. 
 
 In the meantime, Elph had driven the family carriage up 
 to the entrance, and it stood in readiness. It was now train 
 time, and Wilford and Mary mounted the carriage amid a 
 shower of rice, old shoes and the good wishes of their friends. 
 
 They barely reached the station in time, and it was a good 
 thing for them that they did not have long to wait, for a 
 large crowd of the burly Ohio athlete's admirers were at the 
 train to see him and his beautiful bride off. On their trunks, 
 
110 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 painted in large white letters, were the words, " Just Mar- 
 ried." The carriage and horses bore the same conspicuous 
 words, and some of the most enterprising tacked some large 
 white banners on the coach bearing the same words. 
 
 Big, good-natured Will took it all in good part, remarking, 
 " Well, they don't intend to let us forget the fact that we're 
 married." 
 
 The same friends who had so kindly labeled all their lug- 
 gage had been thoughtful enough to telegraph ahead to all 
 the stations along the route, and they received an enthusiastic 
 reception at each place. 
 
 It was getting somewhat embarrassing for Mary, and he 
 resolved to spoil their little game. Accordingly, when they 
 reached Owosso, a junction for a large number of railroads, 
 they quitted their train and stopped in the town for a day. 
 Wilford bought new trunks and grips, and they repacked their 
 effects in the new receptacles. When leaving Owosso they 
 continued their journey over a different road, and the rest of 
 the way was traveled in peace. 
 
 They spent several weeks in Ohio and the South, and then 
 returned to Mt. Vernon. Wilford had graduated in a medical 
 course, and it was decided that he would hang up his shingle 
 of M.D. in Mt. Vernon. 
 
 Old Dr. Wright had been the leading physician ever since 
 the place was big enough to support a man of his profession. 
 He was growing too old and feeble now to properly attend to 
 the arduous duties of a physician, and announced his intention 
 of retiring and taking life easy. He had saved up a snug 
 little sum, and could well afford to do so. 
 
 Wilford purchased his office, and Dr. Wright used his influ- 
 ence to help him along, with the result that he got nearly all 
 of the retired physician's practice. 
 
 Mr. Vernon gave them a beautiful cottage as a present. It 
 is situated near the business section of the city, and is the 
 most convenient place for his profession. 
 
 The black diphtheria broke out the winter following Wil- 
 
THE MARRIAGE OF WILFORD AND MARY. Ill 
 
 ford's marriage, and he labored night and day, and it was 
 mainly through his efforts that the disease was finally stamped 
 out. He won the heartfelt thanks of nearly half of the 
 mothers in the city and the deep, but silent, curses of the rival 
 physicians. 
 
 Dr. Jackson, the county physician, was openly accused of 
 gross negligence by the city editor. 
 
 The editor insisted that the schools must close, and the 
 doctor, more to be stubborn than anything else, refused to 
 order them closed. As a result, they both called each other 
 hard names. The doctor threatened to sue the editor for dam- 
 ages on account of the offensive sheet, and the editor, in turn, 
 threatened to order an investigation regarding his conduct in 
 refusing to close the schools. 
 
 The affair promised some pretty lively developments, but 
 finally died away like a summer thunder-storm, the rumbling 
 growing fainter and fainter each day, until it was finally for- 
 gotten altogether. 
 
 Leaving Wilford and Mary happy and prosperous in their 
 wedded life, we will once more take up the narratire of 
 James' life. 
 
CHAPTBK XV. 
 
 fffiml|attt nf UBt Hmuw 
 
 Three years have now passed away. Ann Arbor's most fam- 
 ous athlete is on the eve of closing his college career. 
 
 It is afternoon, and he is at the depot to meet his relatives 
 and intimate friends, who have all come to witness the gradu- 
 ating exercises, to be held in the evening. 
 
 Let us take a look at our old friends and see if three years 
 have wrought much change in them. 
 
 We will begin with James as he stands shaking hands with 
 the new arrivals as they alight from the train. He has grown 
 taller, stouter and more broad-shouldered. He is fully six feet 
 four, and a finer specimen of young manhood could not 
 be found. The easy grace with which he moves about, greeting 
 his friends, speaks of a Herculean strength, and as he greets 
 his brother he towers head and shoulders above him. His 
 face is covered with a golden beard that makes him look like 
 an Apollo. His former look of careless ease has changed 
 to one of quiet thoughtfulness and calm. No one observing 
 him would guess there had been a disappointment in his past 
 life. Time, the great healer and moulder of all things, had 
 lain a kindly hand on him and the old pain had partly sub- 
 sided and the keenest smarts of disappointment were merci- 
 fully blotted out, but there was a void in his life which would 
 never be quite filled. 
 
 But let us look at Frank. He has changed from a quick- 
 tempered, passionate man to a timid, frightened being, who 
 starts at his own shadow. His former black hair has changed 
 to iron gray and he looks to be fully twenty years older than he 
 really is. 
 
 His mother is the next whom James meets, and she does 
 not look a day older than she did three years ago. 
 
 His father is changed somewhat, his hair is slightly gray 
 
 112 
 
DEATH OF THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 113 
 
 and business cares are telling on him. The likeness between 
 father and son is striking, both have the same golden beard 
 and upright carriage, but it is easily seen that the father was 
 never as perfect a being as the son is now. 
 
 Mary and Wilford are still lovers. They both grasp his 
 hands at once. Will, big, good-natured and smiling, warns 
 him not to get stage-fright that evening. It would be hard 
 to find two men more perfect in form and face than these 
 two as they stand facing each other. Both are giants in stat- 
 ure, although James has the advantage of a half inch in 
 height. As they stand side by side they tower head and shoul- 
 ders above the rest, and are the cynosure of all eyes. But 
 both are accustomed to be gazed at, and pay no attention to 
 the curious eyes focused upon them. 
 
 Mary has grown handsomer and more matronly since we 
 last met her. She is the mother of two bouncing boys, who, 
 she laughingly says, she left behind, as they will probably have 
 ^entertainment enough without their strong young voices. 
 
 Violet is the last one he greets, and, as their hands touch 
 and eyes meet, the same old magnetic current passes through 
 them both, and he murmurs something unintelligible and 
 turns to the faithful colored servants, who are all there to 
 see the young marse made a doctor. 
 
 With a groan, she inwardly says, " How can a just God 
 put such a devil and deceiver in so perfect a god-like figure 
 and face ! " Her thoughts fly back to Susanne, who was fast 
 becoming a sour old maid. " The villain/' she muttered. " I 
 don't believe his conscience troubles him a mite." But in her 
 own heart she knew she loved him and him only. 
 
 He graduated with highest honors, and, after receiving his 
 diploma, he accompanied the family back to Mt. Vernon. 
 Yielding to the entreaties of his parents and Will and Mary, 
 he decided to begin his career as a doctor in his old home. 
 
 Wilford declared he had more practice than he could handle 
 properly, and needed a good, trusty partner. The result was 
 that Will and James occupied the same office, Will looking 
 
114 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 after the majority of the contagious diseases, and James 
 attending to the surgical cases. It had been a bitter blow to 
 Mr. Vernon when James suddenly announced his intention of 
 giving up his career as a business man and devoting his time 
 to learn a profession, but the two young physicians were doing 
 so well now that he rejoiced that James had made his decision 
 to become a doctor. 
 
 James seldom visited his brother's home, and when he did 
 he never remained long. The air always seemed stifling, and 
 he was always glad when it came time to take his departure. 
 He could not endure the agony of seeing the beautiful woman, 
 whom once he fondly hoped to call by the sacred name of wife 
 in the home of another and that man's wife, and it is doubt- 
 ful if Violet could have retained her composure. 
 
 The relationship between Violet and her husband had 
 improved after the birth of their little daughter, Grace, who 
 was now nearly three years old. 
 
 Violet tried to be a good wife for the child's sake. A loving 
 one she knew she could never be, and Frank tried to outlive 
 the memory of that scene at the old mill dam in the light of 
 his wife's and child's affection. He had partly broken the 
 habit of drinking since his marriage, but he was fast growing 
 into a morose, crabbed old man. 
 
 Soon after James' return to Mt. Vernon, Frank fell ill, and 
 for many weeks his life was despaired of, but, thanks to the 
 untiring efforts of James and Wilford, as well as Violet, they 
 finally managed to pull him through ; but he was never him- 
 self again. In his delirium he constantly raved about the dam 
 and Marguerite. The two doctors paid no attention, believ- 
 ing it to be simply the wild fancy of a sick man. But Violet 
 believed and feared otherwise. The scales had been gradually 
 dropping from her eyes, and numerous sentences he had mut- 
 tered in his sleep concerning the old mill dam and Marguerite 
 had caused a horrible suspicion to enter her mind. What if 
 he were the murderer of that poor girl whom every one be- 
 lieved to have fallen accidentally into the water! She drew* 
 
DEATH OF THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 115 
 
 many pictures in her mind of that meeting down by the dam, 
 and some were horribly near the truth. What if the father of 
 her child is a murderer ! She felt that she had indeed been 
 punished for her reckless decision in marrying Frank. She 
 would sink upon her knees when alone and cry, " Not that, my 
 God, not that ! Grade's father must not be a murderer ! " 
 
 When he arose from his sick-bed he closely questioned 
 Violet about his ravings, but she skillfully parried his ques- 
 tions, saying that he had said many things while sick, none of 
 which she could distinctly remember. He eyed her closely, 
 but could see nothing to excite suspicion, and finally con- 
 cluded that he had said nothing damaging to himself. 
 
 His thirst for liquor grew very strong again, and he drank 
 heavily shortly after he was able to resume his duties at the 
 bank. He often came home in a beastly state of intoxication. 
 Violet begged, pleaded and threatened in turn, but she was 
 powerless to stop his appetite for rum. 
 
 Inside of a year he was unable to attend to any business 
 whatever, and the bank officials, in disgust, finally asked him 
 to resign. 
 
 After this he sank rapidly, at last becoming a mere whin- 
 ing wretch, who would stop any one on the street and beg 
 money for the price of a drink. He squandered the whole 
 of his private fortune and even sold the largest part of his 
 household furniture and all personal valuables to satisfy the 
 ever increasing craving for drink. 
 
 Poor Violet bore up patiently for the child's sake and com- 
 plained to no one. James' heart ached for the poor woman, 
 but he was helpless. 
 
 The conduct of Frank broke his father's heart. He had 
 been failing rapidly of late, and one evening, as he came 
 from his place of business, he witnessed the sad and humili- 
 ating spectacle of seeing his son (once the most promising 
 young business man of the city now the city drunkard) 
 thrown out of a saloon door, his face cut and bleeding, his 
 clothes torn and dirty, and his hair rumpled up in a tangled, 
 bloody mass. 
 
116 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 " My son! my son! " cried the old man, kneeling down and 
 taking the wobbling head of his wayward boy in his lap. 
 " To think that you should come to this! " 
 
 "Hello, father. That you?" he muttered, thickly. 
 " Give us the price of a drink." 
 
 " Come home with me, my boy/' he said; " you are in no 
 fit state to take a drink. What you want is rest and quiet." 
 
 "Give me a drink, do you hear?" he cried, savagely; 
 " give me a drink, I say! " The fumes of the liquor had got 
 the best of him now, and he recognized nobody. 
 
 At this moment the city marshal came out of the saloon, 
 saying that he thought Frank had killed a lumberman. 
 They were both drunk, and Frank hit the fellow over the 
 head with a beer bottle. James approached at the same 
 instant, and, taking in the scene quickly asked what the 
 trouble was. 
 
 Touching his cap, the officer related how he had witnessed 
 the fight, but was not quick enough to prevent Frank from 
 striking his quarrelsome partner, and concluded by saying 
 that he would be obliged to lock Frank up until it was ascer- 
 tained whether or not he had killed the man. Frank had 
 been in the lockup dozens of times before, and he felt that it 
 would be best to have him put where no more liquor could 
 reach him for a time at least. 
 
 As the wretched man was led away the father rose from 
 the position he had taken while holding his son's head, gave 
 one look after the officer and prisoner, and without a word 
 fell backward into James' arms dead! 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 After the funeral of Mr. Vernon was over the will was 
 read, which left his property equally divided between his 
 three children and wife. 
 
 The negroes were well remembered, also, but alas! so 
 uncertain are the affairs of this life! Unfortunate specula- 
 tions and heavy drafts made by Frank, who had gambled the 
 money away, left his once vast fortune a total wreck. His 
 father had spent vast sums to cover up the defalcations of 
 his son, and in a frantic endeavor to regain the money that 
 he might carry on his business safely he plunged in Wall 
 Street stocks, and they went down, sweeping away the bulk 
 of the fortune. The trouble had been gradually sapping his 
 strength, and when he witnessed the disgraceful scene in 
 front of the saloon, it was the last straw, and the poor old 
 man died of a broken heart. 
 
 The man who was struck by Frank in the saloon was able 
 to be up and about in a few days, consequently Frank was 
 released after receiving the usual lecture from the judge. 
 He was in the grip of the delirium tremens when his father's 
 funeral took place, and knew nothing about it until he was 
 released. It had no effect upon him whatever. The demon 
 of thirst had him too completely in its power. 
 
 James was obliged to move out of the palatial residence 
 that had been the Vernon home for so many years, and it, 
 too, was sold to satisfy the claims against the estate. 
 
 He and his mother took a little cottage close to where 
 Frank lived, and many a night Violet and her little daugh- 
 ter would have gone to bed hungry had it not been for Mrs. 
 Vernon and James. 
 
 There was one being whom James absolutely worshiped. 
 It was little Gracie, and she returned his affection. The lit- 
 
 117 
 
118 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 tie miss passed nearly half her time in her big " Uncle 
 Dim's " office, and when out on a call he would always take 
 her with him. The little girl and the imp, who was James' 
 driver, would sit in the carriage and build air castles. The 
 child was a sweet, lovable, blue-eyed, golden-haired little 
 one, and everybody loved her. 
 
 One rainy night Frank came home in an uglier mood than 
 usual, and put both Violet and her little girl out in the 
 storm, and they were forced to seek shelter at James' home. 
 
 Mrs. Vernon was deeply shocked at her son's behavior, 
 and James was furious, but powerless. 
 
 The little one caught cold from being wet that night, the 
 result being that she had the croup before morning. James 
 had been out late for several nights, and being tired and 
 worn out slept soundly, not hearing the pitiful coughing and 
 choking of his little favorite until Mrs. Vernon gently 
 knocked upon his door. Just at this moment the little one 
 had a more violent fit of coughing. His trained ear caught 
 the sound and he was up in an instant. Hastily dressing, he 
 ran into the room where the little sufferer lay. The child 
 recognized him at once and tried to call his name, but her 
 little throat was so badly swollen that the attempt precipi- 
 tated another outburst of coughing. He saw in an instant 
 that the case was a serious one and went to work with a will, 
 for he well knew that all his skill was needed to save the lit- 
 tle one's life. He labored desperately over her hour after 
 hour, and each hour his hopes grew fainter. 
 
 Violet read despair on his face, and wildly throwing her- 
 self on the bed beside her child she cried, " Save her! Save 
 her! Dr. Vernon, do not let my one hope and comfort be 
 taken from me!" 
 
 James laid a kindly hand upon her shoulder and said: 
 
 " All that human aid can do has been done, and we must 
 leave the rest in the hands of Him who giveth and taketh 
 at His will." 
 
 "Is there any hope at all, doctor?" she tearfully asked. 
 
THE ILLNESS OF LITTLE GBACE. 119 
 
 " Had it not been for her I would long ago have given up. 
 You cannot think what she is to me! " 
 
 A violent fit of choking from the little one now inter- 
 rupted her, and the doctor once more bent over his little 
 patient. After the lapse of twenty minutes he looked at his 
 watch and said: " It is now five o'clock, and in one hour it 
 will be daylight. If I can only keep her alive until then 
 there will be a change for the better." 
 
 " God grant that you may! " said Mrs. Vernon, fervently, 
 and then all three watchers relapsed into silence. 
 
 With the coming of dawn the little one had a more violent 
 fit of choking than she had previously experienced and Dr. 
 Vernon fairly held his breath for a short time. But the 
 battle was won. The child's breathing became regular, and 
 she sank into a deep slumber of exhaustion. 
 
 "Thank God!" he exclaimed, "the danger is past, and 
 when she awakens she will be better, but very weak. All she 
 needs now is good nursing and perfect quiet." 
 
 " That she shall have ! " said Mrs. Vernon, " and now, Vio- 
 let and James, lie down and get a little rest while I watch 
 over her. Should there be any change I will call you both 
 at once." 
 
 Dr. Vernon assured her there would be no need, and took 
 .a much-needed rest. Violet remonstrated with Mrs. Ver- 
 non, saying she would watch, but the old lady had her own 
 way, as she always did, and Violet was finally persuaded to 
 lie down and take a rest. 
 
 When she awoke the sun was throwing its bright rays 
 from the East upon her, and she hastily made her way to 
 Grace's room. 
 
 Mrs. Vernon was still sitting at the child's bedside, and 
 going up to her Violet threw her arms about Mrs. Vernon's 
 neck and kissed her, saying, " How kind you have ever been 
 to me, my more than mother! " 
 
 Mrs. Vernon returned the kiss, and said, " And you have 
 ever been a kind and obedient daughter to me. I will leave 
 
120 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 you now to watch by Grade's bedside while I go and 
 order a cup of tea and some refreshments for you." 
 
 The little one awoke in a few moments after Mrs. Vernon 
 left the room, and seeing her mother looking anxiously at 
 her she exclaimed, "Mamma! mamma! I have had such a 
 terrible dream. I dreamed that I was going to die, and 
 then Uncle Dim came and said he just wouldn't let me die! 
 He gived me some awful, awful bad medicine, and said I just 
 had to live, because it would make you so sad if I died. 
 Mamma, would it make you very sad if I died? " 
 
 " Yes, my darling, it would break mamma's heart to lose 
 her little treasure," said Violet, clasping her little daughter 
 in her arms. 
 
 The little one laid perfectly quiet for a while, and then 
 said, " Mamma, why is not Uncle Dim my pa instead of my 
 real pa? I love him more than papa. He is always so good 
 and don't get drunk and strike you like papa does. Don't 
 you love him the best, too? " 
 
 " Hush, my child, you do not know what you are saying/' 
 cried Violet, hoarsely; "you must not say such naughty, 
 wicked things about your papa." 
 
 "Well," persisted the little girl, "my Sunday School 
 teacher says it is just as wicked to think things as to say 
 them." 
 
 " But you must not feel them or think them," said 
 Violet. 
 
 The little one appeared to be quite puzzled for a moment, 
 and then asked: "Mamma, how can I help it?" 
 
 " You must pray to God to take the wicked things out of 
 your heart," replied Violet, "and now you must not talk 
 any more. Go to sleep, and to-morrow you may get up and 
 we shall go home." 
 
 " I would rather stay here with grandma and Uncle Dim." 
 
 " Would you stay here and leave poor mamma all alone in 
 the other house?" 
 
 " You can stay, too, my mamma! " 
 
THE ILLNESS OF LITTLE GRACE. 121 
 
 " No, no! Mamma must go to-morrow and take care of 
 papa; and now you must not ask me any more questions or 
 you will be sick again." 
 
 The conversation tired the little one out. She sank back 
 upon her pillow with a sigh and fell fast asleep. 
 
 Aunt Lizzie soon brought in some fragrant, steaming tea 
 and dainty eatables, and Violet partook of the refreshments, 
 after which she lay down beside her baby. She lay awake 
 several hours, thinking of what the child had said, but 
 finally sank into a deep, dreamless slumber. 
 
 The shades of evening were falling when Mrs. Vernon 
 entered the room, and seeing Violet asleep she threw a cov- 
 erlet over her and quitted the room, leaving the light turned 
 low. 
 
 James was called out of the city to attend an unfortunate 
 who had been severely injured in a sawmill accident. He 
 did not return until late, but Aunt Lizzie, his faithful old 
 nurse, was still up and had a cup of steaming hot coffee wait- 
 ing for him. James is her favorite, she declares, "because 
 he is just like his dear, handsome, dead father." The old 
 colored lady and Uncle Joe are past ninety, but both are 
 still hale and hearty, and it was Aunt Lizzie's boast that she 
 would live to see Marse Doctor James' children. 
 
 Doctor James would shake his head playfully, and say, 
 " I am afraid you will be disappointed, mammy." 
 
 "We shall see! We shall see!" she invariably replies. 
 
 When James finished his coffee he softly tip-toed to the 
 chamber where Violet and her little daughter lay fast asleep. 
 
 He stood gazing down upon the two for a moment and 
 then turned, blew out the light and softly stole from the 
 room. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Jtamk IBrtrmja % *mt af % to ffltll Sam 
 
 On the day following little Grace's illness Frank got on 
 a worse spree than usual, and was locked up in the county 
 jail for sixty days. 
 
 Violet was penniless, and had it not been for the kindness 
 of James and Mrs. Vernon she and her baby would more 
 than once have gone to bed hungry. Big-hearted, good- 
 natured Wilford and Mary also contributed their share. 
 Violet was too proud to accept aid from either Wilford or 
 James, but Mrs. Vernon acted as the diplomat, and so deli- 
 cately did she arrange matters that Violet could not refuse 
 her aid. 
 
 As soon as Frank was released from jail he went at once 
 to the office of Dr. Vernon and demanded money for drink. 
 He had sunk so low now that he would resort to any method 
 to obtain a drink. 
 
 Dr. Vernon firmly refused him, telling him it was for his 
 own good that he withheld money from him. 
 
 Frank then threatened to wreck dire vengeance upon Vio- 
 let if the money were not forthcoming. 
 
 " You love her! You love her! " he shrieked, " and I will 
 punish you through her." 
 
 James, in disgust, gave up trying to reason with the sod- 
 den wretch, and Frank, seeing that his attempts at threat- 
 ening were powerless adopted other tactics. 
 
 " Give me just money enough for one drink/' he whined, 
 " to steady my nerves." 
 
 " Why don't you get trusted for one drink? " 
 
 " Joe McCally won't trust me any more until I pay up an 
 old score of twenty dollars which I owe him," he whined 
 again. " Give me just enough for one drink and I will take 
 
 122 
 
FRANK BETEAYS THE SECRET OF THE OLD MILL DAM. 123 
 
 back what I said about Violet. Come, you love her, and I will 
 give her up to you. She may be my wife in name only. She 
 .shall be your mistress if you will only supply me with liquor. 
 I shall not live much longer and then she will be all yours." 
 
 " You miserable, drunken coward, I will thrash you within 
 an inch of your life if you ever dare mention such a thing 
 to me again. Get out of here before I forget that you are 
 my mother's son and strangle you! " said James, shaking 
 him violently by the shoulder. 
 
 A look of fear came into the wretched man's face, and he 
 hastily made his way to the door, snarling: 
 
 " Curse you! I hate you! I hate you! It was I who told 
 Susanne to accuse you of ruining her. It was I who led 
 Violet to the old arbor that she might overhear! I it was 
 who sent her to Violet afterward and had her tell Violet that 
 you had ruined her young life, and refused to marry her 
 because you tired of her, and then wished to marry Violet! " 
 
 After hurling these words at his brother he quickly 
 slammed the door and hurried down the street, glancing fur- 
 tively over his shoulder to see if he was being pursued by 
 his brother. There was no danger from that source, how- 
 ever, for it was with a feeeling of relief that Dr. Vernon 
 saw the door close upon the wretched man, who, meeting an 
 old acquaintance of the county jail, who had also just been 
 released, he wheedled a half dollar from him and hastened 
 at once to McCally's saloon. 
 
 Striding up to the bar with his head held high, Frank 
 flung the coin down with an air of triumph and ordered the 
 best in the house, which was promptly given. Old Joe knew 
 that he would soon have the remaining change, but in off- 
 hand way he casually inquired of Frank if he wished the 
 balance to go toward the old bill. 
 
 " Not by a sight," replied Frank, ripping out a ter- 
 rible oath. Old Joe then handed the change forty cents 
 and Frank walked over to the roulette wheel and threw it on 
 number seventeen. 
 
124 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 The ball spun swiftly around, finally going slower and 
 slower until at last it dropped into one of the pockets, and 
 lo! behold, as Frank gazes, he sees he has won, and the 
 croupier quickly counted out fourteen dollars in checks, and 
 rings for the porter to bring drinks. 
 
 As Frank drains the contents of the glass his shaking 
 hands become firmer, the old light flashes into his eyes, and 
 he is for the time being the cool, calm gambler of the old 
 days, when he was called the most reckless gamester in the 
 State. He wins steadily, the chips in front of him grow 
 higher and higher, and pile up until there are none left on 
 the croupier's side of the table. 
 
 He then cashes in, but he is so drunk that he can scarcely 
 stand, and realizing this he thrusts all the money into his 
 pockets, staggers out of the gambling house and goes reel- 
 ing down the street. 
 
 After passing a few stores he finds himself in front of the 
 Merchants' and Lumbermen's National Bank, and stops for 
 a moment, gazing thoughtfully at the entrance. A spark of 
 his old self seems to possess him for a moment, and he 
 quickly steps inside and deposits the money in Violet's name. 
 The amount is five thousand dollars, but he never stops to 
 count it. The cashier makes out an account book and Frank 
 thrusts it in his pocket and with difficulty makes his way 
 home. 
 
 Violet opened the door with a sickening sense of disgust 
 and pity, but not observing her, and throwing himself upon 
 the couch, he fumbles about in his pockets for his bank book 
 and hands it to her. She opens it, and seeing the figures 
 inside her face expresses alarm. 
 
 The drunken wretch, with the quickness which intoxicated 
 persons sometimes exhibit, read her thoughts, and reassur- 
 ingly exclaims, "You need not be afraid. I did not steal 
 it! I've won back some of the money I lost in old Joe's 
 saloon." 
 
 He soon sank into a drunken slumber, but after a short 
 
FRANK BETRAYS THE SECRET OF THE OLD MILL DAM. 125 
 
 time the delirium tremens seized him and he was screaming 
 in agony and fear. The face of the girl whom he threw over 
 the dam was ever before him. He imagined her arms were 
 still about him to save herself from being hurled into the 
 seething, whirling waters. 
 
 Violet, in terror, hurried over to James' office, and was 
 fortunate enough to find both physicians in; also Tobias and 
 Martha, who had long since left Frank's service. The imp 
 was there, too, and they all hastened to where Frank lay, 
 raving, cursing and begging in turns. 
 
 Little Grace was sent away that she might not witness the 
 scene. It took the combined efforts of the four men to pre- 
 vent him from doing himself an injury. 
 
 "See her! See her! See her! " he shrieked. " She is fall- 
 ing over the dam! Great God, Marguerite, forgive me! 
 There, curse you, you shall never live to tell Violet how I 
 have ruined you. I mean to make her my wife, and you 
 shall be lying at the bottom of the river with that unborn 
 brat of yours. There, see her, she has sunk from sight! " 
 he excitedly cried, his voice trailing into a whisper as he 
 raised himself in bed and nervously pointed over the foot- 
 board. " See the dark water! " he breathed, gazing stead- 
 fastly down at the carpet, with dilating eyes and quivering 
 nostrils. " See," he continued, breathlessly, "the waters 
 close over her head, and no one will ever know her secret. 
 I have nothing to fear from her now, and I am safe. Not 
 a soul has seen me," he muttered, looking cautiously around 
 the room. "I will hurry back home and never be sus- 
 pected! " 
 
 The whole scene of that fatal night was gone over again 
 and again, and the five persons who watched him knew that 
 he was guilty of the murder of poor, misguided Marguerite 
 Manning. 
 
 The two physicians at last succeeded in quieting him by 
 the use of powerful drugs, and he finally sank into a stupor 
 from which he did not awake for hours. 
 
126 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 The news of Frank's delirium was carefully kept from 
 Mrs. Vernon, who, poor soul, already had trouble enough. 
 
 The following day Elph, who was now almost a man 
 grown, came into the office as the two doctors were discuss- 
 ing Frank's case and trying to discover some means with 
 which to prevent him from drinking, even to the advisa- 
 bility of using drastic measures. 
 
 "Good God!" Elph heard Wilford exclaim, "suppose he 
 should get the tremens somewhere where he might be heard 
 by outsiders going over that scene! He would be arrested 
 and hanged. The shock would kill your mother." 
 
 The two men were so deeply engaged in conversation that 
 they did not hear Elph, who stood, hat in hand, waiting to 
 be spoken to. At last he coughed slightly, and both doctors 
 sprang to their feet in alarm, but sank back when they saw 
 who the intruder was. 
 
 " Great heavens, what a scare! " exclaimed Wilford. " Old 
 man, we must be more careful in the future." 
 
 After Elph greeted them James said, " What is the matter 
 now, Elph? There appears to be something you would like 
 to say." 
 
 " There is, sah, there is! " said Elph, seating himself. " I 
 done got to unburden my mind, sah." 
 
 " Well, out with it, then," said Dr. Ellis; " confession is 
 good for the soul." 
 
 " Well, it am dis way, sah. One ebening long ago I went 
 down to the ribber fishing for bull heads, and I done climbed 
 down one of de piers ob de dam and was fishin'. It was after 
 dark, and bery quiet dere, and de bull heads done bite like 
 fury dat air night. Well, sah, to come to my story, sah, just 
 as I was thinkin' ob gittin' ready to leabe fo' home, sah, 
 'long come Marse Frank and Miss Marguerite. Dey was 
 quarreling, sah, and Marse Frank he done say, ' I frow youh 
 ober de dam if you don't do as I tole you! ' Well, sah. Miss 
 Marguerite she say, ' I'll neber do dat. I'll die befo' I'll ruin 
 
FRANK BETRAYS THE SECRET OF THE OLD MILL DAM. 127 
 
 dose two young lives/ Marse Frank, he gits in a terrible 
 rage and say, ' Then die you shall! ' and he frows her off into 
 de dam. She screamed and Marse Frank run away. I had 
 been sittin' very quiet and still in de shadow of a huge 
 stile, and dey had not heard me nor seen me all dis time, sah. 
 Marse Frank's footsteps had not died off, sah, before I jump 
 down to sabe Miss Marguerite, but it am dark, the waters am 
 swift and foamy, and I failed to see her. I walked up and 
 down both banks ob de ribber, but I neber sees any trace ob 
 Miss Marguerite. Den I runs home and goes to bed/' 
 
 " But why didn't you tell everybody what you saw and 
 have them search the river right away? " asked Dr. Vernon, 
 sternly. 
 
 " In dem days," replied Elph, " I libed in mortal fear ob 
 Marse Frank and I dassant say anything. Youh see," con- 
 tinued the poor imp, whose black countenance was working 
 with fear, " Marse Frank done been bery cruel to me, and 
 harsh sometimes, and I too much afeared to say anything 
 about it, so I just keeped quiet and have neber said nothin'." 
 And his knees were knocking together so badly that they 
 would scarce support his trembling body. 
 
 "I reckon dey will hang me for accomplishment in de 
 crime, but I can't help it; I just got to confess." 
 
 James and Wilford gazed at each other in silent horror 
 for a short space of time. Here was an entirely different 
 phase of the case. 
 
 After considering a few moments James said: "The deed 
 is done and nothing will bring her back. For mother's sake 
 and little Grace we must all remain silent. It will be a ter- 
 rible secret to keep, but what can we do? " 
 
 " Nothing," said Wilford. 
 
 "Elph," said Dr. Vernon, "you must keep your mouth 
 closed, and never reveal to any human being what you saw at 
 the old mill dam." 
 
 "All right, sah. If you say, sah, I done close up like a 
 
128 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 clam now again 'cause my conscience am relieved now and 
 youse, of course, done knows best, sah," and bowing, the 
 darkey withdrew. 
 
 " This is a terrible state of affairs," said Dr. Ellis, after 
 Elph had gone. " It almost makes me feel as if I was that 
 poor girl's murderer myself. Booh! " he exclaimed, " it 
 gives me the jim-jams! " 
 
CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 far 
 
 One year has passed away, a year fraught with misery for 
 Violet. Let us look in at her as she prepares the evening 
 meal. 
 
 The husband lies upon his couch in the grip of his old 
 enemy liquor. The little girl, in a clean but plain little 
 dress, alternately watches first her mother and then her 
 father. But she need have no fear of him for hours to 
 come, for it will take some time for the fumes of the whis- 
 key to die away. Better for him and for all connected with 
 him had he never aroused from that drunken stupor. 
 
 The following morning, as he went to old Joe's for his 
 usual morning drink (he now cleans out the cuspidors and 
 sweeps the floors for a certain amount of drinks), he met 
 George Ashburn, an old acquaintance whom he had known 
 in better days. George had been away from the city for 
 several years, and was ignorant of Frank's downfall. He 
 was deeply shocked by the appearance of the once dapper 
 young bank cashier, clubman and society man. At first 
 Ashburn was unable to believe the evidence of his own 
 senses, but gradually the truth dawned upon him. 
 
 Frank wabbled up to him, and shaking him vigorously by 
 the hand asked how his health was and where he had been 
 and what he was now doing, and ended up by saying: 
 
 " By Jove, old man! I happen to be a little short this 
 morning. Can you lend me a dollar till evening? " 
 
 George was glad to get off so easily and reached in his 
 pocket for the dollar, but finding that he had no smaller 
 change than a five handed it to Frank, saying: 
 
 " There I guess that will answer just as well." 
 
 He grabbed on the coveted bill with the eagerness of a 
 
 129 
 
130 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VEENON. 
 
 half -starved child. Here was drink, drink! All he wanted 
 for an entire day. 
 
 The two parted, George Ashburn going to his hotel (he 
 had just arrived on the morning train) and Frank to old 
 Joe's place. Walking up to the bar, his head thrown back y 
 he threw the money down upon the counter with the air of 
 a millionaire, saying at the same time, " You can clean your 
 own floor this morning." 
 
 At the sight of the five old Joe was politeness itself, and 
 he set the bottle upon the bar, saying, " "Well, Frank, take 
 your first drink with me. I am a little dry myself this- 
 morning." 
 
 Frank accepted with alacrity, and then treated back, but 
 old Joe at once dropped drinking, saying, " Thanks, Frank, 
 I'll take a cigar this time," and helped himself to one, which 
 he put in his pocket and replaced in the box later. 
 
 At this moment the imp came into the barroom. He had a 
 fondness for rum, which occasionally got the best of him,, 
 and at these times, when overloaded, he always went away in 
 some quiet nook until sober again. 
 
 Dr. Vernon, on every occasion, sternly rebuked him, and 
 the imp solemnly swore jusft as often that he would never 
 repeat the offense again. 
 
 As Elph stepped up to the bar, Frank, who was pretty well 
 drunk by this time, invited him to have a drink, but the 
 imp turned his back contemptuously upon him, saying,. 
 " Marse Frank, I reckon I'se able to buy my own drinks. 
 Youh'd better go home and buy something for youh starvin' 
 family." 
 
 Elph had more than once contributed his earnings to aid 
 Violet, but in such a way that she never suspected from 
 whence it came. 
 
 As the imp turned his back upon Frank, the latter 
 shouted, " You infernal scoundrel of a black, good-for-noth- 
 ing nigger, do you dare dictate to me? I'll break every bone 
 in your black anatomy! Oh! that this was still slave-time, 
 
ARRESTED FOR MURDER. 131 
 
 that I might heat your black hide until you would he glad to 
 beg for mercy! " 
 
 "Marse Frank, you done strike me often when I was a 
 boy, but don't you nebber try that trick again, 'cause if 
 youh does, Fse sure going to do youh great bodily harm! " 
 
 Frank knew that Elph would carry out his threat, and 
 relapsed into silence, muttering something about the impu- 
 dence of niggers now-a-days, while the latter calmly drank 
 his rum in silence. 
 
 "Golly! Dat am good liker, Marse Joe. I fink I done 
 take anudder drink." Old Joe quickly sat another bottle 
 on the counter, and Elph quickly disposed of another glass. 
 " Golly, Marse Joe, dat liker am gittin' better ebery minit. 
 I done fink I has anudder one." 
 
 By this time he, too, was feeling as if he were a million- 
 aire, and, ordering a cigar, he went to a card table and sat 
 down to meditate upon the merits of old Joe's wet goods. 
 
 Frank drank a tremendous amount of liquor, and it began 
 to have the effect of making him talkative, and, finally 
 becoming boastful, he began reciting some imaginary valiant 
 deeds he had once performed. Just as Frank finished tell- 
 ing about a particularly brave deed he had done, a gruff 
 voice at his elbow thundered, "Aw, come off! That's 
 nothin'. I once killed a man on the St. Joe River for 
 calling me a liar! " 
 
 Frank turned quickly to look at the new speaker, who 
 was a new arrival whom Frank, talking and gesticulating 
 excitedly, had not seen come in. He was a large, raw-boned, 
 burly lumberman, who was also under the influence of 
 liquor, and not too sweet-tempered. 
 
 " Pooh! " hiccoughed Frank, not to be outdone. " I once 
 killed a girl only because she refused to do my bidding! " 
 
 "Ha! ha! ha! " shouted the crowd, which had grown 
 bigger as the morning advanced. "You never had the 
 courage of a rabbit! " 
 
 "You kill anybody, indeed!" exclaimed the big lumber- 
 
132 THE MERCHANT OP MT. VEENON. 
 
 man. "You would be more likely to sit down tamely and 
 let somebody kill you! Ha! Ha!" 
 
 " You big blundering son-of-a-gun! " exclaimed Frank, 
 savagely. "I tell you I did kill her, and then took the 
 officers and showed her dead body to them! " 
 
 "Will you kindly tell us what her name was?" asked a 
 bystander, with a grin. 
 
 " Cert-in-n-ly," stuttered Frank. "The ma-jor-jor-i-t-ty 
 of of you know her well. Her name name was Mar- 
 Marger-Mar-gue-rite Man-Manning! I ruined her, then 
 then threw her over the old mill dam on on the night of 
 April 22, 1886, because she would not take (hiccough) part 
 in a scheme I wished (hie) to-to carry through," throwing 
 his arms before him in an excited gesture to give emphasis 
 to his statement. 
 
 Silence fell upon the barroom for an instant, and all eyes 
 were turned upon old William Manning, who stepped across 
 the threshold just in time to hear Frank's last statement. 
 Mr. Manning occasionally dropped in to get a glass of ale, 
 but never remained long in the place. He would sip his 
 glass of ale, saying nothing to anyone, and then quietly 
 depart. People said that he had always been a little queer 
 since the tragic death of his idolized daughter, and it is 
 certain that he never quite became himself after the loss 
 of lovely Marguerite. He did not recover from the blow, 
 and years after he would often sit for hours brooding over 
 her cherished memory, not speaking to anyone nor wishing 
 to be disturbed. 
 
 Old Mr. Manning stood staring at Frank for a full minute 
 after hearing those words pronounced, and then, with a sav- 
 age cry of fury, he sprang forward like a tiger, grasped 
 Frank by the throat and bore him to the floor. It took the 
 united strength of the big lumberman and several others 
 to pull him off of the nearly senseless Frank. He raved and 
 cursed like a madman, declaring he would tear him limb 
 from limb. 
 
ARRESTED FOR MURDER. 133 
 
 Elph, sitting at the card table, with his head in his hands, 
 had been partly aroused upon hearing Frank declare that he 
 had killed Marguerite. He witnessed Mr. Manning strike 
 Frank to the floor, and then be forcibly dragged off of his 
 prostrate body. 
 
 The tumult sharpened Elph's benumbed senses, and he 
 sprang to his feet with a cry of terror, howling, " I done 
 'fess everything! I seed Marse Frank frow her into the 
 water, and den I done tried to sabe her, Meed I did, Mr. 
 Manning! " 
 
 "You infernal black scoundrel! Hold your tongue! Do 
 you want us to be hanged? " growled Frank, who was partly 
 sobered now, and fully realized the mistake he had made, 
 and silently cursed himself for doing so. 
 
 In all probability, had Elph not fallen on his knees and 
 howled out those terror-stricken words, Frank's boasts 
 would simply have been regarded as the senseless rav- 
 ings of a drunken man. 
 
 "There is something more in this than appears on the 
 surface/' muttered old Joe to himself. " I heard Frank go 
 over that scene when he had the delirium tremens. I put 
 him in a back room and had the boys hold him there until 
 the marshal came and got him." 
 
 Aloud he said, " Boys, I believe the drunken scoundrel 
 really did kill that girl. I have heard him go over the scene 
 once before. There are some of the boys here in the room 
 now who helped me hold him in the back room when he was 
 * seeing things.' " 
 
 " You bet we did," said a couple of blear-eyed inhabitants 
 of Joe's place. " We heard him go over the whole business, 
 but thought it was one of his nightmares along with the 
 rest." 
 
 Old Mr. Manning was still struggling- with his captors 
 when old Joe stepped from behind the bar and said, " Cease 
 struggling, old man, and we'll pump the nigger. He is 
 drunk now, and we can get the whole story from him. It is 
 
134 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 our only chance, for when he's sober he's got a mouth that 
 will close as tight as a clam when it comes to telling the 
 family secrets of the Vernons." 
 
 " Come, nigger, own up now, and tell us what you saw 
 at the old dam." 
 
 " I didn't see nofing," said the imp, who, like Frank, 
 began to realize that he had made a fool of himself. 
 
 " Oh, ho! So that is the way the wind blows, is it! Man- 
 ning, take my advice," continued old Joe. " Go and have 
 them both locked up on a charge of murder. There is no 
 doubt in my mind but what he committed the crime and the 
 nigger either helped him or was a witness to the whole 
 d affair." 
 
 " We will stick by you," said one of the two men who had 
 helped to hold Frank in the back room upon the other occa- 
 sion when having delirium tremens. 
 
 "Yes," said the other, addressing Mr. Manning, "you 
 may count on us for part of the evidence." 
 
 " That I will! " said Mr. Manning, who now ceased strug- 
 gling for the first time. " Hold them and I will swear out 
 a warrant." 
 
 "Who's going to swear out a warrant?" asked Ted 
 Randall, stepping across the threshold. Ted Randall is the 
 city marshal, and a well-known character in Mt. Vernon. 
 
 "Randall, I firmly believe we have got the murderer or 
 murderers of Marguerite Manning," said Joe. 
 
 " Do tell," drawled Randall, who was a down-east Yankee. 
 " This do beat anything I've heerd of since old Manse, our 
 pet cow, had twins. Well! Well! It do beat all! Wall, if 
 they do be the murderers of that Manning girl, I reckon I'll 
 be obliged to lock them both up. This last affair will be a 
 sad blow to Mrs. Vernon and Doc, but duty is duty, and I 
 must abide by my oath of office." 
 
 " Come, Vernon," he said, not unkindly, " I must lock 
 you up again." 
 
 " It will be nothing new," growled the discomfited vil- 
 
ARRESTED FOR MURDER. 135 
 
 lain. " I've occupied every cell in the cursed building, and 
 I guess I can stand it this time." 
 
 " And just think/' said old Joe, maliciously. " Your hon- 
 orable old father was the chap who donated the entire 
 amount to construct it, and you made your boast that a safer 
 one was never constructed in the State of Michigan/' 
 
 " I'se done going to break youh head, youh good-f o'- 
 nofin' rum-sellin' red-nosed Irishman, youh ebber say a word 
 'bout my ole dead master! " 
 
 "Good for you, Elph!" shouted the crowd. " Old man 
 Vernon was the best man we ever had in this here town." 
 
 " Old Joe," continued one of the men, " is a little sore 
 because the old gent threatened to close him up. He was 
 once or twice caught red-handed rifling the pockets of some 
 of the boys who came in from the woods with a month's 
 wages in their pockets. He used to get them drunk and 
 put them in the back room, take their money and then 
 swear that some one else had robbed them." 
 
 Old Joe knew this was true, and, seeing his mistake, he 
 apologized and called up the house to drink at his expense, 
 a very unusual thing, indeed. 
 
 All drank except Elph and Mr. Manning, who left their 
 glasses untouched. 
 
 "What's the matter, nigger?" asked a lumberman. 
 "Has the thoughts of roosting in the calaboose to-night 
 scared away all your thirst?" 
 
 Elph seized the glass, dashed it upon the floor, where it 
 burst into a thousand pieces, exclaiming, " I'se nebber, 
 nebber going to touch dat stuff no mo', 'cause I done be- 
 trayed what Marse James made me swear to keep silent." 
 
 " So, so! The doctor is mixed up in this affair also," 
 chuckled old Joe. "This promises to be rich indeed!" 
 
 Poor Elph had made another fatal blunder and saw his 
 mistake when it was too late. 
 
 " Marse Eandall, lock me up and hang me! I'se not fit 
 to libe any mo'! To fink I would do dis! I can nebber look 
 
136 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 Marse James in de face again! He would just look sad and 
 say nofin' mean or bad to me. I jes' wanna be hung now! " 
 
 "Elph," said Randall, "I believe you have the whitest 
 
 heart in you I ever see, and, d me, I will resign before 
 
 I'll lock you up in that d dungeon. I don't believe you 
 
 are guilty of any wrong-doing, although you seem to be 
 acquainted with some of the facts in the case/' 
 
 " That's right, Randall," chorused the crowd. " Elph is 
 true blue, even if he is a nigger, and if he promises not to 
 run away, you can gamble on it that he will be found when 
 wanted! " 
 
 " What do you say, Manning? " asked Randall, turning to 
 the father of Marguerite. 
 
 " I say, let him go. I don't believe he had a thing to do- 
 with my daughter's death. That infernal scoundrel has got 
 him mixed up in it in some way probably to shield himself." 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Manning. You have relieved me of a 
 painful duty. I don't mind locking the other one up, except 
 when I think of his poor mother and those near to him. 
 
 " Boys, when my little gal had the diphtheria some years 
 ago and my old lady lying sick and helpless on her back, I 
 cut my foot in the lumber woods and was unable to work, 
 besides being head over heels in debt. 
 
 "Wall, the young doctor came down to the house when 
 he heard of it, cured the old woman and my little gal, and 
 his dear old mother just watched beside them 'ere sick ones 
 until they got well. And now to think it must be my hand 
 that places her son behind the bars, perhaps forever. Boys, 
 it don't seem right! I didn't mind locking him up before 
 because I felt I was doing him and everyone else a service, 
 but it is different now! " 
 
 "I'll tell you what you can do, Randall," said our old 
 acquaintance, the big burly lumberman. " Before he can 
 be locked up upon a charge of murder a warrant must be 
 sworn out by Mr. Manning. Watch the prisoner while Man- 
 ning goes and swears out a wararnt, and do you make your- 
 
ARRESTED FOR MURDER. 137 
 
 self scarce for a while. The sheriff will then probably come 
 and take the prisoner himself." 
 
 " Say, Mr. Lumberman, you ought to be a lawyer instead 
 of an axeman. Why, dern my boot-tops, if you don't look 
 jest like one! " 
 
 " Yes, Randall. I was once the most promising young 
 lawyer in the State of Illinois, but rum was my master, and 
 I sacrificed home, parents, friends, the girl who loved me, 
 ambition everything, for that cursed stuff called rum! I 
 left home and came to the lumber woods of Michigan to try 
 and get away from temptation. I have partly succeeded in 
 downing the old enemy, but occasionally I fail and become 
 a boasting fool, a jibbering idiot, as you witnessed but a 
 short while ago." 
 
 A moment's silence followed this somewhat lengthy 
 speech, and then Manning addressed the lumberman, say- 
 ing, " Stranger, you are all right. I will act upon your 
 advice and go at once to swear out the warrant." 
 
 The news spread through the city like wild fire that Frank 
 Vernon, once the cashier of the Savings Bank and partner 
 in the Vernon Mercantile Lumber and Banking Company, 
 now the city drunkard, is behind the bars upon the terrible 
 charge of murdering beautiful young Marguerite Manning. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The coming trial caused widespread comment, owing to 
 the prisoner's once high social position. 
 
 The newspapers took up the case, some of the most dili- 
 gent reporters even going back to the history of his fore- 
 fathers and following up his ancestry and history up to the 
 time of the trial. 
 
 His wife, it was stated, had been but wife in name only 
 for the past year. She had learned his horrible secret 
 from his drunken mutterings, but for her child's sake she 
 had kept the terrible secret locked up in her own bosom. 
 
 His brother, one of the most skillful physicians in the 
 State, was also aware of the wretched man's crime, having 
 learned of it in the same manner as the broken-hearted 
 wife. 
 
 His mother, it was stated, was completely prostrated, and 
 seldom left the home occupied by herself and youngest son, 
 the doctor. 
 
 The sister of the accused man, "Dr. Ellis's wife," was in 
 constant attendance upon the mother, who it was feared 
 would never leave the bed which she had taken to when the 
 news reached her of her son's terrible crime. 
 
 It was also stated that there was no possible doubt con- 
 cerning his guilt, as a negro servant had been a witness to 
 the whole terrible scene, but had kept silent through fear 
 and the desire to help his young master. 
 
 The best lawyers in the State were to be obtained. The 
 wife had about four thousand dollars left from an amount of 
 money the accused had won at a gaming table. 
 
 The husband had won the money while drunk, and had 
 deposited it in a bank in his wife's name and forgot the 
 transaction immediately after. 
 
 138 
 
THE TRIAL. 139 
 
 His friends at the saloon had told him about it several 
 times, but he had always regarded their words as a banter, 
 and paid no attention to the matter. 
 
 The wife was now using the money in an attempt to save 
 her husband from the gallows for her little daughter's sake. 
 
 It was rumored that some great lawyer from Illinois 
 was to make the plea which it was hoped would save his 
 neck at least from the hangman's noose. Who he was no 
 one seemed to know, and as the day of the trial approached 
 the excitement became intense. 
 
 The feeble old father and mother of the dead girl were 
 determined that the destroyer of their daughter should not 
 go unpunished. 
 
 The saddest feature of the case was the fact that Dr. 
 Vernon, brother of the accused man, had once saved the life 
 of their son at the risk of his own. 
 
 The rescue was made before the crime was committed by 
 the brother. The lad was eleven years of age at the time, 
 "but was now attending the University of Ann Arbor at the 
 doctor's expense, who hoped to make him a physician. 
 
 The affection between the doctor and the lad was very 
 strong, which, said the newspapers, made the case one of 
 the saddest and most complicated the State had ever been 
 confronted with. 
 
 When the case came to trial, the father of the murdered 
 girl was the first witness put on the stand. 
 
 He related how his daughter had complained of feeling 
 ill on the night of April 22, 1886, and had gone to her room, 
 as he supposed, to retire, and of his going to work early 
 the following morning in the Vernon Saw Mill, and then 
 learning of her absence a few hours later; how they had 
 searched the woods and river, finally finding her dead body 
 in the Chippewa River, several miles below the mill dam. 
 
 As the old man concluded his narrative, the prosecutor 
 arose and said, "You are the father of the murdered girl, 
 Marguerite Manning, are you not? " 
 
140 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 The counsel for the defense was on his feet instantly, and, 
 before the old man could reply, he said, " I object, your 
 Honor, on the ground that it has not been proven that she 
 was murdered." 
 
 " The objection is sustained," said the Judge. " Please 
 refer to the dead girl as Marguerite Manning." 
 
 "As your Honor wishes. I merely wished to impress, 
 upon the minds of the jurymen how she came to her death." 
 
 The counsel for the accused again sprang to his feet, 
 accusing the prosecution of trying to influence the minds 
 of the jury, who, he declared, were all intelligent men, capa- 
 ble in every way of following the facts of the case without 
 the aid of the prosecution. 
 
 The Judge rapped impatiently on his desk, declaring he 
 would fine them both if they did not cease wrangling. 
 
 "Did you ever have any reason to suspect that your 
 daughter had any motive to destroy herself? " was the next 
 question asked by the prosecution. 
 
 The old man was visibly affected by the question, but 
 replied: 
 
 "None whatever." 
 
 " Did she have a lover or keep company with any one? " 
 
 " She used to meet Frank Vernon down by the river 
 nearly every night for a long period preceding her death." 
 
 "Did the accused ever come to the home to see her? " 
 
 "I object. The question is immaterial and of no conse- 
 quence," said the counsel for the defense. 
 
 " The objection is overruled. The witness may answer 
 the question." 
 
 "Did the accused ever come to the house to see your 
 daughter?" the prosecution again asked. 
 
 " Never." 
 
 "You are quite sure of that?" 
 
 "Yes, because myself and wife both remonstrated with 
 her, telling her she was jeopardizing her reputation by meet- 
 ing him thus." 
 
THE TRIAL. 141 
 
 " What did your daughter say when you tried to dissuade 
 her from meeting the accused? " 
 
 " She replied that she loved him and that she would meet 
 him, cost her what it may." 
 
 "Did you ever have reason to believe that the accused 
 had any reason to wish her death? " 
 
 " Never until yesterday." 
 
 " What are your reasons for believing that he wished her 
 death since yesterday?" 
 
 " Susanne Kothford, a woman who is slowly dying of con- 
 sumption and remorse, sent me a note yesterday begging 
 that I come over to her home and see her. When I arrived 
 she said she had a secret on her mind and had good reason 
 to believe that Frank Vernon threw my daughter over the 
 mill dam." 
 
 This last statement caused a stir in the court room, and 
 for a moment consternation showed plainly on the faces 
 of the counsel for the defense, and they hastily held a con- 
 sultation among themselves. 
 
 Here was an unexpected blow from the prosecution that 
 put a different phase on the case. 
 
 " That is all," said the prosecutor, with a satisfied look on 
 his face as he looked across the table at the array of lawyers 
 arraigned against him. 
 
 The chief counsel for the defense now arose and prepared 
 to break down the mountain of damaging testimony which 
 the prosecution had piled up. He was none other than the 
 l^lack-whiskered lumberman who had come into old Joe's 
 saloon on the day when Frank made the fatal admission 
 which now threatened to send him to the gallows. 
 
 The keen-eyed lawyer for the defendant looked but little 
 like the former lumberman. His black beard was now care- 
 fully and stylishly trimmed, and he wore well-fitting gar- 
 ments that showed his finely-knit figure to the best advan- 
 tage, and his fellow lawyers addressed him as Mr. Black- 
 wood. 
 
142 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 His black eyes fairly shone as he began to question the 
 old man. 
 
 " Who was the first person to discover your daughter's 
 body after the accident on April 22, 1886?" was the first 
 question he put to Mr. Manning. 
 
 " Frank Vernon, the man who killed her/' came the 
 prompt reply. 
 
 " Was he alone when he discovered the body? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Please state for the benefit of the jury who was with 
 him when the discovery was made, also whether they are in 
 this court room at the present time." 
 
 " Three of them are in this court room." 
 
 "Where is the fourth?" 
 
 " He was killed in a railroad wreck about a year ago." 
 
 " That is all for the present," said Mr. Blackwood. 
 
 Turning to the jury, he said, in his most impressive man- 
 ner, "Gentlemen of the jury, please remember that the 
 father of this poor unfortunate girl who accidentally fell 
 into the Chippewa Kiver on that fatal night, has most posi- 
 tively stated that it was the accused who was the first one to 
 find his daughter." 
 
 The man got down from the stand with a sigh of relief, 
 and the mother was called. 
 
 She had to be assisted to the witness stand, and related 
 much the same story as her husband had. 
 
 She told how she had gone to her daughter's room the 
 following morning to call her, and, receiving no answer, 
 opened the bed-room door and saw that the bed had not 
 been slept in during the night. Seeing the bed-room win- 
 dow wide open, she had gone over to it and seen the foot- 
 prints of Marguerite in the soft earth. 
 
 The prosecution then asked her a few questions and 
 turned her over to the defense. 
 
 " Madame, how do you know that those footprints were 
 made by your daughter?" 
 
THE TRIAL. 143 
 
 " I would know her footprints among a thousand. When 
 she was a little child she fell out of a wagon and injured 
 her leg in such a manner that her left foot always turned 
 slightly inward, but not enough to be observed unless one 
 watched her very carefully." 
 
 The old lady was now allowed to leave the stand. She was 
 in almost a fainting condition, and the Judge advised Mr. 
 Manning and his wife to go home, saying that he would send 
 for them if necessary. 
 
 The brother of the dead girl was the next to be called to 
 the stand, and the prosecutor ended his questions by asking 
 the witness if he too had seen the footsteps on the soft soil 
 on the ground underneath the window. 
 
 "I fail to see what bearing her footsteps have on this 
 case," said Mr. Blackwood when the prosecutor had sat 
 down." 
 
 "You seem to be extremely dull this morning, Brother 
 Blackwood," said the prosecutor. 
 
 " One could hardly be otherwise, considering the company 
 I am now keeping." 
 
 " Do you mean to cast insinuations ? " exclaimed the 
 prosecutor, angrily. 
 
 " Gentlemen! gentlemen! Cease this wrangling or I will 
 fine you both," exclaimed the Judge, impatiently, and, 
 knocking on the desk with his gavel. 
 
 The spectators were all laughing at the two lawyers, who 
 were constantly wrangling with each other, and the Judge 
 threatened to clear the court room unless better order was 
 kept. 
 
 The prosecutor was known as a great wit,, but he had 
 met his match at last, and the crowd enjoyed his discom- 
 fiture immensely. 
 
 Elph was the next witness called to the stand, and as he 
 raised his hand and swore to speak the truth, the whole 
 truth, and nothing but the truth, he muttered to himself, 
 
144 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 "I reckon I won't tell the Jedge no lies to-day, 'cause I 
 ain't going to tell nofing I seen dare dat night." 
 
 " What is your full name? " he was asked. 
 
 "Elphram Washington Lincoln Grant Sherman Vernon, 
 sah," said the imp innocently. 
 
 " Is that your full name? " 
 
 " Yes, sah." 
 
 Laughter in the court room. 
 
 " Silence! " roared the Judge. 
 
 "How old are you?" 
 
 "Sah?" said the imp, interrogatively. 
 
 " How old are you? " 
 
 "I 'spect I'se somewhere between the age of twenty and 
 forty, sah." 
 
 " Do you mean to say that you don't know how old you 
 are?" 
 
 " Not 'zaetly, sah. You see, it am dis way. I was a berry 
 small child when I was born, and my memory was not as 
 good den as it am now." 
 
 " The fellow is either a complete fool, or else he is an 
 exceedingly smart fellow," muttered the Judge under his 
 breath. Aloud he said, "You may question the witness, 
 Mr. Prosecutor." 
 
 The prosecutor now arose and began to question him. A 
 great deal depended on the testimony of Elph, and he re- 
 solved to proceed very carefully. In his blandest manner, 
 he said: 
 
 "Mr. Vernon, you were born in this State, were you 
 not?" 
 
 " Yes, sah. In dis berry town, sah." 
 
 "You are, then, a citizen of the United States, are you 
 not? 
 
 " No, sah, I'se a colored gentleman, I is." 
 
 More laughter in the court room. 
 
 "You are, nevertheless, a citizen of the United States, 
 are you not ? " 
 
THE TRIAL. 145 
 
 '" I don't know, but I done reckon I am, dough." 
 
 "Now, Mr. Vernon, you have lived a long time in Mt. 
 Vernon, I believe you said? " 
 
 " All my life, sah." 
 
 "You, of course, then, know the defendant in this case, 
 do you not?" 
 
 Elph was getting suspicious now, and resolved to answer 
 very carefully. 
 
 " Do you mean Marse Frank Vernon, sah? " 
 
 " Yes, Mr. Vernon." 
 
 " I does, sah." 
 
 " Do you recall one night in 1886, April 22, I believe the 
 date was?" 
 
 "No, sah." 
 
 "Did you not go fishing for bullheads down by the dam 
 on that particular evening? " 
 
 "Don't remember nofing," muttered the imp. 
 
 " Try again. Think hard," said the prosecutor. 
 
 " See here, Marse Judge, Jury and Prosecutor, dis here 
 nigger ain't drunk to-day, and I done know what I am say- 
 ing. I ain't going to tell one d n thing I see or didn't 
 
 see dat air night or any other night. Youse can hang me or 
 send me to jail if you want to, but tain't no use to ask me 
 any fudder questions, 'cause I done going to close up like an 
 oyster shell. 
 
 "When I corned into dis court room dis morning and 
 seed my missis' pretty pale face, I says to myself, Look heah, 
 you good-foh-nofing nigger, you ain't going to say nofing 
 'bout Marse Frank, 'cause it will break de poor old Missis' 
 heart, and no Jedge or jury ain't going to make you, 
 nedder." 
 
 After making this emphatic speech, Elph closed up like 
 a, clam, and no amount of coaxing, threatening or reasoning 
 could induce him to utter another word. 
 
 After wasting nearly an hour in a futile attempt to make 
 him divulge what he knew, the Judge finally gave up in 
 
146 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 despair, and ordered him to be locked up for contempt of 
 court. 
 
 As the faithful black fellow was led away to jail, there 
 was more than one moist eye in the court room. 
 
 As the jailor passed Mrs. Vernon with the prisoner, she 
 arose from her seat, and, grasping his hand, she murmured,, 
 softly, "God bless you, Elph!" 
 
 The look in the poor fellow's eyes showed that he felt 
 more than repaid for any punishment the law might inflict 
 upon him. 
 
 Mr. Blackwood was the next witness to take the stand. 
 
 "Mr. Blackwood, what is your business?" asked the 
 prosecutor. 
 
 " I am a lawyer, sir," replied Mr. Blackwood. 
 
 " Have you practiced long in Michigan, may I ask? " 
 
 " You may ask what you please." 
 
 "Answer my question." 
 
 "Not unless his Honor commands me." 
 
 "You need not answer the question," said the Judge, 
 " The question has no bearing on the case whatever." 
 
 "You are a great drunkard, I believe," said the prose- 
 cutor. 
 
 " You may believe what you please," answered Mr. Black- 
 wood. 
 
 " Gentlemen, gentlemen, cease this useless wrangling or 
 I shall be obliged to fine you both," said the Judge. 
 
 " You were in Joe McCally's saloon on the day the ac- 
 cused was heard to boast that he killed Marguerite Man- 
 ning, were you not? " 
 
 " I was in Joe McCally's saloon on the day the accused 
 was arrested, but don't recall hearing him confess anything." 
 
 "You were very drunk that day, were you not?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 Laughter in the court room. 
 
 "Are you drunk to-day?" 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
THE TRIAL. 147 
 
 " Gentlemen, gentlemen, cease this wrangling or I shall 
 fine you both," said the Judge, pounding on his desk with 
 his gavel. 
 
 " You say that you were in Joe McCally's saloon on the 
 day the accused was arrested? " said the prosecutor, resum- 
 ing his questions. 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 " Did you not hear the accused say he killed Marguerite 
 Manning because she would not do his bidding? " 
 
 " My dear fellow-lawyer, you must recall the fact that I 
 was very drunk that day; in fact, I was in such a beastly 
 state of intoxication that I don't remember a thing that took 
 place after I entered the saloon." 
 
 The prosecutor saw that he had been beaten at his own 
 game, and growled out, "You knew enough to plan a way 
 for the marshal to avoid arresting the accused." 
 
 " If I did, I was so drunk that I can't recall it," said Mr. 
 Blackwood. 
 
 " That is all the questions I wish to ask you," snapped 
 the prosecutor. 
 
 He was then questioned by his partner in behalf of the 
 defense, and managed by shrewd answers to throw a favora- 
 ble light upon the case. 
 
 The next day, Susanne was brought into the court room 
 on a stretcher. The mark of death was upon her counte- 
 nance, and it was plainly apparent that she had but a few 
 more weeks in which to live. 
 
 She was sworn and asked to relate what took place be- 
 tween Frank Vernon and herself. 
 
 She told of her hopeless passion for James and of their 
 plot to make James a villain in the eyes of Violet, and how 
 during one of their secret meetings he had been slightly 
 intoxicated and boasted of having got rid of the other one, 
 meaning Marguerite Manning, and then of denying it after- 
 wards. 
 
 She concluded by saying, "I have got but a few more 
 
148 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VEENON. 
 
 weeks in which to live, and it is the statement of a dying 
 girl that Frank Vernon killed Marguerite Manning." 
 
 Susanne then sank back in an almost fainting condition, 
 and the attorneys, out of sheer pity, allowed her to be taken 
 from the room without cross-questioning her, as nothing 
 could be gained by either side by detaining her. 
 
 Blackwood thought that the utmost they could possibly 
 do would be to secure a life sentence, and he and his fel- 
 low-lawyers set to work to accomplish this end. 
 
 The evidence was all in at last, and the prosecutor arose 
 to his feet and addressed the jury thus: 
 
 " Gentlemen of the jury, you have heard all the evidence 
 in the case; heard how this red-handed murderer met this 
 young and trusting girl, made her love him probably by 
 promises of marriage, and then, seeing a fairer face, he 
 resolved to get rid of her that he might marry the woman 
 who is now his wife. Fancy, gentlemen of the jury, how he, 
 by some secret signs known only to himself and the girl, 
 must have enticed her to the old dam, and then, believing 
 himself unseen, seized her and tried to throw her into the 
 cold, dark waters below. 
 
 " Gentlemen of the jury, the accused is not a physically 
 strong man; never was, and that struggle must have lasted 
 several minutes. Fancy that poor, helpless girl struggling 
 in the dark for her life and being forced inch by inch nearer 
 and nearer that fatal spot; of her last mad struggles, her 
 pitiful pleadings as nearer and nearer the fiend forced her, 
 until she was tottering on the very brink of that mad, rush- 
 ing, cold water, and then of him, with a last supreme effort 
 free himself from her clinging grasp, and then, with a last 
 desperate effort, thrust her over! over! into that boiling, 
 seething maelstrom ! " 
 
 " Good God! " shrieked Frank, at this moment. " Don't! 
 don't! for God's sake, don't." 
 
 He cowered and glared at the prosecuting attorney like a 
 wild beast. 
 
THE TRIAL. 149 
 
 " See the murderer! " he thundered. " I have described 
 his horrible crime just as it actually took place. See him 
 cower and glower like a wild beast at bay! Gentlemen of 
 the jury, my life would not be safe for an instant if he was 
 free. Even now his hands are twitching and aching for 
 another victim. 
 
 " Fancy if you can the mad fear of that poor, murdered 
 girl's mother as she knocks on the door the next morning, 
 and, receiving no answer, she opens the door and goes 
 within! Let us follow her step by step as she opens the door 
 and sees the bed unoccupied, and, running to the open win- 
 dow, sees the footprints of her darling child leading toward 
 the old mill dam, and then, gentlemen, fancy if you can how 
 the poor old father must have felt when the news reached 
 him. 
 
 " Only the night before he had kissed her good-night and 
 seen her enter her little bed-room, and then in the morning, 
 he walks on tiptoe past her room that he might not 
 awaken her when he went to work. 
 
 " Gentlemen of the jury," he thundered forth, " all the 
 noise this side of Hades could not have awakened her then, 
 for she was at the bottom of the Chippewa Eiver! dead! dead! 
 and by him whose hand should have been the first to shield 
 and protect her. 
 
 " If he did not commit the deed, then how did he know 
 just where to find her? Why did not some of the other 
 searchers find her? You ask why he was the first to dis- 
 cover the dead body of the girl whom he had so foully mur- 
 dered. I answer that he fancied that would be the safest 
 way to divert suspicion from himself. 
 
 " If we could have forced that negro to have spoken, he 
 would have told this learned jury word for word the crime 
 I have just described. Does not the prisoner's very atti- 
 tude speak plainer than words his damnable guilt? 
 
 " Gentlemen, look at him; look at him well, as he sits 
 there writhing in agony and fear as his crime has been un- 
 
150 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 erringly described, and can you doubt for an instant how 
 poor, pretty Marguerite Manning came to her death? 
 
 "Now, gentlemen," he continued in a lower tone, "I 
 know some of you, perhaps all of you, are fathers. Is it 
 safe to let such a man as this go at large among young and 
 innocent girls? Look at his record for the past few years! 
 What is it? 
 
 " Drunkenness and a long life of jail sentences. Should 
 he be spared for his wife's sake? Should he be spared for 
 his little daughter's sake? 
 
 tf I answer, No ! Ten thousand times no I 
 
 " The only peace and safety that his wife and child knew 
 was when he was locked up behind the iron bars. I say he 
 ought to be hanged and it is the duty of every father on 
 this jury to say so. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen, in conclusion I will say, do your duty. 
 If you find the accused is not guilty of this terrible crime 
 then turn him loose and find out who did. 
 
 " If, on the other hand, you find him guilty, then it is 
 your duty to hang him, in accordance with the laws of this 
 great State." 
 
 He then sat down, and the vast throng in the court room, 
 with one breath, breathed a sigh of relief. 
 
 The prosecuting attorney had fairly carried the crowd 
 along with him by his eloquence and fervor. 
 
 Attorney Blackwood for the defense now arose, and, in a 
 calm voice addressed the jury as follows: 
 
 " Gentlemen of the jury, I know that you are twelve good 
 and true men. You have been chosen from among a score 
 or more of intelligent men, and I know you will decide this 
 case on its own merits according to the evidence introduced. 
 
 "The prosecutor has bulldozed, threatened and called 
 the defendant in this case a red-handed murderer! Think 
 of it, gentlemen! A red-handed murderer! And on what 
 grounds? None whatever. Because that poor, unfortunate 
 young girl went to bed sick one night and was drowned on 
 
THE TRIAL. 151 
 
 that same evening, is that any indication that my client is 
 responsible for her death? I say no. 
 
 " The poor girl was evidently very ill, probably with 
 brain fever, or something equally as bad, and was out of her 
 head. She went to her room, which, being very hot and 
 close, caused her to throw up her window as high as possi- 
 ble in order to get the fresh, pure evening air. She probably 
 sat down near the window and, tempted by the beautiful 
 night and pure air, she leaped lightly out of the window 
 and paced up and down for a while outside. Her head in 
 all probability grew worse, and she wandered farther away 
 from the house. What is more natural than that she should 
 turn her unconscious footsteps toward the river? She wan- 
 dered to the dam, probably attracted there by the noise, or 
 some other equally simple cause. She wandered too close 
 and accidentally fell into the rushing waters. 
 
 "The roar of the falling waters would drown her feeble 
 cries for help, and she was carried swiftly down the stream. 
 
 " Gentlemen, the most of you have been residents of Mt. 
 Vernon a long time, and you can all recall accidents of this 
 kind. "Why, only last summer Ealph Montgomery, the 
 young son of one of our foremost merchants, fell into the 
 the river just below the dam, and was carried even farther 
 down the river than Marguerite Manning, who fell into the 
 river on that fatal night of April 22, 1886. 
 
 " Gentlemen, does it look reasonable that Frank Vernon, 
 whom the learned prosecutor himself has said was a physi- 
 cally weak man, could have struggled for such a long length 
 of time with a strong young woman, in the prime of life? 
 Would not her loud cries for assistance speedily have 
 brought help? 
 
 " Gentlemen," he thundered forth, warming up to his 
 subject, " such an intelligent body of men as you are cannot 
 help but see the utter impossibility and folly of the flimsy 
 web of circumstantial evidence which the prosecution has 
 piled up. 
 
152 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 "Did not Frank Vernon himself organize a body of 
 searchers, and was he not the most active to search for the 
 missing girl? Was it not his own hands that pulled her 
 from the river and restored all that was mortal of her to her 
 bereaved parents? I appeal to you as men of intelligence, 
 of reason and of judgment to tell me whether that was 
 the act of a guilty man or not? 
 
 "Would a guilty man have taken them to the very spot 
 that would reveal his crime? I thunder forth to heaven, 
 No! a thousand times no! 
 
 " As for that unfortunate scene in the bar-room the other 
 day, I say it was the senseless words of a drunken man who 
 knew not what he said. 
 
 "Did I not (I am told) boast that I killed a man? I 
 have no recollection of making that statement. It is to my 
 shame that I relate my actions on that day, but if I made 
 such a foolish boast, then why not he? If he should be tried 
 for his life because of uttering those thoughtless drunken 
 words, then I am equally guilty, and should also be tried for 
 my life. 
 
 " The poor, ignorant colored man, who was locked up 
 the other day, refused to open his mouth because why? 
 I say it was simply because he was bullied and frightened 
 by the learned prosecutor, who took advantage of the fact 
 in order to make things look worse for the accused. He 
 refused to open his mouth because he did not want to wrong 
 his employers further by his ignorant remarks, such as he 
 made in the saloon the other day. 
 
 " Let us look backward for a few years, for instance, 1886. 
 Did not Dr. Vernon, brother of the accused man save the 
 life of this poor girl's brother at the immediate risk of his 
 own? Let us look back at that scene, which is still fresh in 
 the memory of many of the older inhabitants of this city. 
 We find ourselves on the banks of this self -same river which 
 Marguerite fell into. We are surrounded by thousands of 
 
THE TRIAL. 153 
 
 people who have come to witness the annual spring launch- 
 ing of the logs. As we sit there a gun is fired, which is a 
 signal to open the great gates of the reservoir and let the 
 logs shoot through them on their way to Saginaw. 
 
 " Great logs are seen to shoot through the narrow open- 
 ing and a mighty cheer goes up from the great multitude 
 of spectators as they behold the monarchs of the forest 
 shoot the narrow gates with the speed of an express train. 
 
 " But what is that ? A little child springs out upon the 
 quivering dam; it stands on the very edge of the great sluice 
 gates and claps its hands gleefully as the great logs shoot 
 through beneath his very feet. 
 
 " A dozen brawny sons of the woods spring out upon the 
 dam to pull the child back to safety. The foremost almost 
 reaches him, when lo! a great log is seen to rear itself on 
 end and then fall with crushing force upon the sluice gates 
 at the very feet of the child. 
 
 " The force of the log causes the gates to almost give way, 
 and they quiver, causing the child to sway this way and then 
 that way, and finally, losing its balance, it falls headfore- 
 most into the rushing water. A great cry of horror goes up 
 from the vast throng of watchers, and the sister of the child 
 wildly cries for some one to save him. 
 
 " The brawny woodsmen falter and turn back. To leap 
 into that seething, boiling water means to court almost cer- 
 tain death. The sister of the child screams again for some 
 one to save him, and would have rushed into the water her- 
 self had she not been seized and held back. It seems that 
 no one will dare to take the fearful chances, but just then 
 a lithe form is seen to spring out upon the dam, throwing off 
 outer garments as he ran. 
 
 " Like a tiger he leaps into the foaming current and tries 
 to swim towards the drowning boy. But can he reach him? 
 It is now a matter of chance, for no swimmer, no matter 
 how strong he might be, could alter his course a particle. 
 
154 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 But just as the drowning child sinks from view for the third 
 time, the hand of the daring rescuer comes in contact with 
 the little fellow's head, and the child is for the time safe. 
 
 " But with all of his great strength the swimmer is unable 
 to make the least headway in the whirling circle of water 
 which gradually draws himself and his unconscious burden 
 nearer and nearer a whirling vortex of water that plunges 
 downward like a funnel, drawing huge logs down with it. 
 When the logs reappear they are a great distance down the 
 stream, and no human being could ever go down in that 
 whirlpool and come out alive. Even should he escape the 
 terrible whirlpool, he has but one chance in a thousand of 
 escaping being crushed to death between the logs which 
 strike together with a force that peels the bark off and 
 sends the splinters flying off into his face in showers. 
 
 " He is fast growing exhausted, and his efforts are grow- 
 ing weaker, and he seems to nearly sink from view. Nearer 
 and nearer he is drawn toward the funnel-shap.ed hole, and 
 just as he is about to be drawn under, a great pine log 
 strikes him a fearful blow; but he manages to clamber up 
 on it with his limp and unconscious burden, one arm hang- 
 ing helplessly by his side. 
 
 " The huge log he is astride of is the same one which so 
 nearly crushed the great sluice gates. The struggle between 
 the whirlpool and the giant of the forest is tremendous. 
 The log disappears from view at intervals, but only for an 
 instant at a time. 
 
 " Sometimes it spins around like a top as if trying to 
 shake off its human burden, but lo! just as the great log 
 is directly over the vortex for the hundredth time the cur- 
 rent changes for an instant and the log is thrown with great 
 violence clear of the whirlpool, and is shot like an arrow 
 down stream. The crowd looks with bated breath. Surely 
 he must have loosened his hold that time, for it seems that 
 no human being could have had the strength and endurance 
 to cling to that shooting monster as it plows through a sea 
 
THE TRIAL. 155 
 
 of foam! But he is there in the same position, and, wonder 
 of wonders! he still has the child. 
 
 "But the danger is by no means past yet. The stream 
 becomes narrower a few hundred feet below the dam, and 
 there is a sharp bend in the river. Here is where the great- 
 est danger lies. The logs have become wedged at this point 
 and formed a great jam, fully forty feet in height. The 
 high banks on either side hem the water in, and until it 
 makes a cataract over which the logs shoot with great 
 velocity. 
 
 " To go over this cataract means to be crushed to death, 
 and, making a desperate effort, he gains an upright position 
 on the log, holding his unconscious burden in his one good 
 arm. His only chance of life now lies in his being able to 
 gain the shore before he reaches the great jam. To do this 
 he must make his way by leaping from one log to another 
 when they come close enough together. But will he be 
 able to accomplish this before it is too late? 
 
 " Less than six hundred feet now intervene between him- 
 self and certain death, and the logs are moving with the 
 speed of an express train. Closer and closer the logs close 
 together as the stream becomes narrower, and in a short 
 time he stands upon the nearest log, which is within six 
 feet of the shore. 
 
 " Gathering himself for a desperate effort, he leaps, but, 
 hampered by the child, he cannot quite reach it, and falls 
 back into the rushing waters. But another log, rushing 
 -down from above, is soon within his reach, and he manages 
 to clamber upon it and make his way within a few feet of 
 the shore, when the jam is reached. 
 
 u He has made an excellent fight for life, but it now seems 
 that all his efforts have been made in vain. The log, with 
 its precious burden, is whirling tantalizingly near the shore, 
 but just out of reach. It was now too late to plunge into the 
 Tvater and try to swim the few remaining feet, as he would 
 liave been swept down instantly by the undertow and be 
 
156 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 ground to death. Nearer and nearer they are swept toward 
 the fatal precipice, until the front end of the log strikes the 
 jam with a crash, swings sideways across the narrow open- 
 ing in the center of the jam, and in an instant is swept 
 beneath the surface, but not before the daring rescuer has 
 leaped upon the tossing logs, where he makes his way from 
 one to another, now falling upon his hands and knees, some- 
 times crawling upon his hands and knees, but slowly and 
 surely making his way to shore and safety. 
 
 " Once a giant log, caught like a wedge, snaps in twain 
 like a jackstraw, the splinters striking him in the face and 
 knocking him down, while a great cry of horror goes up 
 from the watchers. But he is up again in an instant, the 
 blood flowing down his face and into his eyes, nearly blind- 
 ing him, but a few more jumps take him close to the 
 shore, and a dozen willing hands are stretched forth 
 to render assistance, and just in time. Exhausted na- 
 ture would stand no more, and he sinks fainting into the 
 arms of a brawny woodman, his precious burden still clasped 
 in his one strong arm. 
 
 " They are tenderly carried under the shade of a great 
 oak tree, and a doctor bends over them and soon brings the 
 rescuer to consciousness, but it is many hours before the 
 little one is brought to consciousness, as it has swallowed 
 a great quantity of water. 
 
 " The brave rescuer is found to have sustained a broken 
 arm and many cuts and bruises, but the doctor cheerfully 
 announces that there is no serious danger if the patient has 
 good care and nursing. 
 
 " A vehicle is quickly procured, and rescuer and rescued 
 are quickly taken home. 
 
 "Gentlemen of the jury, shall I tell you the name of 
 that brave rescuer? It was James Vernon, Mt. Vernon's 
 most skillful and benevolent doctor. And who was the res- 
 cued? It was the little brother of Marguerite Manning, and 
 
THE TRIAL. 157 
 
 the sister who made that pitiful cry for some one to save her 
 little brother was she. 
 
 " Was there one single man among that vast throng who 
 was brave enough to risk his life in that terrible maelstrom? 
 Yes, there was one, just one man among that crowd of thou- 
 sands who dared take the fearful chances, and that is the 
 brother of the accused. 
 
 " Gentlemen of the jury, I appeal to you as men of rea- 
 son, as men of justice and intelligence, could the brother 
 of such a noble man have deliberately taken the life of that 
 poor girl? I cry to heaven that it is impossible that he 
 could have committed such a dastardly crime as the learned 
 prosecutor has just described. This same boy has been 
 educated, and is even now a student of the University of 
 Ann Arbor at the joint expense of the two brothers. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen of the jury, I have laid before you the 
 full facts of this case, and I know that you will decide it on 
 its merits alone. If you find the prisoner guilty of this hor- 
 rible crime, then it is your duty to convict him; but if, on 
 the other hand, you find him innocent, as I fully believe you 
 will, then it is your duty to order his release and find the 
 person who did commit this terrible crime, if a crime has 
 been committed. But it is my firm belief that there has 
 been no crime committed, for I believe that poor, unfor- 
 tunate girl wandered to the dam that night and accidentally 
 fell into the water." 
 
 He then sat down amid a silence that was painful. The 
 picture he had drawn was so realistic, so true to life that the 
 spectators in the court room had been held spellbound by 
 his wonderful eloquence and masterful delivery. 
 
 There was not a dry eye in the court room. The Judge 
 pulled out his handkerchief in a pretense of wiping his nose, 
 but in reality to wipe away the tears from his eyes. 
 
 He asked the accused man if he had anything to say in his 
 own behalf, but he said No, and the Judge then instructed 
 
158 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 the jury, and they filed out of the court room and remained 
 out for twenty-six hours. They then returned to the court 
 room, and the prisoner was again brought back. 
 
 " Have you reached a decision yet? " asked the Judge. 
 
 " We have/' replied the foreman. 
 
 "What is your verdict, gentlemen?" 
 
 "We could not agree. Part held out for partial con- 
 viction and some for acquittal." 
 
 The Judge, who was an old jurist, shook his head and said 
 it was against the very evidence shown in the case, and was 
 caused by the marvellous eloquence of the lawyer for the 
 defendant. 
 
 The next day Mr. Blackwood got gloriously drunk, and 
 was locked up on a charge of disturbing the peace. 
 
 Alas! what a sad ending of one of the greatest pleas 
 that had ever been made in a court room. People said it was 
 a shame that such a man would recklessly throw away the 
 chances of a great career. 
 
 A new trial was, of course, ordered, but the liquor-loving 
 silver-tongued Blackwood was not present at the second 
 trial. He had served his jail sentence and then disappeared 
 like a shadow, no one knew where. 
 
 The trial was before a different Judge this time, and the 
 clever prosecutor did not have so much opposition, and the 
 verdict was " Guilty of murder in the first degree." 
 
 As he had already had one trial, the laws of the State 
 forbade that the extreme penalty be carried out. He was 
 sentenced to serve at hard labor in the Jackson prison for 
 the rest of his natural life. 
 
CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 (Emttomttrti ia fhrteim tor 
 
 The day before Frank Vernon was taken to the great prison, 
 at Jackson the sheriff gave all his relatives and friends a last 
 chance to see and converse with him. 
 
 But, alas! there was not one friend who cared to see him, 
 although all of his relatives came to say a last sad farewell 
 to the wretched man who was once Mt. Vernon's most prom- 
 ising business man and promoter. 
 
 His relatives came in a body. He was now really sober, 
 although suffering the torments of the damned from his wild 
 craving for liquor. 
 
 Dr. Vernon did everything in his power to alleviate his 
 sufferings by the use of powerful opiates. 
 
 He greeted all of his relatives with his old-time courtesy, 
 for he was a gentleman when in his proper senses. He was 
 perfectly resigned to his fate, and talked to them quite calmly 
 concerning his future life. They promised to write to him aa 
 often as the prison rules permitted. 
 
 The last farewell was taken of each member of the family 
 until he came to little Grade. She did not understand all 
 this ceremony and asked her Uncle Dim why he didn't pay 
 her papa's fine, like he used to, so he could get out of the 
 horrid jail. 
 
 " My little daughter, he cannot do so this time/' said Frank, 
 sinking into a chair and taking the little one on his lap. 
 " I am going on a long, long journey to-morrow, and it will 
 be a long time before I return, and while I am gone you must 
 be very, very good to mamma. She and you will go and live 
 with grandma and Uncle Dim in the big house at Green- 
 wold." (James had bought back the home.) 
 
 " If you are going to be gone ever so long then I will write 
 you nice long letters, and you can read them ; but if you are 
 
 159 
 
160 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 going so awful far away, why don't you take mamma and I 
 along with you ? " 
 
 A spasm of pain contracted the features of the condemned 
 man as he said, "It is so awful far that you and mamma 
 couldn't possibly go." 
 
 "But what makes you go then? Don't you love mamma 
 and I any more ? " 
 
 " God knows that I do, now that it is too late." 
 
 " But, papa, it is not too late, because you have not started 
 yet, and Uncle Dim will pay your fine, won't you, Uncle 
 Dim ? " she said, coaxingly. 
 
 She had heard the words, "paying a fine," so often that 
 she had an idea that all that was required was to give the 
 bad man who locked her papa up some money and then he 
 would be released at once. 
 
 " My dear," said Dr. Vernon, " I would pay his fine gladly 
 if I could, but he must go on a long journey and I can do 
 nothing nothing ! " 
 
 The time was fast approaching for them to take their de- 
 parture, and it was with a feeling of relief that all saw the 
 hands of the clock in the jail point to the even hour, which 
 indicated that it was time they must go. Each moment only 
 made the parting more grievous and embarrassing to all. 
 
 As the mother looked into her son's eyes for the last time 
 she expected to see him without a felon's stripes on, she 
 handed him a small Bible and said : 
 
 " My son, try to alter your life from this day forth, and 
 when behind those cold, gray prison walls try to teach those 
 poor, misguided inmates the words and love of Him who was 
 crucified that man might be cleansed from all sin. Let the 
 little Bible I just gave you be your comforter and guide." 
 
 "Mother," he said, "I cannot believe or do as you wish. 
 I cannot believe the words of this little book, but I will take 
 it and cherish it ever because it is a present from my mother, 
 the mother whom I have ever been a source of trouble and 
 disgrace to." 
 
CONDEMNED TO PRISON FOR LIFE. 161 
 
 "Not so, iny son," she said, bursting into tears at last; 
 " whatever your faults have been you have ever been a kind 
 son to me." 
 
 She had borne up bravely until it came to the actual part- 
 ing. Her mother's heart was full to overflowing, and she 
 could stand no more, and she fainted and was caught in 
 Frank's arms. 
 
 " Here, brother, take care of her," he said, kissing her pale, 
 cold lips. 
 
 " Good-bye, Violet," he said, sorrowfully, kissing her on 
 the brow. 
 
 " Lock me up, jailer," he said, turning to the turnkey. 
 4( Mother must not come to her senses again in this place." 
 
 As the jailer and Frank reached the great iron door that 
 led to the cells, he turned backward for a moment and called 
 out: 
 
 " Good-bye, all ; the next time you see me it won't be in 
 prisoner's stripes, for I swear that no prison on the face of the 
 earth will ever hold me. I will make my escape, and when I 
 do no living man will ever take me alive." 
 
 After taking this oath he waved his hand at them and dis- 
 appeared through the great iron door, and as they carried 
 his unconscious mother out in the warm sunshine they heard 
 the great iron door of the county jail close with a clang upon 
 the man who had just sworn that no bolts or iron bars were 
 strong enough to hold him. 
 
 " I believe he will keep his oath," said Dr. Yernon. " When 
 we were boys I can remember how he used to construct imagi- 
 nary jails and place prisoners within them and then devise 
 ways for them to make their escape. Even in late years I have 
 heard him boast quite frequently that no prison could ever 
 hold him very long." 
 
 " I am afraid he will find out his mistake," said Dr. Ellis, 
 " I have never heard of a prisoner escaping from the great 
 Jackson prison." 
 
 In the meantime both doctors had been busily applying 
 
162 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 restoratives to bring Mrs. Vernon to consciousness, and at this, 
 moment she opened her eyes with a sigh, and the conversation 
 was dropped for the time being. 
 
 Mrs. Vernon, Mary, Violet and little Gracie were assisted 
 into the carriage and driven to Dr. Vernon's home. 
 
 Dr. Vernon, Dr. Ellis and Mary then walked to the two 
 physicians' office. 
 
 A consultation was held, and it was definitely decided that 
 Violet and her little daughter would in the future make their 
 home with Dr. Vernon. 
 
 Mrs. Vernon was growing quite feeble, and Dr. Vernon felt 
 that she needed the companionship of some one who could be 
 at home more than he was, and besides the prattling of the 
 child would serve to divert her mind somewhat and prevent 
 her in a measure from brooding over her wayward son, whom 
 fate had decreed she would never in life gaze upon again. 
 
 When next she was to see him it would be in death, but 
 that same mysterious fate which guides all our lives mercifully 
 drew a curtain over the future and left her the small consola- 
 tion of thinking that she could at least see him at long inter- 
 vals, even though he wore a felon's garb. 
 
 She received letters from him quite often, and in them he- 
 only pictured the brighter side of prison life, so that in time 
 she felt that he was better off after all where the old enemy 
 liquor could not reach him. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Htfrr 
 
 Let us follow the course of Frank's life as on the following 
 day he is led forth from the county jail to the one-thirty 
 train, which is to hear him to the living tomb to which he 
 has been condemned to spend the rest of his natural life. 
 
 He is handcuffed tightly to a couple of powerfully-built 
 deputy sheriffs, who walk on either side of him. The county 
 sheriff brings up the rear, and they arrive just in time. 
 
 The train swiftly speeds on its way. They change cars at 
 Ann Arbor, and board a Michigan Central train. A short 
 ride on this road, and they arrive at the Union Depot, in the 
 city of Jackson. The officers and their prisoner take a cab 
 and are rapidly driven to the great prison, whose high walls 
 loom up dark and forbidding. At the prison the officers 
 turn their prisoner over to the prison officials and make 
 preparations to return to Mt. Vernon. 
 
 Their prisoner has been a model of good behavior, and 
 when they leave they shake hands cordially with the con- 
 demned man. They promise to tell his mother that he is 
 quite comfortable and does not find prison life so disagree- 
 able as he expected. This is a fib, of course, but for once 
 in his life he feels that he is breaking the commandments 
 in a good cause. 
 
 He is given a bath; his hair, moustache and whiskers are 
 closely shaven off, and a striped pair of trousers, shirt and 
 jacket to match, are given him in exchange for his citizens' 
 clothes, and he is then led away to his cell. 
 
 His number is 444. This will be the name he will hence- 
 forth bear. Frank Vernon ceased to exist when he passed 
 through the great gates of Michigan's principal prison. 
 
 444 is closely watched the first few months of his impris- 
 
 163 
 
164 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 omnent. The sheriff of Mt. Vernon had informed the war- 
 den of the prison of Frank's oath to escape; but as time 
 passed on, 444, who was a model prisoner, was less closely 
 watched, and finally no more attention was paid to him than 
 to the other long-term prisoners. 
 
 He was put in the tailoring department at the beginning 
 of his incarceration, but showed so much intelligence and 
 skill when assigned to the duty of occasionally packing the 
 ready-made garments into the boxes that he was finally 
 given charge of that department under the close watch of a 
 guard. The clothing was sold to various clothing dealers 
 to help maintain the expenses of the prison. 
 
 His splendid education and knowledge of bookkeeping 
 was of the greatest aid to several of the prison officials, 
 who took advantage of the opportunity to shift some of their 
 troublesome accounts on the shoulders of 444. 
 
 In time he became a general favorite, and the more ardu- 
 ous duties of the prison were never performed by him. 
 
 He was working with one great object in life, "Escape." 
 
 Escape meant life, real life, liberty and the pure light and 
 air of the outer world, a world that was set apart from him. 
 
 The old craving for liquor was gone now. It had worn 
 away with time, and he was himself again, cold and calcu- 
 lating. He weighed every chance and resolved to take no 
 chances until he was reasonably sure of success. 
 
 Several times wild, impossible schemes of fellow-prison- 
 ers were proposed to him by means of taps on the walls. 
 This was the favorite way of conversing among the prison- 
 ers. They were not allowed to speak to one another, but at 
 times they managed to whisper a word or so without being 
 detected. But these occasions were rare, as a guard was 
 ever near with a gun over his shoulder, and the gun was 
 carried for use, not for a show. 
 
 A year and a half passed away. 444 frequently got letters 
 from home. But none of them had ever as yet visited him, 
 although every letter contained a promise to do so. The 
 
ESCAPE OF THE LIFER. 165 
 
 fact was, none of them could muster up courage enough to 
 go and see the poor wretch in his prison stripes. 
 
 Prison life was becoming unendurable for a wild, passion- 
 ate nature like 444, and to be confined in his narrow prison 
 quarters was worse than death to him. A thousand different 
 schemes and plans would suggest themselves to his mind, 
 only to be cast aside as worse than useless, for to try and 
 then fail meant to lose all chances for another attempt, for 
 he would be placed in close confinement and a double watch 
 placed over him. 
 
 The prison had been turning out a great deal of ready- 
 made clothing of late, and he was given full charge of pack- 
 ing the boxes. 
 
 Old Mike Sullivan, a lifer, more commonly known as 162, 
 was his assistant. Old Mike had taken quite a fancy to 444, 
 and, as Old Mike, or 162, was nailing the last boards on to a 
 box, a wild, daring scheme entered his mind. 
 
 Why not substitute himself in place of the clothing? 
 The scheme was certainly hazardous, and the chances were 
 about even that he would be discovered before the boxes 
 left the prison. 
 
 The boxes were nailed up in the packing-room and then 
 trucked out into the yard, labelled and weighed, then loaded 
 on to huge trucks and hauled to the depot. 
 
 At the gates the boxes were given a most rigid inspection 
 before they were allowed to pass through. 
 
 Here was where the greatest danger would lie, and should 
 he once be discovered in making such a bold attempt to escape 
 all hopes for the future would be gone. The chances were that 
 he would be locked up in solitary confinement. 
 
 The boxes weighed about eight hundred pounds when ready 
 for shipping, and an inspector stood by while 444 gave the 
 directions for packing each one. 
 
 One of the greatest difficulties would be to conceal himself 
 in the box without the inspector seeing him. Should the 
 inspector leave but an instant there would be some slight 
 hope. 
 
166 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 He must have help. Even after this was done some one 
 must nail him in. As he was giving 162 some final instruc- 
 tions as to nailing up a box he leaned over and whispered his 
 scheme to his fellow prisoner, and asked him if he would lend 
 his aid to carry out the project. 
 
 " That I will," said 162, his eyes dancing with a fierce joy. 
 " If you can get into the box, you can count on me nailing 
 you up in it. Begorry, you have made my life a whole lot 
 easier the last six months, while I have been helping you, and, 
 besides, I loike you, my lad, I loike you. My life is about at 
 an end anyway. I cannot live much longer, and I wouldn't 
 escape if I could. I have been shut up in this living hell for 
 thirty-seven years, and I swear to you I am an innocent man, 
 serving time for another's crime." 
 
 " I believe you," said 444, " and if I escape I promise to 
 aid you if I can." 
 
 " Too late, too late ! " said 162. " The course of my life is 
 nearly at an end. I have no friends or relatives who I should 
 care to go to, and I might as well stay here what short time 
 more in which I have to live." 
 
 " I am afraid that they will make your life harder if you 
 help me to escape," said 444. "What a pity we can't both 
 escape together." 
 
 Old Mike shook his head and said, " Impossible, my lad, 
 impossible ! " 
 
 The guard was getting suspicious at the length of time they 
 took to nail up the box, and now walked over toward them, 
 which, of course, put a stop to their whispered conversation. 
 
 June the 16th was the day set to carry out his plan of 
 escape, and as the day drew near, which meant so much to him, 
 he could hardly contain himself. 
 
 As the great prison bell rang out for the prisoners to retire 
 on the night previous to the day on which he was to make the 
 attempt he flung himself down on his narrow cot, his head 
 beating and throbbing with suspense and anxiety. 
 
ESCAPE OF THE LIFER. 167 
 
 Sleep was out of the question, and he turned and tossed all 
 night. The guard once or twice asked him if he was ill, but 
 received the reply each time that he was only restless. 444 
 was subject to these attacks of restlessness and the guard 
 thought nothing of it. 
 
 He was up at the first call to rise, and filed out with the 
 long row of prisoners to their meager breakfast, and then to 
 work. 
 
 Fortune favored 444 to-day. There was an unusual amount 
 of boxes to be shipped. As they were nailing up the last box 
 that was to be shipped that day the inspector discovered that 
 he had left some of his bills in the office and went after them. 
 
 For some reason he was gone an unusually long time, and 
 162 hoarsely whispered, " Now, lad, now is your chance. Get 
 in and leave the rest to old Mike." 
 
 " I hate to get you into this," said 444, who had taken a 
 great liking to the old Irishman. 
 
 " Tut, tut, lad, in with you. My life is just about spent. 
 Begorry, they can't make my life much harder than it 
 now is, and it will make me happy to think that in a measure 
 I have helped to release one poor devil from this living tomb." 
 
 444 took the old man's hand, pressed it to his lips, saying, 
 " God bless you, Mike. Without your help I never could have 
 attempted this escape." 
 
 " You are not out of the woods yet, my lad, and you had 
 better make haste to climb into the box. I will do the rest." 
 
 444 clambered in and 162 nailed up the box, and was busily 
 engaged in packing clothing into another one when the inspec- 
 tor returned. 
 
 162 glibly explained that 444 had been summoned to 
 another part of the prison to look over some bills and accounts 
 that had been tangled up. The guard thought little of this, as 
 444 was an expert bookkeeper and was often called upon to 
 perform these duties. 
 
 The boxes were stamped and labeled for their various desti- 
 
168 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 nations, and in a short time they were loaded on the trucks 
 and hauled towards the great gates of the prison. Here was 
 where the supreme test would be. 
 
 He was nearly smothered in his narrow prison, but liberty 
 meant so much that rather than betray himself now he would 
 have kept quiet even if he had suffocated. 
 
 The boxes were looked over carefully, and some were even 
 opened again. The box he was confined in was turned over in 
 such a manner that he was left standing on his head, but he 
 dare not even so much as move a muscle for fear of making a 
 slight noise. 
 
 At last the guards, satisfied that everything was all right, 
 allowed the driver to go on his way, and they were soon at the 
 Michigan Central freight depot. 
 
 Here the boxes were unceremoniously dumped on the floor, 
 and, fortunately, the freight handlers immediately weighed 
 them and loaded them into a freight car which was nearly 
 loaded. The boxes completed the load, and the freight han- 
 dlers closed the door. 
 
 By this time the escaping convict was nearly dead and 
 immediately began knocking off some of the boards on the 
 box. This had to be done by kicking them off with his feet. 
 The noise of the rolling trucks completely drowned the noise 
 he made in kicking the boards loose. He dared not take a 
 hammer in the box with him, for fear that it might be missed, 
 and if this happened it would immediately lead to a search 
 of the entire prison. 
 
 To kick the boards off was no easy matter and took him 
 fully twenty minutes to accomplish it. 
 
 As the last board was kicked loose a switch engine came 
 snorting down the track and coupled on to the string of cars 
 adjoining the freight depot. In a short time he was hauled 
 far down the freight yards, and running to the door of the 
 car he threw it open and observed a long string of freight 
 cars immediately opposite to him, with a huge engine at the 
 end of them. At this moment the engine gave four long 
 
ESCAPE OF THE LIFER. 169 
 
 blasts of the whistle, which indicated that the train was about 
 to pull out. 
 
 As the train opposite began moving he peered cautiously 
 out again and saw a car a short distance away with its door 
 wide open. As it came opposite him he made a flying leap 
 and landed in the car attached to the train which was pulling 
 out of the station. Peering cautiously out once more he 
 looked back toward the caboose and there saw two prison 
 guards running wildly down the track toward the car which 
 he had just got out of. 
 
 " Whew," he muttered, " that was a close call for No. 444, 
 but a miss is as good as a mile in this case." 
 
 In a short time the train passed the last side track and 
 immediately began moving with greater speed. 
 
 " Safe ! safe ! " he cried, gleefully dancing about, and run- 
 ning again to the door he looked out upon the green fields and 
 meadows of Southern Michigan, through which he was swiftly 
 passing. 
 
 He drew in great draughts of the fresh, pure country air, 
 and after riding several miles the train began climbing a steep 
 grade and the speed slackened so that he was able to jump off. 
 He was rolled over and over several times, but the ground was 
 soft and he was not injured in the least, and arose to his feet 
 and hastily concealed himself in the tall weeds beside the track 
 and lay perfectly still until the train thundered down the 
 steep grade on the opposite side of the hill. 
 
 Carefully concealing the marks of his contact with the 
 earth, he made his way swiftly towards some woods a short 
 distance from the track. 
 
 " Free ! free ! absolutely free at last ! " he exclaimed, falling 
 on his hands and knees under the shade of a great elm tree. 
 
 He tore up great handfuls of the fresh green grass and 
 tossed them about, letting them fall back on him in showers. 
 He sprang to his feet and capered about like a young colt. 
 
 "Ah, this is life, this is liberty, indeed. I never knew 
 until this minute what liberty really meant. If there is a 
 
170 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 God I thank thee for this moment of supreme happiness. 
 Now for a long tramp. I must get as far away from this 
 railroad as possible, and I must do it in the shortest possible 
 space of time." 
 
 Suiting the words to action, he immediately started through 
 the woods, away from the track. He walked and ran by turns, 
 sometimes laughing and talking to himself, at others sing- 
 ing and shouting at the top of his voice. 
 
 The unusual exercise soon told on his strength, and at short 
 intervals he was obliged to throw himself down on the green 
 grass at full length and rest himself. 
 
 " Whew," he would exclaim to himself, wiping the perspira- 
 tion from his hot brow, " prison life didn't improve my walk- 
 ing powers in the least. I never was much of a walker any 
 way." 
 
 As soon as he had rested himself a short time he would 
 again start on, the fear of capture haunting him. At these 
 times he would break into a run and glance back over his 
 shoulder as if expecting to see the blue uniforms of the prison 
 guards pursuing him. At these times he would fairly fly 
 along over the ground, sometimes catching his feet in the 
 tangled underbrush and falling headlong. 
 
 On and on he sped. Mile after mile was covered, until the 
 sun sank from view, and then, and not until then, did he pause 
 long enough to take a rest of any length of time. 
 
 With the coming of darkness his fears of pursuit lessened, 
 and he sank down for a good long rest. His eyes closed, his 
 head sank forward on his heaving chest, and in a few minutes 
 he yawned, stretched himself, and then lay down at full length 
 on the ground and sank into a deep, dreamless sleep that 
 lasted until the rays of the rising sun shone full upon his 
 upturned face. 
 
 He awoke with a start, and sat up and stared wonderingly 
 about him, then pinched himself to see whether he was 
 awake or dreaming. 
 
 " This must be some sort of dream of escape," he muttered; 
 
ESCAPE OF THE LIFEB. 171 
 
 *' directly I shall awake and hear the guard ask, < What is 
 the matter, 444, are you restless again to-night?" 
 
 Gradually the full realization of the truth dawned upon 
 him, and he arose to his feet sore and stiff in every limb. 
 
 He was scarcely able to stand at first, but the lameness soon 
 wore away and he continued his journey. 
 
 "Confound it," he muttered, "I am as hungry as a sea 
 cook. I could eat some of those prison beans now with relish. 
 Oh, well," he soliloquized, " I can't have everything, and no 
 doubt I will find a way to obtain some food during the day, 
 and, by Jove, I must get off this striped suit as soon as possi- 
 ble. It is hardly the proper thing for a citizen at large to 
 wear, and no doubt would cause some amusement among the 
 people," and he laughed grimly to himself at the joke he had 
 been talking to himself about. 
 
 " Lucky thing I struck this big stretch of woods," he 
 thought, " and if I am not mistaken they extend as far as 
 the west shore of Lake Huron. If I can but make my way to 
 the lake and obtain a boat, good-bye to Jackson prison and 
 the United States. I will cross the lake in some kind of a 
 boat, and once in the Dominion of Canada I can easily escape 
 to the Atlantic coast and ship to some foreign port. At any 
 rate, I will never be taken alive; that I swear, for I will not 
 benumb my senses with that cursed drink again ! " 
 
 At noon he reached an old cabin in the woods, evidently 
 the home of some trapper and hunter. 
 
 Cautiously he peered at the cabin from behind the shelter 
 of a friendly tree. There was no stir, and he gathered up 
 courage enough to approach and look into the windows. The 
 place was deserted. The owner was gone, and on the wall 
 hung two or three modern rifles, and in the corners were the 
 skins of various animals. His heart beat wildly, and he caught 
 his breath in gasps. Once in possession of one of those rifles 
 the fear of starvation was gone, and more important still the 
 fear of capture. 
 
 He entered the hut and secured one of the rifles and plenty 
 
THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 of ammunition. The first thing, then, he quickly secured a 
 large piece of venison and a long hunting knife. As he was 
 about to hastily make his exit his eyes caught sight of some 
 rough, but strongly-made, clothing. " Ah, the very thing," he 
 muttered, and quickly exchanged garments. 
 
 Going to the door he peered out. "All clear so far/' he 
 said to himself. " Now for the grub," and he picked up the 
 venison again, and secured some more trifling eatables, shoul- 
 dered the rifle, and once more set forth in high spirits; but 
 he forgot one thing in his haste, and this nearly caused his 
 capture. When he changed clothes he left the tell-tale striped 
 garments of the prison behind. The hunter returning home 
 in the evening found them, and noticing the absence of the 
 articles taken by the fleeing man he hastened at once to the 
 nearest town and notified the authorities, who immediately 
 telegraphed to the prison. 
 
 A posse was formed and they started out in pursuit. 
 
 But let us follow 444 as he plunges into the woods again 
 on leaving the cabin. He walked about five miles and then,, 
 hunger getting the best of his fears, he halted and built a 
 fire, and soon the appetizing odor of cooking venison filled 
 the air. He ate ravenously, and then resumed his journey 
 again, refreshed and encouraged. 
 
 He tramped all the afternoon, and just at dusk he made 
 another halt and prepared to make another meal of the 
 venison. Just as the fire got fairly started the barking of 
 a dog caused him to spring to his feet and hastily grab the 
 rifle. 
 
 " They have discovered the direction I have taken/' he 
 muttered grimly. " Very well; so be it. Now it is a fight to 
 the death. What an infernal fool I was to leave those tell- 
 tale striped prison clothes behind me! If I had only burned 
 them up the hunter would have thought that some thieving 
 redskin had robbed him." 
 
 The barking of the dog warned him of the methods his 
 pursuers were using to track him. He hastily kicked some 
 
ESCAPE OF THE LIFER. 173 
 
 dirt over the burning embers of wood, and then plunged 
 into the woods. 
 
 The dog rapidly overtook him, and just as the big brute 
 was about to spring upon him, he threw the rifle to his 
 shoulder and sent a bullet through the animal's heart. 
 
 "Number one," he muttered, and again plunged madly 
 onward. He had gone but a short distance when another 
 dog came leaping toward him. 
 
 "Here goes for number two!" he muttered, between his 
 set teeth, and, raising his rifle, he took quick aim. A sharp 
 report followed, and the dog fell dead, its great red tongue 
 hanging from its mouth. At this instant a third dog made 
 its appearance and ran quickly up to its dead companion, 
 whining and licking its face. Instinct told the brute what 
 had taken place, and, seeing Frank, he sprang toward him 
 with a deep growl. Again the trusty rifle was raised to his 
 shoulder, and again the deadly contents were poured forth. 
 "Number three!" he muttered. "This is getting rather 
 exciting, but I guess I have finished my four-footed enemies, 
 and now I will start on again. The next ones will not be 
 dogs, and therefore all the more dangerous; but they will 
 be easier to hide from. Fools!" he muttered; "what can 
 they hope to accomplish now? Why didn't they hold the 
 animals in leash ? " 
 
 The shouts of the men in the distance warned him that 
 he must make haste, and, turning, he ran through the dark- 
 ness, and soon came upon a railroad track. " This must be 
 the Ann Arbor railroad," he muttered, "although I didn't 
 have any idea that I was so close to it." 
 
 Looking down the track in the darkness, he saw the 
 bright headlight of an approaching train. He was on the 
 summit of a high hill, and instantly into his mind came 
 the recollection of how the other train had slowed up. 
 
 " My only chance," he said to himself. " That is the 
 night express from Toledo, and it carries a long string of 
 sleepers. It is the heaviest passenger train on the road, and 
 
174 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 is bound to slacken speed somewhat in climbing this grade. 
 If it only slackens down to twelve or fifteen miles an hour, 
 I stand a small chance of making a flying leap on the blind 
 baggage. It is a risky thing to do, but I might as well get 
 ground to pieces under the wheels as to get shot or captured, 
 for those men are getting uncomfortably close." 
 
 He hid in the underbrush close to the track and soon his 
 pursuers burst into view and climbed up on the track. They 
 looked up and down the track in both directions, and then 
 plunged into the woods on the other side. There were 
 fully a dozen of them, and they were armed to the teeth. 
 
 " Great Scott ! That was a close call," muttered the convict 
 when they had disappeared in the woods. " They are liable 
 to be back here at any minute. Lucky thing for me that it 
 is so dark and that they let the dogs run loose instead of 
 holding them in leash." 
 
 He hid the gun under the leaves and prepared to catch the 
 train, which was now close upon him. His heart beat so that 
 he was nearly suffocated. " If I miss the train, I am lost," 
 he thought. 
 
 Nearer and nearer the bright headlight approached. The 
 engine passed him, and he sprang toward the steps of the 
 baggage car. " Now or never," he muttered between his set 
 teeth, and made a plunge for the handles of the steps. He 
 caught hold of it with both hands, but he was swung around 
 with great violence and struck the side of the car, knocking 
 the breath out of him. But he managed to climb laboriously 
 upon the platform, and sank down trembling and exhausted, 
 safe for the time being, every minute putting nearly a mile 
 between himself and his late pursuers, for the train was 
 now thundering down the steep grade at a terrific speed. 
 "Go it! go it!" he muttered. "You can't turn them any 
 too fast for me." 
 
 On and on thundered the night express through the dark- 
 ness and cold. It soon began to rain, and its unknown and 
 
ESCAPE OF THE LIFER. 175 
 
 uninvited passenger crouched down in the shadow of the 
 tender, shivering and forlorn. 
 
 Two long blasts of the whistle at last announce that the 
 train is approaching a large city and will make a stop. 
 
 " This won't do at all," said 444 to himself. " They will 
 take water here, and the fireman will climb on top of the 
 tender, and the chances are ten to one that he will see me. 
 I will climb up on top of the baggage car and lie flat down, 
 and no one will see me in the darkness." 
 
 It was no easy task to accomplish this feat. The rocking 
 and swaying of the train nearly caused him to lose his hold 
 a half dozen times as he was climbing up the wet, slippery 
 end of the car. "Whew! They won't need any officer to 
 catch 444 if I fall off from here," he panted, clinging des- 
 perately to the end of the swaying car. 
 
 At last he was up on top of the baggage car, and none too 
 soon, for the swiftly-flying train had nearly reached the sta- 
 tion, and just as he sank down on the roof the fireman came 
 up on the tank with a lantern, ready to pull the water spout 
 down from the water tank as soon as the engine arrived 
 opposite. 
 
 Frank raised his head just high enough to catch a glimpse 
 of the flickering electric lights of the city. " Owosso," he 
 muttered, " and this is the through train. Mt. Vernon is 
 sixty miles from here, and this train won't stop again until 
 we pull into the Union Depot at Mt. Vernon. 
 
 " Is it fate? To think that this train should come along 
 at just the moment when I was about to be captured or 
 killed by those officers, and then that its destination should 
 be Mt. Vernon, of all places on the face of the earth! I feel 
 a strange sort of foreboding hanging over me. I am not 
 superstitious in the least, but I cannot shake off the feeling 
 of depression that weighs upon me." 
 
 " All aboard ! " shouted the conductor at this moment, 
 and putting a stop to Frank's thoughts. The bell rang, and 
 
176 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 then the great wheels of the locomotive began to slowly 
 revolve, pulling the long string of cars in its wake. Faster 
 and faster it went, and soon they were flying along through 
 the darkness past woods, streams and small villages, but 
 never pausing or slackening speed until the suburbs of Mt. 
 Vernon were reached. Here he raised his head and looked 
 at the lights of the sleeping city. 
 
 "A year and a half," he muttered. "A year and a half 
 ago I was chained to a couple of deputy sheriffs, and on my 
 way to that living tomb at Jackson. To-night I am being 
 borne back to the same place which was the scene of my 
 birth, innocent childhood, and then young manhood, and 
 then the zenith of my career as a bank cashier; then the 
 steady downward path that made me a murderer and fugi- 
 tive from justice. 
 
 "What a strange thing life is! I might just as well now 
 be the owner of these mills, whose lights twinkle in the dis- 
 tance, and the father of a happy family. But I am not, 
 and why? 
 
 " It is all summed up in five little words ' drink and an 
 unrequited love.' y> 
 
 He was looking at the city, whose lights were being rap- 
 idly approached, and these thoughts were running swiftly 
 through his mind. At this moment a hot cinder struck 
 him fairly in the eye. " Damnation! " he said, furiously, 
 frantically rubbing his smarting optic. "I might have 
 known better than to have exposed my face to those hot 
 -cinders." 
 
 He was kept busy trying to extract the cinder from his 
 eye all the time the train stood at the depot. 
 
 The iron horse had now reached the end of its journey. 
 It was now nearly time for daylight, and as the train pulled 
 up the track and then backed down on a siding, where its 
 sleeping occupants could easily reach the depot when they 
 arose, he quickly slid down on the tender unobserved, and 
 made his way to the river and crossed the old mill dam. 
 
ESCAPE OF THE LIFER. 177 
 
 "Ugh!" he muttered. "I can feel the spirit of that 
 dead girl upon me now. I believe that I am soon going to 
 join her." 
 
 Quickening his steps, he made his way to the same clump 
 of bushes and trees where he had often met the trusting 
 girl whose life he had ruined. Throwing himself down 
 under the spreading branches of a great maple tree, he fell 
 into a slumber of exhaustion, but his dreams were disturbed 
 by visions of pretty Marguerite Manning. Her hands were 
 outstretched, wildly grasping at his arms to prevent her- 
 self from being hurled into the water. 
 
 He awoke with a start, the perspiration oozing from his 
 forehead. The sun was high in the heavens, and the fam- 
 iliar sounds of the saws as they ripped through the great 
 logs were borne to his ears. His throat was parched and 
 dry, and he seemed to be burning up. 
 
 " I must have a drink of water," he muttered, trying to 
 struggle to his feet; but his limbs refused to support his 
 body, and he fell back helpless, every bone in his body ach- 
 ing, and his head throbbing and beating. 
 
 " Good God ! " he exclaimed. " I am going to be desper- 
 ately ill, and I feel as if I were going mad, mad! They will 
 capture me and drag me back to that living hell again. I 
 must escape! I will escape!" and he made another desper- 
 ate effort to raise himself, but fell back senseless and help- 
 less. 
 
 His escape from prison, the pursuit, unusual exertion and 
 exposure had been too much for his system, which was neces- 
 sarily weakened by his long imprisonment. The reaction 
 had now set in, and he lay writhing in the remorseless grip 
 of brain fever, within a stone's throw of the place where he 
 had sent poor, pretty, trusting Marguerite Manning to her 
 death. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 iUtrtlmtum 
 
 As the hours passed the grip of the terrible fever took a 
 firmer hold upon him. His senses returned for a short time,, 
 and he realized fully the terrible position he was placed in, 
 and cried out in terror and anguish. Soon he became delirious 
 and raved and swore in a horrible manner, cursing the judge 
 and the jury for condemning him to prison for life. Now he 
 was in fancy a prisoner and being nailed up in the box, and 
 then passing the great prison gates he was hauled to the rail- 
 way, and now he was frantically kicking off the boards of the 
 box which held him prisoner, now he was leaping onto the 
 moving freight train, and as the train reaches the steep grade 
 he jumps off and runs into the woods. 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! ha ! " he raves, " you will never take me alive 
 now," and he fancies he has secured the hunter's firearms. 
 
 Now he is pursued by the men and bloodhounds, and in 
 fiendish delight he imagines that he is pouring the deadly con- 
 tents of the gun into their great bodies. 
 
 Now he sees the train in the distance. It comes nearer and 
 nearer, and he leaps upon the platform of the baggage car 
 and laughs at his pursuers. 
 
 " Eush on, chariot of the devil," he raves, " rush on to per- 
 dition and bear me to the dead girl." 
 
 His senses leave him again, and he does not awake again 
 until evening. It is dark, and he staggers to his feet, mutter- 
 ing, " Why in the devil don't she come. The boys will miss 
 me at the club and suspect. I will look and see if she has left 
 me a note," and staggers over to the place where the same old 
 log lies, thrusts his hand within the small opening, mutters, 
 " Nothing there ; she will soon be here, and I will wait for 
 her." 
 
 178 
 
KETEIBUTION. 179 
 
 In fancy he sees her come. The same old scene is again gone 
 over, and they are again on the dam. Cursing her, he shouts, 
 " You will never live to tell her I ruined your life ! " 
 
 Eising to his feet he rushes to the edge of the dam, and 
 standing on the very edge he in fancy flings her down, down 
 to the boiling, hissing waters below. Cautiously he looks 
 around to see if he has been discovered, and then starts as if 
 to go home. Suddenly he stops, for this time in reality he 
 sees the figure of a belated pedestrian approaching. He tarns 
 around, but the man who is coming observes his strange actions 
 and quickens his pace. Frank also quickens his footsteps and 
 reaches the dam again, and looking back he shouts to the puz- 
 zled citizen, " I know who you are. You are the prison war- 
 den, come to take me back again. But you never shall. I 
 defy you all. Curse you, I defy you. Ha ! ha ! ha ! " he raves, 
 dancing on the very ends of the boards projecting out over 
 the water, "take me if you can. I defy you! I defy the 
 whole world ! " 
 
 " The man is as mad as a march hare," mutters the citizen, 
 who is an employee of the saw mill company. " I must save 
 him or he will throw himself into the water and be drowned 
 before my very eyes/' 
 
 "With this object in view he cautiously edged his way toward 
 the mad man. He was a powerfully-built man of Herculean 
 strength, and the crazy man would be but a child in his grasp, 
 consequently he felt no fear. 
 
 Frank, with the cunning of a mad man, watches him out 
 of the corner of his eye. " Come closer, come closer/' he said, 
 tauntingly; "Why don't you come and take me?" 
 
 The citizen edged closer still, and when he thought him- 
 self near enough he made a spring toward the jibbering 
 maniac. 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! ha ! You thought you had me that time, war- 
 den, didn't you? But I know a trick worth two of that. 
 Marguerite! Marguerite! open your arms. I come to join 
 you!" 
 
180 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 With a spring he bounds high in the air, and with a last 
 blood-curdling laugh he shot far out in the foaming waters 
 below and sank from sight. 
 
 " Good God ! " muttered the would-be rescuer, aghast, " he 
 has drowned himself in spite of all I could do to prevent him. 
 There is no use for me to look for his body, for it will be 
 swept far down the stream before I can procure a boat. . All I 
 can do is to go back to the city and spread the alarm." 
 
 Suiting the words to action, he quickly retraced his steps 
 and told the first policeman whom he met the news. 
 
 The officer aroused a couple of the day officers, and together 
 they searched the river banks far up and down, but were 
 unable to find any trace of the maniac. 
 
 "We can do nothing further until daylight," finally said 
 one of the officers. 
 
 " You are right," replied both of his companions, " and 
 we might as well turn in until daylight and get some rest." 
 
 They all agreed to this, and the two day officers sought their 
 respective homes. 
 
 At daybreak the search was resumed, and this time the 
 banks of the river were lined with curious people, who had 
 learned the news of the mad man's terrible leap. 
 
 About 11 a.m. the body was found among the debris of a pile 
 of driftwood in the center of the stream, and, strange to relate, 
 only a few hundred feet from the same spot where the body 
 of poor, beautiful Marguerite Manning was found. 
 
 The coroner was notified, and he hastened at once to the 
 scene. He held a post-mortem examination of the body of the 
 dead man, and the f ollowing verdict was rendered : 
 
 " We, the coroner's jury, find that the deceased came to his 
 death while insane, by deliberately throwing himself off from 
 the Mt. Vernon dam." 
 
 The man who tried to prevent the maniac from committing 
 suicide told of the man's last words, and into the minds of 
 several rushed the thought, " It must be Frank Vernon ! " He 
 was known to have escaped from the prison, but the body was 
 
KETKIBUTION. 181 
 
 so badly mutilated from contact with the sharp stones that it 
 was impossible to identify him. 
 
 A messenger was dispatched to Mt. Vernon, and Drs. Ver- 
 non and Ellis were requested to come and view the body. In a 
 short time the two physicians appeared on the scene, but were 
 unable to identify the horribly mutilated countenance of the 
 dead maniac. 
 
 Dr. Vernon was pale, but bending down he quickly tore 
 open the ragged edges of the shirt on the corpse, remembering 
 that there was a scar from a burn Frank had received in child- 
 hood. There, sure enough, was the scar, vividly plain in spite 
 of the bruises on the flesh. 
 
 Sinking on his knees, he murmured, " God, Thy will be 
 done." Kising, he instructed that a litter be built, and they 
 carried him to a nearby farm house, where a horse and wagon 
 was procured and the body was removed to an undertaking 
 establishment. 
 
 " The sad news must be broken to his mother now," said 
 Dr. Ellis to James. 
 
 "Yes," said Dr. Vernon, "and I fear the shock will be 
 fatal." 
 
 But it was not. The news had already reached every mem- 
 ber of the family. Some enterprising newscarrier had seen 
 to that part of it. There are always some people who take a 
 keen delight in breaking news of this character. 
 
 Mrs. Vernon, Violet and Mary were sitting in the drawing 
 room at Greenwold when the two physicians entered, and a 
 glance into the faces of each sufficed to inform them that some 
 one had already been before them with the sad tidings. 
 
 Dr. Vernon went up, and kissing the pale, tear-stained face 
 of his trembling mother, said, " The Almighty has seen fit to 
 take his spirit unto Himself and we can but bow to His will." 
 
 "Yes," sobbed Mrs. Vernon, "and I feel that my poor, 
 wayward boy is better off in heaven than he was in this sin- 
 ful world. I feared when he was a child that his violent tem- 
 per would some day get him into trouble." 
 
182 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 " Poor mother/ 7 said Violet, " this is indeed a sad ending 
 to what promised to be such a brilliant career. I have lost a 
 husband and you a son to-day, but, like yourself, I feel that 
 he is better off, and you, too, Dr. Vernon, my more than 
 brother, you have lost an only brother; but I know what a 
 source of trouble and anxiety he has ever been to you, and 
 perhaps it is all for the best that the Almighty has seen fit 
 to take His wayward soul unto Himself." 
 
 " Yes," said Dr. Vernon. " It may sound cold-blooded, but 
 in my heart I feel that it is best as it is." 
 
 Mary took the matter more calmly than was expected, and 
 little Grade, when told, cried a little, but, poor little thing, 
 her baby mind could not grasp the full significance of death. 
 
 The funeral was held two days after the discovery of the 
 body. The papers were full of the tragic death of the mur- 
 derer and convict, but gradually died away and was forgotten 
 by all except the relatives and intimate friends of the family. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 After 
 
 Five years have passed away since the tragic death of Frank 
 Vernon five years of peace and quiet to the relatives of the 
 dead man. 
 
 Let us look in upon them as they all congregate in the par- 
 lor of Dr. Vernon's elegant residence. 
 
 He has been highly successful the last few years, and the 
 interior of his home shows it. Many additional changes have 
 been made, and Greenwold is indeed a palatial residence now. 
 
 In looks he isn't a day older than he was on that tragic day 
 five years ago, although there is a more thoughtful expression 
 on his countenance, a countenance that inspires confidence 
 and respect in the minds of all who come in contact with him, 
 and hope to the sick and afflicted. He still maintains the 
 same upright carriage and wears the golden beard. 
 
 Mrs. Vernon's hair is as white as snow, but there is a quiet, 
 peaceful look in her face that speaks of perfect contentment. 
 If there are lines in her face they are but tokens of the past, 
 a past that is rigidly avoided by all ; and if there are moments 
 when memories of past sorrows come into her mind they do 
 not show on her placid brow. 
 
 Mary and her husband are lovers still, and her happy looks 
 and ruddy cheeks tell of a life of perfect happiness. They are 
 the parents of three bouncing, healthy children, who romp 
 about on the floor. 
 
 Violet sits on the piano stool. She has been playing and 
 singing, but turns around as she hears Dr. Ellis say : 
 
 " By Jove, Mary, Violet grows younger and more beautiful 
 every day." 
 
 She blushes and says: 
 
 "Dr. Ellis, you should not make remarks about me when 
 my back is turned." 
 
 183 
 
184 THE MERCHANT OP MT. VERNON. 
 
 "Well, I will say it to your face, then," says the doctor, 
 laughing ; " I think you are the most beautiful woman in Mt. 
 Vernon." 
 
 " Well, I like that! " said Mary. 
 
 "It is the truth. I do think so," affirmed Dr. Ellis; "but 
 you are the sweetest, Mary, dear." 
 
 " Thank you," said Mary. " I think Violet is the most 
 beautiful woman in Mt. Vernon myself, and when one woman 
 says that of another there must be some truth in it." 
 
 Dr. Vernon says nothing, but the look in his eyes speaks 
 more than he dare tell, and although Violet is not looking at 
 him she feels his eyes upon her and rises in confusion and 
 makes a pretence of helping one of the children to extract 
 itself from between the rounds of a rocking chair. 
 
 They all smile except Dr. Vernon, who snatches little 
 twelve-year-old Gracie up and begins talking to her. The 
 child gives promise of having the same great loveliness that 
 the mother possesses. 
 
 A sudden thought seems to strike the little maiden, and she 
 says, suddenly, " Uncle Jim, why don't you get married ? " 
 
 The question is so abrupt, so entirely unexpected, that the 
 usually calm doctor can only gasp, 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " Why don't you get married, like Uncle Will, and all the 
 rest of the grown-up people? I mean to when I get big 
 enough." 
 
 Dr. Ellis roars, Mary laughs and Mrs. Vernon smiles, and 
 Violet pretends to hunt up some music. 
 
 "Mamma and you are not real brother and sister, are 
 you?" 
 
 Dr. Vernon tries to parry the question, but the pert little 
 maiden is persistent and demands an answer. 
 
 " Certainly not," he says at length, seeing the futility of 
 avoiding an answer. 
 
 " You love her, don't you? " 
 
 " Certainly he does," says Dr. Ellis, promptly. 
 
AFTER FIVE YEARS. 185 
 
 " Well, she loves Uncle Jim, too, because one day I saw 
 her take his picture and say, e My lost love, a cruel misun- 
 derstanding has parted us forever! How happy I could have 
 been as your wife ! ' ; 
 
 No one is laughing now; the situation has become too 
 serious. 
 
 Dr. Yernon says sharply, under his breath, "You little 
 rascal, if you don't shut up I'll throw you out of the win- 
 dow," while Violet is furiously turning the pages of a music 
 book that is upside down. 
 
 The little miss is conscious that in some way she has com- 
 mitted a terrible sin, but is unable to quite understand what 
 it is. 
 
 Dr. Ellis says, " It is time for us to be going," and no one 
 disputes him. Dr. Vernon gets his hat for him immediately, 
 and Violet hurries after the children's and Mary's wraps. 
 
 Dr. Vernon accompanies them to the front gate, and, as 
 they turn down the sidewalk there is a sly twinkle in Dr. 
 Ellis' eye as he says, " And a little child shall lead them all. 
 That child has got more sense than you have. Can't you see 
 and understand that the prize is yours? All you have got 
 to do is to ' ask, and it shall be given,' " said he, again quot- 
 ing scripture. 
 
 Dr. Vernon says nothing in return to Dr. Ellis' remarks, 
 but as he ascends the front steps of the veranda there is a 
 thoughtful look on his face, and he says, under his breath, 
 "Why not? I believe I have been a fool and that I am 
 spoiling both our lives. At any rate, I will ask her when 
 I get an opportunity. e Faint heart never won fair lady/ 
 But I fear in my soul that I will never be able to muster up 
 courage enough. Confound that kid! I'll I'll get her a 
 nice riding pony for what she said to-night." 
 
 When he re-entered the house, Violet and Gracie had 
 made their exit, and he heaved a sigh of relief when he noted 
 their absence. As he looked at his mother, there was a mis- 
 chievous smile playing about the corners of her mouth, and 
 
186 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 she said, in an undertone, " Violet and Gracie have gone to 
 their room." 
 
 "Thank heaven/' said Dr. Vernon. "That child is 
 enough to drive one to distraction." 
 
 "It seems to me that she can see more plainly than you 
 can, my son. You are blind, blind/' 
 
 Several days passed. Dr. Vernon had a dozen chances to 
 ask Violet to become his wife, but each time his courage 
 failed him. He would say " Violet! " She would look at him, 
 and his courage would melt, and he would turn the con- 
 versation off on some idiotic subject, as the crops or the 
 weather, a subject that interested neither. At these times 
 Dr. Vernon would silently curse himself and his cowardice. 
 
 One afternoon Mrs. Vernon and little Gracie were out for 
 a drive. Elph was the driver, and Dr. Vernon knew from 
 past experiences that they would be gone a long time. Dr. 
 Ellis was out calling on some patients. Dr. Vernon care- 
 fully adjusted his cravat, locked up the office and put a sign 
 on the door, " Called out on important business." 
 
 " Now, I'm going to ask her to be my wife. I'll not be a 
 fool any longer. 
 
 He rapidly made his way to Greenwold, hurriedly ran up 
 the steps and pretended to try to find something in his office, 
 and fussed around for fully fifteen minutes before gather- 
 ing up courage enough to go into the sitting-room, where he 
 knew Violet would surely be. 
 
 " Hang it all, James Vernon, you are a cowardly idiot to 
 let a mere woman scare you so. Why, your pulse is beating 
 like a trip-hammer," he said, feeling of that member. 
 
 " Now, what excuse can I make to go in there? " he solilo- 
 quized. "Ah! I have it! I'll go in and make believe I 
 didn't know mother was gone. I'll tell Violet that I came 
 to ask mother to go riding with me." 
 
 With this speech on his tongue, he went into the sitting- 
 room, where he knew the object of his thoughts was sitting. 
 
 She had seen him come into the house and heard him 
 
AFTER FIVE YEARS. 187 
 
 ransacking about in his office; she knew perfectly well what 
 he had come for. 
 
 " Is mother here ? " he said, simulating a look of inno- 
 cence that was so perfectly ridiculous that Violet burst out 
 laughing in spite of herself, and immediately after could 
 have bit her tongue off, the look of distress on the poor 
 doctor's face was so genuine. 
 
 " Violet, you are laughing at me." 
 
 " No, I was not," she fibbed. " I was only thinking of a 
 funny occurrence that happened this morning." 
 
 " Oh," said Dr. Vernon, much relieved. 
 
 " By the way," said Violet, " I believe you were asking 
 about your mother just now." 
 
 " Yes; I was going to ask her if she didn't want to go for 
 a drive." 
 
 " Have you got the carriage at the door? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Oh, how sweet of you! Mother has just stepped out, but 
 I am just dying for a good, long drive. This is a beautiful 
 afternoon. I will hurry up and get my wraps on, and you 
 can take me," she said, pretending to make a motion as if 
 to go after her wraps. 
 
 " Don't go, don't go," he said, nervously. " I, that is, we, 
 or us hang it all, I forgot all about the carriage." 
 
 " Well, that won't matter much. I can walk to the office 
 with you. It is only a short distance. I suppose you left 
 it there, didn't you? " she said, interrogatively. 
 
 " Er-er, Dr. Ellis is using it, come to think about it." 
 
 " Now, that is too bad. I did so want to take a ride," she 
 said, looking as disappointed as possible. 
 
 "Confound the carriage!" he muttered under his breath. 
 " Violet," he blurted out, " I didn't come here to see mother. 
 I want to say something to you." 
 
 " You didn't come to see your mother? " she said, looking 
 surprised. " Why, I thought you said that you were going 
 'to take her for a drive. Now, let me see what can you pos- 
 
188 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 sibly wish to say to me that is so urgent? I cannot imagine. 
 Do enlighten me, for I am nearly dying with curiosity," she 
 said, rising and gazing out into the street. 
 
 To herself she said, " The foolish man! He will back out 
 yet if I don't manage him right. 
 
 " Violet, I have come to tell you that I that I want you 
 to be to be careful about going out in the evening without 
 your wraps! You know there is a great deal of sickness in 
 the city now, and you are not very strong." 
 
 " The idea! " pouted Violet. " You know that I was sick 
 but once in my life. Do you remember the time? It was 
 when you started away to college. Now, James, you didn't 
 come here to tell me any such nonsense. Come over here 
 and tell me what it is that is troubling you so much of late." 
 
 " James Vernon," he muttered, under his breath, " you are 
 a blooming idiot, and some one ought to kick you. The girl 
 wants you to take her in your arms, and you dare not do it. 
 I believe the blood in your veins is growing chilled, and you 
 are becoming a timid old man." 
 
 " Well," said Violet, " are you coming over here and tell 
 me?" 
 
 The doctor arose, and she resumed her most important 
 occupation of looking out into the street. He approached 
 her, and she didn't seem conscious of his presence. He 
 stood right behind her, as she said, for the third time, 
 " James, are you going to tell me what is on your mind? " 
 
 He opened his arms and put them nearly around her, but 
 drew back again, his courage failing him. "If I only 
 dared!" he gasped. 
 
 " I will this time," and he put out his arms again, but his 
 courage failed him, and he allowed them to drop back to his 
 sides again. " It's no use," he sighed. " I can't pluck up 
 courage enough." 
 
 " Oh, my! " she exclaimed. " Here is a horrid bee; it will 
 catch me! " and stepped quickly back, pretended to trip, and 
 fell backward into the outstretched arms of the doctor.. 
 
AFTER FIVE YEARS. 189 
 
 "Where is the bee? Where is the bee?" he exclaimed, 
 anxiously. 
 
 " Oh, you stupid! Can't you see that you are the bee? " 
 
 "Violet!" he shouted, "I love you! I love you! I love 
 you! 
 
 "Well, it took you a long time to say so," she said, 
 naively. 
 
 " WTio's afraid to tell you? I'm not! " and he clasped her 
 tightly in his arms, kissing her lips, her cheeks and her hair. 
 All the pent-up love and passion that had been throttled 
 for years by an iron will was poured out in that minute, and 
 Violet felt that she was more than repaid for all the suffering 
 and misery her one mad act had entailed upon her, the long 
 span of years was crossed at a single bound, and they were 
 boy and girl again in youth's golden paradise under the old 
 grape arbor. 
 
 " Can you ever forgive me for the pain I have inflicted 
 upon you? " she said, throwing her arms about him as in 
 days of yore. 
 
 He stopped the question with a kiss, and replied, " Let the 
 past be forgotten and buried in its own sad memories. Let 
 us live for the present, for the future and for our mutual 
 happiness." 
 
 " Yes, let us forget the past and live only in the light of 
 our great love. We will be the same boy and girl to each 
 other as we were before that terrible night, when we were 
 both made the dupes of those two who are now sitting before 
 the judgment seat of Him who will judge us all." 
 
 " I promise not to offend again," she said. 
 
 With the reader's kind permission, we will draw a curtain 
 over the rest of that scene and look in again upon them a 
 few months later as they make preparations for their wed- 
 ding. 
 
 It is going to be a grand affair, and the columns of the 
 papers are again filled with the history of the Vernon family. 
 They state that the two were lovers in youth and were en- 
 
190 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 gaged to be married; they quarrelled and she married the 
 brother of the prospective bridegroom for spite. But he 
 never forgot his first love, and waited all these long years for 
 his little lost sweetheart. Now they were going to be mar- 
 ried at last. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Unng Watting OS)tr?r at Cast 
 
 It is Violet's wedding morn, and the sun never shone on 
 a fairer or more beautiful morning. 
 
 The birds twitter in the branches of the old oak tree, 
 whose limbs brush against her window, and their chirping 
 awakens her. The sun shines through the open window, 
 pouring a halo of golden light over her, and she quickly 
 springs out of bed and runs to the window. 
 
 "Beautiful! beautiful!" she exclaims, sinking on her 
 knees before the window; "was there ever such a perfect 
 beginning of a day a day that will unite me to the man 
 whom I so cruelly wronged and misjudged that terrible 
 night that seems so long ago ? God grant that the beginning 
 of our wedded lives may be as perfect as this lovely morning, 
 and continue so to the end." 
 
 Eising from her kneeling posture, she quickly dresses 
 herself and descends the spiral stairway leading into the 
 great hall below. 
 
 She is the first one up, with the exception of old Aunt 
 Lizzie, who is busily engaged in arranging the dainties for 
 the wedding supper. 
 
 She sees her young mistress as the latter peeps through 
 the door at her and exclaims, " Come in, honey, come right 
 in, honey, and see youh old Aunt Lizzie fixing de good fings 
 for youh wedding supper." 
 
 " Oh, Aunt Lizzie! " she exclaims, putting both fair white 
 arms about the old colored woman's portly form. " I am so 
 happy this morning happier than I ever was in my life." 
 
 "Yes, honey, youh ought to be happy, 'cause youh done 
 going to marry de best man what ever lived. I done seen 
 his grandfodder, and den his fodder, married, and now Fee 
 
 191 
 
192 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 going to see him married. Dere is going to be good luck dis 
 time foh youh and a long and happy life. Now, honey, you 
 come out under the shade of the old oak tree, and den we 
 will sit down, and I will tell youh why; youh old Aunt Lizzie 
 ain't as young as she used to be, and I can't stand on my feet 
 like I done used to. Why, honey, Fse one hundred and one 
 years old. Dat am a long time; dat am long enough for any- 
 body to lib. My eyes am getting bery poor, and I reckon I 
 am getting about useless." 
 
 " Don't say that, Aunt Lizzie. You could never be useless. 
 You and Uncle Joe have been the most faithful friends mor- 
 tals ever had, and it will be a task of love to wait upon you 
 in your old age." 
 
 " Dat you would, honey; dat you would, I knows; but since 
 Joseph done died dese last five years ago, I kindah feel dat 
 it am best dat I go, too." 
 
 " Now, mammy, you must not talk like that. You will live 
 a long time yet. Why, you are almost as spry as Martha is." 
 
 " Yes, I know, honey, but Martha am a very old woman, 
 too; she am over eighty years old." 
 
 "Gracious!" said Violet, "that seems like a long time. 
 Why, just think of it, I am nearly thirty, myself." 
 
 "Dat am true, honey, but youh am just in the prime of 
 life; you and Marse James have got many long years to live 
 yet."" 
 
 " Yes, mammy, but you have not told me why I am going 
 to have good luck on this day." 
 
 "I am coming to dat, honey. And now, to begin with, 
 Marse James' grandf odder was married on a dark, rainy day, 
 and the result was dat in one year and a half de poor, pretty 
 missis was laid away to rest. At de time Marse James' fod- 
 der was born she was bery, bery beautiful, and reminded me 
 of a beautiful white lily ebery time I looked at her. Just 
 before Marse James' fodder was born she called me to her 
 bed-room and said 'Lizzie, I am never going to rise from 
 dis here bed, and if my child lives you must be a modder 
 
LOVE'S LONG WAITING OVER AT LAST. 193 
 
 to it and always lobe it just as if it was your own child/ I 
 knew dat my poor, beautiful mistress was speaking de truth, 
 but I tried to let on as if I didn't; but she said, ' Lizy, you 
 can't fool me. We bof know dat I won't live through the 
 trying ordeal, and you must promise me what I have asked/ 
 Den I just failed on my knees and said, ' I will ebber be a 
 modder to it/ 
 
 " Well, suah enough, de poor, pretty missis did die, but de 
 child, Marse James' father, libed. The marse nebber seemed 
 to be the same again. He just wandered about the house 
 and grounds like one in a dream. He nebber spoke to any 
 one bery much, and pined and pined away, and when Marse 
 James' fodder was twelve years old he just took to his bed one 
 afternoon, and de next morning, when he didn't get up, I 
 opened de door, and dere he sit in a chair in a dressing-gown 
 as natural as life. He had de pooh missis' picture on his 
 knees, and he was gazing at it like he was in a deep study. 
 I spoke to him, and he didn't answer, but I was used to dat 
 because he done dat lots of times before; den I went up and 
 shook him, and de picture fall on de floor, and his head fall 
 forward on his breast. I held him up, and den I touch his 
 face. It was cold, and den I see dat he was dead, dead, with 
 de poor missis' picture in his hands. 
 
 " Now, honey, dat am de first link in de chain of circum- 
 stances dat go to show dat you am going to have good luck 
 on dis bright sunshiny day. Now, to resume mah story. 
 Den come Marse James' father's marriage; it am a beautiful 
 day, just like dis, and you see de result. Dey have a long, 
 happy life without trouble until de last end, when Marse 
 Frank done fall by de wayside." 
 
 " Yes, yes, mammy, but don't let us talk of him." 
 
 "All right, honey, but I must remind you of your marriage 
 wid Marse Frank. It was anodder dark day, and you know 
 l)ery well how it turned out. 
 
 " Now it am a bright day again, and dat goes to prove dat 
 it am a token ob good luck." 
 
194 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 "You are superstitious, like all the rest of your race, 
 mammy, but I hope your prophecy will come true." 
 
 " 'Deed it will, honey! Meed it will! You may be bery sure 
 ob dat." 
 
 " Well, mammy, we have been out here almost an hour, 
 and we had better return to the house, or they will be search- 
 ing for us. I hear some of them up and moving about now," 
 she said, rising and going toward the house. 
 
 The wedding took place at two-thirty o'clock, and they 
 were to start on their wedding trip at five. It was planned 
 that they should go to Southern California. 
 
 The wedding dinner was a grand affair, and lasted until 
 nearly train time. A great many guests were invited, some 
 of them coming from Ann Arbor and Saginaw, among them 
 ex-Senator Thurman, who, it will be remembered, was toast- 
 master at Will's and Mary's wedding. 
 
 The time slipped away on golden wings, and, almost before 
 they realized it, the time came for them to take their de- 
 parture. 
 
 The last good-byes were said, and they were driven rapidly 
 to the depot by Elph, who still retained his position of coach- 
 man. 
 
 As they enter the closed carriage and the door is shut, Dr. 
 Vernon takes her in his arms and murmurs, " My love, my 
 wife at last! Love's long waiting is over. Henceforth you 
 are mine, mine alone." 
 
 Violet's only answer is to throw her beautiful white arms 
 about his neck and softly say, " Yes, yours at last, and noth- 
 ing shall ever part us again." 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 A $bg* fnmt % Jfaat 
 
 The train bursts into view around a curve and rapidly 
 approaches. As soon as it comes to a standstill in front of 
 the depot the doctor and his bride are assisted into a Pullman 
 by a polite porter, who takes in the situation at a glance. 
 
 " Ah, ha! Just married. A rare chance for a princely tip," 
 he mutters. 
 
 The engine which has pulled the train into the station is 
 quickly taken off and another attached in its place. The con- 
 ductor signals the engineer to go ahead. The great wheels of 
 the locomotive slowly revolve, but what is that coming madly 
 down the street? It is a foam-flecked horse, its rider wildly 
 urging it on to greater speed while he frantically waves his 
 hat at the astonished train crew. The engineer closes the 
 throttle and applies the air brakes. The train comes to a 
 pause and the conductor quickly runs up to the horseman, 
 who has thrown himself from the panting animal. 
 
 " Conductor, Dr. Vernon and his wife are on your train, 
 and I have a message from a dying woman for them/' he says, 
 breathlessly. 
 
 " All right," responded the obliging railway official, " I will 
 take you to them/' 
 
 " Doctor ! " bursts forth the rider as he enters the car and 
 catches sight of the doctor and his wife, " Mrs. Eothf ord is 
 dying, and she says she has a confession to make concerning 
 Miss Violet. I begs your pardon, I means your wife," said 
 the messenger, who is Mrs. Rothford's servant. 
 
 "What can it mean?" said Violet, wonderingly. "We 
 must postpone our trip a short time, darling, and go and see. 
 It must be something important, indeed, that would cause 
 Mrs. Rothford to send for any of us." 
 
 195 
 
196 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 "Yes, indeed," replied the doctor; "you know how bitterly 
 she has always hated us since Susanne died? " 
 
 " Yes, I know, and that is what perplexes me/' said 
 Violet. 
 
 " Conductor, would it be too much trouble to put our lug- 
 gage off ? " he asked. 
 
 " Certainly not/' replied the obliging official. 
 
 Doctor Vernon and his bride alighted from the train and 
 again climbed into the vehicle which had conveyed them to 
 the depot. 
 
 "Elph, drive like the devil back home. We must get 
 mother and go out to Mrs. Eothford's home. It is fully five 
 miles out of the city, and the woman is dying." 
 
 " All right, sah ; I done get you out in double quick time. 
 Dis am de best team in de county, and I done knows how to 
 make dem do their berry best, sah." 
 
 The Vernon residence is soon reached, and they find Mrs. 
 Vernon all ready and waiting. The messenger had gone to the 
 house in quest of them, and when informed that they were 
 probably boarding the train at that very moment he quickly 
 told why he had come and then dashed madly away in the hope 
 of still being in time to deliver his message. 
 
 As soon as Mrs. Vernon is assisted into the carriage the 
 imp speaks a few sharp words to the thoroughbreds and they 
 are off like the wind. 
 
 " By golly! Dis am not the first time dat Fse raced dese 
 hosses against dat grim old monster called death and won de 
 race, and I am sure gwine to win dis time ! I feels it in ma 
 bones dat dat old lady Eothford am gwine to make some im- 
 portant revelations 'garding Miss Violet, and I done wonder 
 what dey is ? She done say some time ago dat she specks dere 
 is some one in Mt. Vernon what knows who Miss Violet's folks 
 am. I done told old Marse Vernon what she said, and den he 
 says, ' Nonsense, imp, it is nothing but idle gossip/ " 
 
 Aloud he says : " Get dap, Dolly ! Hurry up dere, Daisy ! 
 You must do youh berry best dis time, 'cause dis am a serious 
 case, indeed, now." 
 
A PAGE FKOM THE PAST. 197 
 
 There is no need to urge the high-spirited animals on, how- 
 ever, for their Arabian blood is aroused and they fly over the 
 smooth road like a whirlwind. 
 
 The occupants of the carriage scarcely speak during the 
 entire journey, for it was all they could do to retain their seats 
 in the swaying vehicle. 
 
 The Eothf ord home is at last reached, and they are quickly 
 ushered to the sick woman's room by Mr. Eothford, who looks 
 pale and frightened. 
 
 The eyes of the dying woman light up with a glad look of 
 recognition, and she exclaims, in a weak voice, " Oh ! I was so 
 afraid that you wouldn't reach here in time, for I know that I 
 have but a short time longer to live ! " 
 
 Dr. Vernon began to try and soothe her by a few gentle 
 words, but she waved him aside, saying : 
 
 " Doctor, it is useless to try to hide the truth from me, for 
 I know full well that I have but a few short hours to live at 
 the most, and before I die I have a long story to relate that 
 will tax my little remaining strength to the utmost. Violet, 
 come closer," she exclaimed, her sad eyes gazing into Violet's 
 blue orbs. 
 
 Violet advanced and knelt by the bedside, and the dying 
 woman's hand sought hers in a clasp that seemed to beg for- 
 giveness. 
 
 The others gathered closely around her bedside and gazed 
 upon her with fixed attention. Mrs. Eothford began : 
 
 "Now listen, for my time grows short. I, Patricia 
 Eothford, was born in Kent, England, in the year 1845. 
 My father, Adolph Cornwell, was an Englishman, as you 
 well know, but he was by birth and education a gen- 
 tleman and held a title of high degree, being of kin 
 to the Southamptons, one of the oldest families in Eng- 
 land. He married Lady Elizabeth Stewart, a great heir- 
 ess and a woman of many accomplishments and great 
 beauty, but she had also a violent temper. I was 
 their only child, and was petted and spoiled from infancy. 
 
198 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 Great hopes were entertained for my future. A great and 
 brilliant marriage for me was the great hope of my proud and 
 haughty parents, and everything seemed to point to its fulfill- 
 ment up to the time I was eighteen years of age. The Duke 
 of Leland's estate adjoined ours. They held a station in life 
 and fortune which exceeded even that of my father. They had 
 but one child, a son two years my senior. Ah, my God ! How I 
 loved that boy, and he seemed to like me until Miriam West- 
 erley, a distant relative of the family, came to live with them. 
 She was the most beautiful woman I have ever beheld, and 
 from the moment young Lord Graves' eyes rested upon her 
 he could think of no one else. I was forgotten and neglected, 
 and where he formerly spent his time with me, he now spent 
 it with her, and she reciprocated his love. I could see it from 
 the first, although she tried her utmost to hide it from the 
 world. The Duke and Duchess were upright, conscientious 
 persons, and when their son told them of his love for their 
 talented young kinswoman, and although they might have 
 hoped for him to have made a wealthier alliance, they con- 
 sented to the union of young Lord Graves to their beautiful 
 but poor relative. My mother was furious, but, as our social 
 standing might be imperiled by the Duchess, she dared not 
 openly defy or offend her. A consultation was held between 
 their Graces of Leland and my parents, Lord and Lady Corn- 
 well, and the former expressed their regrets that their son 
 could not care for me in the way they had hoped. They 
 departed in all politeness, but there was a gulf between the 
 two families, and from that time they drifted further and 
 further apart." 
 
 The sick woman paused to regain her strength, and a few 
 drops of dark liquid, with a glass of water, were given her. It 
 seemed to refresh her, and she addressed Violet, saying : 
 
 "Violet, do you follow me? You understand that I was 
 once the promised wife of But you will know who later." 
 
 Glancing at the attentive faces around her, she continued : 
 
 " Shortly after the engagement of young Lord Graves and 
 
A PAGE FROM THE PAST. 199 
 
 Miriam Westerley was announced my people left England, 
 and we remained abroad for two years. But my life was 
 ruined. All the love of my passionate nature had been given 
 to Lord Graves, who had thrown it carelessly aside as a thing 
 not worth mentioning. But he little knew the nature of the 
 girl whom he had discarded, for the moment their engage- 
 ment was announced I swore I would never rest night or day 
 until I accomplished their undoing and made them suffer the 
 humiliation I had been made to undergo. 
 
 " When we returned to England, Lord Grares and his wife 
 were the proud and happy parents of a new-born babe. When 
 I heard the news a feeling of devilish exultation seized me. 
 'Here was a chance to make them drink from the bitter cup 
 I had been forced to taste. I resolved to steal their child and 
 laid my plans well. I first secured a large sum of money from 
 my father, besides drawing from the bank the larger part of 
 my own private fortune. Everything worked in my favor. 
 A few days after I secured the money I mysteriously left 
 home, disguised myself, took a roundabout course and reached 
 Belleville Castle under the cover of a beautiful summer night. 
 The window of one of the rooms was open, and I crawled 
 through, my heart beating with terror lest I should be dis- 
 covered, but, thanks to my knowledge of the Castle, I even 
 found the nursery and found the baby alone and asleep. I 
 seized the child and fled from the house to the railway station. 
 Upon reaching the station I barely had time to purchase my 
 ticket before the train for London came thundering in. I 
 got on board with my little burden, and in a few hours we 
 were in the great city of London. The next day I took passage 
 on a steamship bound for New York. I traveled second class, 
 and in this way escaped the watchful eye of the detectives 
 whom I knew would be searching for the stolen child. 
 
 " As soon as I reached the wharf in New York I expected 
 every minute I would be seized, but I was not molested. The 
 police in England seemed to be confident that the child was 
 concealed in London and held for a ransom. I left New York 
 
200 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 on the first westbound train, and reached Saginaw, Michigan, 
 in due time. I took apartments in a modest house, with a 
 widow lady, after finding a convenient nursery in which to 
 leave the baby where it would be well cared for in considera/- 
 tion of a fair remuneration. 
 
 " This lady had a son with whom I became acquainted, and 
 he seemed to take a fancy for me from the first. He was a 
 musician and appeared to be a most estimable young man. 
 I encouraged him, and scarcely two weeks had passed before 
 we were married; that is, I accepted him upon the condition 
 that he ask me nothing of my past life, and that we move to 
 some remote place. He was only too glad to get my consent, 
 and swore he cared nothing for my past life if I would be a 
 loving wife to him in the future. His mother protested at 
 first, but finally yielded, and I gave her enough money to make 
 her comfortable the rest of her life. I and Mr. Rothford 
 directly after the ceremony started for Mt. Vernon. It was 
 then a mere hamlet in the heart of the wilderness, and I 
 fancied I would be secure. ' 
 
 " On the way I reflected what would be the best course 
 to pursue in regard to the child. I hated it for the mother's 
 sake and resolved to abandon it. I would not commit mur- 
 der, so I confessed to my husband what I had done. He was 
 deeply shocked and frightened, but he loved me madly, and 
 I could easily mould him so that he would do my bidding. 
 I made him take the child and put it on the doorstep of the 
 most pretentious house in the village. I did this that I 
 might more easily keep trace of the child. Violet, you are 
 that child." 
 
 All was silence for a moment, and no voice broke the pause. 
 Violet had risen from her kneeling posture and stood gazing 
 at the woman so near death's door; their eyes met. With a 
 deep breath, gathering her strength, she went on: 
 
 " To avoid being seen with a child, we stopped in Midland 
 and purchased a team and wagon of our own, and in this way 
 we managed to reach Mt. Vernon without anyone suspecting 
 we had a child. 
 
A PAGE FKOM THE PAST. 201 
 
 " With what was left of my money we purchased a home- 
 stead as near the place where we had left the child as possi- 
 ble, and my husband went into business. He has been ever 
 kind and loving to me, and in time I grew to love him in 
 return. 
 
 "A year later we had a little daughter of our own, and 
 she grew up to womanhood. 
 
 " My crime was never discovered, but it acted as a boom- 
 erang in after years, for my child and the child I had stolen 
 fell in love with the same man, and that man is Dr. 
 Vernon! " 
 
 All three listeners had been silent and eager, and each 
 had felt what was coming, but refrained from making any 
 remark, for the woman was fast growing weaker, and Dr. 
 Vernon gave her a stimulant. She closed her eyes for a 
 moment and gathered the little strength she had left, and 
 at last resumed: 
 
 " You know how it turned out; you know all now. Violet's 
 parents are Lord and Lady Edmond Graves, now the Duke 
 and Duchess of Leland, of Belleville Castle, Kent, England. 
 You will have no difficulty whatever in locating them. In 
 fact, I have written full directions and you will find them 
 in my effects. Mr. Eothford will deliver them to you/' 
 
 Here she fainted from exhaustion, and the husband of the 
 unhappy woman fell upon his knees by the bedside, weeping 
 bitterly. 
 
 Dr. Vernon busied himself applying restoratives, and 
 Violet sat white and still, while Mrs. Vernon looked thought- 
 ful. 
 
 Under the skillful efforts of Dr. Vernon, she regained con- 
 sciousness, but it was the consciousness which precedes death, 
 and when she opened her eyes the stamp of death was 
 already in them. 
 
 She faintly motioned for Violet to bend closer. She 
 obeyed. There was a moment's struggle between the grim 
 monster death and life, but life was victorious for a moment, 
 and she whispered the one word, " Forgive! " 
 
202 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 Her glazed eyes sought those of Violet and caught sight 
 of the tear that dimmed Violet's lovely blue orbs, and, with a 
 gentle pressure of the hand to let her know that she was for- 
 given, the spirit of Patricia Rothf ord winged its flight to the 
 great unknown to meet its Maker. 
 
 James and Violet stood gazing at each other for a moment; 
 Mrs. Vernon, with tears in her gentle eyes, stood silently 
 looking upon the white, still face of Patricia Rothf ord; Mr. 
 Rothf ord, with a low moan of anguish, buried his face in the 
 counterpane. 
 
 A moment passed; then each silently turned and softly 
 left the room, leaving the old man alone with his dead. 
 
 As the carriage was whirling over the smooth turnpike, 
 James, from the depths of the soft cushions, remarked, " So 
 your true name is really Violet, after all! Lady Violet 
 Graves! " 
 
 " Q, I .do not care for that," cried Violet, showing her true 
 American spirit. " I do not like titles/' 
 
 " Nevertheless you are burdened with one," replied the 
 doctor. 
 
 " It reads just like a fairy book," Mrs. Vernon put in, 
 "and, just think of it, Violet! you are really a great lady, 
 with goodness knows how many titles and aristocratic ances- 
 tors." 
 
 " All the title I ever wish to hold is ' Mrs. Dr. Vernon,' " 
 she replied, gazing lovingly into the fond eyes of her hus- 
 band. 
 
 " I have indeed won a treasure! " exclaimed the doctor. 
 
 " I am so glad that we were married before it was learned 
 to what station of life I really belong, for I know very well 
 that you never would have had courage enough to have asked 
 me to become your wife after the knowledge we all have just 
 gained! Why, just see how long it took you to ask me when 
 you thought I was a mere nobody." 
 
 The doctor looked confused and guilty, and exclaimed: 
 
 " Violet, I believe you never will cease to remind me of 
 that scene." 
 
A PAGE FBOM THE PAST. 203 
 
 The dimples chased themselves over Violet's face as she 
 turned to Mrs. Vernon and said, " Mother, I have a confes- 
 sion to make. I really did the proposing myself! James 
 seemed so big and awkward and in such distress that I actu- 
 ally had to do all the love-making myself." 
 
 " Well, I will confess that she is partially right," said Dr. 
 James, "but she didn't have to do it all! Not by a great 
 deal!" 
 
 "Doubtless not!" said Mrs. Vernon, dryly. "I suppose 
 you just popped the question, Violet, in an offhand manner, 
 and then he was brave enough after that, I'll warrant! I 
 <jan well imagine what took place ! " 
 
 " Youh is home again, Marse Vernon? " said the imp, 
 interrupting them at this point. "I 'spose youse gwine to 
 discontinue youh journey, sah? " 
 
 " Yes, Elph; we shall not start for several days now." 
 
 The imp felt that he was in duty bound to say something 
 to welcome his young master and his bride, and, removing 
 his cap and displaying a shining row of ivory, he said, " Wel- 
 come home once mo', Marse Vernon, and youh, too, Miss 
 Violet. I hopes youh done hab a long and happy life." 
 
 "Thank you, Elph," said Violet. "I know your words 
 come from your heart, and I feel the sincerity of their 
 utterance." 
 
 " Elph," said Dr. Vernon, " you have ever been my friend, 
 and I doubt if I have ever had a truer or more faithful one. 
 Your words have the ring of truth and prophecy in them." 
 
 After the funeral of Mrs. Eothford, it was decided among 
 the members of the family that James and Violet should 
 go to England on their wedding tour instead of to Southern 
 California, as at first proposed. 
 
 While in England they would break the news to Violet's 
 parents, rather than to communicate the same by letter 
 from America. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 After the events recorded in the last chapter, Dr. Vernon 
 and his -wife left for England, and, after a pleasant journey, 
 arrived in the great city of London. Here they took apart- 
 ments, and the doctor wrote to the Duke of Leland, inform- 
 ing him that he had important news to communicate. 
 
 Fortunately the Duke was at home, and, on receiving the 
 doctor's note, hastened at once to London, wondering what 
 important news any one from America could possibly have 
 for him. 
 
 Dr. Vernon received him alone, Violet not wishing to be 
 present when James related the long story of her life. 
 
 The Duke was as fine a specimen of manhood as he had 
 ever beheld, and he felt instinctively that this man was in- 
 deed Violet's father. He stood fully six feet in height, and 
 wore a full beard of a dark brown cast, and carried himself 
 with a quiet air of authority and confidence that could only 
 be acquired from a life-long position of responsibility in 
 State affairs, and fully looked to be what he really was a 
 nobleman and gentleman both by birth and nature. 
 
 Dr. Vernon introduced himself and then said, "Your 
 Grace doubtless wonders what I, a stranger from a foreign 
 land, can possibly have to communicate to you." 
 
 "I will admit that I have been somewhat puzzled," said 
 the Duke, politely. 
 
 " I will not keep you long in suspense, your Grace," replied 
 James. 
 
 The Duke said nothing, but looked inquiringly at him, 
 and James began by asking: 
 
 " Your Grace was married to a Miss Miriam Westerley at 
 Belleville Castle, in the year 1859, were you not? " 
 
 The doctor saw an eager look of expectancy and inquiry 
 
 204 
 
KETTNITED. 205 
 
 spring into the Duke's eyes at once, and he instantly de- 
 vined the cause, and resolved to impart his secret as quickly 
 and in as few words as possible. 
 
 " Your Grace had one child, a baby girl, that was stolen 
 in infancy ?" continued the doctor. 
 
 " Oh, God, be merciful! " cried the Duke, greatly excited. 
 " I feel that at last I shall learn the fate of my child! " 
 
 Dr. Vernon then showed his Grace the locket, and he took 
 it in his trembling hand and exclaimed, " Great God ! The 
 locket I gave Miriam in Geneva, and which was lying on her 
 dressing-table the night the baby was stolen! Why the per- 
 son or persons took the locket and left so many other trink- 
 ets of value lying about is a mystery." 
 
 " Your Grace must be calm/' said Dr. Vernon, " and I will 
 explain the mystery in as few words as possible." 
 
 He then related the story of Violet's life from the time she 
 was stolen from her palatial home up to the time she arrived 
 in London. 
 
 The Duke sat as one in a dream, never once interruping 
 him during the recital. 
 
 As Dr. Vernon ceased speaking, the Duke, unable to 
 longer restrain himself, exclaimed, " Take me to her! take 
 me to her! I am burning up with suspense." 
 
 " Very well, I will," replied James, " But you must be 
 calm and careful." 
 
 " I promise to be, I promise to be careful; only take me to 
 her at once," he pleaded. 
 
 All the stern schooling of a lifetime was gone now. In 
 place of the calm, dignified man of the world who entered 
 the room a short time ago a terribly agitated, loving father 
 stood before him, pleading for a look at the child who had 
 been so cruelly stolen from him in her babyhood. 
 
 James stepped quickly out of the room, and, going to 
 Violet's apartments, he gently opened the door, merely say- 
 ing, " Come, dearest," and led her to the room where her 
 father was anxiously awaiting her. He opened the door, and 
 
206 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 she passed through; as he closed it behind her he heard those 
 two sacred names, "Father!" "Daughter!" and hurried 
 quickly away to his own room. 
 
 A half hour later, Violet came into the room smiling and 
 happy, and led him hack to the room where the Duke was 
 sitting. 
 
 " My son! " cried the Duke, shaking his hand heartily. 
 "Violet has told me all about you, and I feel that I have 
 found a son as well as a daughter/' 
 
 James' face lighted up with pleasure at the Duke's words, 
 and he said, " I shall always try to keep your good opinion 
 of me and to merit your praise." 
 
 " I know you will, my boy. I know you will," replied his 
 Grace. " To-morrow morning," he continued, " we shall 
 take the express for Belleville and break the glad news to the 
 Duchess." 
 
 The remainder of the day was spent in relating past inci- 
 dents in the lives of each, and almost before they realized it 
 the hour grew late and they were obliged to retire; but little 
 time was spent in slumber by at least two of the little party. 
 
 Violet's slumbers were broken by the thoughts and expec- 
 tations of seeing her mother, of whom she had not the slight- 
 est recollection. 
 
 The Duke was kept awake trying to accustom himself to 
 the strange position of being father to this beautiful woman, 
 who was so much like his own wife had been at the same 
 age. 
 
 Early next morning found the trio ready and waiting for 
 the morning express, which was to carry them to Belleville. 
 
 As they sped through beautiful country places, past castles 
 and homes of Dukes, Lords and Earls, a thrill of pride shot 
 through Violet's breast to think that she, Mt. Vernon's 
 fatherless and motherless little waif, was heiress to one of 
 the grandest, oldest and most beautiful homes in England. 
 A feeling of disloyalty toward America entered her heart for 
 the first time, but looking up she encountered the eyes of 
 
REUNITED. 207 
 
 her husband bent upon her with a wistful gaze, and she felt 
 that he was reading her inmost heart. Her eyes dropped 
 guiltily for a moment, hut quickly glancing up again she 
 felt that she would not exchange her noble, manly husband 
 for all the aristocracy and old mansions England could boast 
 of. 
 
 Belleville was reached after a short journey, and they 
 alighted at the little depot. The Duke had telegraphed 
 their coming and a carriage was in waiting to convey them to 
 the castle. Climbing into the carriage, they soon found 
 themselves being rapidly driven up the broad lane leading 
 to the Duke's magnificent home. 
 
 "Welcome home, my children!" cried his Grace, gaily, 
 as he alighted from the carriage. Gone was his pride and 
 dignity ; he remembered only that this beautiful creature was 
 his child, the child stolen so many weary years ago, and 
 whom he had given up all hopes of ever seeing again. 
 
 As they ascended the broad marble entrance stairs of the 
 castle, the Duchess came out to meet them, and most cor- 
 dially welcomed them. As her eyes fell upon Violet she 
 turned deathly pale and seemed about to faint; the Duke 
 sprang forward to assist her, but she recovered herself with 
 an effort and said, lightly, "It is nothing," but her eyes 
 constantly sought those of Violet, who could scarcely control 
 her feelings. 
 
 His Grace made haste to order a room prepared for them, 
 saying that they would doubtless want to change their travel- 
 ling garments for others more comfortable. 
 
 After they had gone to their apartments, the Duchess 
 turned to her husband and said, " Edmond, something seems 
 to tell me that in Mrs. Vernon we have found our long-lost 
 child. I know she is an American, and a stranger, but she is 
 the exact counterpart of myself when I was her age. A 
 mother's instinct is stronger than time, and, in spite of all 
 the years that have passed, I know, I feel that she is our 
 daughter! " 
 
208 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 The Duke led his wife to a double window overlooking a 
 beautiful park, and, seating her in an easy chair, he took her 
 by her hand, saying, " Miriam, dear, it is indeed she, our 
 long-lost little child, now grown to beautiful womanhood." 
 
 "I knew it! I felt it the very moment I gazed into her 
 eyes!" said the Duchess, much more calmly than he had 
 dared to expect. " And," continued her Grace, " I feel that 
 in Dr. Vernon she has a husband who fairly worships her 
 and who is capable in every respect of making her happy. 
 A mother's eyes are keen, and there were moments when I 
 fancied that her thoughts traveled back to scenes that were 
 less pleasant than the present." 
 
 "Dr. Vernon is the most magnificent specimen of man- 
 hood I ever beheld, and I have a father's love for the boy 
 already. You were right in surmising that Violet's past life 
 has not always been as bright and happy as it is now. Be 
 patient and I will tell you the story of her life as it was 
 related to me by both herself and husband." 
 
 As soon as the tale was finished, the Duke stole softly from 
 the room and made his way to the apartments occupied by 
 James and Violet. He knocked softly on the door and it 
 was promptly opened by the doctor, and the Duke said, 
 " Come, my boy, you told me last night that you were very 
 fond of horses. I pride myself as being owner of the finest 
 string of horses in all England. And, by the way," he con- 
 tinued, " while we are looking over the stables Violet might 
 go and see the Duchess, who is anxiously awaiting her." 
 
 We will draw a veil over that meeting of mother and 
 daughter and follow the newly-found father and son-in-law 
 as they leave the castle by a rear passage and wend their way 
 to the stables. 
 
 On arriving at the stables, James found that the Duke 
 made no idle boast when he said that he had the finest 
 string of horses in England. James mentally figured that 
 the cost of keeping such an outlay must mean a small fortune 
 annually. 
 
REUNITED. 209 
 
 The Duke read his thoughts, and a smile spread over his 
 fine features as he said, " My boy, you doubtless consider 
 me rather extravagant in keeping such stables. I confess 
 they cost a pretty penny each year, but the rent roll of Belle- 
 ville is the largest in England, and I can well afford to 
 gratify my passion for horseflesh." 
 
 " Your Grace," began James, but the former stopped him 
 by saying, softly, " Call me father. I like it much better. It 
 sounds so sweet in my ears. I feel that I have been doubly 
 rewarded for our long separation by finding both a son and 
 daughter! " 
 
 " Thank you, father. I would much rather address you by 
 that dear name, and, as I was saying, you have the finest 
 lot of horses I ever beheld. My one hobby is horses." 
 
 The Duke's eyes sparkled with enthusiasm, and he seemed 
 to grow young again as he passed through the stables and 
 pointed out each horse and told of its particular merits. He 
 found in James a sympathetic and intelligent listener and 
 one whose knowledge of horses nearly equalled his own. 
 
 " My boy, we shall have some great times together. I 
 mean to keep you here a good share of the time, and when 
 you go back to America I shall accompany you, for I am so 
 anxious to see my little granddaughter and to thank Mrs. 
 Vernon for the great kindness she has bestowed upon my 
 child. I mean to try and persuade Violet to let us keep 
 our little granddaughter with us here at Belleville Castle. 
 The best tutors of the world shall be procured for her educa- 
 tion, and she shall be brought up as befits a lady." 
 
 After passing through the stables, they made their way 
 through various parts of the beautiful grounds, magnificent 
 deer gazed fearlessly at them as they traversed the winding 
 pathways among the trees; beautiful birds of many-colored 
 plumage sang in the tree-tops. Once they came upon a 
 smiling lake lying in a dell. A light breeze disturbed its 
 smooth surface into little ripples; fishes of different varieties 
 disported themselves in the sunshine; leaping far out of the 
 
210 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 water, they would fall back again with a loud splash. The 
 scene was a joyous, beautiful, serene one a typical scene of 
 beautiful rural England. 
 
 Before they realized it, it was high noon, and the Duke 
 steered in the direction of the Castle, remarking, " We'll now 
 go and have luncheon, James, and then I will relate to you 
 the history of Belleville Castle." 
 
 As they were nearing the castle the Duke remarked, "I 
 believe you told me last night that Violet is a good horse- 
 woman." 
 
 " Yes, indeed," replied James. " I have seen few better."* 
 " Ah! " cried his Grace, " she is a daughter after my own 
 heart. The Duchess is still considered the finest horsewo- 
 man in England, in spite of her fifty-odd years. To-morrow 
 we shall make an excursion into the forest and carry lunch- 
 eon with us, and then you may begin to understand the 
 extent and magnificence of Belleville." 
 
 " I am already overwhelmed," said James. " I have read 
 about just such places as this, but have not had the slightest 
 idea that I would visit one personally. The magnificence 
 and grandeur of Belleville impress one even before they 
 enter its gates. We h&^e HiotMnig in America that can 
 compare with it.** 
 
 " No; I believe there is nothing over there that can com- 
 pare with our grand, old-fashioned homes and grounds. I 
 have been over there on two different occasions, and visited 
 nearly all of the principal resorts and country places, but I 
 failed to see anything that approached our English homes. 
 As far as modern business blocks and mercantile houses are 
 concerned, you can give us cards and spades, and then beat 
 us hands down; but when it comes to palatial homes in the 
 country we have you discounted." 
 
 As the Duke finished speaking they reached the castle, 
 and, entering, they found mother and daughter sitting side 
 by side holding hands and conversing in low tones. 
 
 " No secrets, now," cried the Duke, merrily. " Violet, 
 
REUNITED. 211 
 
 you must not tell your mother anything that you wouldn't 
 tell me." 
 
 " I believe he is growing jealous already/' said the Duch- 
 ess, with a smile. 
 
 " I fear that it will be James who gets jealous/' remarked 
 his Grace. " We shall monopolize Violet's time so much that 
 he won't get a chance to have her to himself at all." 
 
 "You need have no fear on that score," replied James. 
 " It makes me happy to see others so eager for her compan- 
 ionship and enables me to more clearly see what a treasure 
 I have won." 
 
 "Well spoken, my boy, well spoken!" said his Grace. 
 "You have indeed won a treasure of which you may well 
 be proud." 
 
 " You will make me vain by all your pretty compliments/' 
 said Violet, her cheeks very red under the shower of com- 
 pliments lavished upon her. 
 
 " A truce to compliments," cried her Grace. " Come, let 
 us go in to luncheon, and after the repast the Duke will 
 relate the history of Belleville Castle-on-the-Hill." 
 
 It was a lovely day, and after luncheon the quartette 
 adjourned to the lawn in front of the castle, and the Duke 
 began his tale, which ran as follows: 
 
 " Of all the famous castles within the British Isles, there 
 is none which can compare with Belleville, both in point of 
 grandeur and commanding position. Built upon a sharply 
 rising hill, in shape, as you see, resembling a gigantic mound, 
 it was for centuries one of the strongest fortresses in the 
 land. 
 
 " Eobert De Todeni, standard-bearer to William the Con- 
 queror, selected it as the most appropriate spot for the erec- 
 tion of a fortress to keep the disaffected Saxons in check. 
 Since those days the castle has been thrice practically rebuilt, 
 and can claim the unique distinction of being the only pile 
 in England which has been by unbroken inheritance the 
 seat of a nobleman since the time of the Conquest. 
 
212 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 " The Graves family, of which the Duke of Cantliver was 
 the head, acquired Belleville through the marriage of Sir 
 Eobert Graves in 1487 with the sister of the tenth Lord 
 Brose, of Eastlake, to whom the castle had descended from 
 the Conqueror's standard-bearer. Sir Eobert's son married 
 an Ulverston, sister of Edward IV, and it was their son who 
 first became Earl of Belleville. 
 
 " Princess Anne, who took refuge with the then Earl of 
 Belleville when she fled from Whitehall, repaid his hos- 
 pitality by making him the Duke of Leland when she came 
 to the throne. 
 
 "Enlarged and improved by successive occupants, Belle- 
 ville, while still retaining the external aspect of a fortress, 
 as you observe, has been transformed into a veritable palace 
 within. That entrance hall, or guard-room, you see just in 
 front of us was designed from Lincoln Cathedral, and is, as 
 you have doubtless observed, a vast apartment, with tall col- 
 umns and stone arches. To more thoroughly explain, we will 
 enter the castle, and I'll show you the various rooms. I 
 think you will be interested, and it will give me an oppor- 
 tunity to make you more clearly understand." 
 
 They arose, and as they passed through the giant double 
 portals the Duke continued, " Queen Anne, James I, George 
 IV, Queen Adelaide, Queen Victoria and her Prince Consort 
 have passed these same portals. The walls of this room, as 
 you see, are covered with arms, ancient and modern, and 
 with historic uniforms and shields belonging to great scions 
 of the family." 
 
 Leading them to a table on one side of the room, his 
 Grace remarked: 
 
 " Here is a table presented to the castle by Mary, Queen of 
 Scots, and that large bowl you see yonder resting upon the 
 stone which is carved to represent a table, is the punchbowl 
 of the family. It is solid silver, and holds over fifty gallons, 
 and you, my children," he continued, laughingly, to Violet 
 and James, " could easily sit inside of it and then have room 
 to spare. 
 
REUNITED. 
 
 "Immediately over this guard-room are the royal apart- 
 ments of three rooms, and we will now sojourn to them." 
 
 As they entered the apartments, the Duke led them to the 
 King's bed, which was elaborately carved in mahogany. 
 
 " Good gracious! " exclaimed Violet, with a laugh. " I fear 
 I would get .lost should I attempt to sleep on such a combina- 
 tion of furniture! " 
 
 The Duke laughingly led them to where they could look 
 out over the bastion at the famous Eegent Gallery, which, 
 he informed them, is one hundred and thirty-five feet long. 
 As they entered the famous gallery, they saw the walls cov- 
 ered with tapestries depicting the adventures of Don Quixote 
 and with the immortal works of the old masters, while busts 
 and statuettes filled the recesses. 
 
 After viewing the statues and various works of art, they 
 descended the steps leading from the gallery to the chapel, 
 where the altar piece is Murillo's " Holy Family," one of the 
 priceless pictures of the world. Passing down a long cor- 
 ridor, they entered the library, which, announced the Duke, 
 contained more than seven thousand volumes and many 
 manuscripts belonging to past centuries. 
 
 Passing from the library, they entered the picture gallery. 
 Some time was consumed in viewing the portraits of the 
 Lords and Ladies of Belleville, and the Duke had some inter- 
 esting incident to relate about each one of them. As they 
 came to the north end of the gallery they saw a full-length 
 painting of Henry VIII, and the Duke said that it was 
 painted by Holbein, and known as the best portrait in exist- 
 ence of that monarch. 
 
 They then repaired to the Elizabethan salon, a noble apart- 
 ment fifty-two feet long. Its walls are paneled in satin 
 damask, and its furniture once belonged to Mme. de Main- 
 tenon. Huge lifelike statues by Wyatt are everywhere. 
 
 The Duchess called their attention to one statue in partic- 
 ular, a beautiful piece in white marble standing quite alone, 
 and said* "Here is my favorite; it represents the fifth 
 
214 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 Duchess of Portland ascending to the clouds, and is the fea- 
 ture in the mausoleum." 
 
 They next visited the Ambassadors' bed-room, and as they 
 entered, the Duke remarked, " Here is where famous English 
 and foreign ambassadors have slept, and where, God grant- 
 ing, I hope many more will repose." 
 
 " Whenever the American Ambassador is invited to the 
 castle he occupies this room that is, if he accepts the invita- 
 tion, and he usually does," said the Duke with a drollery 
 that was very amusing. 
 
 By this time the ladies were rather fatigued, and they 
 returned to the lawn, the Duke remarking that they would 
 resume their tour of the castle at some future time. 
 
 After they were comfortably seated, the Duke resumed his 
 discourse by saying: " You will recall the fact that I men- 
 tioned about Victoria having visited the castle. In fact, she 
 has visited it several times. The last time she did not occupy 
 the royal suite. She had occupied it with her consort, and it 
 brought back memories. She chose to live in the Weldon 
 Tower, the oldest part of the castle. The lands and manor 
 of Weldon have been theirs for centuries by tenure of the 
 castle guard. They are required to furnish the guards at 
 the castle when called upon by the over-lord. When Vic- 
 toria visited Belleville the key of the tower was presented 
 to her by a Weldon. 
 
 "There are many other ancient usages at Belleville, the 
 most notable being the pacing of the battlements night and 
 day by sentinels, who call the hours and the weather. 
 
 " This," said the Duke, in conclusion, " is a brief outline 
 of historical Belleville Castle and its rulers." 
 
 The Duke had a fine musical voice, which held his lis- 
 teners spellbound, and as he finished speaking, Violet rose, 
 and, crossing to where the Duke was seated, she laid her 
 hand upon his shoulder, saying earnestly, " Father, it is a 
 most interesting and splendid recital to which we have just 
 listened, and I am proud and glad to find that I am of kin 
 
EEUXITED. 215 
 
 to such a noble, grand old English race/' and kneeling, she 
 kissed his hand. 
 
 He caught her in his arms and kissed her, and a moment's 
 pause followed, during which no one spoke a word. At last 
 Violet turned toward her husband, a gleam of merriment 
 in her blue eyes as she exclaimed, "I suppose I shall now 
 be burdened with a half dozen titles ! " 
 
 " Yes," said the Duchess, " you will be known in. future 
 as Lady Graves." 
 
 "Ha! ha!" laughed the doctor. "That will do all right 
 over here, but wait until she gets back to Mt. Vernon! " 
 
 " If you ever dare call me ' My Lady 9 when we go back, 
 I shall immediately address you as ( My Lord/ " said Violet. 
 
 "Don't you dare do that!" exclaimed the doctor, dis- 
 mayed at once. 
 
 The Duke and the Duchess were enjoying the little tilt 
 between the pair immensely, and the Duchess said merrily, 
 " James, my son, she has cleverly trapped you, and you will 
 have to capitulate." 
 
 " I surrender," cried James, " upon condition that she 
 never addresses me as ( My Lord/ " 
 
 "Very well, sir, I accept your terms, and I shall expect 
 you to strictly abide by them." 
 
 " No danger of him breaking the articles of agreement/' 
 broke in the Duke, with a chuckle. " He is only too glad to 
 fly a flag of truce." 
 
 Thus the day sped merrily on, and as they were about to 
 part and seek repose for the night the Duchess warned them, 
 "Eemember, we leave early in the morning on our little 
 excursion." 
 
 Early next morning found the little party mounted and 
 on their way. Past meadows, woods and gullies they sped. 
 Several times they stopped at the homes of the Duke's ten- 
 ants, and, after a short rest, they would gallop on again. 
 The shades of night had fallen ere they reached the castle 
 on their return trip, and Violet declared as they parted for 
 
216 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 the night, " This has been the most enjoyable day of my 
 life." 
 
 " And I can say the same," said the doctor, enthusiastic- 
 ally. 
 
 The Duke looked pleased and said, " I believe I could 
 make thoroughbred English people of you if you remain 
 here a short time." 
 
 They went everywhere: to balls, parties, dinners and recep- 
 tions, and at all functions Violet was the center of an admir- 
 ing throng. Her wit, beauty and wealth, combined with the 
 strange romance of her life, made her the envy of the women 
 and the admiration of the men. 
 
 There was more than one young Englishman who silently 
 wished the big, handsome young doctor was at the bottom of 
 the Atlantic or some other equally far-away place. But 
 James never grew jealous, although he observed all this. He 
 knew that her heart was true gold and belonged solely to 
 him. 
 
 Thus six months slipped quickly away six long months 
 that flew by on golden wings, and were as happy as they were 
 long, making the inmates of the castle as joyous and happy 
 as the famed Cinderella after she secured her fairy prince. 
 
 Violet had everything that could make a woman happy: 
 wealth, friends, title, a newly-found father and mother and 
 a husband who was devotion itself. Every week she penned 
 a long letter to the ones in far-away America, and told them 
 of the happy times she was enjoying, and announced the 
 intention of her parents to accompany them when she and her 
 husband came back to Mt. Vernon. 
 
 At last came the day that was to take them back to Amer- 
 ica. They were accompanied to the ship by a legion of 
 friends, who wished them a happy journey and begged them 
 to soon return. They were fortunate enough to have fine 
 weather all the way across the Atlantic, and, after a most 
 enjoyable journey, they arrived in Mt. Vernon once more. ^ 
 
 Elph was at the depot to meet them with the doctor's 
 
KEUNITED. 217 
 
 thoroughbreds, and his ebony countenance fairly shone with 
 delight at meeting his master again. 
 
 " Welcome home, sah! Welcome home, sah! " he cried; 
 " and youh, too, Miss Violet, and you, Duke and Duchess, 
 fodder and modder." 
 
 The Duke laughed good-naturedly at his strange accent, 
 and the Duchess smiled pleasantly, saying, " Elph, you seem 
 to think a great deal of your master? " 
 
 "'Deed I does, Miss; 'deed I does, and so did my ole 
 mammy. She done died dese three days ago was taken 
 awful sudden like, and died right quick like! " 
 
 The tears sprang to Violet's and James' eyes at this sad 
 news. How she would have enjoyed seeing Violet's parents! 
 
 " I am so sorry! " cried the Duke. " The Duchess and I 
 wanted so much to see this strange old colored lady." 
 
 "I loved her almost as much as my own mother," said 
 James, sadly. " It does seem too bad that she should be 
 taken away just at this time ! " 
 
 " You said that she was very, very old, did you not? " 
 asked the Duchess, more out of sympathy than anything else. 
 
 " Yes," replied James. " She was my father's nurse, and 
 had she lived until February, she would have been one hun- 
 dred and three years old. Uncle Joe was ninety-one when 
 he died. She outlived her daughter and son-in-law. All 
 there is left of the colored family who have been our ser- 
 vants so many years is Elph, and I fear he will be the last, 
 for he evidently believes in race suicide." 
 
 " What am dat? " asked the imp. 
 
 " Race suicide is caused by a man refusing to take unto 
 himself a wife," replied the Duke, with a chuckle. 
 
 " Edmond, do be careful what you say ! " cried the Duchess, 
 severely. 
 
 They all laughed, and James remarked, "Well, we must 
 be going. We've stood here fully twenty minutes gossiping, 
 and mother, I know, is walking the floor in her anxiety to 
 
218 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON". 
 
 " 'Deed she is," said Elph; " and Miss Grace am, too." 
 
 They stepped into the carriage, and, as they were whirled 
 away, Violet mused upon her past life. How different was 
 this journey from England from the one she had taken in 
 childhood! 
 
 She was then a helpless babe, torn from father and mother 
 by a cruel, revengeful woman, and carried away to a foreign 
 land and cast among strangers. Now she was returning to 
 that foreign land which had been the home of her childhood, 
 her maidenhood and her womanhood, and she had every- 
 thing that heart could desire; that could make a mortal 
 happy. As she thus mused they arrived at Greenwold, and 
 Mrs. Vernon came quickly out to greet them. 
 
 The doctor caught her fondly in his arms and kissed her 
 once, twice, thrice before releasing her. " How happy I am 
 to see you again, dear mother! " he exclaimed. 
 
 " It seems like an eternity since I saw you last," she said, 
 gazing up at her tall, handsome young son. " And you, too, 
 Violet," she said, clasping the doubly happy girl in her arms. 
 
 As she released Violet the Duchess stepped forward and 
 said, " I do not need to have an introduction. Both my dear 
 children have told me so much about you I feel that I have 
 always known you. How can I ever thank you enough for all 
 the many kindnesses you have shown my darling child! " 
 
 "You can best thank me by saying nothing at all," said 
 Mrs. Vernon. " She has always been as dear to me as my 
 own children." 
 
 "I feel that words are too small and insignificant to 
 employ at a time like this," said his Grace, stepping forward 
 and reverently raising Mrs. Vernon's hand to his lips. " My 
 heart is too full for the mere utterance of words, and I can 
 only do as you see, my dear Mrs. Vernon, express my deep 
 sense of gratitude by remaining silent." 
 
 Mrs. Vernon was deeply moved, and hastily motioned for 
 them to follow her into the house. As they passed the 
 threshold Mrs. Vernon took James' and Violet's hands in 
 
KEUNITED. 219 
 
 each of her own and said, " Welcome home, my children! 
 Welcome to Greenwold again. We have regained the home 
 of the Vernons and let us pray that the dear old homestead 
 will never more pass out of the hands of the Vernons!" 
 
 "Where is our little grandchild, Grace?" were the first 
 words uttered hy the Duke after the attendants had taken 
 charge of their wraps. 
 
 "Your telegram was in some way delayed," replied Mrs. 
 Vernon, " and we did not learn of your coming until a few 
 minutes before the arrival of the train, and I sent her over 
 to inform Dr. Ellis and my daughter that you would be here 
 directly. I expect them here in a few moments." 
 
 As Mrs. Vernon ceased speaking, the sound of footsteps 
 was heard, and little Grace came dancing into the room. 
 She was instantly caught up in the strong arms of Dr. 
 Vernon. A moment later Dr. Ellis and his wife and chil- 
 dren entered. 
 
 After introductions and greetings were over, Dr. Ellis said, 
 gazing at first the Duchess and then Violet, " The likeness 
 between your Grace and Violet is remarkable. You must 
 have been the exact counterpart of Violet when you were her 
 age." 
 
 " Yes," agreed Mrs. Ellis. " The likeness is remarkable." 
 
 Wilford and Mary remained for lunch, and during the 
 -course of conversation the Duchess remarked, " My gracious! 
 what a pair of athletes you two doctors must have made at 
 college. I have witnessed many contests between our Eng- 
 lish collegians, but I never observed two such men as you 
 .are." 
 
 " Were they both playing in the same team, I fancy that 
 it would have been safe to wager on their side," chimed in 
 the Duke. 
 
 "We were never engaged in a college game of any kind 
 that we were not pitted against each other," said big, good- 
 natured Dr. Ellis, laughingly, and he added dryly, "I gen- 
 erally came out second best." 
 
220 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 te Pshaw! " said Dr. Vernon, " it was only because you did 
 not have as strong a team behind you as I had." 
 
 " I don't understand betting," said the Duchess; " but if I 
 were to choose between you on points of physical strength, 
 I would as soon take chances on one as the other. My hus- 
 band was once a great athlete at Oxford." 
 
 " Yes," assented the Duke, " I was recognized as Oxford's 
 greatest athlete, but I never was the man you two boys 
 are." 
 
 " Boys, indeed! " said Mrs. Vernon, with a smile. " They 
 look more like two great bears than boys." 
 
 " Now, mother, you must not be continually making dis- 
 paraging remarks about our anatomy. It is calamity enough 
 to be obliged to carry around over two hundred pounds of 
 flesh, without being laughed at." 
 
 "Much you care what I say about your size," Mrs. 
 Vernon retorted to Dr. Ellis. " Why, the other day he came 
 over to consult me regarding the condition of his health. 
 ( Mother/ said he, c I have actually fallen away a pound and 
 a half in the last two months. I was weighed the other day, 
 and I only tipped the scales at two hundred and forty-six 
 pounds, and sixty days ago I weighed two hundred and forty- 
 seven and a half/' 3 
 
 "Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the Duke. "Mrs. Vernon, you 
 ought to have been a comedian. Only two hundred and 
 forty-six! That's the best joke I ever heard." 
 
 Dr. Ellis looked sheepish, and Mrs. Vernon said, merci- 
 lessly, " See how guilty he looks." 
 
 " I plead guilty," he said. " Mother, if you won't tell that 
 tale on me again, I'll buy you the finest pair of driving 
 ponies in Michigan." 
 
 " Well," replied Mrs. Vernon, " I will think it over. I am 
 not sure but that the joke is worth more than the ponies." 
 
 " You may give them to me, if grandma don't want them, 
 Uncle Will," said little Miss Grace, gravely, and the Duke 
 laughed and chuckled again. 
 
REUNITED. 
 
 Their Graces of Leland remained in Mt. Vernon several 
 months, and when they finally left for England, they took 
 little Grace with them, her fond old grandfather declaring 
 she would be " the first lady in the land." 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 (dmtrlitsum 
 
 We will drop a curtain upon the lives of our old friends 
 for the period of seven years, and then look again upon them 
 for the last time. 
 
 We find them at the depot of Mt. Vernon awaiting the 
 train which will carry Dr. Vernon, his wife, mother and two 
 beautiful children to New York, there to embark for Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Dr. Ellis, his family and Elph are there to see them off, 
 and, as the train pulls into the station and they go aboard, 
 Dr. Ellis says, " It is your turn now; we were over there 
 last." 
 
 Twice in the seven years that have elapsed have the Duke 
 and Duchess visited their American friends and relatives and 
 as many times have their American friends paid visits to 
 Belleville. 
 
 We will follow them across the Atlantic and to Belleville 
 Castle. As they alight from the carriage in front of the 
 great entrance of the famous castle, the Duke and Duchess 
 and a beautiful young lady come out to greet them. There is 
 but little change in either the Duke or the Duchess, except 
 the addition of a few white hairs around the temples of the 
 Duchess and a slight tendency to stooping in the Duke's car- 
 riage. But who is this ravishingly beautiful woman whom 
 Violet fondly embraces and receives a return pressure of 
 warm affection? 
 
 Can this be the mischievous little minx who said a few 
 years ago, "Uncle Dim, why don't you marry mamma? I 
 know she loves you, because I heard her say one day, ' My 
 love, a cruel misunderstanding has parted us forever. How 
 happy I could have been as your wife! ' ; It is indeed she, 
 
 222 
 
CONCLUSION. 223 
 
 but few persons would recognize in this lovely, high-bred girl 
 the mischievous little tot who caused the doctor and Violet 
 so much embarrassment on that afternoon so long ago. 
 
 She is the belle of every London drawing-room and the 
 most sought-after woman in England. She has suitors by 
 the score, but cares for none of them in the way they so 
 ardently wish. She laughs at them all, and when the Duch- 
 ess sometimes chides her for her apparent heartlessness, she 
 says almost bitterly, " Grandma, would they be so willing to 
 fall at my feet were I but plain little Miss Vernon, daughter 
 of a drunkard the village drunkard? " 
 
 It is not a pleasant topic to discuss, and Lady Grace sel- 
 dom mentions it, but when she does the Duchess sighs and 
 remains silent, for well does she know that it is the bitter 
 truth, and will forever mar the life and happiness of her 
 darling grandchild, and the Duchess silently prays that some 
 one will seek her darling, not for her title and fortune, but 
 for her own sweet self, for any man might well be proud 
 of this beautiful woman, who seems to have a heart of 
 marble. 
 
 The day following their arrival, the doctor's two children 
 are playing on the lawn where his Grace sat seven years ago 
 and related to his interested audience the history of Belle- 
 ville Castle. 
 
 The younger is a little girl of three years, shaking her dark 
 curls around her sweet face, and her large black eyes are 
 bright and glowing as she romps to her heart's content on 
 the smooth lawn. 
 
 The boy is two years her senior, fair and curly-headed, the 
 very picture of his father. His sturdy shoulders and plump 
 little limbs tell of a magnificent coming manhood. He is the 
 nearest living male relative of the Duke of Leland, and will 
 some day inherit all the beautiful grounds, titles and rent- 
 roll of Belleville; but nothing of this kind disturbs his baby 
 mind as he romps with his little sister over the prostrate 
 form of their grandfather who has thrown himself upon the 
 
224 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 grass and allows the children to use him as their horse. He 
 seems to be more like a boy himself than the great Duke of 
 Leland, whose voice has thundered forth in the House of 
 Lords so many times. 
 
 "Happy childhood!" exclaims the doctor, coming forth. 
 He gazed fondly at the children as he said, " May their lives 
 always be as happy and free from care as they now are/' 
 
 " Amen/' murmured the Duke of Leland. 
 
 " I declare/' says the Duchess, who sits near by; " he is 
 more like a ten-year-old boy than anybody else when he has 
 children to play with. Our long separation from our dar- 
 ling daughter Violet has made him ever fond of children. 
 I have seen him pick up ragged and dirty little urchins off 
 of the streets of London and carry them around with him in 
 his carriage for hours." 
 
 As the Duchess ceased speaking Violet bent and kissed her 
 on the brow, saying, " Mother, dear, is it not strange that 
 I, who once had no parents at all to claim me, should be so 
 rich in parents now? Few children can boast of two com- 
 plete sets of parents. I do not know which of you loves me 
 best or which I love best." 
 
 " "We both love you passing well," says Mrs. Vernon, with 
 a slow smile. 
 
 Violet walked round behind the chair of the Duchess and, 
 slipping one white arm around her neck and the other around 
 the neck of Mrs. Vernon, she bent over them, saying softly, 
 " Dearest and best of mothers you are." 
 
 Dr. Vernon gazes silently at the trio for a moment, and 
 then says softly, " What a pretty, pretty picture you make! 
 I must have you three photographed in that attitude." 
 
 The smiling month of May is here, and Mt. Vernon is 
 looking her prettiest in her spring mantle of green. It is 
 the morning of Memorial Day, and one of the loveliest spring 
 mornings imaginable. 
 
 As the train steams up and stops with a final pant at the 
 
CONCLUSION. 225 
 
 station platform, Dr. Vernon and his party alight and are 
 met by Elph, who greets them upon their return from Eng- 
 land and has the carriage ready to convey them home. 
 
 Dr. Ellis and his family have taken possession of Green- 
 wold to greet them, and everything is in order and everybody 
 waiting to welcome them. 
 
 A savory dinner is in the course of preparation, and 
 thoughtful Mrs. Ellis has provided well for their comfort 
 upon their return. 
 
 After dinner was partaken of, the travelers not being too 
 tired, it was proposed to attend the memorial services. It 
 was a beautiful afternoon, and they all walked over to the 
 cemetery. 
 
 When the exercises were over, Dr. Vernon and his wife 
 somehow got astray from the rest. They lingered long in 
 the city of the dead, and at last were the only persons 
 remaining. 
 
 Unconsciously they wend their way toward the grave of 
 Frank. As they reach the little green mound which marks 
 the last resting-place of the misguided man, Violet lays a 
 wreath of delicate flowers which she has been carrying in her 
 hand upon the marble slab. 
 
 "Poor soul!" says James, sadly. "What a fate was his! 
 His whole life was a mistake and a failure. Through his 
 hand while living we were parted and through his death 
 we were reunited." 
 
 " Hush," said Violet. " Speak not so loudly. Let him 
 sleep in peace. The past is buried with its dead, but the 
 future still lives. Let us remember only the present and 
 look forward to the future, and by mutual agreement forget 
 the bitter past, with all its sad recollections." 
 
 " You are right, little wife. And now we must be going; 
 we have lingered long, and the sun is already sinking from 
 view." 
 
 Together they kneel for a moment beside the little green 
 mound and silently offer up a prayer for the spirit of the 
 
226 THE MERCHANT OF MT. VERNON. 
 
 dead man, and then turn slowly and make their way toward 
 the gates of the churchyard. 
 
 As they reach the gates each turns and looks backward 
 a shaft of light from the setting sun throws a golden halo 
 over the marble headstone of the dead man for an instant,, 
 and James murmurs, " May his soul rest in peace and God 
 forgive him." 
 
 As the last rays of rose and gold fade from view, they once 
 more turn their faces toward home and the future. 
 
 THE END. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFOHX1A LIBRARY 
 
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