?EQUEL TO J THE lk THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES DRAFTED IN A SEQUEL TO THE BREAD-WINNERS A SOCIAL STUDY. BY .tx,< FAITH TEMPLETON, cs*. NEW YORK : BLISS PUBLISHING CO., 235 Greenwich St. COPYRIGHT, BY BLISS PUBLISHING Co., !888. PS PREFACE. In sending the present volume forth as a Sequel to " The liread Winners," we gratefully acknowledge our indebtedness to the author of that book, for permis sion to do so. Some of the characters, which figure prominently in those pages and in whom we became more or less interested have been indentified in real life ; and the vicissitudes and reverses which Time has wrought in their respective fortunes, necessitates this appendix to that pleasing "Social Study." It will perhaps be found more serious than social; but we believe that in view of the present world-wide significance of the great questions arising among the "Bread Winners" of the world, it presents a picture of social life which may be studied with profit by rich and poor alike. Were the two classes as distinct in their personali ty, in real life as in the picture presented by the author of the " Bread Winners," and like the planets and their satellites, revolving harmoniously in their respective orbits, then would the eternal fitness of such human systems be established. But the truth is, condition in this life is changeable as the wind and fortune, evanescent as the dew ; ' promotion cometh 1.21 3575 neither from the East, nor from the West," vice nor virtue, toil nor treasure is the inalienable inherit ance of any class or family of man. It seemed the very "irony of fate " that elevated Maud Matchin in the social scale, and reduced Captain Farnham The Autocrat of society, and knight of her ambitious dreams to the lowly estate of a bread winner. It is at this period in their respec tive lives that we take up the narrative so ably and auspiciously begun. And we do so with much hesita tion, conscious that its manner of relation, may invite invidious comparison ; but, as " truth is stranger than fiction," a simple faith in its unaided power to touch some responsive chord in the human heart, must be our apology. While we appreciate the genius of the writer of " The Bread Winners," and recognize his intimate acquaintance with the better and brighter side of life ; we regret that his knowledge of that numerous class the bread winners was insufficient to furnish him a single worthy example, to reflect a measure of credit on the time-honored decree of the Almighty : " By the sweat of his face, shall man eat bread all the days of his life ?" Yet the wisdom of the mandate, needs no defence. The history of the world's progress, is the unwritten history of toil. Some of the names, most honored among men which come down to us, like benedictions from the past, grew bright, like the plow-share, in the the rough school of labor. The genius which has revolutionized the world and worked out progress and advancement for humanity, was born of toil. The masters whose names adorn the scroll of fame, were not idlers, and the great Master Jhe Carpenter of Galilee has left an example of patient service, and humility, for all ages and all people. Individuals, bound together by the " masonry" of wealth may set up barriers, and strive to widen the breach between man and man : statesmen may dis semble, and proud arrogance oppress : royalty may toy with its costly baubles, while starving millions clamor for leave to win their bread ; but He, who "loves righteousness, and hates robbery," shall yet establish justice on the earth. "The fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man" shall be confessed when its kingdoms and crowns shall have crumbled to dust. THE AUTHOR. 201 E, Houston St, N.Y. DRAFTED IN A SEQUEL TO THE BREAD WINNERS STRANGER THAN FICTION. MRS. CHARLES RAYMOND had waited in the library at least half an hour for the appearance of her tardy escort to the opera. Now the beautiful lady who lingered before the handsome mantel mirror, smiling so brightly at the reflection of herself, was neither critic, nor lover of divine melodies ; but she had resolved in this instance at least, to make it possible to express an opinion of her own. Patti sang that night, and though all the world raved of her, it had been awkward for Mrs. Raymond to conceal the fact that she had never heard the prima donna. 10 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL She arranged and re-arranged the little clump of tea-roses at her belt ; now frowning at the striking clock : now smiling archly that no mood of her many whimsical ones could quite make a fright of her. Then with a concentrated gaze of silent, unqualified admiration, she whispered to herself : " It is no wonder poor Sam used to say I was the handsomest woman in the world ! I wonder what he would say if he could see me now !" She shuddered as the possible truth of Botz's theory suggested itself to her mind, and looked over her shoulder with the air of a frightened child, as if she felt the presence of an ogre staring at her from behind. " I wish my old Blue-Beard would come ?" she said aloud, stamping her foot in her sudden impatience. He is really aggravating ! I don't believe he cares half as much for Patti as he does for his old furnace !" and with a more decided frown upon her face than any the mirror had yet reflected, she threw herself into a luxurious seat and snatched up the evening paper. Glancing over its pages with a little grimace at their fancied dullness, she was caught by a society column. Fortunately it contained an account of Mrs. Col. Wickersham's last reception, wherein every lady's toilet was faithfully and impartially described. This was literature that could be appreciated. She had met with some of these gorgeous and brilliant birds of fashion herself, which made these details more engrossing. She read on, heedless now that the clock struck the half hour, and the two little figures came bounding out, and made their profound obeisance, all unnoticed. TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. II The room in which the lady sat thus absorbed, though heavy, and old fashioned in its appointments, had withal, so much of substantial comfort and refine ment as to make its occupant, with all her showy beauty, seem an exotic. There were books every where upon the walls, substantial in binding, and priceless in worth. There were busts of ancient deities ; and fine old paintings, representing Histori cal scenes ; all of which were valued as imparting a kind of dignity to her surroundings ; but beloved friends they could never be, as they had, in the long ago been to one, whose place she had usurped. It is a strange history that of Maud Sleeny's (nee Mat- chin's) elevation to this position. It chanced in this way : while the petted wife of poor Sleeny, she had faithfully occupied a seat in a fashionable church, where the honest carpenter never dared to set an awkward foot. No one knew her there or questioned from whence she came, or whither she went. It was a formal church of aesthetic religionists ; and although she felt consciously improved and exalted by their silent companionship, but for a trifling incident, she might have continued to mingle her prayers and responses with the worshipers indefinitely, with no more sense of kinship with a solitary soul, than is felt for the statuary in an art gallery. Saul Matchin and family had emigrated to the far West. Maud and her husband were to follow when ever he could dispose of the little wooden house he had built, and finish some work he was engaged upon. But it was clearly destined never to be finished by his hand. He fell from the building one day, and 12 DRAFTED IK, A SEQUEL was taken up from the hard pavement below, quite dead ! The poor young wife was violent in her grief. Sam had been patient with her tempers and partial even to her faults. She missed his blind worship. ' No one else' she thought sadly, ' would ever praise her so much again ;' and she would weep afresh, consider ing herself very ill used indeed, to be deprived now, of his poor homage. But when she had put on her garments of mourn ing, they so became her, that it was not strange she forgot her tears in satisfactory contemplation of the effect. It might be termed the luxury of woe. The tall, willowy figure, so nun-like in its swathings ; the youthful face with its rich coloring, to which the dark setting served only as a foil ; the large, lustrous eyes to which it lent a mournful expression ; the folds of the heavy veil, falling about her protectingly, as if she still were sacred to a buried love, altogether made a charming picture. " A young widow" she reflected " is rather interest ing, more so than a girl." And again the things of this transitory world became engrossing. The little house was still unsold, and she decided to remain in it. Her father and mother had never been any par ticular advantage to her had in fact, helped rather to keep her down ; 'why should she go to them now ?' ' No, she would just try what she could do by herself.' So she sought, and again obtained her old place in the library, and continued to make a pleasant and familiar figure on the streets of Buffland. Thus, more than a year passed. One sweet spring morning, still habited in the deepest mourning, she TO " THE BREAD WINNERS. 13 was returning from the early services of the afore-* mentioned church. A park bounded the opposite side of the street on which her walk lay. The grass was the freshest green now, and all starred with golden dandelions. She decided to go through it on her homeward way. It was not much farther, and the day was fine. With this intent, she was crossing the street briskly, when a carriage came dashing along, and by a sudden turn of the mettlesome horses the black-robed figure was knocked senseless on the street. A crowd gathered ; the carriage stopped ; and a middle aged, plethoric gentleman scrambled out quick ly as his weight would allow, and ran to her. Two strong men lifted and bore her to the pave ment, and water was brought and dashed in her face, but to all appearance life was extinct. " She is dead ! Oh ! sir, she is killed !" shrieked a frightened woman as Mr. Raymond bent anxiously over her. " My God ! she looks like it !" he replied, the veins in his forehead standing out suddenly, like cords, and his honest blue eyes staring wildly at the white face. " Call a doctor ! get a doctor ! Here boy, run to the corner quick !" he vociferated. That brisk and ubiquitous professional made his appearance with scarcely a moment's delay. A brief examination, and he announced : "syncope !" " there is" he continued, placing his hand on the region of the heart, " an interruption of the motion of this organ ; a suspension of the action of the brain, and a complete loss of sensation." " Then she has only fainted" said the plain, brusque 14 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL proprietor of the handsome equipage which had wrought the mischief, looking greatly relieved. The doctor assumed an air of grave deliberation, but made no direct answer. Silence often passes for wisdom, and he did not commit himself further. " When the lady is removed to my office," he said " or some convenient place near by, I can make a more thorough examination." " My team did the business, and she shall be taken to my house !" declared the stout man ; "it is only a square away." When Maud awoke to consciousness, so strange were her surroundings, that she hardly knew whether she were still in the body, or out of it. She tried to think what had happened. She made an effort to rise, and look about her, but could not. Her right arm was helplessly limp. She sank back dizzy and be wildered. The learned doctor bending over her, the same moment discovered ' that the right arm had sus tained a fracture,' and the few terse sentences he dropped in a professional way, assisted her scattered senses to comprehend that an accident had befallen her " It was impossible, he said, " to determine at present, the extent of her injuries. Those apparent were not alarming : there might be internal ones yet to be developed. She must remain where she was, and be kept perfectly quiet. He would bandage the arm and return in the evening." To remain where she was, seemed heaven to Maud. The cool, beautiful apartment afforded a conscious enjoyment never in all her plebeian life experienced before ; therefore she listened to this counsel of the good doctor, with a face that expressed sweet resigna- TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 15 tion. In her secret soul, she hoped her wounds might prove sufficiently obstinate in the healing, to render her stay for some day's a necessity. Whether assisted in this by the kindly doctor or not, they proved equal to her most sanguine wishes ; for the day's passed into weeks before he pronounced her able to bear a removal to her own home. After she had gone, Mr. Raymond, the plethoric widower of double her years, made an important discovery. His wifeless, childless home was a dreary solitude. The sun-shine seemed to have gone out of it with Maud's youth and beauty : leaving it duller, and darker, and lonlier than ever. It is true, this sentiment was not shared by the old and faithful housekeeper, who was also a staunch aristocrat. She expressed herself to her subordinates " as mighty glad to be rid of that beggarly thing ! She wa'n't no lady, as anyone could tell by the very 'spression of her face ; and she wa'n't use' to anything but the commonest of people an' things. And then sich a curious, pryin' person as she was ! jest like that class !" But such unfavorable comments did not disturb the day dreams of Mr. Charles Raymond, the wealthy proprietor of an immense foundry on South Street, and a citizen of great respectability. "What objection could there be," he even began to ask himself, to a marriage with her ? I am old and rich ; she young and poor. My age will balance her poverty, and her youth, my money." Thus he pondered ; and if any 'disagreeable objections ever presented themselves to his judgment, they were obstinately ruled out. She soon became the arrogant mistress of his heart l6 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL and home ; and waited on this particular night, with a shade of ill nature upon her beautiful face, to be taken to the opera. She had not revelled long in pen pictures of satins and laces, brocades and velvets, with which her foolish heart immoderately delighted ; when, to her sudden joy, her husband's decided step was heard in the hall. "The carriage will be at the door in a second !" he announced briskly, in answer to her upbraiding eyes. " Get ready ! It is not too late yet. A little of that quality of music, ought to satisfy us." " It may you !" she retorted, while hurrying into a handsome seal-skin sacque, and placing a jaunty hat, with drooping plumes, defiantly upon her superb head, "but I'm fond of music." " Of course you are !" acquiesced the good-natured husband : watching with pleased eyes, the effect of the new hat, and secretly amused at the profundity of the pretty wife as an art critic. " And did I not appre ciate the fact, when I secured the best seats ? Patti must give forth her divinest strains to-night," kissing the pouting lips, " or we will not encourage her again by our presence !" After a moment he added with a look of mystery, as if withholding some wonderful secret : " But I have a little news that will please you more than her songs." This at once piqued her curiousity, but the sly twinkle of his eye induced her to say : " I know you're teasing me ! just trying to make up for keeping me waiting so long, you naughty boy !" Now the broad-shouldered, heavily be-whiskered TO " THE BREAD WINNERS. I 7 man could lay slight claim to the most advanced stage of boyhood, but Maud enjoyed this pleasant fiction, and it sometimes served to stimulate his obesity with some of the frolicsome spirit of youth ; and now he caught the delicately gloved hands of the blooming wife, and waltzed with her, through the wide hall, on their way to the carriage. He panted, and was quite breathless from the exertion as he entered it. After she had bestowed herself among the soft cushions she said, laughingly : " Charley ! you dance, just for all the world, like a big bear !" "Why! now, that is poor encouragement for a young performer," he replied, in a discontented voice. " Encouragement !" she responded. " You never need encouragement ! Here, fasten my glove !" " I can't !" He took off his own, and struggled with the refrac tory buttons, until he looked apoplectic in the face. " Dear me ! how clumsy you are !" declared the lady. " Do let it alone ; you are pulling it all out of shape." They were at the Music Hall now, and the carriage stopped : The frown disappeared from the lovely face, which a moment later wore its most winning smile, as the proud husband trudged behind it, with lover-like devotion, as they were being ushered to their seats. It was a brilliant and crowded house, and Maud was triumphant ; conscious that she was the cynosure of many eyes. Of the evening's entertainment there is nothing to record. The melting sounds of a wonderously sweet human voice, rose and fell like silvery wavelets on the 1 8 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL air, applauded to the echo. The delighted audience dispersed, some to remember the almost seraphic notes, and more to forget everything but the scene and the occasion. Of the latter number, was Mrs. Charles Raymond, who at a later hour, in the privacy of her own room, chatted of the event with remarkable fluency. They sat before an open fire, enjoying a dainty lunch which had been set for them. Both were in a most enviable frame of mind. He had been very proud of his young wife, and she perfectly satisfied with the homage of admiring eyes. " I never saw such a pretty dress as Patti wore to night !" was her first profound remark, "and such a train as it had ! why, it reached almost across the stage ! and such diamonds ! and so many of them ! I do believe she had fifty ! I wonder how I should look, dressed in that style ?" "You look better just as you are!" declared the husband, with something like disapprobation in his tone. " I should be sorry to see you looking quite so formidable ; but she sings like a Bobolink !" "She has an elegant voice!" responded the wife, with frank enthusiasm. "Perfectly elegant!" and then proceeded to enumerate the people she had recognized in the crowded house, with much more unimportant gossip, quite irrelevant to this narrative. " I have something to tell you," the husband inter rupted. "Something, that interests me a good deal, just now." " Something to tell me ? Have you really some thing nice to tell me, Charley ?" and she sprang into his lap like an eager child, and put both arms coax- TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 19 ingly around his neck " " and you have been keeping it all this time ?" " Because you did not ask for it !" " Well, I do now, and I just guess it's new furni ture :" and she looked smiling and expectant. He smiled too, yet not so brightly. " No, you have not guessed," he said, " I hardly know where to begin, 'tis a long story." " A story ?" she querried, disappointedly. " I thought it was something new." "It will be new to you !" he said, looking into her eyes, with a kind of tender yearning for something that was not there. "Well, begin then !' she coaxed, combing her slen der fingers through his shaggy and mottled beard. The story-teller hesitated, looking half amusedly, half thoughtfully down at the eager face. Then said impressively : " Once upon a time " Maud now settled herself to listen, with the interest that a child exhibits in a fairy-tale. She liked stories of the right sort, perhaps only less than new clothes and furniture. He repeated, " Once upon a time, there was an old parson living upon a mountain, which overlooked a large city. On this mountain, he had a fine vineyard, and under it, a vast mine of coal. Now the parson was both very pious, and very shrewd, and while he preached and prayed to save the souls of people, he trafficked pretty industriously in his worldly wares, to minister to their bodily needs, and I suspect, laid up consider able treasure in two worlds. 20 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL This good man built him a fine airy house, large and strong, with a wide porch running all around it. At the right, were substantial outhouses, and at the left and behind it, a thrifty orchard. Here, three noisy children romped, free as the rabbits, which played hide-and seek with them. Their names might have had something to do with their antics" " What was that ?" inquired Maud. " Fox, and the old parson used to say : ' It is the little foxes that spoil the vines' , when he found them, as he often did, trailing upon the ground. Whoever gained this eyrie, took a steam car at the end of a long, filthy, city street which this mountain seemed to have sat down upon and shot straight upward, as if starting for the moon." " It is like an old fashioned story book !" declared Maud, " I expect there was a glass house up there, and a giant." " No, nothing of that sort. It was an every-day sort of a place : a pretty home, once " "A more sympathetic listener than Maud would have detected a note of tenderness in the last words : but she only said by way of encouragement : "Well!" And he proceeded : "The children were two sons and a daughter, and there was another, an elder half-brother ; son of the same mother by a former husband. Now, as the young Foxes matured, and like that animal grew wily with experience and age, and the poor mother overweighted with care, had crept into the grave this boy dropped suddenly out of that altitude, into the great world below. TO " THE BRKAI) WINNERS. 21 The eldest and slyest of the Foxes the one in after years dubbed ' the old Fox' remained, and does to this day, foraging in his native mountains." " Is it true !" asked Maud, disappointedly. "Well, it is not exactly a French novel," decided the story-teller, pausing reflectively, "but I will chris ten it : 'An American romance, founded on fact.'" This sounded rather taking ; a little fiction mixed with facts, rendered them more palatable. " Well !" she encouraged again. "The sister married, and settled in an Eastern City," he resumed ; " the youngest Fox, a burly shock-headed pugilist " "Why, Charley! you look just as if you knew and hated him," interrupted Maud. He smiled ; " do you know, that is a compliment to my powers of description ? These characters begin to be instinct with life. Well, this martial Fox he married young. He married temper : married tongue. " See" said he : " how your praise inspires me ? I drop into verse the highest style of composition, quite unconsciously." "I don't like verses as well," Maud frankly confess ed, lest he might proceed in that style if not promptly checked. " Take it just as you like," said the amiable man, and returning to plain prose, proceeded : " He brought his bride to his mountain home ; where, independent of other society, they succeeded in making it tolerably lively for each other, and I suspect enjoyed a good deal of operatic music never advertised on the boards. In course of time a son and daughter were born to 22 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL this fond pair, and named respectively for a king and queen of Ancient History. And now, strange to relate ! domestic life, however exciting, or stirring it may have been, lost its interest for the lady. Society attracted her, but unfortunately, society was unrespon sive to her magnetic powers. She pondered the subject ; brought in artificial aids books of etiquette, and practised, when by herself, pleasant intonations of voice. 'But Fox' ! Ox, she would say angrily, " "Oh!" laughed Maud, "how do you know what people do, and say, when they are alone ?" "Guess at it!" he replied promptly; "that is, reason from the premises : she has a voice like an angel when in society ; which voice was never heard by friend or foe in the home. Therefore, it must of necessity have been acquired by private practice. Is not that logical ? and I suppose she dropped the initial letter of that name because the man suggests that animal, rather than the other ; with his staring, wide-set eyes ; broad heavy shoulders, and general obstinate tough-hidedness ; and she being an ingenious woman, could not fail to apply it. I am certain too, that on these occasions of self- examination, she recognized the fact, that this animal had no manners ; that he was not likely to acquire the high state of polish necessary to her ambitious aims ; situated as he was, and surrounded by home influence. Thus, foreign travel became imperative. And they travelled : sojourned in Europe several years, it was reported here ' to educate the children' (?) Then the parson died and they came back to the old TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 23 home. This was about a year ago. They brought back great spoils, from those foreign parts : pictures and curosities of all sorts." " Bric-a-brac" corrected Maud. "Well, bric-a-brac ! The house is quite a museum: and they have books, in all foreign languages ! It is wonderful what progress people make abroad. I think we must cross the ocean, Maud !" he said, looking quizzically into the now listless face. The story was growing a little monotonous ; he made an effort to rouse the flagging interest. "I would just love to !" she said. " I now come to the very pith and marrow of my story : the denouement, we literary fellows call it : I, Charles Raymond, am the elder half-brother to this family of foxes and one of the heirs to this estate. It was my mother's inheritance." "Why ! you never told me you had any relations," exclaimed Maud excitedly. " Well, you see my dear ! as relatives, they are not precious," confessed the husband, half sadly. "But we have some interests in common : and this estate, is becoming valuable. The city that I mentioned is one of great import ance as a manufacturing center, and takes rank among the first in the Union, for substantial wealth and prominent industries. It is a dingy place generally in eclipse, from the combined effects of smoke and fog ; and, as if to pre vent the blemishing of any other part of God's fair creation, 'Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther!' has been spoken by the everlasting hills, which keep watch and guard around it. *4 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL Now the denizens have become restless ; they want to escape ; and here within easy access, lies our fine elevated, rolling land." "You said it was a mountain !" corrected Maud. "Well it is called a Mount, and I only added a syllable ; but you must not suppose it a Himalaya. It is just a charming location for a suburban town ; and that is what we propose to make of it." Here, the story-teller seemed to forget his vocation, and relapsed into a thoughtful silence, which Maud improved by tying his mottled beard under his chin ; parting his hair down the middle, and twisting his frost-toutched mustache into terribly ferocious little horns. " It is a vast scheme !" he suddenly exclaimed, combing his fingers absently through all this pretty entanglement, "why Maud, you don't seem to realize its magnitude in the least !" "Indeed I do!" she replied, nodding complacently: " I think it will be just immense!" "We shall commence operations right away !" con tinued the gentleman, half in soliloquy, a shade of disappointment flitting athwart his good natured-face like a shadow, chasing a sun-beam. " A good many lots have been sold already and quite a colony started. There is a good school house, and a little church ; and about twenty families of the poorer sort, are now located there. But we shall lay it out regularly : build handsome residences, and business blocks, either for sale or rent, as suits best. There is a fine quarry on the ground, and an ex cellent quality of clay for bricks. We shall put in TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 25 city water, and gas, and have our own-wood-working machinery. There is a fortune in it and a huge one, if it is properly managed !" he added, knitting his brows, and looking straight before him. " And we shall move there !" put in Maud, gleefully ; "and you will build us a regular castle, just like some of those old nabobs have in New York, that I've read all about." "What nonsense!" exclaimed the husband. "I have something else to do, besides building castles though this may be one in the air, possibly." " But we shall move !" persisted Maud, who, being somewhat migratory in her tastes, and habits, was tiring ever so little of the old fashioned house, and its familiar furnishings. "Why no, child ! did you suppose I should give up my business here ? That is the difficulty. I am fastened in Buffland, and that interest needs looking after. I have objected to the man they proposed putting in as general superintendent, and they have author ized me to look up the right man for the place, and that will be my first business !" he decided, looking sharply at the handsome mantel-clock, and never heeding, that its two dainty hands pointed warningly to the midnight hour. " If Burbank were disengaged," he continued with unflagging interest in the prospective details of this engrossing subject, "he would be first-class. Just the man I should pick. But he has started in again for himself : that is the trouble ; men with brains, want to hew their own road. And there i s Gurnsey ! tip top puts whatever he has anything to do with, right 26 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL through sharp. But I couldn't trust him : looks out too well for Gurnsey !" These were dry details for Maud, who since it was settled that she was not to occupy a castle, or even move ; had been secretly deciding the whole story disappointing and tiresome ; and just like some slow old body would go on telling for the sake of being listened to. So she skipped out of the fond arms, pointed reproachfully to the clock, and began making hurried preparations to retire. But her lord still sat revolving plans, long after her beautiful and empty head, rested lightly on the pillow. To find just the right man was a matter of no small magnitude. At last, after a long and fruitless mental search he was struck with an idea. "There it is! clear as daylight!" he exclaimed, bringing down his first upon the little table at his elbow with an emphasis that shook the glasses ; Farnham is the man I want ! He applied for that place in the office, and I had Baker engaged, and he is better suited for this : superintended any number of buildings West he told me, and knows how to handle and control men. Poor Captain ! I never thought he would be one to accept such a position : but life, and fortune are uncertain quantities !" and with this sage reflection he lay down to rest. TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. 2J II. THE WAY OF THE WORLD. The next morning Raymond was astir bedtimes. He did not linger to unfold any plans which had been maturing in his active brain since the previous even ing, to the pretty priestess, presiding over the coffee urn but ate and drank in a pre-occupied way, which indeed, was almost habitual to him, and imprinting a hasty kiss upon her cheek in passing, hurried forth. First he visited his own office, looking after immedi ate interests there. Then commenced a search for one, who, but a few years before, had occupied a prominent place in the business and social circles of the city. " Strange" he mused, as in his rapid walk he turned down Aljonquin Avenue brilliant and stately in its magnificent repose at this early hour "This used to be his headpuarters ; but it has forgotten him long ago, and the good Lord only knows where to find the man now !" He was crossing this to gain Henry street, when a horse and light-wheeled vehicle came tearing along at such a furious rate that he barely escaped being run over. The spruce gentleman holding the reins, checked up the trotter sharply, and called out with a good natured oath : " it ! is that you, Raymond ? What the 28 DRAFTED I\, A SEQUEL is the matter with your legs ? I thought I should run over you. in spite of !" and looking up, he was glad to recognize the redoubtable Temple in fact, without the aid of his eyes, he could scarcely have mistaken the man from his peculiar gift of profanity. "Why this is luck !" exclaimed Raymond warmly; " I believe you are the very man I am looking for, to put me on the track of another. I want to find that old friend of yours, Captain Farnham, and of course ' "Of course nothing !" interrupted Temple bluntly. "I'll be if I haven't enough to do to keep track of myself these infernel times." "Then you can't give me an idea !" questioned Raymond, disappointedly. ' 'It is strange how we drop out of this whirlpool of life, without leaving a ripple on the surface to show where we have gone down." " By man," roared Temple, " I happen to know where that chap went down : 'twas in that rail road fizzle. Get in here, and I'll tell you every-thing I know about him !" Raymond climbed up and settled the light wagon seat a foot, as he deposited himself besides the other. Temple looked around amusedly as the springs clicked together : " Old Nick himself, will refuse to take you one of these days," he said "if you don't begin the anti-fat diet soon." " Perhaps I had better get out," suggested Raymond. "No ; sit more in the middle, and I'll crowd up on this side. There ! that's all right ! I'm afraid" he be- TO "THE BREAD WINNERS.' 29 gan, speeding the horse with the faintest possible touch of the whip, "that poor Farnham's gone to the dogs ! Isn't she a beauty though ? watch her stamp the ground ! won't bear the whip, you see. She is all spirit. High-strung as the : Easily curbed, too. I tried to help Farnham on to his feet, but it, he was in too deep. He was an extravagant fellow ! Knew a sight more about spending money, than he ever will about making it. But that was an awful crash ? I thought the bottom was out of . I'll touch her again ! just see her dance ! You know I am one of the directors of the First National and I tried to get him into a vacancy there, a spell ago, but he was sick. I was out to his house then two or three months ago, I suppose and I have not seen or heard anything of him since. He lived on a back street, over in that direction," indicat ing with his whip, " and I dare swear, they are there yet ! too poor to get away. I don't know what he's doing, or going to do ; and me if I think it concerns me particularly. But he was a right good fellow ! and has got a pretty doll of a wife ! but that mother of hers I am too indignant, to think of a woman of her age and pretensions, meddling with speculation. She couldn't let well enough alone, and has lost every cent she had in the world ; and serves her right too. There !" he exclaimed, reining his horse suddenly, " here we are ! I thought it was somewhere over in here. I know the place by those green things in that window, See, every old pot is decorated !" -30 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL Raymond alighted, and the springs bounded joy fully into place. " Go in, won't you ?" he urged ; but Temple pleaded an engagement. He was late now : " Half an hour late" he declared, drawing his watch, and with a flourish of his whip, he touched both his hat and ' the beauty' and sped away like the wind ; his parting nod seemed to say : " Watch her now, my boy !" Mr. Raymond surveyed the house a moment and rang the bell almost timidly. He shrank from an interview which he felt must be painful. " I knew him only in a business way," he reflected, " but this is a sorry change !" The door was opened by a young girl, a slender, soft-eyed brunette. To the inquiry : " Does Captain Farnham live here ?" she replied in the affirmative ; and conducting him into a small parlor, where a dim fire burned in the grate ; and flowers occupied the single window upon the street, she retired to summon him. He came in almost immediately. Raymond was touched, even shocked by the man's altered looks. His face was thin and haggard from some wasting sickness ; and his forehead, once so smooth was seamed with care. His handsome eyes lighted up with pleasure at sight of his guest, whom he greeted with a cordial shake of the hand, " I am afraid you have been very ill," said Raymond feelingly. " It has been something phenomenal, I believe," replied Farnham ; " I have never been sick in my life, except from the effects of that assault : do you remember it ? and the fever marshalled all its forces, TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 31 to subdue an obstinate subject. Now that I am con valescing, health and strength come by slow stages." Raymond had once been stricken down with a malignant fever, and he gave something of its history : This seemed a bond of sympathy between the two men, and he then introduced the subject of his visit. ' He called with a view of making a business pro position, and was disappointed to find him unable to entertain it.' Farnham grasped Raymond's hand with a sudden eagerness that bore straight to his heart a burden of necessities, which words would have failed to convey. There was a momentary pause, and then Raymond said : " I am distressed to find you so weak ! I have thought of you often since " and paused leav ing the sentence unfinished. A faint color overspread Farnham's face, as he said : " You mean since my reverses ! Ah ! yes, it has been a kind of running fight since then between sickness and and other difficulties, though an old soldier who has seen service before, ought not to complain. But" he added, dropping his voice almost to a whisper, and fixing his unnaturally large eyes gloomily on the other, " physical suffering may be endured, where mental and sympathetic are almost maddening." Raymond felt the secret remorse, which preyed upon the invalids's heart, the sting which defeated ambi tion leaves behind it, to rankle there, aggravating- the miseries of penury ; and was silent. Farnham continued with sudden vehemence : ' I long to escape from these four walls ! to do something, if it be ever so paltry." 32 DRAFTED IX, A SKQUKI " You are scarcely fit at present," remonstrated Raymond ; " in a little time, you will not confine your self to a paltry business I trust." " I have made application by letter to several houses," continued Farnham, flushing with a nervous eagerness that could not be concealed, "and answered no end of advertisements within the last two weeks but so far, without results." "What I want," began Raymond with a sudden augmentation of interest in his theme, "is to find a man of experience to act in the capacity of general superintendant in the business of building, selling, and renting a good, substantial class of suburban residences. I thought of you as one who has had some experience in a general way, in most of these interests, and very much hoped to find you disen gaged, and able to take hold of it. I have a share in this enterprise myself, and feel that I could trust your judgment and ability to manage it for me." Farnham smiled faintly, and said : " I fear I am not entitled to much confidence in that direction, as perhaps my own broken fortunes might suggest to you. But the facts are, Raymond, my estate was more deeply embarrassed by the treachery of Briggs than my best friends were aware. Then I made a venture to retrieve the loss, and a wild, and desperate venture it proved to be. Poor Mrs. Beld- ing ! I feel her losses more than my own, and to a . certain extent also, responsible for them ; though I never advised or influenced her to invest in those securities, except by example. She is with us now, and completely crushed ; but Alice" he exclaimed with a quick illumination of face, "bears all like an angel." TO " THE BREAD WINNERS." 33 "That is everything !" Raymond assured him in confidential tones. " I suffered some reverses during the life of my first wife, and it almost repays one for the bitter experience, to prove how true and brave a woman can be." He pronounced this little tribute with much honest fervor, but glancing at the face of the listener, doubt ed if he had heard him. Then he slid into ex planations, and details respecting the new venture and was gratified to see that he was followed closely. 'Nothing,' Farnham said eagerly, as Raymond paused, 'would suit him now, like an active out-of-door employment. It would be medicine to both soul and body. He was willing to undertake it, if terms could be fixed satisfactorily to both parties. When was it proposed to begin these operations ?' " Just as soon as you are able to go out and take charge of it, if you think favorably of my proposi tion" Raymond replied, smiling at the invalids' en thusiasm ; " Spring will be here soon : every day now is precious." Farnham's thin face was flushed and excited. Ray mond thought with a secret pang, of the men he would have to deal with personally, and said : " You are aware that my own private affairs fasten me here, and that my two half brothers have the con trolling interest in this business. I regret to say they are not the most genial gentlemen in the world. You will of course have a written contract, and see that it leaves nothing open for future misunderstand ings. They signified their intention to fix the salary sufficient for personal and household expenses, and 34 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL add a certain percentage of the profit of the business to this, as they accrued." Mr. Farnham expressed himself satisfied with such an arrangement. ' He had no doubt if the location were suitable, and the demand at all brisk, that the scheme would prove eminently successful. He would take the chances !' and poking the fire into blaze with a sudden recklessness, he said with animation : " You must see my wife before you go, and Mrs. Belding ; they will be glad to meet you." Raymond laid a detaining hand on his arm and counselled : " No more excitement for you at present. I will go now. I shall be most happy to meet them, when I come again, which will be soon. Meantime, you can talk over matters, and get them familiarized with the prospect of a change of residence. Ladies do not take to that readily, I believe." He moved toward the door " no," he urged, wav ing a hand backward, as he hurried forth ; " don't come with me !" But Farnham followed, loath to see the burly figure depart, and stood watching wistfully, as it strolled away down the street, until it had disappeared from view. Turning then, he encountered the ubraiding eyes of his wife. She had come in hearing no longer the sound of voices and to her surprise found the careless invalid, standing in the open door. " It is not safe to leave you by yourself a single minute !" she said reproachfully ; "mamma says, ' of all things, a relapse is the very worst that could happen," and she hurried him into the little parlor, and taking a fleecy shawl from her own shoulders, TO " THE BREAD WINNERS. 35 wrapped it about him, with a most maternal expression of countenance. " Delilah cut off Samson's hair," he soliloquized, droping into an arm-chair," but my Alice takes a more beguiling method to reduce her giant's strength." " Giant's strength !" apostrophized Alice. " She wraps him in cotton wool and puts him in the warmest corner : when he is finished off in this world, she will be able to write a treatise on incubation." The young wife smiled demurely, and asked with a tender concern in the lovely eyes which now appealed to his " where do you think you might be now, if mamma and I had not watched over you ?" " I am not prepared to answer a question so direct and searching." "And there was never such a restless patient either, I believe." "That is somewhat paradoxical," objected Farnham "a restless patient ?" " But mama says that all men are alike, when once they get ill." " Does she ?" inquired Farnham, with a quizzical smile ; then she may congratulate herself that she has no more of the genus homo to nurse. Tell me truly, Alice ; have I not been a slightly rebellious subject to her Majesty's rule ?" " Why Arthur," replied the wife, biting her lips, and looking quietly amused ; "what has put that into your head ? You have suffered like one of the martyrs." " I am relieved to know it !" declared Farnham, " for I have been troubled with a suspicion that I had not played the role of the ' meekest man,' and secretly ranked our mother among the martyrs." 36 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL "What sickly fancies !" laughed Alice. " Don't beat around the bush, darling ! You know I have been like a big fly in a bottle, striking blindly about, and our dear mother hasn't been quite the angel perhaps, but I forgive her !" he confessed with amiable forbearance, and now dear, I have something cheering to tell you all : bring her in Alice !" Alice looked into his eyes a moment in puzzled surprise. "Quick !" he urged, "she must hear it with you: it will do her good ; our Annie too." A moment later, Mrs. Belding came in, fixing a pair of curiously questioning eyes on her patient, as if she apprehended some new and dreaded phase of his malady. Somewhat changed in appearance from what we last remember her ; a few years older ; a shade paler ; a little more severe of countenance. She was simply but neatly dressed, and held some trifle of needlework in her hand. "Put your sewing away mother !" premised Arthur affectionately ; " I have some good news at last, and I want to see your face brighten up and look as it used to. "Where is 'the person of the house.' " The little brunette, who had won this sobriquet by her cheerful efficiency in household industries, appear ed at this moment, and taking a low stool at his feet, rested her clasped hands on his knees. " I have a good situation offered me ; a competent salary, and an interest in the business !" Said Arthur, impressively. The severity of Mrs. Belding's face relaxed visibly ; and Alice was almost hysterical with joy. " Should not the milk punch come in here ?" sug- TO " THE BREAD WINNERS. 37 gested Annie, with mischief in her tones, but solicitude in her face : ' Uncle was more excited than was good for him.' " I had it all mixed, when the gentleman left," she explained, "for I feared you were being talked to death." A moment after, she returned with a glass of the tempting beverage, and held it to his lips until he had drank it off. " That was timely !" he confessed, beaming with satisfaction. " How is it mother that a careless little song bird like our Annie, comes possessed of such wonderful forethought ?" Mrs. Belding was disinclined to entertain the ques tion, impatient for more of the good news. " Who was the gentleman who called upon you, and through whom this position has come ?" slic inquired with animation. " Mr. Charles Raymond : one of our most substan tial business men ; a shrewd, honest, well-to-do, thoroughly good fellow. He is interested with some half-brothers in a tract of land lying conveniently near Ironton. That, you know, is a busy, growing place ; but, unfortunately, it has not the room to expand ; it is blocked by high hills. These men with land and money at their disposal, propose to take advantage of the situation ; and build a suburban town. It strikes me as a brilliant idea ! They will sell and rent, and I am to have a general management of the business. Raymond did me a very good turn when he recom mended me for the place. ' " I should think anyone might recommend you !" said Alice. 38 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL " That is what they should do, my dear, undoubted ly," replied Farnham ; but unfortunately, not what many people seem to be engaged in, in this unappreciative world : recommending such deserving ones to fill the best places." " I should think not !" said Mrs. Belding, with much asperity, as if personally suffering from the injustice of mankind. "We are to move next week !" announced Farnham with sudden energy." " Why, Arthur Farnham !" are you crazy ? You ! scarcely out of your sick bed ; indeed we shall do no such thing !" protested Mrs. Belding. "The very thought is medicine !" he declared stoutly; " how long have I been shut up in this house." " Ten weeks !" Alice replied. " Ten weeks !" he repeated ; " it seems a whole decade ; but another one will see me out in the world ! Don't compress your lips in that stern way, mother ! I feel it will be the best thing for me the best for us all. The land is high where we are going, and the breeze from the mountains will sweep down upon us, and bring health and vigor in every whiff." Thus he descanted upon the free and happy out-of- door life which he should enjoy, with the eagerness of extreme youth ; while Alice plied him with questions respecting their new surroundings. " What sort of a house do you suppose we shall have, Arthur ?" she asked naively. " My love ! something seems to suggest to my fancy, a little Swiss gothic !" he announced after a momen tary grave deliberation." " Of course," she returned, " I don't expect you to TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. 39 tell to a certainty ; I was only thinking how nice it would be if it should happen to look anything like our dear old house." Farnham glanced at the young wife, and was silent ; a great wave of tenderness swept over him. " She is homesick, and no wonder," was his thought. She continued half timidly : " And we could put down our best carpets and have the piano in the parlor." " To be sure, darling ! we can and will ! nothing shall spare the best carpets, and the piano shall ha^e the place of honor ; and you shall sing : Home, Sweet Home to me, just as you used to, in the twilight." Tears of joy were in her eyes at the blissful picture. Indeed every one of the little household grew jubilant over the prospect. Even Mrs. Belding, whom trouble had almost embittered ; and who seemed to take a melancholy pleasure in gloomy forbodings, yielded somewhat to the cheerful influences, and ' hoped the sudden change might be for the better ;' and began to entertain prudential plans, as to the safe removal of petted flowers ; and the most tender disposal during this transition state, of her long cherished canary, old Jack. " To the little niece, who had never known too much of either luxury or joy, it was a brilliant bow of promise spanning the whole firmament. Soul ad body seemed suddenly endowed with wings. Labor was a service of love ; and toil her treasure- trove. The great event of moving, which usually carries terror to the stoutest heart, produced an intoxi cation of joy, that became a contagion in the household. 40 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL In Buffland they had suffered reverses ; wounded pride ; the estrangement of friends ; sickness ; actual poverty. How soothing, to leave even the memory of it behind ! Each one began to make ready for the coming flight, and to gather up their treasures. The hitherto watchful nurses relaxed in their surveillance of the invalid. He wandered from room to room, with restless eyes, impatient for the process of dismantling to begin. On the fourth morning after that eventful day, Mr. Raymond called again. He was pleased, to find Farnham so much improved. They had a long con versation together, arranging for the exodus ; and maturing plans for the speedy organization of the business. It was decided that the household goods should be sent on at once : Mr. Raymond, having notice that a vacant house awaited their arrival. Mr. Farnham and his young niece would follow, to prepare a reception for the others. This was Farnham's own ' device' as Alice called it. ' They were worn out with nursing him, he said, and Annie a veritable disciple of Mark Tapley's ' jolliest under the most dismal circumstances, 'would enjoy the pandemonium." " Heaven bless Annie !" was Mr. Raymond's ejacu- latory comment, upon this meritorious trait in the little niece's make-up, "and I bespeak for Mrs. Raymond and myself, the pleasure of entertaining your wife and mother, until you shall be in readiness to receive them." The ladies, had listened in part to these plans, and were much amused : ' Arthur was certainly demented !' TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 41 they could not submit to his dictation in this, or allow him any such license as he coveted. However he was obstinate perverse ! sickness it was conceded, had spoiled his temper ; and in the end, they were forced to accept the proffered asylum. They did so with many thanks, and more misgivings. A note which Annie West snatched a moment to write a former room mate of the Bloomingdale Seminary, describes briefly, her own girlish anticipations at this period : BUFFLAND, January loth 18 " DEAREST MAMIE This is probably the last time you will ever receive a letter from me, dated Buffland. Don't be startled, and fancy another suicide is about to be added to the long list of unfortunates. We are going to move ! Uncle is recovering very rapidly now ; and has accepted an excellent position at Ironton which necessitates our immediate removal to that place. We are all delighted with the prospect especially it makes us happy to see uncle so hopeful and like his old self again. I wish you could look in upon us now. I can think of nothing we so much resemble as a hill of ants that has been disturbed. Each one is running in an oppo site direction, with a morsel to deposit somewhere. I have been packing my old school books this morning, and it made me quite homesick for Bloom ingdale and you. That is the only regret I have in going I shall be farther from you. Wonder if I shall ever come back again ? I have kept up with our class, I think in Cicero until now but shut the book resolutely to-day, until we are all settled. All the other lessons I gave up during Uncle's illness. Please tell me when you write, what pages you are on, that I may try and catch you again. What do you think ? Uncle and I are to be the 42 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL pioneers in this emigration. We want to spare Mrs. Belding who is quite worn down and Aunt Alice who is very frail ; so we are to make ready for them. I anticipate it all as if it were my coming out party ; and will I not make everything spick and span about the new house ? Will not the world look bright through my shining windows ? And the carpets be laid without a crease. Will not the fire burn clear and the tea-kettle sing a welcome and I don my brightest plumage to receive them ? Your own vivid fancy will no doubt, paint for you the triumph of the young house-keeper, and prompt you to write her a congratulatory letter in advance. It is impossible to write more at present, or until we are all settled. Then you shall have pages of des- scription, until our new surroundings are photograph ed on your heart. Until then, adieu. Please send a letter to greet me on my arrival. It will be next to the smiling face of an old friend. Lovingly, ANNIE WEST." TO " THE BREAD WINNERS*' 43 III. UNTRODDEN PATHS. " Ony one hyer for Moont Henery ?" shouted a voice, with a rich Hibernian brogue, startling the ladies in the waiting room of the Ironton depot, one soft afternoon toward the middle of January. " Ony one hyer for Moont Henery ?" The voice penetrated amongst the hurrying crowd, that swarmed about the ticket office, or loitered upon the platform. Many eyes were turned toward the speaker with an inquiring look. Who was there of all these well-dressed travellers, awaiting this private escort ? Where indeed could such a specimen of humanity hail from ? So tattered was he, that he might have passed for tramp or beggar, only he was seen to be in active service. Grape-shot and bullets, could never have wrought the mischief to his faded army coat, that old Father Time had accomplished. It hung about him like a riddled battle flag. His hat too, had seen long ser vice ; it had been a roof to his grizzled head through many a wild storm, no doubt, but was a poor pro tection now. "Ony one hyer for Moont Henery?" Farnham met the fantastic figure as he made this last outcry, and a sudden thought flashed upon him. "Where is Mount Henry?" he inquired, shading 44 DRAFTED IX, A SEQUEL his eyes and looking earnestly at the strange appa rition. " I am looking for some Mount hereabouts, owned mostly, by some Fox brothers." Ye're the viry mon the Koikes o' me would be ofther shure !" laughed the good natured Irishman. I was sint by the gintlemen Foxes, and has me orders to fotch ye straight to ye're hoose, late vacated by Mike McMurphy in ye're favor ; and .roight glad I am to foind ye." Farnham looked at the uncouth being, with doubt and hesitation, and said in a low voice : " I have a lady with me, and some luggage ; if you will look after that, and give me some directions " " Dirictions is it ?" interrupted the man, with another burst of laughter," and shure sir ! ye'll niverbe ofther foinding the way by dirictions ; upon me word ! cum along wid ye noo ; and the luggage '11 be moinded ofther. But the young lady " he added doubtfully, as Annie West came tripping toward them bestowing a most comprehensive glance upon her, in which nothing from her pretty hat down to her boot tips, escaped him "I'm dootin lier poowers a bit. The rood, sur, ower the hills be dape wi' mud." "Are there no conveyances to be had?" asked Farnham. The " straite cares to the oncline, sur, but it's beyint that." " Well," decided Farnham, who saw no other alter native, "we will go on, until we are obliged to halt ; Lead the way !" " That's business ! laughed Doherty for that was the jolly man's cognomen "and roight yonder's the care that'll lond us forninst the fut o' the oncloine, TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. 45 which we'd betther be ofther takin', yer honor !" This advice was followed without further loss of time. Farnham and Annie were able to secure seats ; but Doherty did not venture inside the car, but rode on the platform. The street on which they had enter ed, seemed an interminable one. They rode miles upon miles, it appeared to Annie. Stout women with immense baskets, crowded into the car, and pushed and jostled each other, and were set down on the way ; and in their places again came a flock of new, and strange faces. How strange they all were ! and then there was a general dinginess in the outlook. The houses, from the plainest to the handsomest for evidences of solid wealth were visible on every side were begrimmed with every shade that smoke is capable of imparting, until some stood frowning in funeral black, past all further defamation by the demon artist. The thought that a clean white world awaited them somewhere, midway between the earth and sky, was comforting. Yet upon arriving at the base of a fear fully overhanging mountain, she was terrified at the prospect before her. " It will not hoort ye, miss !" encouraged the kindly Irishman, as Annie West, with scared face, and clinging fast to Farnham's hand, entered the squalid car. It was a stuffy little place, and already occupied by four begrimmed miners, and a pretty school-girl, with books and basket. This young miss attracted her attention at once. ' She was not afraid,' evidently; and then so bright looking ; so neatly dressed ; and just about her own age. 46 DRAFTED IN, A SKQUEL 'Who knows but we shall be neighbors!' she thought ; and felt sure they might be excellent friends, as she glanced timidly in the direction of the frank blue eyes. The girl was observing her too ; so she turned and looked out the window, and shuddered perceptibly as she did so. " Are you afraid ?" asked the other, who was secret ly curious to know where these strangers could be going on the hill. " Oh, dear, yes !" declared Annie, "fearfully afraid: I never ascended an incline before, and it seems as if the car must fall backward, and we be dashed to pieces !" "Oh, there is not the slightest danger !" was the calm reply of this veteran aeronaut. " I go up and down every day. You see, I have to, to my school : The Friends College !" " Do you ?" asked Annie, more than ever impressed. " I suppose I have finished my school-life" The little miss looked smilingly interested now ; but only said with a pout : " Oh, dear ! I wish I had finished ; and could go travelling !" ' We are not travelling only moving, replied Annie, simply. " Not up on the hill ?" querried the other. "Why not ?" laughed Annie. " Oh, I don't know !" she answered slowly "only, I thought one would not choose that spot, of all the world. We live there, because papa has land there ; and mamma had no health in the city. I am sure I hope you are, it will be so nice for us if you should," TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 47 This last clause was the direct result of a most searching glance, bestowed upon both Mr. Farnham and Annie ; and proved it to have been thoroughly satisfactory. " Yes, we are to live there," announced Annie, blushing and looking so brilliantly happy, that the pretty school-girl suffered a momentary jealous pang, as she thought of a certain handsome Yale College student, who spent most of his vacations there. " Do you know the Foxes ?" she immediately inquired. " I never saw them," replied Annie, " but we are going to them : uncle is to be engaged with them in business." She spoke low for the car had just stopped, and the people were rushing out. They followed, and as they tarried a moment in the queer wooden depot perched upon the brow of the mountain while Farnham and Doherty were taking a survey of the ' beyint,' she said : "You will like them so much. They have lived abroad a long time, and only came home since the death of his father. They have just the two children, Alfred and Isabella. He is twenty and is at Yale. She is only fourteen, but tall as I am. I often go to see her. There !" said she, stepping out upon the platform, and pointing to a pretty, bright-looking, home-like place just a little to the right: "there is where we live ; and they are way over in that direc tion. You cannot see the house, for the hill hides it. They will be coming for you, I suppose ; and I must hurry home. " My name," she added archly " ig Minnie Bird don't you think it's horrid ?" 48 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL " Horrid ? no. I think it just fits you." There was frank admiration in the young face ; " mine" she added " is Annie West." "Well, Annie West" said, Minnie extending her hand gaily, you will see enough of Minnie Bird, if you are to live on the hill ; for she is a desperate romp." " I shall not see her too often " said Annie warmly. " We have always lived in the city, and it will be rather lonely for us I expect, especially at first ; so you will come often will you not ?" " Indeed I will. But I shall not do all the coming !" protested Minnie, and hurried away with nimble feet, to tell her mother and sisters, ' that there was the loveliest girl, and the most magnificent looking gentle man, going to move up on the hill,' which astounding news, furnished gossip, for a somewhat isolated house hold, the entire evening. Mr. Farnham stood for several minutes, gazing abstractedly over the wild landscape. The snow had fallen deep within these hills for it was not one, but a succession of hills, far as the eye could reach and now that a thaw was in active progress, uninviting patches of yellow soil were exposed, of that disagree able, and peculiarly tenacious kind, which so adhered to the old army coat. The road, winding among the hills, like some huge, slimy serpent, looked altogether impassable. Contemplating the dismal outlook with no small disfavor, he inquired. " What next, my man ?" " The hoose, yer honor, be a good pace oo'er," replied Doherty, shaking his head, and looking doubt fully towards the young lady of the party. It was TO " THE BREAD WINNERS." 49 this stretch o' the way, I was un-aisy aboot ; an' its a hape worse nor what it was when me sel' trudged it befoor" " It is abominable !" said Farnham. " Ye'll foind miny a thing abomnible thin, I be thinkin'," croaked Doherty, with a side-long look, that reminded one of some tattered and bedraggled bird of evil omen. " The roods," he continued with a deprecatory laugh, " be too bad intirely ! It is the moodiest counthry iver I see and the nastiest. The maister would 't take oot a boogy or any convayance whativer." " Uncle," said Annie, coming upon the scene, smil ing and happy. " I can easily walk. Don't think of me." Then looking at him anxiously she inquired : "are you not very tired ?" " Not in the least," Farnham answered briskly. " This jaunt is doing me good." Doherty, who had been busy, tucking his old trowsers into his boot-tops, in a prudent effort to save them from deeper defilement now struck boldly out, followed closely by the others. It was well he piloted the way. Often by his slips and splashes, and blund ering steps, they were able to avoid many a treacherous pitfall. After heroic effort they gained a narrow board-walk, which greatly lessened the difficulties of the way, now consisting mainly in keeping one's balance ; as in many places it bridged ravines, more or less perilous to the unwary. " This," called out Doherty, as they emerged upon another road leading directly over a prominent hill, and intersecting the first, " is Fox Avenue." It was wider and by so much, more dismal, and JO DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL uninviting. The broad stretch of yellow clay, was deep-rutted by the occasional flounderings of a few heavy carts, and bespattered here and there with a deposit of coarsely broken stones, evidence of some kindly effort in behalf of the traveler, yet futile withal as they were as carefully shunned as rocks are at sea. Again they turned off from the main road, and came down an almost perpendicular side of this uncompromising hill, with surprising velocity. Doher- ty steadied himself, when about half way down the declivity, and turning to them shouted : " Now here we be ! this is Alford Strate ; and roight below is yer hoose." Annie looked with keen interest at the small, dark, forlorn tenement indicated, and her heart sank within her. She glanced at her uncle, whose grave face, caused her to turn her eyes quickly in another direc tion, for they were filling with tears of disappointment and commiseration. A baby face was pressed against one of the window-panes of the cottage, and she laughed at the round eyes and flattened nose, and bade him ' look !' for she must do something say something, to keep from crying outright. Now she discovered that a pale, spare woman was holding the baby, and watching them furtively from behind it. As they entered- the tiny yard, a small artificial pond, from the melting snow she appeared with it in her arms, at one of the twin doors which opened side by side, upon a common porch, and smiling timidly, said : " If ye'd be wantin' the keys to the other side, here they be," and immediately produced them. The baby fastened its wide eyes, full of wonder, upon TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. 51 Annie, ; who smiled faintly into them, and then wiped her own hurriedly. ' Have you lost one ?" inquired the poor woman, with maternal sympathy in her voice. "No!" Annie replied, smiling and blushing, and was following the uncle, who had disappeared within the 'other side,' when the woman called out hospitably : " Come in here and warm yerselves, and dry yer feet ; I've got a good fire, please God ? an' yer welcome." Annie thanked her, and passed on to inspect the future home. This business did not consume much time. The house was not one of the rambling sort- good-naturedly guarding pleasant surprises, of un suspected nooks, and convenient closets. There was nothing whatever to investigate, but the narrow dark hall leading nowhere, except up a steep, short flight of stairs ; and three little rooms, in dismal succession below and above. It was in a vain search for more of some sort, that Farnham wrenched open a door leading to a cellar, and was promptly and shudderingly held back by Doherty ; who exclaimed in terror : " Doon't venture there, mon ! there will be wather enough in that cellar to dhrown us booth !" Arthur Farnham was not a profane man, but he had a sudden impulse to anathematize the situation in rather forcible terms. " I have been a landlord myself," he reflected, " but have never been guilty of offering anything for a human habitation, quite so forlorn as this." He looked pale and dispirited, as leaning against a 52 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEI, window seat, he told Doherty to look up one of the Fox brothers and say, that he, Farnham, wished to see him at once. The man hesitated a moment and then said : " They booth be powerful busy the day, sur ! ye see it's the 'lection and I doot much, if I be able to fotch them." " Election ?" queried Farnham, " what election ?" " Why the boorough 'lection, sur, down in the store yonder," replied Doherty. " Coome this way, an' ye can see where the fun's goin' on." Farnham glanced gloomily from a window, com manding a view of a small weather-stained, wooden building, surmounted by a sign board, across its entire front and half its own height, announcing in mam moth characters : THE FOXBURG MUTUAL BENEFIT ASSOCIATION'S DRY GOODS AND GROCERY STORE." A few men were lounging upon its platform, and as they continued to look, Doherty grew keenly attentive. Presently, he broke into a loud laugh, which jarred the little house froom floor to rafters. "See!" he cried, "they're in the foight ! the bys has got the dhrap too much ! give it to him Moike ! The big felly's Moike O'Hara," he explained, an' the leetle one's Treary : and see ! he's no babby." At this moment a light wagon drove up and stopped in front of the store. Some of the loungers rushed forward and lifted from it, a figure so closely envelop ed in wraps as to render unassisted locomotion evidently impossible. " Ha ! ha ! ha !" roared Doherty again. " If they han't got ole Pat oot to help 'em the day ! Thin it's a moighty close run I be thinkin,' an' they wouldn't TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. 53 be bate sur, on this 'lection ef they had to dhrag the bod plaze itsel' for vooters. Pat's powrfu' bad wi' inflamatory " " What is the matter with the election ?" asked Farnham, smiling. " Why you see sur," replied Doherty, lowering his voice, " there be at this toime, a great call for improvements an' the oowners want to fix the tax." Farnham drew on his gloves ; and bidding Annie wait in the next house until his return, took his way down to the scene of the borough election. A few rapid strides brought him to the place. The sick man sat alone in the wagon. He had been carried to the polls and returned here, where he was now gloomily awaiting the appearance of the driver, to be conveyed home. The wind blew chill, and as his restless eyes encountered Farnham's the latter said compassionately: " I fear this is a poor place for you my good man !" " They've forgot me !" whined the invalid. As he spoke, a well dressed, powerfully-built, sandy- complexioned man, came out, and looking frowningly upon the sick one, asked : " Why do you sit here, Pat ? What has become of the man who brought you ?" " I guess he's watchin' the fight round the corner," he answered despondently. The big man strode to the end of the platform and called authoritively : " Here, Tim ! here ! what are you about there ? Come and drive Pat home." And the order was promptly obeyed. Turning about as the wagon rattled away, the man of authority apparently observed Farnham for the first 54 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL time and bowed stiffly. He responded, announcing : " My name is Farnham ; and I suppose my arrival here is not altogether unexpected." There was an unconscious hauteur in the tones, and an indefinable air of superiority in the manners of the stranger, most unpleasantly recognized by Mr. Christopher Fox. "Happy to see you, Mr. Farnham !" he exclaimed shaking hands. "Business is exceedingly pressing just now ; in fact so much so that it has been impos sible to arrange for the comfortable reception of yourself and family. That house the only vacant one upon the hill was offered as a temporary asylum, until a better one can be built. It will be at least a shelter." Farnham said he had examined it, and such as it afforded, it could not be made to accomodate the household goods he had brought, and" he added, " I should be sorry to bring my wife to such a place." " Then she is not with you ?" inquired Mr. Fox. "No," replied Farnham, "but I have a niece, who has come to take the burden of settling the house, and until some place is ready for the goods, I must find a boarding house, somewhere." Mr. Fox looked thoughtful ; consulted his gold repeater, but gained no solution of the problem. " The fact is," he began slowly, "there is no place of that kind on the hill. It happens very awkward ! Now we should be most happy to entertain you both at our house, until such time as you could take possession of yours if that shell can ever be made habitable but just now, we are filled up with company." He blushed as he said this, and Farnham appreciat- TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. 55 ing his evident embarrasment, felt resentment giving place to forbearance. But the truth was, there was not a guest present or prospective for the great, rambling, disorderly house. This subject had already been discussed there. It was upon the receipt of a letter from Mr. Raymond, wherein the merits of these strangers had been particularly set forth ; that Mrs. Christopher had decided the question of social ethics, as relating to them, with remarkable astuteness. ' She was, and had always been prejudiced against people, who had seen better days.' 'This was just like Raymond ! to set these beggars on horse back and send them to her with a letter of introduction. He would like to select her society for her ; no doubt. " And so these people of yours, Christopher," she said, mockingly, " have seen better days !" " Which can never be laid to the charge of my sweet wife !" he had retorted. " She saw better days before she became your wife, than she ever has since !" was the quick re sponse. " That is not disposing of these strangers," urged Fox. " Don't your Bible say something about not forgetting to entertain them ? and here is a case that appeals to my hospitality, at least." He read from the open letter in his hand : " The wife is a beauty, and was an acknowledged belle in society a few years ago ; very gentle and accomplished." Mrs. Christopher Fox had no answer sufficiently pointed to these tantalizing words ; but shot a bitter 56 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL glance at the offending man, from the depths of her sharp black eyes. " You must remember, dear," the fond husband replied to the fierce eyes, " that I have never seen her." "And I don't see what you want of them any way ; and if you do want them why you can take care of them ! That is all I have to say !" decided the wife, and shut her lips tightiy together, as if to prevent further speech. ' That is just what I propose to do, for a few days !" declared the dominant Fox. "Then you will take them to a hotel !" shrieked the lady, forgetting her sweet purpose, in her sudden passion. " Do be reasonable Em," roared the husband. "You know as well as I do, that there is no such place, or any other on 'the Hill' where they can be enter tained." "Entertained !" repeated the lady scornfully. "Sheltered, then" corrected Mr. Fox. "I have paid no attention to the matter," he protested " except to find an empty house, and I went to look at it after this letter came, and I tell you, it is a shabby thing to offer anybody." Mrs. Fox smiled unconsciously. " You ought to see it-!" said the husband. " I am not interested," she confessed. " But people must expect to put up with inconveniences, where they cannot be avoided. Did you say it was that double house, and McGeary the miner lived in one part ?" "Yes, my angel !" and observing the sparkle in the black eyes, he added : TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 57 " And may it content your Christian soul, to know that this odious family will be sufficiently humliated." "I have not the slightest interest in them I tell you !" she said, waving her hand to dismiss the subject. " It is enough to know that my husband will exhibit Ms gallantry, and hospitality too if he is able " she added, with a little defiant toss of her head, which he too well understood as a challenge to contest the oft disputed question of supremacy in the home rule. The next moment she turned to welcome Mr. Solomon Fox to the breakfast table, with a smile as bright as the morning ; and to devote herself with unusual assiduity to the comfort of the bachelor brother. It was perhaps the recollection of this little episode, which now called up the blush, surmounting even the loftiest rampart of the massive Roman-nose of Mr. Christopher Fox. Perhaps too, he accepted more readily Farnham's report on the condition of the premises, authorizing him more freely in the matter of repairs than was fully intended. He waxed gene rous : " it would be but a temporary shelter, as he had already said, but it must be put in repair at once. If it could not hold the goods why tack on an addi tion. Building was the business on hand, and if there were not desirable houses to be had soon, he should be disappointed." This was not altogether satisfactory perhaps, but there was no choice left but to accept the situation. It was well that Alice and her proud mother, were not here. He could smooth the outlook for them ; and in this he was certain of Annie's hearty co-operation. Soldier-like, he could bivouac anywhere with a fire 58 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL and a blanket ; and she was cheerful and brave, and feared no hardship. These thoughts ran hastily throug his mind as he stood listening to some plans, formulated by the proprietor, for the speedy occupancy of the house, and as he returned to it it was with a grim determination that a few day's should see the old place metamorphosed. Thus, he set himself to the task of making of this most unpromising shell, a home. The little niece was taken into confidence and proved herself a sterling helper. Carpenters were brought in, and the music of the hammer was heard in the land. Steadily the work progressed day by day ; kitchen and store house arose over the ruins of a filthy cistern, with its broken pump, at the rear of the house : the former was cleansed and the latter mended. The partition be tween the dismal little front rooms disappeared ; pretty paper and delicate tints of paint covered, as with a mantle of charity, the begrimmed walls and casements. Annie West had never felt herself of so much real use in the world as now. The kind woman next door had, with much pains, provided her with a lodging place and every morning, she arose from this not very downy bed, at an early hour, eager for toil, and bust ling with a happy ambition. Her first grand achieve ment had been in reducing, from a state of bewilder ing chaos, to one of restful order and beauty, the prettiest chamber, for uncle and Alice. It was high praise to behold his astonishment, at the transformation. He had despaired of anything so home-like, as this appeared to him and her young face was flushed and radiant, as he surveyed with TO 'THE BREAD WINNERS. 59 pleased and wondering eyes, the work of her hands. An artistic paper decorated ceiling and walls. Doors and casements gleamed fresh from the painter's brush. She in some mysterious manner, had evolved the rest ; and a trained artist in such matters, could find little to criticise in the effect. A soft carpet, gossamer-like curtains, polished furniture, couch of snowy draperies, and the many pretty appointments of modern device, had combined their harmonies to change the rude place into a bower of beauty. Through a recommendation from one of the work men, Mrs. Feather now alighted upon the scene. Annie smiled, both from satisfaction and amusement, at the sight of such a competent looking auxiliary ; for so little did her name become her, that her stout masculine person would have tipped the scales at two hundred, avordupois ; and her efficiency proved proportionate. Disorder scattered and fled be fore her like a dense fog before the cheerful sun. The tiny parlors, in their fresh dresses of paper and paint, came forth from her able hands, as from the touch of an enchanttess. Carpets were laid ; the piano wheeled into place fine old paintings, in richly carved settings, looked down from the walls, in a familiar way ; handsome portiers parted between the little rooms ; and dainty curtains floated before the bright windows. Annie busied herself with every detail of these arrangements : disposing articles ot virtu, with weighty judgment, and calculating pre cision, as the crowning triumph of art, while the aggressive Feather, went marching on, like the spirit of a great reformer. The little dining-room burst forth into bloom and brilliancy, in all the glory of cut 60 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL glass and shining silver, while kitchen and store-room took on a severely orderly appearance, most praise worthy to behold. This finished the work which seemed a creation, rather than a re-construction. Mrs. Feather turned her comfortable back regret fully upon the place, which she declared, again and again, to be ' as purty as a painted pictur'. Mrs. McGeary the timid little neighbor and the round eyed baby, obedient to an invitation from the delighted young mistress, had, in silent awe, wonderingly surveyed the scene and retired ; when Farnham, sitting by the parlor grate, pale and furrowed of coun tenance, and much demoralized in appearance from his unusual contact with labor ; suffered such a heart sick sigh to escape him, as caused Annie to pause suddenly in her bustling steps. A snatch of song was on her lips, but it ceased instantly, and hastening to her uncle's side, she bent over his drooping head, and said anxiously : "Ah ! now, you are just worn out with all this dreadful work. I ought to have seen it before ; but now you must rest. Alice must not see you looking in this way, or she will scold me." " She will never be so ungrateful !" he replied, gaz ing at the troubled face, which betrayed weariness too, in the faint purple lines below the large, dark eyes. But rest is not for me. / am drafted into the ranks cf labor, little one," he said, smiling faintly, yet looking far beyond her, as if with the half serious confession, some strange, untrodden path, had sudden ly opened to his prophetic vision. " The Fox brothers are impatient that I have wasted so much time here. Now I must write Alice that we TO " THE BREAD WINNERS." 6 I are ready for them ; and begin business to-morrow." He gave the little room a critical survey, and asked after a pause : "What will she think of it, for a home, Annie ?" " Think of it ?" questioned Annie, with a vague, wondering expression in her face. "Why Uncle Arthur ! don't you think it perfectly lovely ?" For answer the grave uncle smiled : and then strok ed the brown head in a compassionate way. Her young life had known both poverty and toil. Per haps the attenuated face, of a once loved sister, rose up before him upbraidingly, for his own grew sad and tender." "You are much like your mother Annie !" he said at last. Annie smiled brightly. Her mother had been to her, the one perfect being that she had known ; and her memory now was like a pure white star, beckon ing heavenward. A moment of silent thought, and two large tears welled up in her eyes, and rolled slow ly down her cheeks. She had shared the saddest part of that poor mother's life, which to remember was always to regret. Cut off from kindred, by an unfortunate marriage and widowed in youth, what had been left her in this world, but privation and sorrow ? "There is one thing Annie," said the uncle, sudden ly changing the subject, "about which I wish to caution you : don't encourage those people next door to show themselves here ! It is enough to be under the same roof." " Oh !" exclaimed Annie, with a quick glance, in trospective and deprecatory, " I did not think you 62 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL would care if I asked Mrs. McGeary to just look at our improvements. I thought it might help her, just to see something pretty. She never does : and she might do a great deal better with what little she has, if she only knew how : you can't think" she added after a short silence, " how kind she has been to me.', " It will probably serve to make her dissatisfied, rather than to cultivate her taste, as you imagine. People are poor in this country because they are thriftless and improvident. " It is not in their stars, but in their selves that they are underlinings 1" he replied. Annie looked thoughtful, but made no answer ; he continued : " I doubt if people of ' that class' could take on a very high polish, and we have been warned you know about ' casting our pearls before swine !" The girlish face grew grave and perplexed. This did not accord with the poor mother's teachings. But uncle, had had great advantages, and was very wise ; she knew. He now wiped away the traces of tears on her cheeks, kissed her, and she went back to busy herself with her housewifery industries, and to ponder upon a subject that perhaps had never occupied her thoughts before. In her simplicity, she little dreamed how mighty was the principle involved ! or what gigantic evils lay at the root of all. She only felt that she had been reproved by her good uncle, who ought to know what was right, and yet, it seemed like walking out of the sunlight into the shadow, to give up this habit of hers the innocent effort to make those poorer than herself, happy. It had always made her heart so light when she succeeded, ever so little TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 63 that it was a positive privation now, to be denied the luxury of doing good. Then she dwelt upon all her sainted mother's precepts ; and wondered if the " Golden Rule" meant exactly as it read ? and if the ' others' referred to, meant all others, or just a few ? and why the Saviour, ate and drank with publicans and sinners ? and why he had particularized the least of these in the tender injunction : " In-as-much as ye give to the least of these a cup of cold water only, or, in-as-much as ye do it to the least of these my brethren, ye do it unto me : if even he had not forseen that these ' least might come to be neglected in the great, busy, struggling world. " Ah ! yes" she decided at last, with a lightened heart ; " It is a sweet gospel of love ; and my poor mother was one, refined, but not with silver." DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL IV. THE UNWELCOME GUESTS, The shadows of night were gathering about the Ray mond mansion, and thickening along the somewhat dull street upon which it stood, as the family carriage containing Mrs. Farnham and her mother drew up before its hospitable door. A sumptuous dinner showily set forth, waited in the old fashioned dining room : which comfortable place by the way, had taken on so many fanciful decorations under the hands of its new, and ambitious mistress, as to remind one of an old beauty masquerading in juvenile costume. Mrs. Raymond, superbly illustrating by her brilliant beauty, the very latest whim of fashion, yet a trifle too showily dressed to be quite an unconsciously amiable hostess, waited in the parlor ; and Mr. Raymond, genial and courteous, waited at the carriage door. Had the ladies, whom he welcomed so cordially, held the undisputed rank of first in the land, he could not have placed himself and his belongings more completely at their disposal. He introduced his young wife in a glow of pride ; chose the most restful seats for their comfort the luxurious parlor afforded ; and at dinner, devoted himself assiduously to their enter tainment, that no deficiency on the part of the wife, as hostess, might be too apparent. Mrs. Belding, quite at ease, and smiling her TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 65 complacency and enjoyment of the good cheer, sudden ly turned her clear eyes upon Mrs. Raymond, who sat fidgeting behind the tea-service ; and said : " I am haunted with a fancy, dear Mrs. Raymond, that we have met before ! Do, if possible tell me when and where, if you recollect ?" "I 1 do not !" Maud stammered ; her heart beating with such force, that she thought it must be heard, and scarcely rising her eyes, while the rich crimson deepened painfully in her cheeks. "Perhaps at the St. Andrews;" suggested Mr. Raymond, in a good natured effort to relieve the poor wife's embarrassment, which he attributed to a humili ating consciousness of her plebeian antecedents. " She has been a devotee at that shrine, a good many years : there is where I had the good fortune to meet her." "I never was in that church in my life !" said Mrs. Beldmg, thoughtfully. "I suppose I must be mis taken," searching the face again with a scrutiny so terrible to Maud, that all the accessories of a disgraceful tableau seemed grouping themselves around her; "but it puzzles me to account for the familiarity of your looks." Poor Maud ! everything was at a stake ; and for a moment, she was giddy. The table and group of faces whirled before her. Mrs. Farnham quick to detect the lady's embar rassment, asked : " Don't you think, mamma, that Mrs. Raymond resembles young Mrs. Darlington very much ? She reminds me of her continually." But mamma did not appear to coincide with this 66 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL opinion ; and all through the evening, and even after they had retired ; she was torturing her brain to recall the time and place, that she had seen this face before. " It is so very striking." she explained to Alice " that one would not be likely to forget it. You know I am rather remarkable for remembering faces." " Your talent in that direction seemed to annoy Mrs. Raymond," rejoined Alice. " Did you observe mamma, how painfully she blushed ?" " I cannot see why she should," returned Mrs. Belding, puzzled and thoughtful, as if a mystery were eluding and baffling her ; " unless she has been a servant ; or something of that sort, or has done some thing disgraceful." " Why mamma, what a detective you would make !" exclaimed Alice, amused at her mother's grave specu lations. " I am sure Mr. Raymond would not marry a servant, or a criminal ; and she has very pretty manners ; not at all self-confident, though she is as beautiful as Langtry." " It is quite apparent that she is not much accustom ed to society ;" decided mamma, " but I suppose the good man married her for her beauty, and I hope he is not disappointed in her as a companion ; he is a very worthy person; so affable and courteous, I feel we shall enjoy our stay here in this restful place, after being in such a state of chaos and confusion." While Mrs. Belding and daughter were thus engaged in discussing, and disrobing ; a similar scene was being enacted in another apartment. Mr. Raymond, sitting before a glowing grate, in easy neglige, was deciding mentally, and orally, that TO " THE BREAD WINNERS." 67 Mrs. Belding was a very comfortable, motherly sort of person ; and Mrs. Farnham, very gentle and attractive; but not quite as pretty as she was once ; a little faded, he was sorry to notice : probably the effects of watching and weariness : The poor young thing ! " She ain't so awfully young !" said Maud, who was disrobing with unusual celerity her face all in shadow ; " and I think she is dreadfully milk-and-water looking ; I don't see what anybody could admire so much in her." "You are not jealous this first evening !" laughed the husband. "No, I am not !" said Maud, sharply, "but I just wish I had never seen them !" and could have bitten her own tongue off, for saying it. " Tut, tut !" said the paternal husband, turning to look at his offended deity, and greatly mystified by a mood never witnessed before : " What's amiss ? I thought everything was going on like a party." "I expect I'm tired ;" almost sobbed the distracted wife ; " and I had so many engagements for this week, and they've put me all out." " Well, I'll fix that all right ;" was the soothing re sponse. But what now is the programme for this week ? I fear my little girl is dissipating too much." " There's the entertainment for the missionaries, to-morrow night, " began the poor wife, in a chok ing voice, interrupted by the amused query : " Then the missionaries are to have another benefit?" " Oh, dear ! you know what I mean," protested Maud, vigorously brushing out her dark hair, " it's to raise funds for the heathen." 68 DRAFTED IX, A SEQUEL " Are the thriftless fellows out of pocket again ?' anxiously inquired the husband. " Other men don't laugh at their wives, when they're trying to do a little good," said Maud, in a piteous voice. Raymond turned again towards his wife, but could only see two shining eyes, looking reproachfully out from a wealth of hair. His heart smote him. ' She was dissatisfied with herself and felt her want of culture more than was necessary, in the light of com parison with these really elegant ladies.' " I am not laughing at you, my dear ! but just to amuse myself. Don't you know that when a man is proud of his wife, he is always teasing her ? You looked so brilliant to-night darling, that I feel in a a very good humor : That is all. Go on with these important engagements ; I am interested in all you do." " Well," began Maud, brightening, " we have a supper the next night, at the " C. W. S. G," rooms, for the benefit of the " " Hold ! Hold !" interrupted the husband ; " not so fast my dear ! let me take this all in, in good form. The next night, after supplying the howling savage with spending money, these same benevolent martyrs, contrive to eat two suppers apiece at the Christian Woman's, Shirk and Gossip rooms, for the benefit of there ! go on." "Shirk and Gossip !" repeated Maud, angrily. "You know what those letters stand for, and '.wr/ good' is the object of our society." "Trust a lot of women to carry it out !" laughed the husband. Then stretching his arms towards the offended beauty, he coaxed : TO " THE BREADWINNERS." 69 " Come here, I want to take this charitable little body to my heart one minute." " I can't" said she, but softened by his playful tenderness, and perhaps in an effort to divert him from herself, or make him forget her ill-nature i she began to say rapidly : "Well, at any rate, you ought to have -heard Mrs. Starks, and Mrs. Hobbs talk about the committees. You know Mrs. Ayres, and Mrs. Pushing, and Mrs. Nailor, and those horrid old-inaids Crimp, and all that crowd , always do have all the say about every commit tee ; and they're dreadfully put out about this one, because they're none of them on ; and that little insignificant Mrs. Stubs is flying 'round in everybody's face and eyes, soliciting funds ; and they say, makes a ridiculous spectacle of herself." " Well my love, I would not listen to such gossip ;" said Mr. Raymond, with a decided frown upon his face. " I never did like those females ; and if I were you, I would not encourage them to bring their grievances here." " But I do like them," returned Maud, in a strange ly defiant tone, angered at being chided ever so gently. " And we are not going to submit to be ruled by a few a minority, that's what the rest say ; and they say there's just as much managing, and conniving there, to get into power, as there is among politicians ; and we're going to get up another party, and vote them down." " For Heaven's sake ! Maud, don't talk in that way," exclaimed Mr. Raymond, almost sternly, " or I shall have to ask you to decline farther intimacy with those mutinous feminines. For my part, I would 70 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL rather go to torment with a quiet woman, than paddle Heavenward in the wake of an ambitious termagant." Maud was on her pillow now ; and the disturbed husband turned out the gas with a sigh, and laid down beside her in a most unhappy frame of mind. All was silent for a little time, when wishing to banish the unpleasant subject, with all ill-feeling he asked : " Where do you think Mrs. Belding fancies she ever met you ?" " How do you suppose 1 should know what she fancies ?" retorted Maud irritably. " It is likely enough she has passed me on the street a hundred times : I have always lived in the city." " Of course, of course," assented the husband. " There is nothing improbable about that. I am sorry their coming seems to have put you out so. I thought you would like to meet them ; one can learn a great deal from people like them. They moved in our very best society before their reverses." " You are always trying to improve me !" sobbed Maud, " and other people don't see so many faults in me." And she turned away and feigned sleep. " Poor child ! what has happened to cross her ?" pondered the restless man. " Some fancied slight I suspect ; and of course she is sensitive, appearing as she does, at a disadvantage. Well, well, I must be patient with the undeveloped child ;" he sighed, and thus counseling to himself, he fell into a profound slumber. Maud lay perfectly still for some time scarcely daring to move. But thought was busy. At last she crept stealthily from the bed, and crouched down be fore the dying embers staring into them with TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. 71 troubled eyes, and white face that looked wraith-like in the dark. She was tortured by the consciousness of being pur sued and hunted down by a relentless, prying, and in trepid fiend. Those dreadful eyes would never desist in their ferret-like search, until all was made clear as daylight to them, and she identified as the ridicu lous person encountered long ago, under such extra ordinary circumstances, in Captain Farnham's green house. Then she would be disgraced before all the world ! These thoughts made her brain whirl and her thoughts come quick. How violent was her anger ! and how bitter her hatred of these people ! Poor Mrs. Belding would not have rested so peace fully had she dreamed of the terrible maledictions in voked upon her by this sleepless, frantic woman. She utterly despised Mrs. Farnham too, and had not a doubt but she had done everything, but offer herself outright, to secure Captain Farnham. That was what plenty of fashionable ladies did ; but she wouldn't look at Captain Farnham now, and just gloried to think he was down in the world. But the hours were passing, and she thought with alarm, day would soon come. Many plans had been revolving in her mind, for absenting herself from the house during their stay, and abandoned as absurd, or impossible ; when a sudden recollection came to her relief. She had been made very ill by some little powders the doctor had once given her for a violent headache, and he had said she should not take any more. She remembered how frightened Charlie was, because she looked so deathly, and could not even raise her head from the pillow. She had some more 72 DRAFTED IN. A SEQUF.I, of them in her medicine closet, ah ! this is what she would do ! Her husband still slept. She stole noiselessly about the apartment like a guilty thing, putting it all in or der ; folding her ribbons and laces, and softly open ing drawers and wardrobe to deposit therein every scattered article about the room. Then she swallowed the little white powder, and lay down beside the sleeper, with a strange feeling of criminality in her beating heart. Not until almost day light did she fall asleep, so powerfully agitated was her poor frenzied soul. Then she slept heavily. The house became astir : servants prepared break fast, and Mr. Raymond arose at the usual hour ; dressed, and before leaving the room bent for a mo ment over the sleeper about to arouse her when he was struck by the ghastly pallor of the lovely face. " I will not disturb her," he thought, drawing the covers tenderly about her. " I might have known the poor child was ill by her strange behavior last night ;" and shutting out the morning light, he closed the door softly and descended to the breakfast room. Here the guests soon appeared, to whom he re gretfully made known Mrs. Raymond's probable in disposition. They expressed solicitude, but hoped it would prove nothing serious, and thought, with him, that rest and quiet would soon restore her. Mrs. Belding poured the coffee ; and was particu larly chatty and agreeable. She had slipped back into familiar surroundings, and they rested and refreshed her. Mrs. Farnham too, looked better and brighter than on the night before. TO " THF. BREAD WINNERS*' 73 After breakfast Mr. Raymond took another look at his wife. As he bent over her, he touched her white forehead with his lips ; she suddenly opened her eyes, and Jooking wildly about, asked : " What has happened ? something dreadful I know." " You have been dreaming dear, while we break fasted ; that is all, and nothing alarming either," re plied the husband. "But I am sick," groaned Maud, "oh, so sick!" and her ashen face confirmed her words. " Then we must find out the trouble at once," said Mr. Raymond decidedly : and grasping one slender hand, he felt nervously and clumsily for the throbbing pulse with his chubby fingers. " I shall have the old doctor here in a trice ; he will put all right," he said cheerfully. " I beg you won't !" pleaded Maud, vehemently. " You know how I hate doctors ! Oh, I will get well, only let me lie here all still." Mr. Raymond looked thoughtful. " It will not do to neglect disease," he said. "It might be something serious ; the incipient stage of some virulent fever. You had better let me call a physician ?" (coaxingly.) " No, no, I wont have a doctor !" persisted Maud. " Then I will bring Mrs. Belding up. She has had experience in sickness." " No ! no ! no !" Maud protested, with such vio lence that the poor man was almost startled into the belief that she was delirious. She saw terror in his eyes, and making an effort, she half rose, and throwing one arm around his neck, pleaded : " Dear Charlie, if you love me the least bit let me 74 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL just lie here, and hear it all still : I am not sick much, only tired, and head-achy, and the room goes round when one walks in it. Promise me that you won't send any one here, only have Mary look in sometimes, to see if I want anything." He kissed the white lips and promised, with a mental reservation, to follow his own judgment should the indisposition continue, and returned to the parlor, planning as he went, how he could ensure for his guests a pleasant day. "Tom and the carriage should be placed at their disposal ; and if there were calls to be made, or shopping to be done, they could take their own time for it. The opera at night would be another pleasure which they would appreciate. Then there was the library, he thought with satisfaction ; and all the latest monthlies and morning papers." Mrs. Belding assured him " nothing could be more delightful than a drive in the fresh, morning air. They had been confined so long indoors, that it would be quite a novel experience ; and Mrs. Farnham's bright smile assured him of her own prospective enjoyment. He took his departure therefore, happily conscious that he had planned wisely for the guests, and antici pating for them a pleasant day. And so it proved to be. The next was spent in much the same way ; and still the next, until time began to grow slightly mo notonous. As Mrs. Raymond did not recover, a phy sician had been summoned, who prescribed remedies which were not taken, and rest and quiet, which were strictly enforced. Mrs. Belding was not surprised that the invalid should prefer the familiar face of an old servant, in her chamber, to a stranger guest's. TO " THE BREAD WINNERS. 75 "/could never endure," she said to Alice, "the presence of a strange face at such times. Do you remember dear, when my old nurse fell ill, just as I was coming through that dreadful fever, and we had to take a new one ; how very unhappy it made me !" Alice remembered, smiling as she thought of it, for mamma on that occasion had childishly refused to take the medicine from other hands. Still she regretted that they could be of no use in the sick room. It would be such a comfort to be of some small service there. But in lieu of this, she worked at a dainty bit of needle work, day after day, to be left as a souvenir for Mrs. Raymond, when they should take their de parture. That time at last came. A letter arrived one even ing, announcing the pleasant fact, that the house awaited their coming, and requesting them, if conven ient, to take the noon train on the next day, which would bring them " home " in the early evening. Very timely their arrival had been planned, as Farnham shrewdly observed : " At that hour, nothing of the forbidding incline, or the wild look of things at this disagreeable season could be seen. When spring came, it would all be so different." The call was a most welcome one. The evening was spent in preparation, and the next morning, Alice finished the pretty suprise, and left it with an affec tionate note, for the hostess. Before leaving they were permitted to enter the darkened sick room. The white face that seemed to almost lighten its twilight, filled them with serious ap prehension ; and their last words to the husband, 76 DRAFTED IX, A SEQUEL who with hospitable intent accompanied them to the train, were of solicitude for her. Then the warning whistle, and one more look at the kindly face, and they were on their way. Never before were the rush, the roar, the clatter, of the headlong race, such an exhilarating experience to Alice, as now. She was on her way to a new home, and the dearest being on earth waited her coming. The very engine seemed in her happy secret. It shot around curves ; danced over bridges ; put all its giant strength to the task of climbing the zig-zag moun tains, and went tearing through the valleys ; scream ing "We are coming? we are coming?" This, at least, is what her fancy heard, in every wild, shrill whistle ; and her own heart kept repeating : " we are coming ; Arthur, coming !" The evening drew on, and suddenly they dashed into semi-darkness, and the city of their destination together ; dense smoke having shut off the day. " It has seemed a remarkably short ride," observed Mrs. Belding, stepping out upon the platform of the Ironton depot, " and oh ! there is dear Arthur, look ing for us !" What joy it was to meet him now ! after even this short separation ; and what joy to be going home ! Sitting beside him, relating the adventures and mis-adventures of the week, and listening to his voice, Alice scarcely felt the time pass until they stood await ing entrance at their own door, It was a narrow one; but it flew wide open, and Annie West, with out stretched arms, appeared therein. " Home ! Sweet Home !" cried Alice, in exultant tones, as she bounded in, like a happy child; TO " THE BREAD WINNERS." 77 " Oh, Arthur, how pretty you have made it !" and she surveyed the pretty parlors, delightedly. " You said it was a horrid place that we must content our selves in, just for a while ; but it is really the cunning- est, cosiest, dearest little spot in the world !" Mrs. Belding was glad to rest in a familiar easy chair before the open fire ; but Alice ran from room to room, and could not pause in her discoveries until she had explored them all. Mr. Farnham and the little niece followed with smiling faces ; enjoying her surprise, and listening to his praises, which seemed to each like a benediction on their labor of love. But the dining-room after all, possessed the most substantial attractions. There the best supper was set forth that the young housekeeper's culinary skill could possibly achieve. Broiled chicken, that even Mrs. Belding pronounced " done to a turn ;" pyramids of snowy biscuit and delicate cake ; tempting fruits ; de licious coffee and cream, all awaiting their apprecia tion. Never had a feast seemed more enjoyable. There was neither pallor nor weariness on any face. Even Mrs. Belding was infected with the general hi larity, and drank with Arthur "to the success of the new suburban town !" It was a cheerful evening altogether, that first one in the new house, and it was one never to be forgotten. Its careless gayety ; its boundless hope ; its faith in the infinite possibilities of the future. The next morning dispelled some of these bright visions, that youth and hope, had conjured up. In its disenchanting, and cold gray light, the dear hus band's face was shown to Alice to look pale and worn ; 78 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL and Mrs. Belding, glancing from one of the little win dows, to get a view of the new surroundings, was ac tually crushed by the appalling prospect. Accustomed all her life to city sights and sounds, the rude desola tion of these dreary hills made a sudden silence in her soul. "Oh, solitude !" she whispered, chilled by the out look, " where are the charms that sages have seen in thy face ?" But she would not convey her impressions to the others. She would help them to be brave. This was a battle for life, and she would be foremost in the ranks, for courage and endurance. With this highly commendable purpose in her heart, she was sitting at the breakfast table chatting with Arthur in the old happy way, when a loud knock at the door announced an early visitor ; then, without waiting to be ushered in, Mr. Christopher Fox, with his wide set eyes rolled upward to the ceiling as if mentally calculating the chances of hitting his hat, which he did not see fit to remove strode into the room. " I looked in," he exclaimed, in a powerful voice which sounded as if coming from an empty hogshead, and, except by a slight wave of the hand, taking no notice of the assembled family " to take an observa tion or two. I have an offer to sell this house, with the one on the other side, and I can't settle on the price until I see what you have been about here." Mr. Farnham, glancing at the ladies, said : " It is Mr. Fox ;" and turned his eyes full upon the intruder. The guest felt, but did not heed their disapproval. He stood swelling before the fire, and staring at TO " THE BREADWINNERS." 79 Mrs. Farnham, as if she had been a cheap show that he had paid to look at. " There was no need for such a paper on these walls, I should say !" he decided, rolling his large orbs around the room, and taking in with an indignant flush, its many pretty appointments. " Something cheaper would have answered the purpose here : how ever, if I sell it, I'll put on price enough to cover it. McGeary has bought the other house, and a brother of his, a young chap just come out from the East is going to buy this one. He has laid up a little money and wants to invest it ; but it won't unsettle you ; un less he should take it into his head to set up house keeping on his own account with one of these pretty girls here !" He smiled facetiously in their direction as he uttered this delicate suggestion. Mrs. Belding shot furious glances at Arthur Farn ham. ' Why did he sit there silent, like a craven cow ard ? Why did he not order this vulgar, odious per son from the house ? She would not hesitate a mo ment, if he were not present.' But he did not even raise his eyes ; though by his sudden pallor, she knew that his indignation was also at white heat. Alice looked with a sly, amused smile at the great uncouth figure of the man ; while Annie's grave eyes wandered over his height, and breadth, with a mixture of curiosity and dread, as if he had been some strange mixture of wild beast that had found ingress there. " Come, Farnham ! we'll walk along together ; we must put a little more life into this business ! I'll go this way," said the big man, in his deep voice, stoop ing as he made his way into the kitchen, '< I want to take a look at this she-bang back here !" 8o DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL He surveyed the ceiling with a calculating abstrac tion ; scrutinized the quality of lumber used in the construction of the floor, and looked narrowly and suspiciously at both sides of the door, through which he made his egress. Arthur Farnham took up his hat, with an absent air, and followed him out. " Well !" exclaimed Mrs. Belding, who was first to recover from the speechless silence that fell upon this exodus : " I will lock and bolt these doors, and see if Mr. Christopher Fox will take possession here again in that insolent manner !" and she proceeded, with a lofty dignity first to the little front door, by which that gentleman had entered, and then to the rear, by which he had made his exit, locking and bolting both, with an air of triumph, as if with the act, she had barred out the arrogance of wealth through the length and breadth of the whole land. " Alice !" said she in a sharp voice, as she sank into a bamboo rocker, and dropped her hands listlessly at her side, " I am amazed that Arthur Farnham should subject us to such impertinence ! such such really, I can think of no word to express the offensiveness of such manners ! Does that low, vulgar wretch know whom he insults ?" she asked, in a voice broken and choking with passion. " To think Arthur Farnham did not resent such treatment of us !" She was wiping her eyes now, and fairly sobbing with passion. " Mamma," said Alice softly, " I am so sorry for you !" and as she spoke, she knelt beside the low chair, " but oh ! think of poor Arthur ! think of how hard it must be for him ! Did you see how his eyes flashed ? and his tired face grew so white ?" TO " THE BREAD WINNERS." 8l <% That was no rebuke !" retorted the mother angrily. " But I suppose, mamma," returned Alice, meekly, " that he does not feel that he can afford to break with this man ; and that, I expect, is what it would amount to, if he should fly out at everything that crossed him. Think how ruinous it would be, now that we are all fixed here !" 'But we should not have been all fixed here !" pro tested the mother. " That is what I severely censure Arthur Farnham for : a want of common prudence in the matter. He should have come here himself and looked the ground over carefully, and known some thing of these men, before rushing headlong into this fatal trap !" " Fatal trap ?" questioned Alice, appalled at any thing quite so serious in the situation. " Why do you call it a fatal trap ?" " Because I believe it to be one !" replied Mrs. Belding, compressing her lips so tightly that they were scarcely visible, after announcing this unpleasant con viction. " But mamma, you know how it was with us," pleaded Alice, " and you did not suggest his coming here be fore accepting the position." " Position !" repeated the elder lady scornfully. "I would like to have Arthur Yarnham's position here de fined to my satisfaction. I was led to suppose there was a partnership interest of some sort : but this mag nate of the corporation certainly ignored anything of the kind. Did you not observe it, Alice ?" "Yes;" the poor wife replied, looking sadly thoughtful, " but oh, mamma, I care so little about that ; I know it is all in the writings ; and you remem- 82 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL her how glad we all were of this opening, when every place seemed filled, and we just living on expense." Mrs. Belding sighed heavily, and pressed her hand kerchief to her eyes in a melancholy way, feeling her self an unhappy fugitive, " whom dark disaster fol lowed fast, and followed faster." " Don't let us take such a gloomy view of things on this first morning, mamma," whispered Alice, coaxing- ly. "Think how hard they have worked to smooth it all for us ! I just seem to see it now. I could hardly rouse Annie (she was in the kitchen and beyond hear ing) this morning ; and in her sleep the child looked so tired it smote me ; it just breaks my heart to see poor Arthur. He is not fit to be out of bed." Alice wiped her own eyes now, but continued : " I am going to be just as gay as I can be ! I will romp, and sing, and dance. Arthur shall not feel that /am disappointed," she declared, in a voice that was tremulous with eagerness and pity. "That is the right spirit, child ?" encouraged Mrs. Belding, laying a hand on the daughter's head, though she did not remove the handkerchief from her eyes to look at her. " I want to be brave, and will try ; but this is so unexpected, so utterly humiliating, and one cannot forget the life one has always lead, and tamely submit to vulgar insolence because clothed in a little ephemeral power." " Why mamma ! the man is not worth discussing," said Alice bravely. " I could scarcely refrain from laughing at him, he seemed such an uncouth ab surdity ;" and she lifted the frail hand from her head, and stroked it softly, but there was something in her young face that belied her careless words. TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 83 V. A YOUNG REFORMER. " What though on Jiamely fare we dine! Wear Iwdden gray and a' that ; Gie fools their silk an' knaves their wine ; A mon'8 a mow,, for 'a that. " Robinson Crusoe was not more isolated on his deso late island, than this solitary family found themselves, from the rush, and whirl, and progress of the great world, of which they once made an infinitesimal part. Perhaps they were even more desolate ; he had his good man Friday ; who, being only a savage, could be cultivated with propriety : but the plodding, stern-visaged, uncouth mortals by whom they were surrounded, seemed to repel, rather than excite in terest. It is true the drama of human life was being en acted all around them, in both comedy and tragedy ; but stripped of the settings and scenery through which they had been accustomed to view it, it was but a dull play. Mrs. Belding became a prey to the liveliest discon tent. In the absence of other and more agreeable diversions, she devoted herself to the construction of t elegant trifles in decorative art, and sought to narrow her capabilities, as a human soul, to the limited degree that finds enjoyment in such lavish waste of time. " There is really nothing else to occupy one," she 84 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL said one day, as she sat down to this industry, after the morning's work lightened by three pairs of hands had all been accomplished. " Ancient History is interesting me a good deal of late, but," she added listlessly, " one cannot always find pleasure in the doings of people who lived thousands of years ago." Annie thought with a vague regret, of the poor, the burdened, and ignorant, at their very door ; of the half naked children and sad-faced mothers whom she met in her walks and the " In-as-mucli ," whispered it self reproachfully to her own heart, whose sympathy had been withheld, because forbidden. On bright days Alice and she took long walks some times through the dreary irregular streets, and some times over the solitary hills. They had been provided with a companion and protector in the form of a saga cious Newfoundland dog. He was the property of Johny Rafferty, a poor quarry-man ; and was loaned to the young ladies for a season ; or, more properly speak ing, was taking a short vacation to recuperate from the wasting effects of an insufficient diet. His master, bent nearly double with rheumatism, contracted while working ankle-deep in water, could not always afford enough from his scanty fare, to sup ply the demands of the dog's carniverous stomach. It had been a trial too, to part with him. The poor man lived quite alone in a little hut at the foot of a long hill beyond the quarry. Alice and Annie had discovered the solitary cabin in one of their rambles, and named it "The Hermitage." Touched by the utter barrenness of the place, they had sometimes contrived an appetizing dish for the for lorn old creature when he should return to it at night. TO " THE BREAD WINNERS." 85 Yet he had made " the wage " he boastfully in formed the " manager," as he called Mr. Farnham, "an" good wage too. Why Sur," he said, his eyes shining with honest pride, "there warrant a mon in it as could go beyint me wi' the pick, whin I coome to the plaze. I were as hearty as a young buck, an' as strang in me arums, an' I tuk the worruk be the perch, an' golly ! I made the toime. Sur, I wint at it be starlight in the marnin' an' pegged away be the lantern at night. But the oowner, he got scared o' me, an' fixed the wage be the day. It's ony way to hoold ye back !" he said excitedly. " Noo that I can't just monage the pick," spreading his hands as well as he was able, his fingers were drawn together like the claws of some monstrous bird, " I'm wilcome to have it be the perch. So ye'll moind the dog, an' give 'im a sup 'o mate whin he craves it, an' he'll watch oo'er you young ladies loike a broother. But," he conditioned, his old face lighting up, " whin the ould woman an' the lad coomes oo'er, ye'll give him up. I'm hoordin', Sur, for that toime, plaze God ! an' hoome wouldn't be hoome to thim, wi'out the company o' the dog. Me bye, a foine, healthy lad, is powerfu' fond o' him." And so it had come to pass that this huge, shaggy- coated animal, which barked to the name of Rover, accepted the caresses of the young ladies in good part, and with a grave and silent appreciation, which eminently became him as an honest and reliable dog. He ate ravenously from their fair hands ; came at their call ; and followed them faithfully as their shadows. When they tripped along the narrow board-wrlk, he ran joyfully after ; and when they wandered in other, 86 DRAFTED IX, A SEQUKl. and less frequented ways, he took the initiative, and trotted along some distance in advance, smelling the earth as he went, as if apprehensive that the founda tions of the everlasting hills were not as solid as gen- ally reported. There was one place that seemed to possess a strange fascination for them. It was a very old and very solemn country burial-ground. There was a wide, wooden, arched gate-way, and finding the gate open one day, they went in. It was a well-kept, orderly place, with broad smooth walks among the graves, some of which were huddled together, as if from long companionship the silent sleepers were becoming friendly, and the mossy head stones above them reeled and staggered like drunken men on picket guard. These bore quaint inscriptions, mostly in German, which Alice would translate for Annie's benefit ; and sometimes, it must be said, for their mutual amuse ment. There were others of more modern date ; fair polished shafts that glistened in the sun, in memory of those who never more would look upon His light. As they strolled about through the silent, dreamy place, supposing themselves to be quite alone there, they were astonished at coming upon an old sexton digging a grave. Their footsteps were suddenly ar rested, and they, awed into silence by the solemnity and mystery of his occupation. Then they ventured nearer, and peered shudderingly into the yawning horror. The old man resting upon the spade he had just emptied, his white, straggling locks just above the ground at their feet surveyed them curiously. Ap- TO " THE BREAD WINNERS*' 87 parently satisfied that the fair apparition was not a delusion of his brain, he resumed his work in stolid silence. But finding them still there when he again deposited his spade-full of earth, he rested it beside him, and wiping the perspiration from his brow, pro ceeded with the kindly garrulity of age to inform their curiosity as if it had been expressed. Fixing his eyes on Annie West, as well as he was able, they were fearfully at cross purposes he said : "The head that will lie here, Miss, is as young and as fair as the fairest." Sorrowfully they looked again far down into the bed of earth. "These old hands," he continued, "have made many a bed hereabouts for the young; but never for a prettier maid than will rest here ! Mayhap you knew her ?" he questioned. " Daisy Hastings ; though that warn't her name as she were christened by, only everybody called her Daisy, sort of loving like." They shook their heads in silent disavowel, and Alice said : " We are new-comers here and have no acquaintance in the neighborhood whatever." He looked at them again searchingly. " They are not quite of our sort," was his mental deliberation, but he said impressively : " If ye'd ever been favored with a sight o' her, you'd 'ave a picter to remember !" The stranger eyes that grew so tender, disposed the old sexton to friendliness. "Ye'll always find this a pleasant place to come of a bright day," and then with a nod of the head and wave of the hand toward the in 88 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL numeral hillocks I could give the history of nigh about half of these dead folk, having been sex ton here for over twenty year ; an' I serves 'em all alike ; rich an' poor ; high an' low ; old an' young ; they all comes, an' I makes their bed the same." "But this one?" asked Annie, looking with mourn ful interest into the new-made grave, " can you tell us something of her ? is there a mother to be heart broken after her ?" "Yis, an' heart-broken ye may well say," he replied with a melancholy shake of his head. " This here, Miss, at the right's the father's grave. It was mesel' digged the same eight years ago come November. Yis, she's seen her own trouble !" and pursuiug the train of these refactions, he took up his spade, and was heard scraping and delving far below, bringing occa sional spadefuls to the surface. At length he paused again, and continued his narrative : "Left wi ' six, and one a cripple, an' naught to do 'wi but a bit 'o ground and that morsel 'o house ye see yonder jest atwixt that part in the trees, she's had her own hard fight wi' poverty. But she's a master hand to manage ; an' now Paul's got up to be like a father to the young 'uns he's the oldest boy, an' he's a' edi- cating Hiram the next to him, off at some big school or 'nother, to make a man 'o the lad as they'll all be proud of. He's a master inteleck, they say, is Hiram. Paul's boss 'o some machine works down in the city, and makes wages, I'll be bound ! for he's a stirrin', go-ahead chap, as won't be kep* back for want o' put- a strong shoulder to the wheel." Here the old man disappeared, and was heard bur rowing in the earth at a still greater distance from the TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 89 surface ; but rising to the top presently with a willing ness in his face to impart further confidences, Alice asked : " Which is the cripple ?" " The next one to her" he answered, pointing sig nificantly to the open grave. " Helen, the little lame girl, with a voice like a lark, Miss. Often an' often, of a summer night, I've listened to her; sittin' in that porch an' singin' over her little songs, an' it made me sort o' lonesome like to hear 'em night after night, the same little pieces, without a bit o' encouragement, only the frogs hollerin' back." "Poor child !" exclaimed Annie, "she will be lone lier than ever now ! I wish Alice, that we knew her." ' Ef ye walk here this hour the day after to-mor row," suggested the sexton, wiping the perspiration from his face with an immense bandana, and restoring it to the battered crown of his old hat, " ye'll be in good time to see the funeral, an' a right smart o' the neighbors too." Thanking him kindly, and expressing their purpose to be there, they bade him good day, and summoning Rover, who was investigating a distant group of graves, turned homeward. On that day, standing by the open gate-way among a crowd of strange faces, they were silent witnesses of the mournful cortege that swept in, with bowed heads and measured tread, and winding through the quiet avenues of this city of the dead, paused around the newly made grave. There was something peculiarly pathetic to them in the scene. It was the burial of the young and beauti ful, and a light had been quenched, and a joy had de- DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL parted from a home that had known but little of either. There were loving young hearts, to whom such grief was new, and a widowed mother's, that had known its own bitterness, and now drank afresh of the worm wood and the gall. She raised her heavy veil with a quick, frantic mo tion, as the plain casket was being lowered to its rest ing place, for a long, last look, and then leaned pas sively upon the arm of the sturdy youth who supported her." "That is Paul !" thought Annie, looking with much interest at the tall form and grave face of the young man. There was determination and purpose expressed in every line of it ; and it somehow held her eyes, with a strange fascination, while the mold fell on the coffin-lid, consigning "dust to dust ; ashes to ashes." Then the mourners dispersed, and Alice and Annie walked silently homeward. " How pitiful it all was !" remarked the former, breaking the mournful spell that fell upon them. I almost wish we had not seen it. I suppose that poor, tired-looking mother felt something of what mamma would if she were to bury me." She shuddered as she said this, and Annie looked at her inquiringly. " Don't look so frightened !" she said quickly, " I don't imagine I am going to die, I mean at present. But," she added in a subdued voice, "I have an al most superstitious dread upon me of some coming evil." Prophetic-like, her uncle's face rose up before Annie's vision, but she said nothing, and Alice sud denly asked : TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 91 " Tell me Annie ! I know you notice Arthur's altered looks, and dragging steps ; did you ever think ? oh, did you ? that he might die ?" After giving this expression to the terrible fear that haunted her own heart, she put her handkerchief to her eyes and sobbed like a child. " Don't !" pleaded Annie, " don't ! it is only the sight we have witnessed that is making you so wretched." " No, it is not," declared Alice firmly. " I think of it every night when you are all asleep. Poor Arthur ! this life is dreadful for him, but he never complains." They had never exchanged any confidences on this subject before, and yet each had the same unspoken dread, which Annie's artless face could not altogether conceal. " I wish" pursued Alice with unusual energy, " that I could get something to do !" You !" queried Annie, the quick blood mounting to her forehead ; " it is /who should do that ! and I have thought of it often, only I feared it would be hard for you and your mother to spare me." " I should think it would !" declared Alice warmly. Mamma says that we could not live without you ; so don't go misunderstanding ? (glancing uneasily at the flushed face). "But this is what I am thinking, here am I, capable of teaching music ; or the German or French languages ; or giving lessons in painting ; or embroidery ; or designing : or drawing, as many ladies do, you know, who make a pretty sum for themselves. Then think if Arthur should get worse, how may comforts it would buy him !" " Uncle would not listen to it," protested Annie. "He would not be consulted. I would steal out 92 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL while he is away, and be home before him. Oh !" she sighed, " if we were only acquainted in the city !" " That would be too far away," was Annie's dis couraging rejoinder. " If there were only a different class of people about us I would just go out and try what I could do," said Alice heroically. " Perhaps," began Annie, and then hesitated, smil ing and looking mysterious. " Perhaps what ?" questioned the other. " Well, I will tell you, it is a little secret I have been keeping from you for some time, for fear it might spoil our musicales : But on several occasions, 'The lord of the Hills' as your mamma calls Mr. Fox, and his wife, and the princess Isabella, have been seen to stand for the greater part of an hour, just opposite our door, on the farther side of the street spell-bound listeners to our evening rehearsals. " Spies !" said Alice, with a little scornful toss of her head. " I could fancy them acting in that capacity. But how do you happen to know this ?" Annie blushed. To confess this part of her secret, betrayed her own low-born instincts which were especially reprehensible. " Poor Mrs. McGarvey," she said, with a little deprecatory smile, " could not refrain from telling me. She was coming home the first time and ran right across them in the darkness. Since then I think she must have watched for them ; and it would amuse you ; she prides herself on your music as if it were her own !" They were at their door now ; and Mrs. Belding met them, looking impatient at their long stay. " Her TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 93 supper had been waiting sometime," she said, and as Arthur had not yet made his appearance, and it was beyond his hour, she wished one of them would go and bring him. Alice, though wearied by her long walk, preferred to go. The distance was slight only up the sharp hill. The office was a small, unpainted building, bearing the inevitable announcement on a towering width of sign board : " The Foxburg Mutual Benefit Association's office !" She had reached the door of this imposing structure, which was ajar, and stood still before it. Through a curtainless window a crowd of workmen were visible inside. Then she recollected that it was " pay night" the time having been changed from the previous Saturday to this Monday night as more convenient. Hesitating a moment, whether to return or wait outside until this business was finished, she heard a faltering voice remonstrate : " I thooght I should a' had the 'mount o' to-day's along o' it." " You see Johnny," she heard Arthur explain ; " it will be the same thing, only it will turn on another week's pay." Then she was startled to hear the younger Fox, with a terrible oath, call out : "If you are grumbling about this arrangement just take your money and leave ! and don't show your face here again !" " No ! No ! Master Fox !" the voice was eager, and conciliatory " I didn't jest understand intirely." " Clear out with you !" cried the stentorian voice of the master, " I'll not be bothered to explain my 94 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL way of settlement. This is one of them. D' ye understand that ?" " But Sur !" began Johnny. " Make room there, I say ! we can't stay here all night. Men who can't earn their salt, are always the grumblers." Alice moved trom the door just in tim6 to escape meeting face-to-face the poor bent object who staggered forth. It was Johnny Rafferty, the rheumatic quarry-man. His old slouch hat was pulled far down over his excited face, and the hand that grasped the little tin dinner-pail, shook as with ague. Alice spoke a kindly word to him and hurried home ward, but Rover could not be called away. He seemed to divine that his old master was in some trouble, and in need of sympathy. So he began yelping and jumping about him in the liveliest greeting, licking his distorted hands, and then lifting his forepaws he placed them affectionately upon the shrunken shoulders as if he would assure the master of his dogship's undying faithfulness. Poor Johnny ! he had no heart to send Rover away ; and so Alice last saw them disappearing over the hills together. " I shall set him at work again, some day when we are short of hands !" said Arthur Farnham, when discussing the unpleasant incident, at the supper table. " I think Fox wished to be rid of the man, but he would not have been so hasty, had he been quite himself." " Intoxicated ; eh ?" queried Mrs. Belding, in no very amiable tones, and elevating her brows in scorn. TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 95 " Slightly," returned Farnham, with a weary expres sion upon his face. He might have added, that it was nothing new : that four days out of six he was in that condition at their close. That no one could possibly suffer more from his arrogance at these times than himself ; but these were some of the humiliating secrets locked in his own breast. He had never brought home his private burdens to be shared by the household, yet every day added to their weight. He had most unwillingly accepted the common verdict : that few persons could be found more keenly alive to their own interests, in dollars and cents ; more exacting in service ; more inhuman in sympathy ; more indifferent to the rights of others ; more intolerant ; more arrogant ; more abusive ; in short, more giftedin meanness, than the two illustrious Foxes, named respectively, Solomon and Christopher, with whom he found himself unfortunately associated. He had been lead to believe that the younger brother, with his family, would go abroad as soon as he became established here, and the work fairly inau gurated ; and the elder one would take but a general supervision. But very different was the reality, every action was narrowly watched ; every move sharply criticised. If he submitted important questions to them, why they employed him to furnish them ideas ! that was what was expected of him. If, after such playful rebuffs, he acted independently, the result was invariably ; AMAZEMENT ! the over whelming amazement of the united pair at the lack of judgment ! the want of perception ! the absence 96 DRAFTED IX, A SKQUF.I, of all common prudence ! which these extravagant blunders betrayed. These encouraging experiences had been enjoyed after the draining of the quarry, where so many poor fellows had lost life, or health, heretofore, and which had been successfully accomplished, by digging a channel for the waters to flow forth ; but which was characterized as : the most insane scheme good money was ever wasted upon. A siphon was all that was required." Also in locating the site for the mill ; the brick yard ; and in finding the proper elevation for the block of houses : in fact, in every separate step he had taken thus far in the progress of affairs. Yet, notwithstanding his failing health, and the disadvantages of his position, so thoroughly had he devoted himself to the work, and with such marked results, they were compelled to recognize the new superintendent agent they called him as a man of superior ability. It was however, but a tacit apprecia tion ; they never commended him, it was not policy. They grudgingly admitted to each other, after a severe storm of rain : " that the quarry was actually as dry as a man's throat after a spree." And they found by comparing statistics of labor, that it had never been worked with such profit before. They also secretly congratulated themselves, that the excellent masonry in the foundation of the new block, would be an advertisement for their granite far and near: and furthermore, that this handsome, taste ful row of dwelling houses now nearly completed was as good as an insurance policy on the success of the whole enterprise. TO " THE BREADWINNERS. 97 Two-story bricks, with French basements every house in this altitude might enjoy that luxury, as everyone would be built on a side hill were certain ly attractive. How often the brothers, disagreeing in everything else enjoyed by stealth as it were, feasting their greedy eyes upon this achievement of art. Circulars were laboriously composed ; printed by thousands, and sown broadcast, advertising these homes. The advantages, therein set forth, were of such a seductive character, as to produce the liveliest dissatisfaction in the breast of any householder what ever : he being thereby deprived of the luxury of a paradisiacal home in the very bosom of Arcadia. After reading these glowing accounts of the delights of this region whose landscape, it was said, remind ed one of the hanging gardens of Nebuchanezzer ; whose clouds and sunsets were gorgeous, yet softened like fair Italia's reflected in the Bay of Naples ; and whose airs were of such salubrity, as to be compared to nothing earthly whatever, but which so infected the lives even of those mortals, fortunate enough to whiff their fragrance, as evermore to shine forth in a chrystaline purity of character some of the more imaginative, ventured the assertion that beyond a peradventure, the veritable site of the first Eden had been established at last, and Mount Henry was the favored spot. Such brilliant word-painting possesses a certain fas cination for even the most prosaic, and this did not fail to affect a certain class in the cramped and smoky city. Buyers soon became plentiful ; yet with all the 98 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL favoring conditions, there were drops of bitterness for Farnham, all the more distasteful, because quaffed in secret. He could not inform the stern mother-in- law, or fond wife, of the downfall of his own hopes of profit from these successes. He could not tell them that he had blundered in the contract, by not having it therein specified what should be the value fixed upon the lots, in which he had no interest, but which in the sale, monopolized the entire profits of all. So he had dragged his family to this place, for the privilege of a bare sub- sistance, and with no other hope in the future. It had been a cunningly devised swindle, to which his own necessities had blinded him. Imperative want, had made improvident haste ; and now there seemed no help for it ; no redress. What wonder that he listened now to Mrs. Belding's interogations with weariness ! that a faint nausea, like seasickness, suddenly emphasized the pallor of his thin face ? that he found himself pushing back his plate with a disrelish for the homely dainties of the board ! It was not Mrs. Belding's sharp eyes, or sharp words ; it was not Fox's drunkenness ; nor Johnny Rafferty's trouble : nor any one thing ; it was everything. " You must eat, Arthur ?" urged Mrs. Belding, whisking some cold ham upon his plate, hastily fol lowed by an omelet. " That is what you need ; you have fasted too long ! This is one of my omelets, such as you used to like." He made an effort to comply, but it was evident he had no relish for the viands. TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 99 Alice saw, with a fresh sinking of the heart, the grave despondency of the poor face, and made an heroic effort at cheerfulness ; dashing into a lively description of the funeral, a graphic word picture of the old sexton, and the story of Daisy Hastings, as related by him. At last she had the satisfaction of seeing that her husband was interested. " Did you mention a Paul Hastings ?" he suddenly inquired, conscious of some familiarity in the sound of the name. " Yes, a tall handsome " began Annie, and then paused, blushing to the tips of her little ears. "Why?" asked Alice, unmindful of the unfinished description, or the confusion that followed it, " did you ever hear of him before ?" " Why, yes." He replied, " I think it must be the same one. If so, he is rather a noted character here abouts. He is a young man whom the Foxes, and a good many others hold in derision, as a meddler in the unpopular question of labor reform ; doing more harm, they claim, by unsettling the minds of working-men, and creating discontent and thriftlsseness ; than he can ever undo." Annie's pink ears were elevated to listen, and Mrs. Belding said with terse sharpness : " Like that odious Offit ?" "No," objected Farnham, passing his cup now to be refilled, " from what I hear even from his enemies, he is at least sincere in his efforts to reform some of the abuses of his class." " Do tell us about him !" said Alice " I liked the looks of the student better, though there ivas a kind IOO DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL of rustic grandeur about Mm, as if the spirit of some old hero had been rehabiliated and clothed in rather ordinary vestments." " That is a pretty good description for a modern reformer," declared Arthur, smiling upon the little wife. " But which of the old heroes now did he sug gest ? Cromwell, or Luther ?" " It would require a greater than either," exclaimed Mrs. Belding bitterly, " to right the wrongs of this day !" Arthur Farnham regarded her a moment, with an odd mixture of amusement and chagrin, in the quizzi cal smile that lighted up his handsome eyes. " It is wonderful," he said, " what a different view of the same subject we get by shifting our point of vision ! Now, you and I mother, living on Aljonquin Avenue, with nothing to do, but invest in good securi ties ; authorize our agents to collect rents and inter ests ; and make for ourselves a holiday of life, had no wrongs of any magnitude to be righted, but were con tent to let the world jog on, with the least possible jar or friction. The world's greatest reformers will never arise from the happy, prosperous classses. They have no need of reforms. They talk of them only to silence the clamor of the wretched feeding the hungry multitude on roses flowers of rhetoric, while they gorge themselves on the substantial things of life. The father of Paul Hastings was a small manufac turer, who lived and did business in the city ; and this is his story as I heard it : He leased a piece of ground, fronting on the river," of an old Shylock, for twenty years ; built his mill, TO " THE BREAD WINNERS. IOI and got in expensive machinery, and for a time did a thriving business. Paul, in those days was sent to school, and the family was well cared for and happy, as those of the middle classes usually are. But the time came when the big fish began to dine off the little ones ; and the poor fellow though he worked himself into his grave, with a bravery worthy a martyr's crown, could not contend against the rapacity which swallowed up his little all, as soon as he ceased his struggling resistaace. The mill and machinery were confiscated by the said Shylock, immediately after the funeral, and the widow and orphans left, to fight without weapons, for an existence, or give it up, if defeated in the battle. Shylock is better known about town as Ananias Swoop. I have often seen him on the street. They say he is as rich as a Jew, and I can vouch for his be ing as yellow as a Chinaman, and deaf as a Heathen Deity. I never pass him, but I think of the poor widow and her orphan children. There was a large family of them, and no wonder, if this boy had the courage to grow up at all, that he developed into a reformer." 102 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL VI. A PEEP AT THE DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE CORPORATE FOX. " Do you know there's only four days more ?" com plained Miss Isabella Eugenia Josephine Fox, as she burst into the breakfast-room ; " and I say ma, I shan't go back to that old school !" " Mamma looked up with a pre-occupied expression in her small, black eyes. It was plain that she took little heed of the somewhat overgrown young miss, who thus saluted her : for she made neither answer nor protest. She had heard the same energetic de claration so many times during the short vacation the daughter had been spending at home, that she thought it not worth while to remonstrate. She would return to the school \ that was settled. Besides, Mrs. Christopher Fox was deeply engaged at the moment. She held in one hand a bird of most brilliant plumage not a living tropical song-bird, but a splendid triumph of the taxidermist's skill, and in the other, an elegant trifle, called a bonnet. " I don't like this new bonnet :" she had said to Christopher the evening previous, while returning from church, " Did he notice Mrs. Scott Walbridges ? such a love of a thing ! and we go to the same shop ; and her's are not any more expensive than mine. The hateful Miss Frizzette ! one would think she had a TO " THE BREAD WINNERS." 103 spite against me !" she declared indignantly, "and she always gives such an exquisite touch to everything she makes for Mrs. Scott Walbridge." " Your bird isn't on the right perch !" conjectured the Fox, frowning on the little bonnet, in a manly effort to determine the difficulty. " Does it want to be set higher up ?" asked Mrs, Fox anxiously." " I don't know where it wants to set," confessed the masculine critic, "but it don't look happy where it is now." So it was coming down from its clumsy perch thus early, because it was to accompany the lady to the city this morning, and it must not look as if held a prisoner in her service. But the provoking bird, with out a feather ruffled, seemed to possess the power of mischief in an exasperating degree. The excited artist fastened it this side and the other, and every moment it grew more tantalizing and defiant. 'I never saw such a provoking thing as it is ?" she declared at last, and the wicked little glass eyes wink ed back into her own which so nearly resembled them like a veritable imp's. Miss Isabella watched the struggle for some moments in silence. Mamma's occupation, and more especially the expression of her eyes, prevented any farther allusion to her own views and determina tions respecting the school. She dropped indolently into an easy chair, and resumed the perusal of a story, where she had laid it down late on the night before ; and was soon deeply absorbed in the triumphs of an American beauty and heiress, in the court circles of the old world. 104 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL The book was a very plethoric one, and the leaves like those of a tree in autumn, were all ready to flutter forth in the first breeze that shook them, but even one could not be spared. The young and eager eyes were filled with impatience at the slightest dis placement of them, so exciting was the tale. It was all about my lady, the charming countess, and the little beauty's train of suitors, among whom titles jostled each other in bewildering confusion. So unconscious did she become of her immediate surroundings, in following these noble personages about in their round of gayties dancing and feasting with them in fancy that she quite forgot that she was herself, breakfastless, until aroused to the fact by the entrance of her papa. Seating himself at the vacant, uninviting board, he rang the little table bell with an emphasis that startled both mother and daughter, who hastened to join him there. Uncle Solomon appeared a moment later. The coffee urn was brought in advertising its contents a little too liberally upon the outside by Johnny, the colored waiter, also a trifle demoralized in respect to personal neatness, having a moment before turned a summer-sault in the kitchen, for the benefit of the cook. Unfortunately, in this triumph ant exhibition, his pockets shapeless from constant stuffing, had emptied themselves of a pile of surrep titious treasure, chiefly confectionary, which there had been a hot scramble to secure. So Johnny, in his haste, and pre-occupation, had forgotten to replace the flapping pockets ; and as he had also exploded a button, important in its position as supporting the TO '' THK BREAD WINNERS." 105 integrity of the old trousers, he presented a slightly disordered appearance. Bridget, very red of face, now appeared with the more substantial dishes, and the breakfast was fairly inaugurated. Johnny was brought into immediate requisition, to supply sundry missing articles in the menu, and as he bustled about alert and active as a skipper in a storm Miss Isabella watching him with ferret-like eyes, was suddenly seized with the suspicion that there appeared an unnatural fullness about his cheeks ; and that his thick lips were uncompromisingly closed. " Johnny !" she asked, " what have you got in your mouth ?" Johnny did not find it convenient to open it in reply ; so he merely shook his head in innocent denial of harboring anything whatever, in that guilless receptacle. " I know better !" protested the young lady. " You have been at my box of caramels !" Johnny was attacked with an alarming cough, and adroitly managed to abstract three from either cheek while his convulsed back was turned ; then clearing his throat, he exclaimed in the most artless manner : " No Miss Bella ; hope I die dis minit ef eber I sot eyes on one ob 'em ! an' dat's de libin truf ?" and with this asseveration, he retired to the kitchen, with the injured air of an impeached Minister of the Cabinet. " He is the plague of my life !" exclaimed Mrs. Christopher Fox, when he had closed the door, and stood listening behind it. " As thievish and mischiev ous as a monkey." lo6 DRAFTED IN, A SECjtfEL "Why do you keep him then?" inquired her hus band, with blunt interrogation in his wide-set eyes. " He is certainly not ornamental !" announced the oracular Mr. Solomon, with a face of imperturable stolidity, bent in severe contemplation upon the steak with which he was ignobly wrestling. " He can do!" sighed the lady, "and he has the strength of a young giant, and is just as bright as he can be. You ought to see how ingenious he is ! There isn't a thing about the house that gets out of order, that he can't fix. Why the bellows got burst in the parlor organ, and I found it turned upside down, and Johnny peering all around it to find the trouble. I scolded him sharply for meddling with it, and set him cleaning the pavements, but one day when I came home he had it all fixed as sound as ever, and it would have cost a pretty sum if I had sent it away for repairs." Here was the secret of the lady's forbearance, un consciously betrayed. Johnny was a cheap boy, re quiring only food and cast-off clothing, with a versa tility of talent that rendered him useful. " If he were only trusty !" she sighed. " I suppose now," said Mr. Solomon, still without raising his eyes from his plate, " that there isn't much good in laboring for the moral reform of such a young reprobate ?" " Oh, dear ! no," replied Mrs. Fox, hopelessly, " I've tried my best with Johnny, and " Not any of the vast machinery of your church," interrupted Solomon, " if levelled at him could bring the savage down ?" " I don't see why you always arraign our church," TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. TO? replied Mrs. Fox sharply, " as if it were responsible for everybody's misdemeanors. What effect do you think any church would have on such a little heathen as Johnny ?" " Not any," decided Mr. Solomon, promptly. He styled himself an " Agnostic" and cultivated little reverence for the true faith, as illustrated by the shining life of Mrs. Christopher Fox. " I was going to observe," said that lady with an injured air, " if you had allowed me the privilege ; that I have tried to have Johnny go to Sunday School, but I expect he is too wicked to wish to be seen there. I gave him a good coat that Alfred had outgrown, and sent him one day, and didn't the little imp run off somewhere else and stay out until dark. Bridget was away too ; and when I asked him where in the world he had been ? he looked as solemn as if the place had already taken great effect, and said ' Why- Missus. I'se jist come from de Sunday School an' dats de truef ! it kep in amazin'. Neber see nothin' to beat it ! dey passed 'round de cake an' de wine ; an* den took up de c'lection, an' I like neber to git home at all, cos dey couldn't find a cent nowares about me. But I jes say I fetch 'em nex' time,' And there he had been seen to come from another direction, and and hadn't been near the place at all." The brothers joined in a hearty laugh at Johnny's treachery and gospel-hardened condition. Miss Isabella, who had waited impatiently for an opportu nity to make a final appeal which she had been secretly planning, here interrupted the discussion of Johnny's virtues and vices, to ask : lo8 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL " Do you know I have only three days after this one at home, papa ?" " No ?" " Yes, only three day's more ; and you can't think how I hate to go. I keep telling Mamma what a horrid old school it is ; but she don't care. We don't get half enough to eat, and all the rooms are cold ; and we have to go trotting up and down long flights of stairs all day to recitations ; and the teachers are the grimmiest old maids, as cross and cranky as any thing. I know I shall just die if I have to stay there another year." She had gained her father's attention now, and her tears, she felt, were not wasted on him. " Well ! what shall we do about it ?" he asked at length. " I don't see why I couldn't have a governess and stay at home," she sobbed. " Ella Bond and Frankie Sargeant are both going to." " Ha ! ha ! ha !" laughed Mr. Christopher Fox. "We are coming on pretty tolerably fast with our advanced ideas ! keep right abreast of our new city, eh ? So its a private teacher that our Isabella is crying for this morning ?" Miss Isabella did not heed the raillery, but wept on in silence. " It wouldn't be expensive of course," continued papa ; "a whole teacher for a scholar." " But when you haven't but one, papa ?" she coaxed springing from her chair and clasping him about the neck, " and plenty of money !" " And plenty to do with it, you little minx !" he laughed, pinching her ears. "What does mother say TO " THE BREADWINNERS." 109 to a private teacher ? She isn't much in favor of throwing away good money, I believe." " I will never listen to it ; was the emphatic reply to this appeal, delivered with unnecessary asperity of voice, and manner. " Think of giving up a school room and bed-room, besides all the bother of such a person in the house ! I am not to be coaxed into any such folly ; no, nor teased ;" continued the lady, rais ing her voice to a shrill falsetto, " nor tormented into giving my consent." Mr. Solomon Fox, who had at last conquered in the contest with brute fibre now took up his hat and left the house, without even a backward glance. But he had not gone far, when Miss Isabella, springing to his side, and catching hold of his elbow, cried : " Oh ! Uncle Solomon ! can't you say something to papa and mamma for me ? you know how I hate to go away, and how home-sick I get. Don't you pity me one little bit ? you cross, cantankerous, hard-hearted old uncle !" The firm mouth relaxed just the loosening of a screw in its rigid expression. Uncle Solomon look ed down at the flushed, eager face, not altogether pleasantly, as he never looked altogether pleasantly at any thing, for the very good reason that he had never found anything quite satisfactory to his five capricious senses, in all the round of his mundane travels. Perhaps this child was as slightly objectionable as any one object. Site was fond of him. That was plain enough to the gruff old uncle ; and though suspicious of most professions of the kind, it had never yet occurred to him to ask, how much of this gushing affection was genuine ; and how much the 110 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL growth of a sentiment carefully instilled by the judicious mamma, and artfully cultivated by the hope ful daughter, with the tact and ability of a much older diplomat ? He had fortunately never been em bittered toward her, by listening to advice of this sort : " Don't notice his humors Bella, I have told you a thousand times that old bachelors are always cranky and disagreeable. You know there is nothing in the world that would please your Aunt Josie, and her managing girls, like having him fly out with us ; and nothing tliey wouldn't put up with, to keep him, if he ever should take it into his obstinate old head to go there. But he never shall : not if I can help it. Why I suppose he is worth double what your papa is, for he never spends a penny. And think of that artful creature, your Aunt Josie, naming the twins Solomon and Soloma ! she might just as well have called them money and more money ! it wouldn't have been a bit plainer to people. But I hope she will be rewarded as she deserves : for such bare faced hypocrisy oughtn't to prosper." " If I go away," coaxed Isabella, " you'll have no one to help you at Casino or Poker" these two were always partners in the games ; it was a little man- ouvre of mamma's, " and no one to read to you, when your eyes ache at night, and everybody's away at the opera or theatre, and you don't know what to do with yourself, and no one to sew the buttons on your gloves, and and " " There ! there ! you can't think of anything else that you are good for," said the uncle, with a half smile that quickly relapsed into a frown. "And I TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. Ill guess it would puzzle most anybody who tried it. But you are a kind of necessary evil ; and I don't mind much, if your heart's set on staying home, if you say, well, say that your uncle don't know how to spare you." " Oh, you darling !" cried Miss Isabella, proceed ing to kiss him French fashion on either cheek, and several fashions all over his mottled face. He re leased himself almost gruffly, from her engaging tenderness, and darted away down the gravel walk, while she waved her handkerchief after him, and then skipped about the porch in an ecstacy of joy. This hint from Uncle Solomon would gain her cause, though papa and mamma disagreed ever so much. When she returned to the breakfast room, a lively, and to her surprise, pleasant discussion was being in dulged in by her respected parents. She did not catch its significance or guess whether it referred in any way to herself. The only sentence distinctly heard was : " Don't be abrupt ; nor at all anxious. Lead up to it as if by accident." It was her papa speaking, but her entrance checked him. " Uncle says that he can't spare me !" she cried out in an eager voice, " and he said I should tell you so." Mamma's face brightened, as if the morning sun had just shone upon it out of a cloud ; and papa nod ding to her, tapped the table, looking quite as if he poked a sentient creature in the ribs. " If you are ready soon," addressing Mrs. Fox, "we will walk along together." "What is it ?" inquired Miss Isabella, looking from. 112 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL one face to the other, and greatly mystified by some concealed purpose, she fancied expressed in each. " Nothing whatever, my love !" was mamma's dis appointing reply. " I am to spend the day with Mrs. Eastlake, you must remember, and perhaps you could help me to get ready." " Is that really all ?" " All for the present ; replied mamma sweetly, hurrying away to her own room. When beyond hearing, papa, walking up and down the room, impatient to be gone suddenly asked : " How would you like to have a teacher come to the house ? I mean, come for two or three hours every morning, and be free from her after that." " Oh, papa ! it would be just lovely. She would be governess without any authority ; would't she ? That is just what I should like. You have no idea how those teachers lorded over us at school. But / gave them plenty to do !" she confessed, with a little toss of the head. " Do you really think, papa, I shall have a governess come to the house !" "Don't bother about it now," advised papa, who heard his wife's step on the stairs, " but it is barely possible." Mamma now made her appearance, and as she hurried into her wraps, and tied on the vexatious bonnet, carefully adjusting the knotted bows under her chin, she said : " I will leave my orders with you, Bell, and you must see that they are carried out. Of course it is wash-day, and Bridget ./ill have plenty to do to keep her busy. That's a comfort ! But Johnny will need close watching," and here she enumerated a long list TO "THE BREAD WINNERS" 113 of domestic defenses which she had been actively preparing for Johnnie's protection against the insid- uous assaults of the wily fiend who finds some mis chief still for idle hands to do.' Yet as the time approached when she was actually to resign the boy to this baleful influence, her anxiety for him increas ed, and she came back when she had gained the porch to say : " Bella, if he has any more time after that, tell him to " "Oh bother!" cried Mr. Fox impatiently " come on ! He won't have any after that." " Don't interrupt, Christopher !" said Mrs. Fox, sternly ; " I know he will, and will just idle, if not kept at something, and, and, he can " "Come ! come !" called the husband from the out side world. "Be sure and have him keep up good fires," coun selled mamma, and she reluctantly followed, still mentally striving to shield poor Johnny from the buffetings of Satan. But the outer door blowing to gether behind her, prevented any farther Christian consideration of the matter, and the amiable pair set forth in uncommonly good spirits. " I wish" said Mr. Christopher Fox, drawing on his gloves as he went, " that you had ever called there before. I don't know how this is going to set. They are poor, and proud as the devil !" Mrs. Fox smiled complacently, and said : " Of course, you know, Christopher, that I am not calling there socially : and I don't know what differ ence it makes if I have never been there before : or what their pride and poverty has to do with it. It is purely a matter of business ; and my way of propos- 114 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL ing it will be to offer the position as a favor : for I should think with a husband looking enough like a ghost, to scare one if they met him in the dark, that she would be glad to do something to help, if it were ever so little." "I guess you are right, mother!" declared Mr. Christopher , with an approving nod ; " what kind of an arrangement now, will you make about wages ?" " Well," replied Mrs. Fox, advisedly ; " I shall leave that open. Say that she will be rewarded in proper- portion to the value of her services ; that is the safest way of dealing with people, when you can do it. It makes them anxious to please, and you are not com mitted to any particular sum." "Well, luck to you ?" exclaimed the husband bland ly waving his hand as they parted he to enter the office, and she, to steady her descent down the steep and narrow board-walk leading to the house of Fox's agent, If Mrs. Fox possessed any weakness whatever, it was a pardonable vanity of her easy and graceful address for, as she often observed, she had seen a great deal of the world, and of it's very best society. So, without any hesitation, she gave a quick, decided rap at the humble door ; enjoying a sweet conscious ness of Christian condescendsion in the act, which was reflected in her face, by an amiable smile, both winning and gracious. " Mrs. Christopher Fox !" she announced, in a sweetly modulated voice, to the instantaneous congel ation of the elderly lady, who admitted her. " Indeed !" returned the uncompromisingly erect individual, who confronted her in the narrow passage, TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. 115 seemingly disposed to turn her back, yet bowing instead, with chilling statliness. " I have called," said Mrs. Fox. with a fading smile, " to see Mrs. Farnham, if convenient." " Will you walk into the parlor ?" asked Mrs. Beld- ing, more grimly than is quoted of the spider to the fly ; and retired very angular, and majestic. The visitor seated herse' f in a pretty antique recep tion chair, and narrowly surveyed her surroundings. " Upon my soul ! What extravagance !" she com mented ; " portierres, too. Bah ! what ridiculous aping of the better classes. Wonder what they are made of ? The effect is quite pretty, though they are a cheat, I dare say ;" and thus mentally expatiating, she deliberately rose and walked across the room to ascertain, by actual contact, whether her conjectures were well founded. ' Actually a genuine article, and good quality too !" she frowningly admitted. "How absurd ! T can't afford such hangings : and they will be glad to part with these some day, and for half what they cost." She had barely reseated herself, and regained her smiling composure of manner, when Mrs. Farnham entered the room. This lady, as " Miss Alice Belding," already enjoys such a reputation in the world, for beauty and grace, as to render a pen-and-ink picture of her charms, in this connection, superfluous. She was a vision a revelation, to the narrow black eyes of Mrs. Christopher Fox. Never, perhaps, surrounded by all the arts and em bellishments that wealth can add, had she looked more strikingly lovely than now. The pale blue morning Il6 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL dress, so became her ; the sweet face so flower-like in its blushing freshness ; and the crinkly golden hair, knotted so simply ; altogether produced such an effect, as to retard for a moment that lady's stately introduc tion of herself. However, it was but a momentary weakness. She was not to be taken at a disadvantage, even by this uncommonly pretty woman. Summon ing her most attractive graces of speech and manner, and presuming, with a gracious inclination of the head, and a bewitching smile, that she had the pleasure of addressing Mrs. Farnham, Mrs. Christopher Fox launched into a torrent of small talk, in which she was particularly gifted. It was mostly in relation to her personal experiences here and abroad, upon which she enlarged, and upon some peculiar traits which had appeared at odd intervals in one branch of her family, for centuries back. " That was on the Higga- bottom side of the house. Of course everybody knew who the Higgabottoms were ? a name that had come down in history. The Smythe's, on the other side, were so entirely different ! By the way, she had often been amused by the ignorance of some people, as to genealogies confounding that name, you know with the very common one of Smith. Of course people of any research, knew that in the old English dialect, Smythe was of far greater antiquity. She had traced it back to the days of King Alfred, when a Smythe, disguised as a peasant, had followed him into his exile, and had afterward been knighted for his loyalty. To commemorate this incident, and associate the families, she had had her only son christened Alfred : the whole name being Alfred, Smythe, Higga- bottom Fox. He was a student now at Yale, and TO " THE BREAD WINNERS." I IJ his uncle a bachelor, with nothing to do with his vast, inherited wealth, indulged the boy to that ex : tent that it was positively alarming. He was not yet nineteen, and had already exhaust ed all the amusements that much older people find entertainment in, being as we say in Fronce, blase. Of course if any great artist should be brought out, here, or in the old world, Alfred would patronize them ; but not with the same zest of enjoyment, Mrs. Farnham, that he wonld have done under other, and some might fancy, less favored circumstances.' The faintest reflection of a smile hovered about the sweet lips of the politely attentive listener, which seemed to stimulate the conversationalist more than three vociferous encores would have done a favorite prima donna. She immediately diverged into a com prehensive history of her remaining child : Isabella Eugenia Josephine so named from this circumstance: She had travelled extensively in the countries where those lovely queens had flourished, in the darling's babyhood, she might say. Now these names were continually calling up reminiscences of those pleasant journeyings. "Why Mrs. Farnham, Isabella Eugenia could not speak a word of her native tongue when we returned to America !'" " This had been disadvantageous to the poor child, chiefly in making her an object of derision in her school : and now she comes home, begging and plead ing, never to be sent back again. Nothing will please her but to have a governess.' The smile faded from the lips of pretty Mrs. Farn ham. and she became thoughtfully attentive an Il8 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL expression which did not escape the watchful black eyes of Mrs. Christopher Fox. Now," said that lady with fresh animation, "/am totally averse to this arrangement, for several good reasons. It is inconvenient to give up any room in the house large as it is exclusively for school-room use ; we entertain so much. Then, I fear I should be too exacting in regard to the qualifications ot the teacher. So very few graduates, even of our best institutions, are fitted to fill such positions. Educa tion has become so diversified Mrs. Farnham ; such a Hyra-headed monster,as one might say that one might almost shrink from the task of fulfilling all the require ments. I particularly wish Isabella Eugenia, to excel in music, calysthenics, and painting on china. But as I said, repeated Mrs. Christopher Fox, with emphasis, " / am averse to the idea of a private teacher ; still," she reflected, with an amiable benev olence of manner, " if I could find just the right person ; and she for it must be a feminine should be so situated that ah a slight remuneration would be worth considering : why perhaps " Then sentence trailed off, and ended in a discreet pause : and Mrs. Farnham, watching her with steady eyes, but fluttering heart, ventured to ask : " Would you wish to engage the whole time of this person ?" u By no means ?" The lady shrugged her should ers slightly, at the evident annoyance, suggested by the question. " I do not covet," she said firmly, " more than three hours attendance each day : say from nine A. M. until twelve." TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. ' 119 "Perhaps," said Mrs. Farnham, coloring painfully, " I might be able to please you." " Mrs. Christopher Fox looked in sweet suprise at the faltering speaker ; and then gravely thoughtful, as if in doubtful deliberation. The idea of finding, without great difficulty and research, a person of such uncommon attainments as she now required ; though new, might be considered : yes, would be impartially and judicially considered." So, benevolently though quite unconsciously, studying the flushed face ; the Grecian knot of gold en hair ; the pose of the dainty hands even the cut and quality of the blue dress ; she decided as by a sudden virtuous inspiration "that she might make the attempt. Indeed, she would be pleased to have her ! They would not now enter into any contract, bind ing to either party, but Mrs. Farnham was at liberty to begin her instructions as soon as she liked." After some more conversation, quite irrelevant to the subject ; introduced to show how purely acci dental that had been the lady sallied forth to spend an agreeable day in the city. 120 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL VII. ONLY A QUARRYMAN. " Now mother !" cried an upbraiding voice, in clear ringing tones, " another piece in the loom ! I thought you promised me only last week to take no more of that sort of work ?" " Promised ? Think a moment, Paul ?" queried Mrs. Hastings, the lady addressed, turning a worn face that kindled into smiles at sight of the bronzed affectionate one peering in at the softly opened door. "Thee must certainly remember that I did not prom ise," she pleaded, while the color deepened in her hec tic cheeks. " And I find my son, that I am better content when I have plenty to occupy me." " The old excuse ! and what woman in your place would complain of any lack of that sort !" and a stal wart, bearded, manly youth strode into the little slop ing-roofed chamber, where the mother sat busily at work, and looked with gloomy disapprobation at all the paraphernalia warp and woof of another em bryo carpet. The mother smiled but was silent. She would not hint, even to him, of the anxieties which had burdened her heart all the day. I would be almost confessing that she distrusted her God. But she must work ; ne cessity was laid upon her. The funeral expenses now, were added to all others. Hiram needed a new suit. He had not written of it, or spoken of it ; yet, TO "THK BREAD WINNERS. 121 through all the tears shed on the occasion of his last visit home, she had not been blind to this fact. And he would graduate soon. Ah ! Paul would stagger under all his load if she were to lay down these old shuttles now. Thus her thoughts had flown on, keeping time with her busy fingers : but now her only response was a hollow cough, particularly aggravating to Paul, who heard it shudderiegly. Seating himself upon a broken rocker and folding his arms across his breast, he said with a grimly de spondent smile : " It's of no use mother ! If there is a merciful Supreme Being, as you unquestionably believe, He must be against us, do what we will." "My dear boy! my dear Paul !" cried the mother, " I beg thee will not fall into the foolish sin of arraign ing Him for all thy poor troubles. Even in Daisy's death" the name was spoken softly " I feel to say : 'though He slay me, yet will I trust in him.'" " Well / don't !" said Paul with bitter emphasis. " And I can't love and bless Him for rewarding your life-long service by making a drudge of you in your old age." " Paul !" remonstrated the mother in sudden alarm. " I can't help it !" he pleaded, " I have tried to hope with you, that we had a friend somewhere ; but I can't take it all on trust, as you do, and believe against facts and evidences. I am sure if there ever was a subject that a kindly-disposed Deity might be at some pains to favor, it would be you, mother, and here is this man for whom you are slaving ' Joe Swearing- ton' I see his name on that tag in letters swaggering 122 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL like himself why you read a perfect description of him in this morning's lesson : 'His eyes stand out with fatness ; he has more than heart can wish.' Yes, and I happen to know how he came by it too. By defrauding the Government making illicit whiskey. I begin to think the Government itself is in league with most of the big swindlers in the country. I tell you mother, the honest, hard-working, level-headed men of this nation will not always submit to be duped by demagogues and plundered by corporations. It is marvelous how all the vast industries and native ele ments of wealth are revolving themselves, as if by magic, into the hands of the few, and how these, band ing together, making ' corners ' on every article con sumed by the poor, are growing richer and richer, while we starve in sight of plenty." " ' His eyes behold : His eyelids try the children of men,'" quoted Mrs. Hastings, with a face as placid as an angel's. "Well, that is a little too slow a process of justice to suit me." "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" asked Mrs. Hastings, turning her mild eyes upon her son. There was not a hint of reproach in them ; only a sweet tranquility born of perfect trustfulness. " Never," she added, " until the blessed Millennium dawns will the lion and the lamb lie down together." "No ! I should think not, from present appearances. By the way, mother, those two beasts are pretty fair representatives of the two great struggling classes." "Which are the lambs?" queried Mrs. Hastings. Paul smiled. " No," he confessed, " human nature is not lamb- TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. 1^3 like, and everywhere these forces are arrayed against each other with all the virulence that opposing inter ests can create. It is not only a condition of affairs in our land; but it is a general uprising upheaval of the lower strata of humanity throughout the world. What does it mean, mother ? and what will ever har monize these powerfully conflicting elements?" " It has a meaning," mused Mrs. Hastings with a far-away look in her almost prophetic eyes," a mean ing to those wise enough to fathom it but I confess it seems plainer to my vision, what is yet to harmonize all these disturbing forces. It will not be legislation alone, my son ; for there will never be statesmen wise enough to legislate against all abuses of power : but it will be the loving principle of the Golden Rule, hidden away like leaven, in human hearts, until the whole mass is leavened." She spoke with the certainty of conviction, and as if even then, possessed of the prescience of this wonderful consumation. " That good time is a long way off ; my dear little mother," said Paul, looking tenderly at the pale, plain face, now strangely illuminated. " Why, you have no idea of the amount of corruption and wickedness that is going on in the world." " And if I can do no good by knowing it," said Mrs. Hasting's cheerfully, " I had rather be doing my weaving here, and praying hopefully : " Thy kingdom come." "Well," returned Paul, "that may be right for you, but I prefer a more active and aggresive war upon some of these evils : and whether it be the Lord's side or not, I am for the weak against the strong ; 124 >RAFTED IX, A SEQUEL the oppressed against the oppressor : the despoiled against the despot." The mother, whose hands had never faltered in their occupation, turned as with some sudden impulse to look at her son. His words were those of impetu ous youth : but his face seemed almost transfigured to her. So Moses might have looked when he slew the Egyptian. " I hope my son," she counselled gently, " that thee will never be tempted to resort to any desperate measures, in thy fancied championship of the weak." " Fancied championship ?" he repeated, " I hope mother, you credit me with being sufficiently in earnest generally in what I engage ; and as to law- breaking, and violence of that sort, do you really think it necessary to caution your son against it ?" " Dear Paul," she answered humbly, " I cannot de fine my fears for thee. I see thee so pre-occupied and gloomy ; so different from what thee once was ; so devoted to some secret gatherings that only irritate and excite thee and I pray the more : ' Lead us not into temptation,' as I think of the time, eight and twenty years ago, when I gave thee to the Lord at thy christening, and try to hope He may yet call thee to His service." ' This may be His call ; who knows, mother ? and as to these secret meetings ; they are a necessity of the times. Labor must organize, to baffle the organ ized encroachments of capital. Why ! these mighty combinations are all feeding and fattening upon the blood of their victims : and the cast-iron monopolies are grinding them to small dust. And what is creat ing this vast omnipotence of wealth in these United TO " THE BREAD .WINNERS." 125 States, but the strong and willing hands of her toil ing millions ? And shall we sit stolidly by, and see a few crafty plotters turn all the tributaries of pros perity to flood their own private reservoirs, and leave the rest of God's creation to suffer the drouth of famine ? or the dry rot of pauperism ? And to crown the picture ; we become at last objects of their magnanimous charities : charities, which I feel it no sacrilige to call a stench in the nostrils of Heaven ; for, while, with one hand they steal a million ; with the other they bestow a mite, in the belief no doubt, that they are obeying the scriptural injunction : ' Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.'" "Ah ! Paul," said the mother earnestly, "this is not in accord with the sweet charity ' that thinketh no evil.'" " But when the evil thrusts itself before you ; and you are endowed with perception to discern, and reason to analyze ; how are you to blame for using these faculties ?" The poor mother sighed, and she looked into Paul's luminous, dark eyes, smiling now, at her evident con fusion, but made no answer. Now a tinkling bell was heard, announcing supper, to which welcome sound they at once responded, descending to the dining-room together. Here the little lame girl presided, looking unusually heated ; having accomplished the feat of getting supper ; and supplying by many other household labors, the place made vacant. The table, to most people of healthy appetite could scarcely have seemed an attractive one, save that cloth and service were scrupulously clean. I 26 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL The tea, which Helen proceeded to pour because mamma's face was so white and tired looking was suspiciously faint of color too ; and besides that lux ury, there was only brown bread and bacon, with the unusual accompaniment of nicely cooked fresh eggs. The young housekeeper glanced at these with especial pride, and Willie, the younger brother, ex plained in breathless haste : how his little black hen had stolen a nest, and he had found it in the cunning- est place, " why mamma you wouldn't have guessed it out in a year ! and there was six of the whitest eggs just exactly enough for supper, and one left nobody knew where, but just his own self." Bertie, the baby and pet a nine year old brunette and a beauty said she didn't want Helen to cook hers, but to save it for Easter ; color and carve it the way Daisy used to. " But I told her," said Willie, paternally, " that I would get her some more before that time." " And Helen said," chimed Bertie, with an injured look, " that mamma would go and divide if if " A look from that sagacious counsellor checked the speaker at this point, Mrs. Hastings, who had now taken her place at the table, looked around with a tender smile at the assembled group, and every young head bowed with hers, in a silent thanksgiving, for the daily bread. As Paul, proceeding to wait upon the table, passed to his mother a well filled plate, he said : " I had rather a long walk to night, to take in a little business I came around the Fox improvements ; and I want to tell you what I saw. Do you remember Johnny Rafferty ? the poor fellow who asked us into TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 127 his shanty when we were passing it one Sunday. " Ah, yes, we were coming from a meeting at the school house beyond. It is more than a year ago." " And you remarked mother, as we came away, what a sturdy specimen of manhood he was, so capable to endure hard work." "And with such an honest face, too!" said Mrs. Hastings, " I recollect how it lighted up when he told us ' the ould woman would be over soon,' and we wouldn't know the place when she put a hand to it." " Poor fellow !" sighed Paul. "What has happened to him?" inquired Mrs. Hastings, anxiously. " Well, I came by there to-night, and it had such a deserted look, that after I had passed it, I ran back, with a feeling that something was wrong and knock ed at the door. No one answered, and I tried it, and finding it unfastened, went in." He paused here, unwilling to relate more to the poor sympathetic mother, with trouble enough of her own ; but who somehow, contrived to burden herself with a miscellaneous assortment, belonging to her poorer neighbors. "Was he sick?" inquired Mrs. Hastings, with singu lar perspicacity. "Oh yes !" replied Paul, wishing in his heart he had not spoken of his adventure. " And alone ?" " Except for his dog." He was silent a moment ; and then continued : " But that dog of his, mother, did really seem almost human. It would lick poor Johnny's distorted hands, and then come and whine at my feet in a pitiful way." 128 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL " Why Paul !" exclaimed the mother, " why did you not tell me this before ? we must go to him without a moment's delay." " It is not necessary, I think," he replied. '* I fixed him up the best I could ; made up his fire, and got him a drink, and he asked me to stop and tell a Mr. Farnham that he was sick, and I did so. They promised to go over at once, and are with him now probably." "Well," decided Mrs. Hastings, "it is best to be sure of it, and that he is not left to die alone. What now will it be best to take ?" she asked, rising hastily from the table. " Something for his bed I expect is needed. Bertie, bring down the old army blanket that was thy father's. It will never be put to better use !" A bundle of flannel ; a paper of herbs ; a pail of gruel ; all these homely stores were quickly brought together, and the good mother, bonneted and shawled, set forth with her son on a mission of mercy. " In his heart, Paul was averse to the undertaking. Not that he wished to spare himself, or lacked in sympathy : but he felt certain the poor man was being cared for, by one or the other of those very charming ladies, who had expressed such sorrow for him, and he was moreover conscious that he had betrayed an awkward shyness, in his brief interview with them, which rendered a second meeting distasteful. " If these people are there before us mother, it will not be necessary to disturb the sick man by going in." " Well, I am not so sure about that," she said. " Who are these Farnham's ? The name is new to me." TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 129 "Yes, they are new-comers here. Hail from the East I think. He is in with the Foxes in some capa city, and a most sickly, sallow looking man he is too." " Then he is not fit for a nurse ! " decided Mrs. Hastings. " Is the wife a capable person do you think, Paul ? " " Quite, I should say in some directions," he replied, smiling into the questioning eyes. " But as to being especially efficient in such a case as this " he paused and seemed to consider the probabilities mentally, concluding the sentence, unconsciously, with a low and significant whistle. " I am glad we decided to come," returned the mother, urging her weary limbs into a brisker motion. " You see," Paul explained, " they are not exactly our sort ; pleasant enough and all that ; in fact almost too sweet to be quite sound, I should say : but I can't imagine anything more improbable in their history, than contact with such squalor and wretchedness as I witnessed over there." " You say ' they ' Paul, who are they, who have been so fortunate in their lives ?" There is one lady about your own age, mother ;" he began " but for whom I would not exchange you with a fortune thrown in." "Then poverty has some compensations, "said Mrs. Hastings, cheerfully. " And I, Paul, often ask myself, what mother has a son like mine ?" Paul pressed the little hand that clung so closely to his arm and said : " That would sound like irony mother, if you ever indulged in it, after all my complaints to-night. But about these people there are two ladies besides the 130 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL one I mentioned Mrs. Farnham, a lovely, youthful looking woman, and a Miss, of eighteen or twenty, who might be a.sister, though very unlike her in looks. But here we are ! and see ! There is some one with him." The little window was curtainless, and though the light within was feeble, a slender figure could be dis cerned standing by the bedside. " Mrs. Hastings tapped lightly at the door, and it was opened by a gentleman, whom Paul recognized as Mr. Farnham. As they entered the small apartment, both were con scious of a chill in the brooding silence which per vaded it, and instinctively turned toward the rude bed on which the sufferer lay. One flickering light alone struggled with the darkness of the place, and threw its ghastly rays directly upon the face and form of a dying man. Yes, unmistakably, the poor quarryman's counten ance bore the strange impress, with which the King of Terrors seals at the last, each son and daughter of Adam. The slight girl bending over him, seemed tenderly solicitous, but the time to comfort had gone by. The gentlest tones of kindness were unheeded ; even the large tears that dropped silently upon the poor, old hands, were unnoticed. The heart, that had known loneliness, and deprivation, had forgotten all. The eyes that had grown dim with aching for a sight of loved ones beyond the seas,could not have distinguished them now, from the strange faces grouped around his bed. Paul was awe-struck at the change, so mys terious, which had passed upon the sick man during TO " THE BREAD WINNERS." 131 his short absence, and was filled with self-reproach. Mr. Farnham, emerging from some obscure corner, unaffected by the light of the solitary candle, joined the group by the bed side. It needed only a glance at his white face, as it showed there, to remind Mrs. Hastings of her son's words, and with gentle firmness, she dismissed him from farther attendance upon the scene. ' It was not the place for him ; she would prize the company of the young lady through the night's watching, but indeed the gentleman must not think of remaining. Mr. Farnham objected to this unselfish proposition ; but it was seconded so earnestly by Annie West, whose fears for him had taken fresh alarm, that he was pre vailed upon to return home. So the three watched through the long hours, counted only to them by heart beats ; and one, like a time piece unwound, ticked slower and slower ; and at last stood still, without sound or motion. Mrs. Hastings was slumbering in a disturbed way, when this change came, having yielded to anxious persuasions to rest in the easiest place, protected from the chilly night air, by the old army blanket. So it befell, that Paul Hastings closed the eyes, and straightened the limbs of the dead quarryman ; while Annie West turning from a frightened contem plation of the scene, to the dim curtainless window, looked out upon the dreamy world, where the pale moon was silvering the silent hills, and wept, with a strange, sad, grieving, for the joyless life, that had gone forth alone into the vast solitude of the solemn night. 132 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL VIII. THE NEW GOVERNESS. It was a gloomy morning towards the end of March, on which Mrs. Farnham took her way for the first time to the door of the Fox mansion. She went slowly along, as if wrapt in serious thought. Her face had a perturbed, anxious expression. " Poor Mamma !" she said aloud, as she presently entered the avenue of trees, leading up to the broad porch, "she feels this humiliation more than I do." A moment later she stood ringing the door bell, with a degree of hesitation never experienced in her more prosperous days, and with cheeks the color of a blush rose. Johnny, the colored waiter, admitted her, and stand ing very erect and giving his trousers a prudent hitch informed her that " she war the new gubberness, he posoomed, as Miss Bella war ' 'spectin' dis yer mohnin' ; an" if she would jest stan' dar, he would inform the young missus dat she war waitin.' Then he retired, and Mrs. Farnham soon heard voices issuing from what seemed the breakfast-room, in hur ried coloquy : " Take her into the parlor ; there's no other place ready !" It was Mrs. Fox speaking though the tones of her voice were shrill, rather than sweet as she remembered them. TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. 133 " Dar aint no fire in dat room, Missus," objected Johnny. " Well, light one then, if you must, " returned the lady, " and Isabella ! don't sit there staring about as if you had'nt a thought in your head ; or a concern in life. Hurry and finish your breakfast, and get ready. It is a shame for you to come to the table in that slip-shod way ; to say nothing about keeping your governess waiting the very first time she comes to the house ; a fine bill we shall have to pay for a private teacher to sit and fold her hands." " Is that your programme ?" questioned a heavy voice, recognized as belonging to the younger proprie tor of the landed estate. "Why no, it is not ;" retorted Mrs. Fox, " What is lost on one end of a lesson, must be made up on the other, I shall insist." Here Mrs. Farnham was relieved from the embar rassing position of listener, by the re-appearance of the brisk and youthful Johnny ; who throwing open the door to a large and sparsely furnished room, with an air of pride and proprietorship, bade her, with a bland wave of the hand, "please be seated." Then he proceeded, whistling gaily, to poke the ashes of a former fire through the grate in such a hilarious manner as to set them dancing about in the liveliest fashion. Then he brought wood and coal, and soon a jolly fire went roaring up the broad chimney. Miss Isabella made her appearance, and Johnny with a complacent grin at the cheerful prospect, disap peared. The pupil advanced with a languid air of mature self-possession, bowing slightly to the new subordinate, IJ4 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL who waited in the chill shadows of the gloomy parlor, and called in a sharp young voice : " Johnny, come back here, and draw the shades, and unfasten the shutters !" Johnny obeyed with alacrity ; but the flood of morning light that poured in, lent no enchantment to the view. It seemed rather like a disagreeably inquisi tive friend hunting out imperfections dust lying undisturbed upon the chairs, tables, books, and in covert corners ; and winking at it in affected raillery. " It's only our summah pawlah," drawled Miss Isabel la,^ indifferent apology for the condition of the room. " Mamma doesn't furnish for wintah ; we are away mostly then, and don't stay heah much anyway." She gave the bit of information almost unconscious ly while taking a comprehensive survey of the face and person of the new governess. " Don't you think I have books enough ?" she asked a moment later, fumbling absently amongst a formid able pile which lay upon the table. " I brought all these down last night to have them ready. But I hate school books ! don't you ?" " The governess smiled and was about to answer, but the pupil proceeded rapidly : " Mamma wants me to begin where I left off at school. Here the hateful things all are : Geology, Botany, Zoology, Conchology, Mineralogy, Astronomy, Chemistry, Philosophy, History ancient and modern Roman history, French History ; and oh ! she wants me thorough in my French History, because you know we are to go back to France soon." The face of the inexperienced teacher assumed a thoughtful expression ; and looking with doubt and TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 135 perplexity from this array of the abstruse sciences, to the somnolent face of the youthful pupil, she asked : " Have you then finished the preparatory course, Miss Isabella ?" " I should think I had ?" returned the young lady, with a shrug of the shoulders, and a pretty little grimace, at the reminded bitterness of that particular fruit of the tree of knowledge. " And mamma says you need not give me very long lessons in anything except music : I am just crazy for music !" The governess confessed that she was fond of it, but explained that it was not so much the long lessons, as the long hours of hard practice that made one pro ficient in the art. After some vain attempts at an examination of the pupil strenuously resisted on her part and much honest deliberation of the teacher ; a course of study was instituted, and alternate lessons arranged for each day of the five constituting the school week, and hours set apart for music and painting. Then Miss Isabella was requested to read aloud the first lesson of the next day, which was from Goodrich's History of France, beginning on the 47th page : chapter XVI. " Please commence," urged the teacher, after wait ing patiently some moments, what is the chapter ?" Miss Isabella's brows met in a puzzled frown. " I never can remembah those horrid abbreviations;" she confessed, smiling naively. " Abbreviations ?" questioned the mentor. Miss Isabella frowned still more, but beyond this gave no evidence of thought. 136 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL " Is it not the Roman method of notation ?" sugges ted the amiable governess. "Why of course it is !" said Miss Isabella, smiling brightly. " Well you may repeat the table up to this number," persevered the teacher. Again the pupil frowned, and as the teacher waited with gentle firmness for her compliance, said with heightened color : " Indeed, Mrs. Farnham ! That doesn't belong to this lesson : I'm a full sophomoah : one can't be ex pected to remembah everything one has passed ovah." However, she was prevailed upon to repeat the sim ple table after her teacher, who felt conscious that in devoting herself to such trifles, she was lessening her dignity in the eyes of her ambitious pupil. Arriving at the right number again, the reading began. " Chapter sixteen : The Race of " " Charlemagne," assisted the teacher, giving the correct pronunciation to the French name, as she had herself been taught it. "Charlie Mayne?" corrected Mrs. Fox, with stern decision from the next room ; " why Isabella, you ought to remember that we called him by no other name, when we were in France!" " Please proceed !" said the governess, with a little more of the blush rose in her cheeks ; yet beyond this, betraying no consciousness of the interruption. The reading continued, as also the espionage, for the invisible mentor interposed numerous strictures and revisions, chiefly in the pronunciation of words, for which her eminent advantages had so happily qualified her. TO " THE BREAD WINNERS*' 137 When at last the lesson was ended, some retreating footsteps assured the teacher that she was alone with her pupil. She rose to go, for it was now the noonday hour. Miss Isabella hovered about her instinctively, and even walked a little way by her side along the avenue of trees. "I like you!" she said, with some sudden impulse, "and I'm going to study real hard." The teacher smiled, rather a sad smile it was and laid her hand lightly upon the head of the girl: " I am glad to hear you say this, Miss Isabella," she replied, " we may yet enjoy these lessons together. Study is delightful under some conditions." " Do you like Lent?" inquired Miss Isabella ab ruptly. The answer was delayed a moment. The poor governess, in the utter seclusion of her days, the changed tenor of her life, had quite forgotten that Lent had come again. She however expressed her con- conviction that it was, or should be regarded by every one, as a sacred and holy season; one in which to fast and pray, and do works of charity and love. Miss Isabella smiled skeptically, and confessed that she hated Lent. " Mamma was always so cross when she had to stay at home, that it was just dreadful! and oh!" she added, "please don't mind about her cor recting the pronuciation of those words." Expressing at the same time a childish doubt as to the com petency of the self-constituted orthcepist. She kissed the governess before turning back, who looked after the thoughtless, wayward child, with a grave, sweet face, full of tender yearning. A new care had been added to her life. 138 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL Day after day, this little episode occurred with un varying monotony. Day after day, the unfriendly espionage was continued ; and yet in the service there were some redeeming features. The pupil evinced quite a fondness for study, and also for her patient, pains-taking teacher. Punctually at the hour, waiting the appearance of her pupil, every morning found Alice at her post. Arthur knew, and had not chided her. But then, as she sometimes sadly confessed to her secretself, Arthur was more reserved, even with her, than was his wont. As solicitous for her comfort, more tenderly devoted perhaps, and yet, with a strange habit of gloomy reti cence fixing itself upon him. Very anxious the wife became to make her services valuable to her employers and sometimes indulged in a probable estimate of these earnings. She had ex pended from her own slender purse, the sum requisite to furnish her pupil the most approved musical text book, which thus far remained unpaid ; but of course it would be remembered with the rest. She knew that her instructions were at last appreciated, and this made her hopeful for the future. To employ a governess, was a never failing source of pride to the people whom she served. Often, sitting alone in the disorderly library, she heard the fact related with impressive gravity, to some freshly ar rived guest, by Mrs. Fox who also set forth the superior merits and accomplishments of this person, in terms that made her blood tingle. "Of course," Mrs. Christopher Fox would languidly confess " it is expensive ! ruinously expensive ! but my dear friend, where the education of a child is con- TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 139 cerned the growth of a soul you might say what pecuniary sacrifices are counted ?" Annie West sometimes came to meet Alice on her return from the Fox mansion, and it chanced one day, as they were walking homeward together, that they met Minnie Bird. Annie's face brightened with joy, and she stood still in the path and held out both hands to greet her. But what was her chagrin, to receive only the slightest possible token of recognition, and not even a word, or smile, or the most frigid touch of the outstretched, welcoming hands ? " Who was she ?" Alice asked, with heightened color. " Why why " stammered Annie, recovering as if from a blow " it was Minnie Bird, the girl I have been so long expecting to call." There was a suspicion of tears in the dark eyes, for at eighteen, Annie was but a child. She had sighed for companionship, and dreamed of this attractive girl as yet to become her bosom friend. " Ah, well !" said Alice, looking tenderly at the grieving face, " it is the way of the world. Don't let it trouble you. I have got quite beyond it," she added, with a sweet patience in her blue eyes ; " I seem to myself to have grown so much older, and" with a little deprecatory smile " wiser, that like the great Apostle ' none of these things move me.' " This was a cheerful, sunny day at high noon, and they spoke of summer as almost come. But that night the wind shifted, and blew chill from the North ; when morning came again, the season seemed to have gone backward several degrees, and the skies were frowningly overcast with some fell purpose of whirlwind or storm. 140 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL " Don't go to-day, Alice !" urged the careful mother. " I will wear my heavy ulster," the daughter replied, "and defy the elements, with artics, and umbrella :" and thus equipped she set forth. At noon the skies were belching all their fury. It rained ; it hailed : the wind raged like an angry demon and the biting cold froze sheets of treacher ous glass on the narrow pavements, and hung with icy fringes, every branch upon the trees. Mrs. Belding, Annie, and Arthur Farnham sat around the dinner table. It was thought useless to wait for Alice, she could not get there through the storm. A sudden crash ! and the outer door burst wide open. It was only the battle of the elements, but Mrs. Belding's face blanched in an instant. Great sheets of rain swept into the little room threatening its complete inundation. " I cannot but think," she said anxiously, " that poor Alice may be out in all this !" "Why, mother!" remonstrated Arthur, "it is not possible ; or at least, it is not at all probable. Alice would not undertake anything so hazardous." " But if she were to venture," persisted the mother, " what w,ould become of the poor child ?" "Heaven only knows !" exclaimed Arthur, appalled at the thought. " I could hardly keep my feet under me in coming the little distance I did. But why mother, will you always conjure up the worst of every situation, and then try to persuade yourself that it is the true " Something fell heavily against the barred door, interrupting his words. He sprang forward ; opened it, and caught Alice in his arms ! TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. 141 " My God !" he cried, " Merciful Heavens ! Alice, what does this mean ?" But Alice made no answer. She might have been conscious that she found her home when she took th last step that brought her to the door, but she knew nothing more. "She is dead !" shrieked Mrs. Belding. As Arthur placed her upon the couch, and with nervous haste began to apply restoratives he almost believed the frantic words. Annie, the youngest of all, was now the most effi cient. She prepared the hot drinks ; tore off the wet garments ; wrapped her in warm blankets, and was soon rewarded by seeing the eyelids tremble, and the white lips grow rosy, and part with a faint smile. Yes, Alice was herself at last, Heaven be praised ! Presently she fell into a profound slumber Arthur sitting beside her, and Annie moving about with noise less steps, occupied with the same homely duties that once so cumbered the heart of Martha ; yet with a face as smiling as if with Mary, she were treasuring some loving word of the Master. Mrs. Belding, grim as any painted dragon, sat apart in brooding silence, plying her needle with relentless industry, and appar ently "nursing her wrath to keep it warm." There was no conversation to disturb the sleeper, and thus time passed until Arthur, satisfied that noth ing could be better for the patient than rest, rose to return to the office. Then, as if some spirit had touched her with departing wings, Alice awakened suddenly the illusion of her happy dream dissolved to see Arthur bending over her, muffled and ready to leave. 142 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL " I thought you would sleep a long time yet," he said in apology for his haste, " and that it was the best we could do for you." " Something told me that you were hurrying away" returned Alice, looking tenderly into his eyes " Now Mrs. Belding approached, and laid a wither ed hand on the face of her girl. "Tell me, Alice," she said, sternly as if examining a witness in a suit of murder " why did you leave that house and come home through the storm ?" Alice looked from one to the other, in a confused way, as if trying to unite some broken threads of memory. Her mother's face was forbidding in its judge-like gravity, and Arthur's eyes were anxiously interrogating. " Why" she recalled, " It was their luncheon hour, and they did not ask me to stay." " Barbarians ! Heathens \" hissed Mrs. Belding. Arthur said not a word, but taking up his hat all unconscious that a pair of loving blue eyes pleaded him to stay went forth into the storm. As he strode away, he looked the very incarnation of the warring eelments. " My God !" he cried, as he hurriedly entered the now vacant office " what is there left me, that is not spurned, or trodden upon ?" He sat down mechanically at his desk, and began with swift fingers, to trace plans and elevations ; but there was a fierce demon looking out of his eyes, and following their silent action, a thousand times more busy with plans of quite another sort. 11 1 will die !" he exclaimed, pausing at length to give vent to the indignation he felt, and striking the TO "THE BREAD WINNERS.' 143 desk with his clenched fist, " sooner than endure this !" The storm shook the frail building with every relay of its giant forces ; but he heeded nothing of it all. To him, it was the wrath of Heaven, kindled by the inhumanity of man, and all unconsciously, its denun ciatory thunders, mingled like harmonious music with the passion of his soul. Cyclone and earthquake ; pestilence and famine ; swift destruction flying upon the wings of the wind : all these would have seemed insufficient chatisement for the monstrous, unscrupulous avarice, which stalked like an iron shod giant, over the wide field of its slain victims. He sat there long, brooding over a dark picture of life, life which had once presented itself in brilliant coloring. "What wonder!" he reflected bitterly, "that so many despairing, frenzied lives are ended by self- destruction ! What wonder that childhood turns criminal ! and manhood revels in robbery and red- handed murder ! What wonder that governments are insecure, and crowned heads hide themselves from the fury of the oppressed ?" The storm lulled at last, and the sun shone out, gilding the earth with its golden glory, serene as if storm or temptest had never been. The day was near its close. Farnham locked the little office and went home. He had matured a plan for his future that was a sudden inspiration. This very night should see him take the initiative steps which would effectually sever him from this life of drudgery and humiliation. He was the possessor of two paid up Life Insurance policies in good companies ; and while retaining one 144 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL intact, he would negotiate with the other, funds suffi cient to take him to some Eldorado of the West, and for the maintenance of his family for a few months in their present isolated quarters. In that time, what could he what would he not accomplish ! He was familiar with those regions. Thoroughly absorbed in his scheme, he proceeded to his own room and secured these treasures before sit ting down at the table. The family had gathered there when he took his place with an animated air, and an intense gleam lighting up his sunken eyes. He rallied Alice upon the brilliant color her morn ing's adventure had given her, and advised her to secure the whirlwind as her charioteer whenever she particularly wished to enhance her beauty. He informed Annie, that he was invited to be pre sent at a gathering on that evening, where her friend Hastings the great reformer of the day would probably be one of the orators. ' He would go and listen with all deference, for her sake, whatever might be his own theories. (He did not say that he had al ready joined the secret organization for the purpose of studying its principles, and that this was not his first attendance upon its gatherings.) " You are surely not going out again to-night !" remonstrated Mrs. Belding, as she saw him hurrying into his over-coat as soon as he rose from the table. " Yes mother, Alice I am going to the city ; partly on my own business, and partly as a favor to Annie, here. She is taking such a lively interest in this great labor movement, that I want to satisfy myself that these doctrines which have a power so transforming as to TO " THE BREAD WINNERS. 145 make an ultra-radical of our common-sense Annie, are thoroughly safe to adopt. The night is not bad : don't detain me with ques tions !" he begged, and kissing his hand to them, he was gone. Tramping on toward the brow of the hill, where stood the little wooden station house of the incline, his thoughts took a serions turn. He glanced back ward at the lonely house he had left, and almost relented in his purpose. Could he leave them there friendless and unprotected ? what fearful possibilities the future might hold ! For a moment courage almost forsook him. Then he went blindly forward. There was no other alternative ; venture he must. Incline and cars brought him to the street and number that he sought. Here lived a business acquani- tance, who had manifested a friendly interest in him. The man had plenty of money at command, and he hoped to obtain a few hundred dollars by giving his note, and a policy of Five Thousand, as a collateral security for payment. And he had not mis-calculated his opportunity. The friend was obliging ; Farnham needed a vacation, and he was glad to assist him, and expressed the hope and belief, that he should see him much improved in health upon his return ; and with mutual kindness they parted : Farnham happy in the possession of sufficient means for present purposes. This accomplished, he repaired to the hall where a division of the " Workingmen's Union" held their weekly meetings. He entered the dimly lighted place, and slid into a seat with a feeling akin to pleasure that he had been scarcely observed by the densely packed audience. 146 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL A dark, stern-visaged man of middle age, was vehemently discussing some question before the house, and all eyes were turned toward the speaker. Farnham looked around over the rude assemblage, and was touched by the pathos of the scene. Here were gathered the poor of a great city, and what marvel that burdened with anxieties, in bondage to poverty, and embittered by injustice, he was struck by the forlorn picture ? There were old men with deeply furrowed, hopeless faces ; and young men, with stolid, sullen ones. There were sad, earnest eyes ; and sharp, hungry eyes ; and dark, defiant eyes. There were stalwart forms, with sinews of iron ; and bent, decrepit ones, with palsied hands, which trembled from excess of toil. " Sheep, without a shepherd !" Farnham mused unconsciously in the language of the compassionate One. Never before had he felt such kinship with suffering : for in this, as in their humanity, they were indeed men and brothers. The meeting was drawing to a close. The question being agitated was ; shall we of this pool, resist a farther reduction of wages ? The speaker was loud mouthed, and bitter in his denunciation of capital, and counselled " starvation, rather than submission to its arrogant terms." He sat down amid cheers, and sullen cries of " victory or death !" "The only radical cure for the usurpation of power, in a free country," cried Paul Hastings, springing to his feet, as soon as the other's head was lowered, "lies in the BALLOT Box ! Let no brother," said he TO " THE BREAD WINNERS." 147 with persuasive eloquence, in voice and manner, " imagine that laying down the pick and shovel, and lounging in idleness, will enable us to stem its resist less tide. Europe, with her starving millions lies at our very door. Beckon them, and they are here, grasping eagerly the implements of labor which you would unwisely, and passionately cast from you. Nay! they do not wait to be signalled. Every ship that cleaves the ocean, from those crowded shores, bears to our own, the muscles and the sinews of toil. They swarm like the locusts of Egypt upon our goodly land. "Who, I ask, owns this country ? The men who have fought, and bled for its blessings ; who have toiled for its riches ; who have hewed down its forests, and burrowed for its treasures ; or those, who by our favor sit in our capitols, squandering our earnings and abusing our faith ? " Brothers ! study the policy of our government during the last decade. What is it tending toward ? " He that runneth may read." Buckle on your armor; and through the ballot the sacred weapon of a free people make a righteous stand against the political and material arrogance of the times. " We may yet be as free as Switzerland the happiest nation on the face of the earth. Every son and daughter, independent as a crowned head. None rich and none poor ; or, the prince and the pauper may flourish alike on our unhappy soil. These possi bilities lie within our control. Majorities are said to rule. Lend your ears to no demagogue whomsoever! Every one of them is a "friend to the workingman." Soft of palm, and silver of speech, he will clasp you 148 DRAFTED IN, A* SEQUEL with the fervor of a brother, and charm you with the subtlety of a serpent. Let us not decide rashly, impulsively, but learn to reason ; to labor, and to wait. I counsel no strikes ; and shall vote for none, but shall trust to a united, intelligent appeal for redress, where it is alone possible to obtain it. We must ballot for our rights ; fight for them, if need be ; die for them if we must ! but, idle for them never !" He sat down, amid both cheers and hisses. It was evident that his sober and sound conservatism, had made a profound impression upon his hearers ; but laboring and waiting was a slow process for righting present abuses : and it had not been contemplated as a radical remedy. The vote was taken, and stood 149, for ; 126, against ; and the strike of the steel workers was inaugurated. Farnham stole out while the excited discussion following this result was in progress, and took his way homeward. It was past midnight when he arrived there. He found Alice in the little parlor, patiently awaiting his return. Her eyes were bright and her cheeks flushed. " How very pretty you are looking !" he whispered, as he held her to his heart a moment, imprinting a clinging kiss upon her sweet lips. " And you, Arthur?" she exclaimed, "why you look so important and animated, that I do believe your errand to-night, has been nothing less than office seeking !" Arthur smiled. "You have almost guessed it," he said, " I have been to a labor meeting, and heard one TO " THE BREAD WINNERS. 149 rousing speech that moved me as a patriot, if not as a partisan." He then described to her all that he had witnessed ; the poor fellows for whom he had felt such compas sion ; young Hastings' speech, giving it as his private opinion, that there was a brilliant future for that young man. " Then he shall have my permission and blessing !" laughed Alice gleefully. " Perhaps he may not crave either," suggested Arthur. " I think, for once, you are a little fanciful, Alice :" Hastings is heart and soul engrossed in this great uprising of the masses ; and I doubt if he wastes a thought on .anything else. He is singularly well informed for a laboring man. With all my advantages I am often compelled to recognize my own inferiority, in point of political, and governmental research. He is about as familiar with English rule, past and present, as with our own. He is well up in their literature too, and reasons from the color and flavor of its senti ments, through successive centuries, that its most advanced thinkers are rapidly outgrowing the bauble of royalty, and are reaching out toward a righteous self-government, that shall mean equal rights, and God-given liberties for all. He says the greatest novelists of the world to-day, are radicals." " Well," resumed Alice, who had followed this digres sion, much as a novel reader does the duller parts of a story you must own " I have had great experience of young men in love, Arthur ! and I assure you, this is no fancy no fancy of mine, at least. And it isn't a bit strange either," she added, and paused for a reply. 150 DRAFTED IX, A SEQUEL They had retired to rest ; but this subject interested her much, and she presently continued, " do you recognize the fact that our Annie is growing positively beautiful ?" Evidently he did not for he had fallen fast asleep ! Alice lay for some time considering possibilities that the future might hold, and then in sleep that followed lightly after, had glimpses of rosy peaks like hopes young dream but never, ah ! never a hint of shade never a cloud of sorrow ! TO "THE BREAD WINNERS.' IX. A SHARP NOTE, AND A STORMY SET TLEMENT. The next morning, Farnham went to the office, ostensibly to complete some drawings that he had in hand ; but really to meet one or the other of the Fox Brothers, who were likely to be there. There was resolute purpose expressed in his face, and he held the pen firmly in his skilled fingers, modeling with nice exactness the proportions of parlor, dining-room and kitchen, for some happy home ; while unconscious ly consigning himself to the fortunes of an outcast. Meantime, at the house he had left, this scene was transpiring : Mrs. Belding sat in her own room, framing a note to be sent to Mrs. Fox, explaining the non-appearance of the governess, and a little errand boy summonded to convey it thither, waited in the dining-room, hat in hand, its completion. In the kitchen beyond, busy with the morning's work, Alice and Annie chatted pleasantly in regard to it. " If you will wash the china," remonstrated the former, " put on the rubber gloves : I always do. Arthur so dislikes to see my hands rough." " But there is no one to care for mine," laughed Annie, " so what does it matter whether they are soft or rough ?" and baring her round, shapely arms to the dimpled elbows, she proceeded with nimble fingers to I.S2 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL make a white foam of the water, into which the break fast cups were hastily immersed. " I am not so sure about that," returned Alice with a mysterious nod of her wise, matronly head. "What now, do you modestly think, is bringing Paul Hast ings to the house so often ?" Annie, blushed like a peony. " You know he comes to talk with Uncle about about everything ; and scarcely looks at any one else." "Of course he doesn't ! that is what amuses me !" laughed Alice. The heavily fringed lids, drooped suddenly over Annie's dark eyes and hid a sparkle of joy ; but at that moment Mrs. Belding came into the room, clos ing the door carefully behind her. " I have written a note," she said in a low voice, addressing them both, " and would like your opinion of it before sending," and then read the following : MRS. Fox: Owing to the inclemency of the weather and the inhospitality of your house ; my daughter's attendance there, will be discontinued. Yours truly, E. BELDING. " Why mamma !" said Alice, after a moment's re flection, " I am afraid it is a little severe. Couldn't you word it differently ?" " To be sure I could : but I intend it to be severe," rejoined that irate personage, a deep carnation burn ing like a live coal, in either withered cheek. " It is not too severe to give expression to the resentment I feel ; and I shall send it ;" she decided firmly. " You show the value of my criticism," laughed Alice. TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. 153 "It suits me ; if that is anything," said Annie, with an approving smile at the writer. " Well, it will go at all events !" replied Mrs. Beld- ing, and dispatched it at once. It chanced on this particular morning, that the younger member of the firm of Fox Brothers was in a most irritable frame of mind. It might have result ed from the effects of certain potions imbibed some what recklessly on the previous day. However that may be, the fact remained as his lady had more forcibly, than tenderly, expressed it that " Christo pher was as cross as a bear !" Everyone in his immediate and " delightfully retired location" quoting from his own florid rhetoric had suffered from this attack of bile, when, fortunately for the household, Mrs. Belding's note arrived. Mrs. Fox perused it first ; her narrow black eyes glinting and glowing, until they actually seemed emit ting sparks of fire. Then she rushed with it to Christopher, whom she found engaged in the highly stimulating occupation of pulling Johnny's ears, for some misdemeanor. It was a grateful diversion to the boy ; who lost no time in making his retreat showing his white teeth in a broad grin of relief, as he went. " What do you think of that ?" she asked sharply, giving the open note into his hand. He certainly did not think anything very clearly ; for the paper slipped in his relaxed grasp, until from their position the words seemed scampering down hill, and running into each other at a fearful rate. "Mrs. Fox hie," he read, "owing hie, I can't make anything out of such d d writing as this is ; 154 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL hie," he declared angrily, " all out of line, and signed Bedlam, aint it ! " Bedlam ! repeated Mrs. Fox, " why you haven't sense enough this morning to resent an insult. Do try to think ; can't you ? This impertinent note is from that odious Mrs. Belding ; the woman who put on airs towards me the day I went to do them a favor ; and listen to this ! It reads as though she were a queen, and I, her dependent." She read the brief note and looked at Christopher with a fixed stare. " My daughter's attendance will be discontinued," he repeated after her, and then laughed so violently that the dark red of his face changed to purple ; "you are quite right, madam ?" he said, grasping his cane and reaching for his hat. " I hope you will just turn them all into the street !" cried Mrs. Fox ; but the amiable advice was lost, for her knight-errant was already hurrying with long strides, in the direction of the office his wide-set eyes starting from his head as if he were being chok ed ; and the dainty paper containing the obnoxious note, fluttering in his hand. In this manner, he entered that place about two minutes later. A couple of men were sitting in the outer office buyers, perhaps, waiting his arrival. Mr. Farnham stood writing at his desk, his back toward the door. "Come in here, Sir !" commanded Mr. Christopher Fox, laying an angry hand upon his shoulder in pass ing, and leading the way to the inner office. There was something so savage in the expression of the proprietor's face, that Farnham instinctively TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 155 hesitated ; the strangers seeming to consider their presence superfluous walked out into the open air. Then Mr. Fox, flourishing the open letter in the other's face, conjured him, with a horrible oath to "look at it." Farnham looked with some surprise, and yet with a haughty self-composure that infuriated Fox. " Did did you know the contents of this, before it went to my wife ?" he stammered fiercely. " No ;" answered Farnham, turning away, with a flushed face, to resume his pen. " You needn't be so d d industrious," said Fox, "because I happen to be here ; I've got a little busi ness with you now, that's got to be settled. What I want to understand, is : do you approve of this impertinence ? Farnham though tingling with suppressed rage had no desire to precipitate a quarrel. He sought only, a speedy settlement of their relations and a separation. " I shall not discuss that question with you, Mr. Fox, not at least, in your present condition," and he turned again to his desk. " Not in my present condition !" roared Fox, strik ing his broad chest a sounding blow. " I suppose your own present condition hasn't anything to do with your wonderful prudence !" " It you think I am afraid of you, Christopher Fox," replied Farnham, squaring himself again, and measuring his antagonist with eyes that flashed scorn and defiance, " because of your huge proportions, you have an opportunity now to satisfy yourself." "What I want to satisfy myself about," persisted 156 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL the other, " is, how that woman dared to insult my wife?" " Because," replied Farnham, hurling back the angry challenge of his eyes, "she dared resent the insult offered her daughter by your wife in the treat ment of the day before." " Treatment !" Did you expect us to entertain our servants 9" " Mr. Fox, I have had enough of this, but if it gratifies you to have it so, I will own that this letter has my unqualified approval. And now Sir ! I will submit to no more of your insolence, but demand an immediate settlement of our business." " Yod are a d pack of impostors. And b G I'll give you a settlement with my cane," and the infuriated Fox struck a vicious blow with his heavy cane, which Farnharn avoided by a quick spring, and the next instant the big man was measur ing the floor with his utmost length. So dazed was he, by the suddenness with which he engaged in the occupation that his scattered senses failed to comprehend the result of the experi ment. Meantime, Farnham gathered up some papers; put on his hat, and left the office. He had not gone half a dozen steps, when his adversary came tearing after him, like some wild animal, infuriated by a wound. Now, if there was any one thing, which Mr. Christo pher Fox admired in himself, more than another, it was, his scholarly proficiency in the manly art of self- defense. Farnham had knocked him down ; an indignity to his person which could not be too suddenly, or too TO " THE BREAD WINNERS. 157 severely dealt with. He would not have regreted chatsisingthe man before ; but now, it was incumbent upon his honor. His uncertain feet had scarcely touched the ground, when his outstretched arm dealt Farnham a sharp blow with the knobbed end of his heavy cane. It happened that the men who had retired from the office a few moments before, stood conversing a little distance away, and now came forward promptly, to interfere in Farnham's behalf. "Sthob dat," they cried in chorus ; the attack seemed so brutal, and the contest if precipitated so unequal : but surprise was succeeded by smiling satisfaction, as they beheld Farnham leap upon his assailant with the suppleness and fury of a tiger. He twisted the weapon from his grasp, and if seven dragons had possessed him, he could not have dealt blows more effective, than the few that be-labored the ponderous body of the luckless Fox. " Dat ish bery goot floggins !" apostrophised one of the strangers, coming up at this stage of affairs a broad grin animating his otherwise phlegmatic coun tenance, " Bay 'em shust a few more for bery pad sheatin' o' me. Dat be petter nor money. Ha ! ha !" But Farnham did not constitute himself the avenger of another's wrongs ; releasing the much humiliated and struggling proprietor, he strode away homeward, with a proud step and heightened color. " I will order my carriage, and have the dog arrest ed for assault and battery, inside of half an hour !" vowed the irate and much bedraggled Fox, scramb ling to his feet, purple with rage and perspiring with heat. 158 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL " De blendy vitness mil de courts ;" suggested the highly amused Dutchman ; de 'sault vas you s, I vill swear, put mine Got ! dat snap, he do de patterin' so goot as never vas !" With this timely hint, Mr. Christopher Fox retired to the privacy of the inner office for repairs ; indulg ing the while, in deep-mouthed oaths like muttered thunder, consigning the victor to most undesirable localities ; but his equipage was not called into im mediate use, and Farnham was left unchallenged, to take his adventurous way, to the gold regions of the far, far West. Leave-takings at the cottage were few and hasty. Necessity is a stern and uncompromising master in its demands upon poor human lives, and human loves. There were grave apprehensions on either side for the safety of the other, and each heart seemed paral yzed by a contemplation of the inevitable. Farn- ham's pale cheeks and wasted frame, claimed many a sad foreboding ; while he, aware of what his absence meant, to them, almost repented the desperate under taking. Their personal safety was all that he could insure, and provision against actual want. The McGarvy Brother's were now owners of the house, and honest, well disposed men, he 'had thus far proved them to be. With them, he stipulated, as best he could, for a certain supervision and care of his family, and half unbeliever as he was committed them also, to the God of the fatherless and the widow. One little incident may be recorded, for the lasting impression it left upon the mind of the wanderer. When farewells had been said, and last words spoken ; TO " THE BREAD WINNERS. ' 159 Farnham had turned resolutely away, and gone some little distance from the house, when he was almost unmanned, to find his poor Alice following him with a blind, unreasoning terror ; and when he tried to wave her back, she rushed into his arms and clung about his neck in a childish effort to hold him back. Ah ! long after, in distant lands, in solitude and sor row, she seemed to him clinging there still. l6o DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL X. LABOR TROUBLES. "Not loud, but deep!" "Labor vs. Capital" Labor Agitations !" These are some of the headings of the newspaper articles, reported at this date, from almost every city of the Union. Then followed accounts of the discontent pervading all classes of wage-workers ; until it seemed as if the behest of the Almighty, had come to be an affront and an indig nity to man. Strikes ! Strikes ! along the line of industries, was the rule ; labor was the exception. Huge fires, which had lighted the skies for miles around painting thereon as never artist could, their gilded picture of industry and wealth ; smouldered and went out. Thoroughly organized, steadily going mills whose deafening call to labor, and to rest had long been as familiar a feature of everyday life in their re spective localities, as the sunrise and sunset became suddenly mute. The merry whirr of the spindle, and the clatter of the loom, were forgotten music in the manu factory. The Telegraph became silent, and the huge engine, a defunct monster, stranded upon the high ways of commerce. Artisans laid down their tools, and printers their type, and went for a holiday, as if the year of jubilee 'the sabbath of labor,' had at last dawned upon this Western World : as if a Joshua TO " THE BREAD WINNERS" l6l had commanded the sun of American prosperity, to stand still in the heavens, and the evolutions of time to turn backward. But the jubilee of labor, differed widely from that of royalty. That was a brilliant pageant upon the stream of time, glittering and golden, like Cleopatra's gilded barge resplendant in gems, and gorgeous in trappings. Silken banners waved in the light of the sun, and threw back his kisses ; and brazen trumpets blared, and shook the earth with joy, at the tread of kings. Alas ! for the jubilee of toil. It was not a triumphal march over flower-bestrewn ways. It was not even peaceful, like a sabbath of rest. Sullen men patrolled the streets, hungry-eyed, and riotous looking ; as if in their extremity, they defied both God and man. Wives and mothers who had never asked a charity before, begged for themselves and their little ones. At night, discontented men gathered to discuss the situation. These meetings could not, with justice be denomi nated " roll call of all the shirks ;" for sinewy arms and horny hands, were the non-transferable badges of honest toil ; nor could the most trifling, mingle in these solemn councils, and withhold a measure of sympathy from these stern-eyed, anxious visaged men ; whether the wrongs they combatted, were real, or fancied ; or their redress, wisely, or ignorantly sought. They were fierce assemblages of thwarted manhood, representing every phase of human charac ter, from the stolid, unreasoning intelligence, but one remove from the selfish instincts of the animal 162 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL creation, to those possessing every native element of greatness. Among these Paul Hastings stood pre-eminent. His honest worth ; sterling sense ; statesman-like knowl edge ; trusted sympathy ; and known conservatism which even rioters respected, in their saner moments, together with a certain rugged and magnetic elo quence, made him a conspicuous figure in these secret gatherings. True, his advice was not always heeded: though time generally proved its soundness, and gave it added weight in future and oft-recurring emergen cies. One thing was never doubted ; his devotion to what he believed to be the best interests of the men whom he loved and labored for as brothers, The President, or Master Workman, of the Almal- gamated Association, finding the duties of his office too onerous, at this crisis of affairs, suddenly resign ed : and young Hastings had been almost unanimous ly elected to fill the vacancy thus created. It was an office, at this early stage of its history, probably rep resenting as it's 'perquisites,' more labor, and less rest ; more sacrifice, and les c salary ; than any other in the gift of the people. There were no surplus millions in the treasury to tempt the devotion of the sordid; to be farmed out among favorites ; voted for, or courted for ; or " expedited" by any crafty manipula tions in its speedy and certain passage to private pockets. No ! it was then, as empty as his own cupboard ; and had it been otherwise, Paul Hastings was not the one to appropriate the poor man's earnings. It would have been to him, as Judus' thirty pieces of silver : "the price of blood." TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 163 Work, he enjoyed ; and his reward had been, that a widowed mother leaned on him as her stay and support ; and that he had been able to make life a little smoother and brighter for half orphaned brothers and sisters. But now the strike of the Steel Workers, enforced idleness upon him ; and idleness was an unkown con dition of all his previous life. Three days had not passed, before he had proved it the most distasteful and irksome, as well as the most unremunerative of all occupations. But he must submit : his individual independence was lost and the fiiat had gone forth. For a little time, young Hastings had succeeded in keeping his mother in partial ignorance of the real state of affairs ; hoping there might still be a compro mise between the employers and the employees. But that hope had died out. It had become apparent to his understanding, that the policy of the former, towards the latter, had been pre-arranged to produce this result ; and the laborers had unwisely fallen into the trap set for them. They will not be so independent when they have starved awhile ! was the indifferent comment of the complacent employers ; and the poor men : " we will die, sooner than yield a single point !" and thus the days had drifted wearily on. Saturday night had come again, and the usual hour brought Paul Hastings to the door of his mother's weaving room. He listened there a moment almost fearing to enter. He foresaw that he could not hide the trouble from her clear eyes much longer ; and he was not accustomed to deceiving her. He could hear the shuttle fly back and forth, and 164 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL the steady hammer of the lathe, making a rude accompaniment to the homely music ; and it was a a cheerful sound. Presently his mother's voice, sweet and tremulous, sang in snatches between the loom's stirring harmonies : " Other refuge luite I none " Rat tat! rut-tat! tat! ! " Hangs my kelpies* soul on Thee. Rat tat! rat tat! tat! ! ' ' Leave, oh ! le but my scholarship ;" and she blushed and smiled with a small share of vanity in her attainments, as she secretly reviewed her standing in the Bloomingdale Seminary. How happy she was that morning, while making herself ready ; as she reflected, how much she had now to be thankful for, that she had not trifled away her time while in school, but had fitted herself while she had the opportunity, to fill such a position. Mrs. Belding was right ; she could, and would, do some thing besides sewing. She felt elated too by the con sciousness that that much reverenced personage, now appreciated her capabilities in this direction. The same long city streets traversed ; the same patrolling police, or others equally as broad, blue- coated, and bright-buttoned interviewed as to loca tion of streets ; and the eagerly sought for place was gained ; yet not the coveted situation. This journey, alas ! had been fruitless too. They had no friend at TO " THE BREAD WINNERS." 215 court ; and although the vacancy had been advertised as open to fair competition, favoritism was the rule here, and fitness the exception. Many other candi dates were in expectant waiting, when they arrived, in breathless haste ; and all were informed with perfect impartiality of indifference; that "the place had been supplied." The disappointment to one at least, was felt keen ly. But there was no help for it nothing to do, but submit, with philosophy to this new tribulation. Mrs. Belding's face wore a deeper shade of melan choly than usual, as she trod the busy streets again, with Annie at her side, who could hardly keep the tears from blinding her eyes as she pressed along. "I suppose," said the former, pulling her heavy crape veil forward, so as to half conceal her dejected features, "that we might just as well make inquiries in other directions, now that we are in the city. Let us go into some of the fancy and notion stores ; possibly they may need help." " Oh, Mrs. Belding ! I could not be a shop girl !" remonstrated Annie West. "I am not thinking of that," replied Mrs. Belding, "but of making fancy articles* for them. That, I should think, would be both pleasant and profitable ; and you know I have quite a knack at that kind of work." They visited several of these places in succession, only to learn that they were all liberally supplied ; that the prime object now, was to be rid of the stock on hand. At length, wearied and utterly disheartened, they entered a gentlemen's furnishing store, and 2l6 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL sought, and obtained, the much despised plain sewing. After so much fruitless search, even this, seemed a boon. They sat down to rest by the counter, while the work a dozen fine muslin shirts was being put up, in another apartment. How old and withered poor Mrs. Belding's face looked to Annie's pitying eyes, in the glare of this busy place ! poverty was writing its sad characters all over the once softly outlined, and smilingly contented features ; more painfully vivid they seemed now than ever before ; as she sat in a drooping posture, her pale, half averted face, bowed upon her neatly gloved but shrunken hand. "It is long after noon," thought Annie, "and she needs her lunch. Oh, when I begin to earn money, she shall never come to the city without having a nice a real nice dinner before going back, a hot oyster stew, or a great thick juicy steak, such as she likes, and vegetables too. Dear me !" she whispered, just to herself, "how I will work, when I once get about it, to buy her some of the comforts she has always been used to !" She was interrupted by the clerk's voice, close to her ear : "Here in this parcel Madam," he said, "are the garments, each cut and rolled together separately with one ready made as a sample. If you return them promptly, equally well put together, as the copy, I think I can promise you plenty of work from our house. We do a very large business in gentlemen's underwear, and have a reputation for doing the best work in that line, of any house in the city." "What do you pay for this?" faltered Mrs. Belding, TO " THE BREAD WINNERS" 217 who, all unfamiliar with this "dispensation," had quite forgotten to ask for the important information sooner. " Seventy-five cents," replied the clerk blandly, beginning to replace upon the shelves some piles of goods, that lay upon the counter, to signify that their interview was ended. " Seventy-five cents," repeated Mrs. Belding thought fully, " I used to have them made in the house in my husband's lifetime hired a woman on plain sewing for one dollar a day, and she could never make more than three in two days this is a trifle more of course, but then we boarded her you see." "What are you talking about?" asked the clerk, in some surprise. " I was merely thinking of the relative value of work then when I paid for it, and now that I am to be paid for it," she replied, "and I see it has slightly advanced ; though to be sure the board and lodging, would far more than make the difference ; yet seventy- five cents apiece,! hope may keep one from actual want" " Seventy-five cents apiece !" exclaimed the clerk, "why Madam, that is more money than we get for them ; and we sell thousands upon thousands ! seven ty-five cents a dozen, for that quality is all ' our house ' pays for making colored shirts at half that price. This is the price in New York City. If it don't suiv you there is no harm done ; we have hundreds of applications at that rate." " Mrs. Belding sat staring at the blank counter, with a blank face. "Six cents apiece!" she gasped "you certainly cannot mean it. sir? why, we have spent, or shall have spent, when we get home, forty, in coming for them." 2ir8 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL " That is not our affair !" returned the clerk, with a sardonic grin. It is not likely, always to require two of you to carry such a bundle I should think. Peo ple who sew, perform their journeys mostly on foot." This hint was probably a prudential suggestion, by which he supposed they might profit in future. Mrs. Belding's thick veil, which had all along kept her poor face in friendly shadow, now concealed it altogether ; and a stifled groan was distinctly audible from behind it. "Every one must do as they like. It's a. free coun try,'" echoed the oracular clerk, with careless indiffer ence. "It's optional with 'our house' whether you take the work or leave it. One thing I can assure you, because I have opportunities for knowing ; you can't do any better in the city." " Could you not send the work, after to-day, if this should be done satisfactorily?" questioned Mrs. Belding in a scarcely audible voice. "Against the rule of 'our house,'" promptly ob jected the astute expounder of the civil code, as laid down by this grandiloquent institution "our house," and the rights divine, by which it regulated its trans actions, few or many, with the small world revolving outside, and beyond its mighty enginery. Perhaps Mrs. Belding, had never experienced, in all her penitential wrestlings, for sins of every denomina tion, assisted as they had been, by the wordy sug gestions of the common prayer-book sincerer self- abasement, and deeper humility of soul, than when she took up that little paper parcel, in the face of that blandly smiling clerk, and retired ignominously from the royal presence of "Our House." TO "THE BREAD WINNERS.' 219 XV. THE REWARD OF TOIL. Its oh! to be a slave, Along with the barbarous Turk ; Where Woman has never a soul lo save If this is Christian work! " Mrs. Belding did not raise her veil, or speak to Annie, or seem to observe anything, during the whole long ride homeward. Sitting there in a corner of the car as immovable and irresponsive as a shrouded statue her soul was perhaps more keenly susceptible to the living present, more active in its sympathies, than ever before. She had never experienced such compassion for the poor, as now. " Why," she queried, " do they care to live ? when life is such a struggle. We cannot sup port it on these terrible conditions ; and oh ! God in Heaven ! is it a sin for me to think it ? I would never make the attempt, but for this poor child. She is young, and may yet see better days ; but I / have nothing in the world to live /or/" Then she glanced furtively at the sweet eyes regarding herself with such tender concern, and her heart warmed and yearned towards the friendless girl, with almost the affection of a mother. "I will never desert her," she thought, "she shall be as Alice, to me from this hour ; and I will spare her all that I can, as long as this poor old life holds out." 220 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL And this resolution, the good lady was faithfu-lly endeavoring to keep, as the days went slowly by. The work was satisfactorily finished by the united industry of the two, in just six days, and had been returned, and more of the same sort furnished. They had worked hard to do this, for as Annie observed, 'they were new to the business;' but they hoped to accomplish more, as they grew to understand it better. Mrs. Belding did not resent the offer, as imperti nent, when Paul Hastings had signified to her, that it just suited his convenience, to take their parcels to, and from the city, but graciously allowed him to be of service to her. She would have smiled now on anything : and yet, she did not complain. The coarse and insufficient fare to which they were now reduced ; the long hours of toil ; the rough work, which, for the first time in her life, stained her delicate hands none, nor all of these things seemed ever to affect her. Her face grew sharp in its outlines ; and her lips bloodless. Her eyes became sunken, and her fingers emaciated ; but still she worked on, more relentlessly each successive day. But toil as they would, Annie could never gratify her secretly cherished ambition, to buy a roast for dinner, with plenty of appetising side dishes ; such as she childishly fancied, would go a long way toward bringing back something that she missed in the poor old face. One morning as they sat at work, they heard the well-remembered voice of Mr. Christopher Fox in the next house now occupied only by the widow and her child. TO THE "BREAD WINNERS." 221 It was as usual, loud and peremptory ; and they could not avoid hearing, if they would, parts of a con versation which followed between the landlord and tenant. His first words had not been heeded : she was speaking in excited remonstrance, when their attention was first closely attracted. " I've nowheres to go, ef you turn me out, 'cept into the street ; an' my poor man dead, as worked hard to get a ruff o'er our heads. 'Tain't fair, sir ! 'tain't Christian," she sobbed. " Well, when I am in doubt about my duty, maybe I will consult you. At present my business is to collect rent for this house, of which I am the legal owner. If you refuse to pay, d' you hear ? I give you notice to quit fair notice to quit !" " 'Tain't fair neither ! " expostulated the frenzied voice ; " There ain't nothin' fair about it ! my old man paid you nigh about up, in good honest money, as he slaved hisself to death to put by ; as his brother that's dead an' gone did by t'other Oh dear ! oh dear ! " They sat still in listening mood justly indignant at the wrongs of their neighbor, when the door of their own apartment was pushed open, and the new landlord stood before them. As upon a former occas- sion, he did not remove his hat, and spoke without the ceremony of an introduction. " I suppose," said he grasping the subject in hand with commendable directness, and allowing no redund ancy of words to affect the force of his logic, "that you are aware that / am in possession here, and the 222 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL quarter's rent is due : forty-five dollars. You will pay it to me, now hereafter to my agent." " Forty-five dollars !" ejaculated the elder lady, still keeping her eyes upon her work, and ignoring, as much as possible the presence of the odious visitor : " We rented for thirty-six ; that is all we have ever paid." "I know," he acknowledged carelessly, "but that is not enough not as much as the interest on the money invested." " But we have made many improvements here, which have cost you no money !" Mrs. Belding re torted. " It was a mere shell when Arthur Farnham came to it, and he never received a farthing for all the time spent in repairing it." " That is nothing to the present purpose !" declared the proprietor, with a shrewd stare at the ceiling. "You can pay the amount, or suffer the con- quences. I suppose you are not quite ignorant of the law in such cases." Mrs. Belding suddenly arose to her full height, and with flashing eyes confronted him : " Mr. Fox !" she cried, with startling earnestness, " never comfort your soul with the belief that there is no place of future punishment. He who said 'vengence is mine, I will repay!' who has declared ' that he loves righteousness and hates robbery ' sits in the Heaven of Heavens to-day, judging between the oppresser and the oppressed all over the world. I am impelled to tell you " " And I am impelled to tell you" interrupted Mr. Christophar Fox, changing color, in spite of his seem ing bravado, " that you are a mad woman ! a stark, TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 223 staring, mad woman," he repeated, gazing at her white face with a mixture of dread and awe. "I am not mad, most noble Festus ?" she quoted in a voice so strange, and with an irony so cutting, that Annie West almost disbelieving her assertion, trem bled and turned pale. "Why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead ? / was dead ; disbelieving in His power, blinded by the god of this world, as you are blinded to-day : Heaping up riches, and knowing not who should gather them : but like the old king Nebuchadnezzar, " My Kingdom has de parted from me and I have been cast forth to eat grass like the oxen, until now I know that the most High ruleth, in the kingdoms of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will." " Is your harangue ended, Madam ?" inquired the stout proprietor, in a swaggering tone of indifferent banter. " If so, perhaps you will condescend to devote your rather extraordinary powers, to a little matter of common business, and will be so kind as to pay the amount due for rent, and I will gladly relieve you of my presence." " I have no money," replied Mrs. Belding, speaking in the same unnaturally calm and lofty manner as before " not even the dime which would have bought our gruel for the day. We shall work dinner- less and supperless until this is finished and the poor returns for it, come back. I have not a friend in the world but this brave, patient girl. I had a beautiful daughter once : she died in your service, and through the worse than heathen inhospitality of your hated house. She lost her young life, striving to win some 224 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL trifling comforts for those she loved, and you have never paid its cost, even had its worth been valued at a penny. Let the curse ' she swept on, in a measured monotone " that David prayed upon his enemies, Oh Lord ! be upon this extortioner and murderer from this hour forever /" she plead with such awful and startling effect, as arrested and chain ed the attention of that doomed individual, to the extent of listening with staring eyes, and dilated no strils through which his breath came thick and heavy to the following awful anathema : " Set thou a wicked man over him, and let Satan stand at his right hand." ' Let his days be few, and let another take his place." " Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow." " Let the extortioner catch all that he hath." " Let there be none to extend mercy unto him : neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children." " Let his posterity be cut off : and let his name be blotted out, because he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy that he might slay the broken in heart." "As he loved cursing," she repeated with slow and terrible effect looking with unwinking steadfastness into his staring eyes " so let it come unto him : as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him !" She folded her arms as she finished speaking, and sat down as rigid of form as if frozen in death. " She is insane !" gasped the panting proprietor, turning a sickly, ashen-hued face upon Annie West, DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL 225 " as mad as a March Hare ! she must be taken care of." " I shall do very well," returned Mrs. Belding. ' Look to yourself, Mr. Fox ! look to yourself !" The gentleman semed at that moment inclined to do so, for he betrayed in his manner an impatient desire to escape to some more agreeable locality ; and to be mentally debating the propriety of such a step. Clearly in the light of his practical judgment, it was not to be thought of. To be beaten out of his dues, and cowed by the frenzied harangue of a sharp- tongued woman ; he vowed by all that was sacred, he would not. He had heard maledictions before, and did not as a rule fear them much. He thought he would risk a good round cursing, sooner than the loss of the money. " Perhaps, Madam," he began, in a cool, measured tone of voice, "that you fancy me so far intimidated by your eloquent and forcible, not forgetting to add, Jiigldy Christian denunciation of me, that I shall be only too glad to leave you in undisputed possession of these premises but the painful truth is, I am such a rhinoceros-coated old sinner, as to be quite imper vious to your tragic rendering of choice selections of Bible, and have to confess that your own unassisted profanity would be just as effective with me, as Davids : so I advise you ; don't beat around the bush, but when you anathematize, do it on your own strength, and in your own sweet way : and don't be indebted to David, or anybody else for original expressions." He was bantering now, and smiling in the direction of Mrs. Belding's uncompromising face. "I'll tell you what I'll do," he said in a conciliatory way, and 226 TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." staring about the room as if struck for the first time, with a certain fine old picture, hanging against the wall ; " I'll take that and call it even with you." "You will?" said Mrs. Belding, measuring him with her cold gray eyes. " I should not set much value on it ; if it were mine," he continued, but I want to be generous with you though you have been a little rough on me, you must acknowledge yourself. I suppose I have offered you double its cost. But what do you call it worth now ?" he asked smilingly. Mrs. Belding trembling with suppressed passion, made no answer. "Come," said he hurriedly, " what do you propose to do in the matter ? my time is a good deal more valuable than anything I see here but I've tried to oblige you on David's account," he added, looking facetiously in the direction of pretty Annie West, whose troubled face was bent so low above the work she seemed intently busied upon, as to be scarcely visible. "And I'll settle for the rent up to present date, for that valued heir-loom, painted by one of the 'OLD MASTERS' I suppose," he said with swaggering irony. "Pearls before swine!" ejaculated Mrs. Belding. "No, living or dead, I will never give that picture into your hands !" " Then," declared Mr. Christopher Fox, striding away, with head thrown back, and wide-set eyes, seem ing to stare in several directions at once, " I give you fair warning that you must suffer the consequences of your stupid folly." As the proprietor of the Janded, estate, and the DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL 22J suburban town of Foxburg, slammed the door behind his burly and highly aggravated back ; Annie West rose up, like one suddenly aroused from a nightmare, and putting one arm tenderly around Mrs. Belding's neck, laid her soft cheek against hers, and without one word, cried there, and sobbed herself quiet again. But the older and sadder eyes, had no tears in them ; they were dry and hard almost wild in their expression. " Something must be done at once !" was the thought of each, but neither uttered the startling words. Mrs. Belding, impelled by the stern necessity of doing, grasped the work she had let fall, and began sewing hurriedly. " Don't ! oh don't," pleaded Annie, taking it from her with gentle force. " You are too ill to work ; and I say you shall not ;" she declared resolutely. " Come with me !" she coaxed ; and the poor woman so strong in her indignation, only a few moments before was glad now to lay her throbbing head upon the girl's shoulder, and feel the strength of her support, as she lead her away to the couch, where she obedient ly stretched her trembling form. " We have got One Friend left," whispered Annie, bending down and kissing the wan, worn face. " I used to think so," said Mrs. Belding, beginning to cry, " I used to think I was cared for," she sobbed "but where can one lean, with all the supports taken away, one by one ?" " Call upon Me in the day of trouble," repeated Annie, falteringly the promise had seemed repeating itself over and over to her frightened little heart, 228 TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." until she could think of nothing else ' and I will deliver." " I do to try," confessed the broken-hearted woman, "and I always hoped He would ; but I don't know where the deliverance is coming from now!" " My ways are not your ways, neither are my thoughts your thoughts : saith the Lord," repeated Annie, thoughtfully ; surprised, both at the aspects of the quotation and the facility with which it had come to her mind. " Perhaps, after all," she reflected, " the Lord intends a deliverance !" There was great comfort in this thought, to herself at least, and kissing the poor face again, she begged her "not to worry, bnt to just give it all up, and rest," and bringing the silken quilt to envelope her form a suggestion of luxury for the susceptible lady she drew the shades to hide the daylight, and went out. " Something must be done, and done quickly !" so imperative was the thought, that she did not even pause in her steps to consider what might be the best thing, but tried to plan some way out of their difficulties, as she hastily dressed for the street. The suggestion in regard to the picture had not been lost upon her. She had some keepsakes too, which were quite valu able. Amongst these, a dainty little watch which had been given her while at school, and which had been her especial delight, and the envy of all the girls, becsuse of its pretty jeweled case, and elegant work manship. She had meant never to part with it ; but the time had come when there was no choice left in the matter. This, with several other delicate and costly trifles were secured, and softly opening the outer door, she stole forth. DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL 229 Upon the little porch, she hesitated a moment, and then ran around and tapped lightly at Mrs. McGarvy's kitchen door. The widow, who was crying over her washing now her sole means of support took her hands from the water, and opened it with an exclamation of surprise. " Be you going out ?" she inquired. "Yes," hurriedly "to see what can be done for us all." Then glancing at the tear-stained face, she added, " Try to be brave, and maybe there will soon help come !" "God's mercy on us!" fervently ejaculated the widow, with upraised hands and streaming eyes. "Will you be out long ?" she asked anxiously. " No that is, I hope not but of that I am not so sure ; and if I should not come soon dear Mrs. McGarvy could you would you be so kind as to give Mrs. Belding a little dinner when she awakes ?" asked Annie, timidly, "just a cup of tea, if you should have it, and a bit of bread." " Indeed I will," she replied heartily a broad smile lighting up her face now, at the thought of the service " and don't ye fret : I'll have a morsel for ye both when ye come back, for I have the bit o' meat for a stew an' it will give me great pleasure to clap it on the fire now, an' make it ready." Annie could have kissed the woman, she felt such a thrill of gratitude : a " dinner of herbs" would have been a relish, but this prospect seemed to her fancy, like " the stalled ox." " Thank you kindly," she said, heart and eyes over flowing, and departed. She set her face resolutely in 230 TO " THE BREAD WINNERS. the direction of the Hastings' cottage, and walked rapidly forward. " I have no other person to whom I can apply," she said, apologizing to her own conscience for taking her trouble where there was enough and to spare, of the same heavy commodity ; "and they perhaps can do nothing but pity me." In this forlorn state of mind, she entered the little loft, where the cheerful loom made its own rude music, and felt greatly relieved to find Mrs. Hastings quite alone ; to whom she hurriedly imparted the day's misfortunes. The good woman listened to her story, with a face almost as white as her own ; though far more com posed in its expression. "Ah ! it is very hard for thee my poor child ;" she faltered, " who have known so few hard lines in thy life. But thou must learn to trust. " They that trust in the most High," she whispersd, " shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Is'nt that a promise ? All our riches are in His store-house; and it is dealt out as we have need. ' It is better to trust in the Lord'," she declared with the convic tion of personal experience, "than to put confidence in princes. He opens paths of deliverance for His people to-day, even as he did for the children of Israel when they went out of Egypt." Annie smiled at her comforter, through tears. " Now these," she continued examining the box of keepsakes, which had been given into her hands, with anxious but unpracticed eyes "are no doubt worth a fine deal of money if they could be sold, or pawned for anything like their cost ; but that is the trouble," TO THE " BREAD WINNERS." 2^1 she sighed, ' v when one is forced to sell his goods, it must always be at a sacrifice." She sat regarding them for some moments thoughtfully, weighing the pretty chain in her fingers, and looking tenderly at the small hoops of gold, which had graced the fair hands upon a previous visit ; and said : ' Thee must not try to dispose of these things. Paul will do far better. He will come home at noon, when I shall lay all thy case before him. And now I think thee had better go home, and comfort thy friend, as may Heaven comfort thee." 232 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL XVI. A STARTLING APPARITION. We left Captain Farnham ruined in health and for tune ; a stranger in a strange land, an outcast, save from the humblest shelter. He had drifted on in this bleak existence, much as a deserted dismantled ship, drifts on mid-ocean, rudderless, compassless. Yet there came a time when he awoke to the consciousness that he was still afloat ; he had not gone down when the deep waters had swallowed all else. It was still reserved for him to struggle with the wild waves. Something was due to the brave fellows, who had thought his poor life worth the saving ; and he must bestir himself. Mrs. Belding and little Annie were still left. How selfish he had grown in his misery and weakness. He counted his years, forty-three, and stupidly wondered if he should go on living till his hair grew white, and his steps tottering, little dream ing that time had already come. Happily, the hunter's hut reflected no hint of the great change that had come over him ; no mirror mocked the wintery shadow that wandered ghost-like about the deserted place. The "boys" had work in the town, now; yet Tom Carley came back faithfully every night, to stay with him, and minister to his comfort. Farnham watched this man set-forth each successive morning with much the same longing that a younger boy feels, when a bigger brother swings his satchel TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. 233 across his neck, and starts for school. He wanted to go too, and began to speculate, as to his ability to reach the foot of the mountain. At length, one bright autumn morning, he trudged on behind, keeping the stalwart workman in sight a little way, and then, slowly and wearily, with many a halt for rest, follow ing the trail. The men saw him a long way off, for they had a wide range of vision from the roof of the big barn they were shingling. How white his face looked to them, as he came near, and how wistfully he surveyed them, up there in the broad, bright sunlight ! " Want to come up ?" they shouted. Farnham nodded in reply, and Tom Carley came down the ladder with the agility of a squirrel. " I am afraid," sighed the invalid surveying that structure anxiously "that I am not quite equal to that yet. I must sit down awhile and rest. Go back to your work, Tom, and I'll sit here on this log, and watch you." " No ! no," objected Tom, " vot for ish de tackels? vee'll bull you mit dem up goot, like de shingle, an' make you bed mit our old coats like von brinze." " Farnham laughed, more in enjoyment of the pros pect, than at the crude English, which good-naturedly drew the picture of his comfort. The ropes were adjusted about him, and it was a pleasant sensation to be lifted, without a struggle, into the upper air, and deposited in a comfortable, half-reclining posture, upon a couch of the cast off garments. Here he lay, listening like one in a happy dream, to the music of the hammers, which seemed to be running a race. The men whistled as they worked, pausing occasion- 234 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL ally to satisfy themselves that he was "all right." Sometimes they broke into scraps of personal history wild experiences of life on the frontier, amplified largely for his edification. When the mid-day hour came, he shared their lunch and drank from the same vessel, of the pure water, brought from the mountain spring. Their work was supplied by a certain Colonel Cunningham, the largest stockholder in a quartz min ing company, and the prime minister and mover, in most of the improvements being pushed forward for the public weal of the new town. He had already built a showy hotel of generous proportions, on Ridge Avenue, and donated the site for a church, on an eminence called the " Devil's back," and purposed bringing water from a mountain spring, to supply the future city. The stables and other out-buildings, appertaining to the said hotel, were now in course of construction, and these men engaged in the work. As the day drew towards its close, the laborers became less jolly, either from weariness, or dearth of personal reminiscence ; suddenly Joe, broke a some what long silence by singing out : "Jehu! There's a runaway!" and a carriage came rattling at a furious rate, down the rocky road. It drew up sharply in front of the new building, and then it was discovered that the horse was not only under control, but that one of the gentlemen riding behind it, was no less a personage than Colonel Cun ningham, himself. He had stopped a moment on his way to the hotel, to criticise their day's work. The trotter a high-headed, handsome animal, was covered with foam, and trembled from the effects of TO THE "BREAD WINNERS." 235 too much lashing. The men, whose stout propor tions more than filled the seat of the open vehicle, were smoking, with evident enjoyment, and their sleek beavers, worn in the wide-awake fashion, re vealed in all their breadth and brilliancy, a pair of bloated faces and inflamed noses. " That one on this side's the boss !" announced Joe, impressively. It was the one with heavy guard chain and fob, with so many seals dangling over his rotundity of chest, and who now called out : " How's the fun to-night, boy's ? got her well under cover I see !" "Aye! aye!" shouted Joe. "snug an' tight as a man o'war ! Farnham lying along the roof, gazed down indiffer ently and, rubbing his eyes in a dazed way, looked with bewildered intentness, at the bold face of "the one on this side." Then, a sudden intelligence flashed from their dreamy depths, and they were fixed in an almost savage stare. The carriage drove on to the hotel beyond ; and as the day's work was now finished, "the boys" gathered up their effects, assisted the invalid in his descent, and took their way to the house where he had first awoke in his fever. Here they were now to remain while the work lasted, though Farnham saw himself, by the flash of Mrs. Marten's eyes, on the instant of his entrance, a most unwelcome intruder. Time had not abated the resentment cherished toward the wretched man, who, according to her phraseology " had nigh about bin the ruination of 'em ; and who, - 236 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL it was plain to her mind would never pay a cent, for all the trouble he'd made." A coarse, though plentiful supper was in waiting, to which they eagerly addressed themselves with hearty, but secret satisfaction ; for it was partaken in decorous silence. Discretion, "the boys" well understood to be now, the better part of valor, in the face of the irate female, who poured the coffee with spasmodic jerks, as if she had been an ill-regulated machine ; and Farnham, after the first chill of the home atmosphere, had penetrated his thread-bare penury, was too absorbingly occuped to suffer further humiliation or remorse. Directly the meal was ended, he proposed to his comrades to go over to " The Cunningham " so the mushroom hotel had been christened, and hear what is astir. It was already twilight, and they were weary from a hard day's work ; but something unusual in Farnham's face and manner betraying suppressed excitement, suggested watchfulness and concession, to an invalid's caprice. They put on their hats and sauntered over to the broad piazza, which seemed to welcome all alike, and sat down among a crowd of loiterers Farnham occuping an obscure corner, where, unob served, he might look and listen. " The boss " was there, sun of the social system, and a bright galaxy of lesser lights, revolving around him. His chair was tilted back at a dangerous angle; one of his corpulent legs rested comfortably upon a railing, which bounded an end of the porch, while his eyes, apparently gazing heavenward, only watched the spiral circlets of fragrant smoke he was industri- TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. 237 ously emitting, and which, like the tail of a comet, streamed far away into the night. There was a lively buzz of conversation which was not in the least affected by an addition of numbers. It was a grave question of " political economy," growing out of a homicide committed that very day. Ed. Stuart, a rich claim holder, had, in a fit of intoxi cation, shot and killed a workman. " Would he, or would he not, be put through the farce of a trial ?" This was the subject agitating the small body of men in this frontier settlement. Various had been the conjectures of the probable course legal justice would take, when the oracular Colonel decided the case, and silenced further argument, by these weighty reflections. "What is the sense," he apostrophised, rather than enquired, " of the commonwealth, prosecuting in a case of this kind " It is only a reckless squander ing of the treasury. A man with plenty of the " root of all evil" to back him, ain't a going to suffer much from gover'munt or law in this country ! No, sir ! Talk about the ballot and equal rights, and all that twaddle of the politicians ! Tiiey know there's no such thing, here or anywhere else. Why, money is the very back bone of our glorious Republic ; and it takes more of it to elect our officers every four years, from the President down to the tax collector, than it does to pay them their salaries after they get there. So they are not going to kick hard at the fellows who hold the stakes, you bet ! This gover'munt is practically in the nands of the moneyed power to-day, and might makes right !" 238 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL " Do do does it !" asked a small, nervous, hol low-eyed man, with a ragged jacket, and a fearful stutter. "No; I mean it unmakes it," replied the Colonel, with cool impressiveness, and fixing on the questioner a quizzical look of grave deliberation, " so my friend, let me advise you, while we're on this subject ; never go to law with a man who has got a bigger pile than you can count on. If you do, you'll lose your case, sure as h 1 !'" One face, at least, in the group of listeners, grew so threateningly dark, as it turned toward the speaker, as to be positively savage, but all unconscious of a dissenting thought, the Colonel proceeded : I never knew it to fail. Let two men go into Court; one with all the right and argument on his side, and the other all the rocks, and that kind o' ballast is bound to weigh down the scales of justice every time." " We will try it ! Colonel Cunningham alias John Gordon Briggv !" hissed Arthur Farnham, between his teeth. "We will try it ! bloated villian and black guard that you are !" As he walked homeward with his companions, he felt himself suddenly lifted out of his state of apathy and indifference, by the inspiration of a just and righteous indignation. Tom Carley "smelled de rain coomin' mit de air," and congratulated Joe " dat de pig barn vas wery glad he vas covered under," while Farnham, forgetting the mercy of One, to whom " vengeance belongeth " felt that lightnings of Heaven and whirlwinds of wrath,were not swift and headlong enough to satisfy his impatience for justice to purify the moral atmos- TO "THE BREAD WINNERS.' 239 phere of the contagion of one sinner. Here was the miscreant who had robbed and ruined him flourish ing like the prophetic "green bay tree," while he ah ! what a picture he presented to himself, by com parison ? All that night he lay on his miserable bed, tossing and restless, in his fierce impatience to witness the tragedy when the mighty enginery of the civil law should weave its web steathily, but strongly, around this doomed and defiant victim. Hired detectives had dogged his footsteps over land and sea, in the early days of his disappearance ; while officers of justice stood ready to deal it out, in unstinted measure to the execrable wretch whenever, or wherever he was found. What rejoicing there would be, now that the law could be vindicated and just punishment awarded the guilty ! The next morning, cipher telegrams were sent to the proper authorities at home, citing them to the hiding place of the recreant Briggs, and in their wake, followed letters with all necessary information respecting him ; and now, there seemed nothing to do, but await, sub-rosa, the appearance of the arresting officers. To secure immunity from observation, he retired again to the solitary mountain hut, and spent the interim in bringing down the game with which those wilds abounded. Tom Carley, who was detailed to bring any mail which might come for him, made his appearance every night in camp, bringing any needed stores from the town, for which Farnham bartered the fruits of his trusty rifle. In this way, day after day passed ; and then, week 240 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL after week crept slowly by, yet brought no word from the distant avengers of the dishonored law. He waited, until convinced that ' patience had ceased to be a virtue,' and then followed other messages, in voking aid in his extremity ; but, like the gods of old, when importuned to send fire from Heaven ; " per- adventure they were deaf or they were sleeping or they were on a journey ;" for no response was vouch safed. He became harrassed with anxiety and distrust ; and one wild night, in the security of the mountain retreat he told his two friends something of the story of his past life. Uncorrupted by fiction, and largely endowed with faith, they proved marvelously in terested listeners. Outside, the rain poured and swashed in turbulent streams, down the steep moun tain side ; and the fierce winds howled and raged, through the tattered pines, yet the rapt listeners heard only the low, clear enunciations of a voice that seemed to lay upon them an enchanter's spell. Sometimes the pathos of the tale it told unconsciously por trayed moved them strangely ; and honest tears moistened the rough cheeks ; and again, the wrongs of the injured man, who sat there beside them, cried out to their rugged hearts like a brother in distress. The old lantern, hanging aloft, swayed in the wind, and cast weird lights over the faces of the three ; and one looked white, even in the shadows and two, grim, with passion and purpose. Farnham little understood the courage and daring of these simple hearted men children, they seemed to him, who had grown old unconsciously but long afterward he had cause to remember the grave deter- TO " THE BREAD WINNERS 241 initiation of their kindly eyes, as it showed that night. Many conferences followed this. Almost nightly, they met and mysteriously discussed plans of action ; and again abandoned them as impracticable ; and while they speculated and temporized, the Colonel throve more and more in the public esteem, and the capture of such an iron-clad became each day more problematical and formidable. Toward, the twilight of a November day, which Farnham had spent upon the mountains, with his old rifle for pastime, and his thoughts for serious business, he saw something moving, just before him, through a tangle of bushes, and supposing it a huge bird of some sort, drew up, taking deliberate aim to bring it down. At that instant, the report of a gun, in the same direction, arrested his purpose. He sang out to warn the sportsman, whoever he might be, of his approach, and struck out toward him. Making his way through the rank under-brush, snapping the twigs that obstructed his progress, he found himself suddenly, face to face, with the great magnate, "The Right Honorable Colonel Cunning ham," as he was quoted by the press, and introduced among his compeers. Farnham recognized his adversary with a strange bating of his breath, and a fiercer grasp of his weapon ; while Briggs as we shall re-christian him betrayed no consciousness of the other's personality. They stood silently confronting each other for a few seconds, when a sudden blanching of the florid 242 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL face, and a demoniac gleam of the treacherous eyes, betrayed the hasty alarm of a guilty intelligence. Briggs felt for the gun he had dropped a moment before recollecting with a gasp of terror, that it was empty. " Let it alone !" thundered Farnham, pointing his own loaded rifle at the villian's breast, " or I will send you where you belong, without the aid of judge or jury/' "What's the matter with you?" cried the culprit, feigning surprise at the stranger's belligerent attitude, while a sickly smile flickered about his coarse mouth, and died there as he spoke. "You will learn soon enough for your comfort!" retorted Farnham. " Move at your peril !" he warn ed for Briggs made a motion as if he would fly "you will not escape justice whichever way you turn : the blood hounds of the law are on your track, and they will bring you down, and see that you are suitably housed at last. They are apprised of your comfortable hiding-place ; your false name ; and sham honors. "Stir!" heagained threatened for the rest less purpose was betrayed in the frightened eyes " and I will shoot you, with no more compunction than I would have in bringing down a wild buck." "What do yo u want of me 9" gasped Briggs; his eyes standing out with abject, craven terror. " I want," replied Farnham, " to see you exposed in this community, as you justly deserve to be. I want you taken back to Buffland ; tried and condemned to solitary labor in the penitentiary where you properly belong. I want the money you robbed me of, and TO " THE BREAD WINNERS. 243 have been trading and speculating with, restored with interest for all these years. I want " How much now?" gasped Briggs, interrupting the fierce judgment poured out upon him, without stint or mercy. "What do you mean?" demanded Farnham, un compromising fury flashing in his eyes. "I mean fair !" replied Briggs, eagerly. "I'll be fair and square with you : and Cap'n, what's the use of quarreling, when there is a better way of settling differences, / say ! I'm on the square with everybody now trying my best to live right, and do right, and what's the use of blasting a man's fair name one situated as / am ?" Farnham regarded him with cold, abhorrent eyes. There was no relenting, and no pity in them ; and though Briggs felt them penetrate his miserable hypocrisies, and mock his words ; he ran hurriedly on, scarce knowing what he said : " I tell you Cap'an, I'm positively glad to run across you : for its plain to see you need a friend. You stand by me ; and I'll agree to stand by you ; and I'm able ;" he chuckled. " Why that little trick of mine tried when I was a younger man than I am now By Heavens ! Farnham, its the only spot on my good name that a man could put his finger on. I'm a member of a church now, and going to build the biggest concern within fifty miles of us. Why I'd rather you'd shoot me on the spot," he whined, "than not to hush this thing up ! If you get your money what good is it going to do to ruin a man in my position ? I'll tell you what I'll do ! Call off those sharps, and leave me where you found me, and I'll 244 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL give you Ten Thousand dollars, inside of three days /" "You will be a living lie, wherever you are," declared Farnham, still contemplating him with scorn ful eyes ;" in prison, or out ; the trouble is ; too many of your sort have been let loose to prey upon humanity." " But I tell you Cap'an, upon the honor of a gentle man ; I'm doing a heap of good here ; giving work to hundreds of poor fellows ; and paying 'em honest and treating 'em first rate. Now, I'll tell you what I'll do !" he began eagerly. "Do I" repeated Farnham, mockingly. "Don't I know what you will do if you have the power ? Don't I know that a cowardly thief, makes a brave liar? Do you think I will let you off now with premises ? your promises, John Briggs ?" "What more can I do, here, and now? gasped the terror-stricken man, for the set features of the other gave fearful emphasis to the mouth of the deadly weapon, held ominously before him. " Ten Thousand dollars," began Farnham, slowly, "is not one-fifth of the money you stole from me, and you know it. Here," he continued, deliberately pro ducing a much worn pocket hand-book, and tearing therefrom a leaf, " take this stencil pen and write me a note for the full amount ; with interest for six years. Ten Thousand dollars, payable in three days, and the remainder subject to a mortgage on all your property here. The color receeded even from Briggs' rudy nose. " / have decided what you will do, and do quickly too !" declared Farnham, in a low, determined voice. TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 245 ' I am not trifling now ; and there is but one choice left you ! Empty your pockets," he commanded grimly, " of every dollar they hold !" Briggs took the pen in one hand, and fumbled irresolutely in his pockets with the other. Something in Farnham's face seemed to facilitate his motions ; the irresolute hand suddenly brought forth a plethoric wallet, which he regretfully relinquished ; and taking the note-book, he adjusted it nervously against the trunk of a huge tree and proceeded to write as Farnham sternly dictated ! " I, John Gordon Briggs, formerly of the city of Buffland, State of New York, once in the employ of Arthur Farnham, of the same city and State, and with full power of attorney to act for the same : do acknowledge that while so employed I did secretly and maliciously defraud and rob him the said Arthur Farnham of cash, bonds, and other property to the full value of Sixty Thousand dollars, and abscond ed with the same from that place on the night of the 6th of December, 187 and I now promise to pay the said Arthur Farnham, the said sum of $60,000 (Sixty Thousand dollars), with arrears of interest from date of embezzlement. Payment to be made as follows: $10,000 (Ten Thousand dollars) of said money to be paid within three days of this fifth day of November, 1 88 . The remainder payable in sums of $10,000 (Ten Thousand dollars) on the original indebtness, with interest at six per cent, per annum on the whole amount. These payments are to be made on the first of January of each year until the whole sum shall have been liquidated : which sum, $60,000 (Sixty Thousand dollars^ with all interest thereon, shall be 246 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL secured in payment to the said Arthur Farnham, by a mortgage on my entire estate. Given this 5th day of November, 188 under mine own hand. JOHN GORDON BRIGGS. ALIAS COL. C. CUNNINGHAM. There was a baleful gleam in his eyes, as he gave this back, which, though covert, did not escape the other's notice. " This will do !" decided Farnham as after carefully examining the paper he folded and returned it to the book for safe keeping. " And now, Mr. Briggs the safest possible thing for you to do, is to keep faith with me. In that case I shall not molest you, and you can continue your pious and distinguished relations with this favored community." " I give you my word of honor, as a gentleman !" cried Briggs, the color bounding back as suddenly as it had left his face, as the muzzle of the gun was removed from its immediate locality. " I put no trust in your honor as a gentleman !" returned the other, scornfully, " but shall require you to fulfil every line of this agreement." They parted without another word. Farnham stood several mo ments watching the course his foe had taken. Down the mountain he went : his velocity accelerated, both by his gravity of purpose and his gravity of person. "The knave ! The scoundrel !" he apostrophised, as with blanched cheek and flashing eyes, he watched the headlong descent. " If I feared anything, I might well fear him." He made his way to the hunter's hut, and sat down ; panting from excitement ; weak from fatigue, and with a prophetic consciousness of impending danger. He was no coward, morally or TO THE "BREAD WINNERS." 247 physically ; but through his clear understanding and quick perception, he saw and felt the peril of the situation. " There was too much truth in the braggart's defi ance of law." His own brave threat of its aroused vengenance, were unjustified, and unfounded. What was law, or its guardians, but commodities to be bought and sold, like a child's toy ? He had known this too well long ago ; had often witnessed in the civil courts, the sad spectacle where might had triumphed and flaunted its purple and gold in the pauper face of the righteous cause : but never never felt, as now, the bitterness and helplessness of penury. "What signifies," he reflected, "all the testimony that can be piled between the earth and skies, before an advocate who turns and twists the law not to wring justice from the fleckless robes but jewels for wife and daughters, and haunts of idleness for self? And in a case of this kind," he reasoned, " there are probably few servants of the people who would move, without a prospect of re-embursement. " He was no longer a figure, representing a certain quantity but a cipher standing alone in the world In the years which had swept past, since he belonged to it ; and it, in a sense, to him he had been borne down and carried beyond its treacherous memory." While thus soliloquising, he was startled by the sound of approaching footsteps, and was hurriedly placing himself in an attitude of defense, when Tom, and Joe those welcome ' boys' rushed in. What a relief their sturdy presence afforded ? How his almost woman's heart, warmed toward them ? Tom had come to spend the night ; and Joe, partly 248 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL to escape an evening at home, and partly to hear stories of the hunter's life, as related Farnham, who generally contrived to make a trifling adventure of this sort, marveously entertaining to these child-men listeners. They were straightway rewarded ; for Farnham entered at once, and with unusual animation and eagerness, upon a history of the encounter just des cribed. It was bristling with points of interest for both his hearers. Joe felt, after thoroughly discussing the situation, called upon to act in the matter, and to act at once. Farnham thought the scoundrel did not mean to keep the faith with him that he would take advantage of his friendlessness, to still farther victimize him. " Let him try it !" exclaimed Joe, baring his brawny arm to the shoulder, and feeling with a kind of savage joy, along its rugged line of bone and muscle. " Let him try it ! We'll show him some friends, Tom, who'll stick closer'n a brother !" Tom, when appealed to, was striding back and forth in the little hut, every vein in his Dutch body seeming charged with molten metal, and every sinew made of iron. He stopped, grasped Joe's hand, and held it as if in a vice ; while they gazed into each others eyes, stead fastly ; a stern, most unchild-like purpose reflected in the face of each. " Dat ish dhrue," nodded Tom, relinquishing the rough hand and looking mightily pleased with the suggestion-r-" Closer den von brudder : dat ish goot eh, Mr. Voornam ?" 1 Aftej some more talk, which Farnham considered TO THE "BREAD WINNERS." 249 childish and futile, Joe set forth for home, and Tom, following him, held a whispered conversation outside, which lasted so long that Farnham grew uneasy. We will not reveal the secret of that mysterious interview. Even Tom, when he returned made no mention of it, and disinclined to further talk only remarked, as he hung up his old slouch hat, preparatory to 'turning in' for the night : " You no vear has, Meester Voornam ? Sleep de night all zound. Closer den von brudder ; ha, ha !" 250 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL XVII. A FRONTIER COURT. When Briggs parted from his accuser on the moun tain, he repaired with all haste to the hotel, and to his own private parlor, therein, to take a personal observa tion of the small cloud which had so suddenly darkened his moral and financial horizon. He rang with emphasis, and ordered champagne and oysters ; and over these, grew less disturbed and more self- confident. Before the decanter was emptied, he even began to curse himself for " an infernal coward and idiot." " Ha ! ha, ha," he laughed, at last not openly, but secretly, " He threatens me ! Talks of officers hound ing my steps ! Don't I know there ain't a d d man among them, so anxious to serve the country, that he'll do it, just because it happens to be his special business? No Sir! My high spoken Cap'an : you might catch the bird with salt ; but you can't down a rich man in this country without the rocks ! That's my theology." He glanced at his surroundings, complacently, and wondered how such things ciuld happen! "Tables have been turned in mighty quick time," he said aloud ; and was startled that he had given voice to even so much introspective thought. He set down his empty glass got up, straightened himself and walked about the room. Stopping before a mirror, he TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 251 gazed into it furtively, as if to assure himself that no change had been wrought in his bloated face. There was a look in the eyes, which made him scowl back at them ; but presently it seemed to skulk behind the bravery of his thoughts. He heard the entrance of a squad of friends into the bar-room below. Lawyer Dodge was one of them ; the very man for him and he recognized also Dennis voice, one of the rail road magnates, who stopped at no swindle that brought Eastern travel over the new road. " What if they don't find the country exactly as represented," Briggs had often heard him say, " we get 'em here all the same or, if they won't stay charge 'em double fare home again. That pays too!" Even the sound of this man's voice, now gave him comfort and confidence. " Blow me ! if this ain't luck !" he muttered, as another familiar tone struck his ear. " The Major's back ! Just in on the train. They say he's laid out the Chicago chaps, with his salted mine, to the tune of Two Hundred Thousand ! Blast him ! But money'll build up the town, and make more for the rest of us, but," he reflected, "they're none of em in my secret ; and won't be : I don't particularly need rogues ; 'this is a clear straight case of highway robbery !" Briggs took on the Colonel Cunningham swagger instantaneously. He proceeded hurriedly to divest himself of the hunting coat ; the limp collar and cuffs, and to make an unusually neat and impressive toilet, Then he sauntered down to the bar. There he found several strangers just arrived on the West bound express. After effusively greeting the Major, he was pompously presented to a favored few of these 252 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL as "father and founder of our new and growing town, the Honorable Colonel Cunningham." There was one of the party, a tall, muscular, eagle-eyed, plainly clad fellow who, upon hearing this name, began to study the Colonel's face, with a puzzled expression upon his own. "Where under the canopy of heaven?" his per plexed eyes seemed asking " have we looked upon that visage before ?" The Colonel proceeded to treat the crowd all around, with the most genial hospitality ; saying as he did so, that ' he was under the humiliating necessity of getting trusted at the bar, as he had just been way-laid and robbed, up here on the mountain.' " Fact, boys !" he confessed laughingly, " I haven't a d d cent about me. I would have divided with the knave, without whining, but that wouldn't do : I had to stand and deliver at the mouth a forty-five caliber revolver. Wasn't that plucky ?" All eyes turned upon him, with keen interest, while he seemed actually expanding with the importance of the adventure. ' As he believed his credit pretty fair, he ordered the glasses refilled.' The men drank again, and. excitement increased. Some were ready to go forth at once, in pursuit of the armed highway-man, and risk life or limb in his capture, and immediate punishment. But as the moments grew convivial, and the sun dropped sud denly behind the mountains, they were fain to abandon the enterprise until morning. Upon this decision but half comprehended by some of them the party slept profoundly through the short hours which followed their debauch. On such a night, the day TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 253 dawned too soon and in some sleepy, muddled brains the consciousness also dawned, that some pleasurable excitement waited on this morning. The sun had not yet climbed high enough to look askance at the little town, when a noisy, and eager detachment of mounted and armed men, were seen to leave it by the mountain road, bent upon the capture and speedy punishment of the desperate outlaw, believed to be in hiding, or in deadly ambush somewhere amid the fastness of the overhanging solitudes. About the settlement, a kind of idle, holiday atmosphere prevailed. Groups of men were gathered here and there, among which Joe Marten circulated, as frantic in his gesticulations, as any political aspirant appealing to his constituents. Tom Carley much perturbed in spirit followed in the wake of the mountain scouts. He knew well Farnham's hiding place but with all his sturdy bravery, was powerless even so much as to warn him of danger, in face of the advancing cavalcade. So he ran on, panting with an undefined yet terrible apprehension. But toil as he might, up the rough ascent, to keep the jovial riders in view, they galloped away from him, until even the sound of their voices was lost in the distance. Hurriedly he struggled on, but, as the report of a rifle shot smote on his ear, he stood still, in deadly terror. " De Lord be merciful !" he cried, and sank down at the foot of a tree, overpowered and almost uncon scious. Here he lay, praying in an ejaculatory, but most fervent manner, " for de help ob de goot Lord against de mighty !" when he was suddenly startled by the return of the party, bringing Farnham in their 254 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL midst. They dashed by at full speed, and springing up, he followed them, as fast as his flying feet could carry him. He kept the party in sight while they wound around the steep mountain trail and saw them in the distance, sweep into town on a fierce gallop, and dismount in front of the " Cunningham." It seemed, to his impatience that he only idled, while stumbling on through tangles of brushwood, so far in the rear, and leaping headlong over huge masses of rocks which obstructed the way. When at last, breathless and footsore he arrived at the entrance where they had disappeared, there was neither ingress or egress ; such was the crowd that surged around it. All attempts to insinuate his burly figure therein, proved utterly abortive ; but he took up a position as near to the closed door as he could get, and waited there almost consumed with anxiety while this scene was transpiring behind it : The common bar-room suddenly put on the high dignity of a court of justice. It might be lacking somewhat in the grave decorum which usually dis tinguishes such places, yet in the solemnity of the business being transacted, it was not a whit behind the chiefest of them ; for the question was one of life or death. Neither could this frontier court be considered quite beyond the pale of civilization, in view of the packed jury ; bribed witnesses ; and that no lawyer was found to undertake the unpopular, unprofitable cause of the poor prisoner at the bar. Colonel Cunningham victor in every fiber of his being opened the case himself, in the most eloquent TO THE "BREAD WINNERS. 255 manner, by a succesful appeal to the ' bar', and the testimony that flowed forth in persuasive cups, was strongly condemnatory of the prisoner : and logically convincing to both judge and jury. Little more of a trial seemed needed, still the farce went on. Lawyer Dodge swore the plaintiff, who told his story hilar iously. Then, in confirmation of it, a leathern wallet, taken by the highway-man, was produced, and identi fied by many witnesses, as belonging to ' the Colonel' ; also gold and silver which it contained. " It is a clear case" Lawyer Dodge affirmed, in summing it up, "of robbery, with intent to kill. There was guilt and infamy written all over the face of the prisoner. Who could look into those gloomy eyes, and entertain a doubt of the hellish mischief plotted behind them, to entrap the innocent? If the discriminating jury did their duty conscientiously, earth would be quickly rid of a mon ster ; and the nethermost pit, gain a worthy citizen." He besought them to lose no time in bringing in a verdict. In accordance with this advice, the smiling jury were about to retire to a convenient hallway, at the rear of the court room, when a ringing voice from the crowd cried out : " May it please the court !" and as all eyes were turned in the direction from whence it proceeded a tall, angular, stoop-shouldered man elbowed his way from an obscure corner, until he stood directly in front of the triumphant Colonel. " May it please the court," he repeated, " I claim a stay of judgment, until the defense be heard in this case !" The court seemed anything but pleased at the unexpected interruption, though it smiled somewhat 256 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL superciliously, as the unprofessional figure advanced ; while Colonel Cunningham turned on him a pair of questioning, baleful eyes. " By what have you got to say in this case ?" he demanded, fiercely. " Only this," responded the other, returning the angry stare with one of smiling, incomprehensible effrontery ; " that I happen to be familiar with your phiz, as well as your history, Mr. Briggs ; the former, posing in the rogue's gallery ; the latter, well known to every Buffland citizen shall not be supplemented now, by the murder of the victim you robbed a few years ago !" Some thing like an electric current seemed to run through the packed court room ; every man moved in his place ; the smiles faded from the faces of the jury, and the excited plaintiff sprang to his feet, shouting : " MADMAN ! LIAR !" Lawyer Dodge rapped on the bar with the knobbed head of his cane, with such emphasis that all the glasses were set a dancing ; and bawled " ORDER !" until he was purple in the face ; but only seemed to add to the confusion. " If Captain Farnham were not a stranger here," continued the intruder, in a voice that made itself heard " he would need no defense from me ; as it is," he added, turning toward the prisoner who sat weary and immobile of countenance, and waving a powerful arm in his direction " I am proud and happy to be of service to him !" " An accomplice !" roared Cunningham. "The prisoner has been proven guilty of highway robbery !" asserted his counsel, in stentorian tones. TO " THE BREAD WINNERS.' 257 The jury will render a verdict in accordance with the facts set forth." "The jury will listen to the facts in this case!" shouted the tall New Yorker. " Those set forth are not facts, as I claim a hearing to prove," There was confusion now, that all the rappings of men and spirits could not have silenced. The jury ignoring the petitioner rose up, to a man, and shuffled ont into the hall-way. Low mutter- ings and distinct oaths, issued from the crowds, which surged around the doors, and blocked up the inter stices of the wide room. Pistols leaped from the coterie about the bar, and threateningly held the prisoner at bay. Joe Marten wedged his way toward the sturdy champion of his poor friend, and excitedly thrust something into his hand, with some whispered words of explanation. It was a crumbled paper, and the tall man held it aloft, crying out : " HEAR ! HEAR ! men and brothers ! listen to the facts in the case, written out in full, by this cunning Colonel, himself : " Note of hand. I, John Gordon Briggs, formely of the city of Buff- land, of the State of New York, and in the employ of Arthur Farnham," (oaths, and interruptions by the plaintiff and party ; and cries of " HEAR ! HEAR !" and "GO ON !" from the crowd) "do hereby promise to pay to said Arthur Farnham the sum of Sixty Thousand dollars being the sum of which I wilfully and maliciously defrauded and robbed him, on the night of the sixth when / abscond ed !" shrieked the reader for the tumult had reached 258 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL proportions, that even his voice was drowned in the uproar. The jury were filing in and shouting "GUILTY!' when suddenly such a scene transpired as baffles pen to portray. The "boys," as the whole fraternity of stalwart- framed, hard-fisted, iron-willed men were termed ; who at the earnest instigation of one of their number, had crowded in to see fair play, here, in this frontier court of justice now decided to take matters into their own hands. They had many a time, listened to the vain glorious boasts of the great magnate of the mines, as to the universal power and influence of capital ; and had agreed among themselves, if ever there was another case in point, in this uncivilized community, ' to try it on with him'. ' When justice meant injustice and law a He, in this savage frontier they wanted to know it, and to be there! that was all.' And here they were ! Men of many nationalties : dark-browed Italians, and heavy Huns ; flaxen-hair ed Saxons, and open handed Hibernians ; many of them, outwardly rude as the jagged rocks among which their lives were spent ; yet endowed with judg ment more true to discriminate between the right and the wrong, than any acquired by labored judge, or craven jury ; and glowing with a love as genuine and human, for a common brotherhood, as that which fires the heart of priest or prelate. A momentary rush ; an inexplicable encounter ; and the men at the bar found themselves an unarmed minority the late plaintiff, and autocrat cf the court room, was a struggling, voiciferating prisoner, in TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 259 the iron grasp of determined men, who bore forth his huge person, as if it had been a feathers' weight. The whole civil court followed this undignified exodus into the open air ; where the self-constituted counsel for the defendant, proceeded with grave per- tinacy to cross-question the affrighted Colonel, who was inclined to truthful answers, by the persuasive logic of a pistol, pointed at his shuddering breast. " Tell these people your true name !" he thundered ; tell it without flinching !" The wretch hesitated stared straight before him, with fixed, wide-open eyes, and gasped as if breath ing his last : something he saw there blanched his cheek and loosened his tongue. " John Gordon Briggs" he answered, in a scarcely audible voice. " That is correct," assented his questioner , but hardly loud enough for all these friends to hear ; and they are anxious to know so I will repeat : " He says his full name is JOHN GORDON BRIGGS. Now tell us," he continued, " if you were ever employed by the man yonder Captain Arthur Farn- ham ?" " Yes," after a momentary glance, straight ahead. " Did you rob him of a large sum of money, and leave the country ?" Again there was hesitation visible in the scared face, but it was only momentary effective argument again prevailed and he gasped : "Yes." " Did you write this note?" proceeded the question er reading in a loud, clear voice, the memorable one 260 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL penned upon the mountain "and are its provisions just and true, as given under your hand ?" The wretch in reply, bowed his perspiring face upon his open palms, and wept aloud. " That will do," decided the court which seemed now entirely resolved into the one great angular figure, bending over the weeping culprit. " That will do ! and this community can dispose of you according to its own light." And he strode away to where Captain Farnham stood, leaning against a pillar of the balcony for support of which his white face betrayed him to be sadly in need. They clasped hands like old friends, though the stranger said : " I never knew you personally Captain, only as a figure on the streets of Buffland but that was too familiar to be mistaken." Farnham could not utter a word in reply, but only pressed the outstretched hand. " I am thankful the sentence of the whimpering scoundrel doesn't rest with me !" continued the big New Yorker, whose name, as it appeared on his busi ness cards for he was an honest lumberman of Buff- land, looking up pine lands in the far West was James L. Longstreet, but familiarly known on the streets at home as " Long Jim." " I don't know," he said, with a sort of comic gravity, " what I should be tempted to do with him : perhaps strangle him with a rope. His neck is such an aggravated kind of mon strosity, that it suggests an aggravated kind of remedy. Yet, as he spoke, some turbulent mutterings of the impatient crowd, caused the mocking expression of his TO " THE BREAD WINNERS." 261 countenance to change instantly to one of undisguis ed horror. The sounds, though ominous, were scarcely intelli gible in words. The two men rushed into the excited throng. " Not that boys ! !" cried Farnham, in an agony of terror ; for he saw preparations for making short work of the culprit. " Not tliat ! for Heaven's sake ! Spare his life ! They had pinned him to a tree, and in their own vernacular, "were goin' to give the boss a little taste o' cheap justice ! This backwoods court didn't spend a million of the people's money tryin' how not to do it. Oh, no ! That would be a squandering of the treasury : eh Colonel ? Now the merciless jeering was stayed. " The boys" desisted from their vengeful work ; but, as in the case of most new settlements, no jail had been pro vided here to open its friendly doors to the criminal ; and as the fixed judical penalty for all crimes herein committed, was death, or banishment ; so, in this case, the dread sentence was commuted, at Farnham's earnest solicitation, to " Leaving the Territory within twenty-four hours never to show his face there again !" 262 DRAFTKD IN, A SEQUEL XVIII. THE LAWYER'S CLERK. It was a soft, Indian summer morning of a Novem ber day. Beyond the limits of the city the sun was probably shining in a golden splendor ; but here it had not yet been able to penetrate the dense veil of mist and smoke which hung cloud-like above its busy thoroughfares; though by a town clock which had just struck the hour, it was already ten in the forenoon. It was not, as one might suppose, a morning favora ble to sight-seeing much less was it conducive to a critical survey of the fine collection of paintings just placed on exhibition in the windows of Lindsey's Art Gallery; but that is what three fashionably-dressed young ladies who had just come sauntering down Broad Avenue, were doing. This at least, was the inference of the passers by and several would be art critics gathered beside them and sur veyed the faintly outlined landscapes with strained eyes ; at which the three exchanged sly glances, and remained to smile outright when the worshippers of art had passed on. The truth was, this was only a ruse to gain a little courage, to open the next door, into the law office of the well-known firm of 'Fisk & Granger.' "What errand can you possibly make, girls?" asked Mabel Thorn, a tall blonde, who flushed, and hesitated TO " THE BREAD WINNERS." 263 to advance in the wake of the sisters moving irreso lutely forward. She was a guest at the Granger's, and of course felt less assurance and more delicacy in entering their brother's office, especially as they had informed her "that it was always half full of men." " Say !" laughed Julia, the elder of the sisters, "why we can just say that mamma wants him to come up a little earlier to tea than usual this evening that Maggie has an engagement out." u Oh, no ;" objected Agnes, the younger a lively brunette "let us tell him we'll drive around for him at four, and go to Chestnut Grove. We've been talk ing of that, you know, and it will be excuse enough." The next instant the profound quiet of the solemn, and decorous office where only the scratch of a pen was heard in the hand of a busy clerk, or the rustle of a leaf, turned in some ponderous folio, or a question asked and answered in a low monotone was suddenly invaded. Nathaniel Granger, a fine, grave looking man, of perhaps five and thirty, advanced to meet the young ladies, with the faintest possible trace of annoyance on his face, at this unwelcome intrusion. It was a busy morning in the office ; and he was deep in the un raveling of a most complicated case over which he had labored too long for his own good temper. " To what happy circumstance do I owe this un expected visit ?" he began, smiling in his impatience. " Now you needn't say anything of that amiable sort," interrupted Julia, knitting her brows in girlish mockery of his own " you know you are cross enough to growl at us, if it were not for the self-repression which you virtuously cultivate." 264 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL "But we haven't come to stay," put in Agnes, "though I dare say ladies' society is what you are pin ing for here, to make life, in such a place, endurable." The young man flushed slightly, and one or two clerks betrayed their abstraction from business, by looking archly towards a remote desk where a young lady was industriously writing. "We are jealous of your devotion to business," laughed Mabel Thorne, "and we have conspired to spirit you away this afteroon ; Thomas is going to take us to Chestnut Grove. The attorney did not look particularly animated, though his smile grew more cordial as they departed; "he hoped he might make one of the party if not per mitted to do so he would be grateful all the same, for their benevolent intentions respecting him ;" and so saying, he waved them a courteous adieu. Their stay had been but momentary, but it must suffice for the present. They had a glimpse of the back at least of the "absurd little chit," who had the assurance to ensconce herself as copying clerk in a law office. They knew she must be bold and brazen ; though Nathaniel did say, when questioned on the subject that she was "sweet as a violet and shy as a partridge." "It was too aggravating," declared Mabel Thorne, as they went on, in their morning stroll over town, "that she did not even look around." " I would give anything to have seen her face !" said Julia. " Yes, I did hope to get just one little peep at it, to see what your brothers calls uncommon," said Mabel. TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 265 "I suspect he meant uncommon pretty, and left off the latter word out of consideration to us." " Oh, Nat's a crank anyway, about the girls !" I hope, continued Julia, "he'll get horridly cheated some day, when he really settles down to the momentous busi ness of marrying ; for he is always pretending to take such extrordinary fancies to sensible girls as he calls them, and says such disagreeable things about those of us who try to get a little pleasure out of life, as well as all profit. Oh ! "she exclaimed," here we are at Shaw's! let us stop and get "Jess;" "they say it's perfectly splendid ;" and they entered a large book-store, where we will leave them, examining and admiring elegant and costly trifles of virtu, and buying at last, "Jess" in a paper cover, to pour over during the afternoon. Now that these young ladies have expressed very decided views, respecting the effrontery of Annie West, in occupying this position, a slight explanation is due her. She has been now five weeks in the employ of Fisk and Granger, yet is no more familiar with the people hardly with the faces about her than on the first day of her advent there. Mr. Granger, it is true, was kind to her, and courte ous, and frowned down any levity in the office, for her sake ; and otherwise discovered his chivalry in a man ner quite salutary to one or two of the younger clerks, for all of which considerateness, she felt especially grateful. She was almost sure, that the grave, elderly man, as she regarded him, felt a sort of fraternal or paternal interest in her, as his kindly eyes met hers, each successive morning, in a faintly smiling welcome. 266 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL The walk was too long to allow of her returning home to dinner, so she took the tiniest package of lunch, and ate it when everyone had left the office ; and then, if the day were fair, walked a little way by herself, wishing in her heart, that she knew somebody, of all the crowds to speak to. One day, Mr. Granger had overtaken and escorted her back to the office. He availed himself of the occasion, to give her a little paternal advice, respecting her deportment there, which indeed, there seemed little need of, as he commended it, thus far, quite warmly, and also to assure her of his kindly interest in her welfare. " He always felt an elder-brotherly regard for every young, inexperienced and friendless ( he did not say pretty) girl !" He did not even look this, for Mr. Nathaniel Granger was scrupulously conscientious in his inter course with the fair sex. He was perphaps too well aware that he presented, both in his person and pro fession, almost irresistable attractions to any matri monially disposed young lady, and he conceived it judicious, in the early stages of his acquaintance with this really pretty clerk, to fortify her against cherish ing a too tender regard for himself. It was a noble instinct of a pure and generous chivalry. He was more fully acquainted with the history of this sweet, serious eyed little maiden than she knew. Her coming to them had been the merest accident. Paul Hastings had called several times for a form they had promised to fill out for him ; and which, with piles of other work, had been laid over from day to day. " Why do you not keep help enough ?" he asked, in his brusque way, impatient at delays. TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 267 " Haven't time to hunt it up don't know who you are getting when you advertise." At this, the young man looking thoughtful he then ventured to take the attorney aside, and succeeded so well in interesting him in the vicissitudes of a certain family, that the lawyer decided to try the experiment of the employment of a female clerk. Hastings had been able to so manage their small affairs as to secure rooms for them, on a street not very squalid, in the city, and also to pay the rent due on the house formerly occupied. Mrs. McGarvy had come to live with them ; and it was through her in dustry and efficiency, as a thoroughly good washwoman, that they had thus far been provided for. They cared for the child through the long days, when the poor mother was out which was soon every one in the busy week and they still continued their struggles with the sewing, which yet refused to grow remun erative. What a boon this place had seemed, to both Mrs. Belding and Annie, after their hard experience with the slop-work ! Annie possessed the rare accomplish ment of being a good and rapid penman, and now she sat, day after day, in a distant corner of an extensive office, never daring to look about her, and feeling sometimes as if she had grown into some hideous piece of mechanism copying briefs and all sorts of senseless and wordy preambles, in testamentary wills, and writing ' whereas ' and the party of the first part ' and 'the party of the second part,' so often, that usually, in her weariness before night closed in, a dim procession of mysterious "parties" seemed flying 26& DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL before her on the paper, with whom she had become hopelessly entangled. But she was earning money not much to be sure but she had made less and worked harder ; and now, perhaps, some of the comforts which she had es pecially coveted for Mrs. Belding, would be realized. That poor woman was even more solitary in the city, than she had been in the country ; alone every day, with only the little Mary for company, and too proud and sensitive to go out often upon the street. They had united with a cnurch, and she sometimes crept in among the worshippers feeling that it would be a comfort to listen to the prayers but generally, Bible reading at home was more conducive to content ment ; so utterly desolate had she come to feel in crowds. Sometimes, a half smile from some tender old face, betraying a passing, kindly thought awakened a strange hunger in her heart for human sympathy, and sometimes she lingered to hear the chit-chat among friends in the vestibule it was so like an echo from her own dead and buried past. A pretty, mottled kitten, astray itself, followed her home, on one of these occasions, and she stroked its soft fur tenderly, when once inside the door, she said, with a little pathetic smile : " This is the first friend I have made in the city and Annie, I really wish we could keep it, just for company." Their home was on the second floor of a small, but well kept house, and consisted of three rooms, bed room, sitting room, and kitchen. In an attic, their remaining goods were bestowed, and there also, they had contrived a comfortable lodging for the cheerful TO " THE BREAD WINNERS" 269 widow ; for now that she felt herself so useful in the family, she was correspondingly happy. They rejoiced too, in a knowledge of the wanderer's whereabouts, for letters had been exchanged, and the fact that he still lived, gave hope and promise to the future. Annie dwelt nightly over the prospect of his return, at no distant day partly to beguile the hours with Mrs. Belding, and partly also, as a never failing source of cheer to her own heart, when "weary a weary." Not as the lovelorn maiden "Marianna," of a sickly, vaporing sentimentalism but because every healthy fibre of her body really ached, from patient and long continued toil. Sometimes she brought her work home, and wrote until a very late hour, that she might earn more of the precious money. She did not wonder much that there was such a head-long race for it, when she reflected what it could buy. She really believed she was growing mercenary herself, and confided this con viction solemnly, to Mrs. Belding. " Not," she said, "in hoarding, but in making." Her work was always well done, and had been commended by the united heads of the august firm, which was especially gratifying. Yet the poor little clerk was sometimes very far from being happy, even under these improved conditions of life. She had her own girlish trials which in their way seemed almost as hard to bear as heavier ones. Passing and repassing on her long walks she never treated herself to a ride, unless when the rain absolute ly poured the many pretty girls, who, like brilliant butterflies, disported them in the sunshine ; she reflect- 270 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL ed bitterly upon the more favored conditions of their lives. To make ones self not only presentable, but beauti ful, without effort ; to walk without weariness, and have plenty of friends ! Ah ! no wonder the tired, plainly clad little maiden hurried shrinking away from these bevies of careless girlhood, with a small sigh at her own pinched, and poverty-laden existence. She chafed under the necessity of wearing her old black cashmere after the sleeves and shoulders, from constant friction with chair and desk, became as she said, "so shiny, one could see their face there." She sponged it laboriously, at night, and carefully darned each tiny break, wondering, with anxious scrutiny of her work, " if any one could see it had been mended !" It was her one comfort, that collar and cuffs were immaculately clean, for good Mrs. McGarvy laun- dried them until they shone; for "thank God!" as the good soul often congratulated herself, "the best on 'em wa'n't before her, in puttin' a fine polish to the linen," and she was heard to further observe, with a sort of family pride in ' our young leddy,' that " she met loads of fine misses, dressed out bravely' in silks an' satins, who didn't look half the real leddy, as did Miss Annie." Even Mrs. Belding, possibly from not having much else to occupy her thoughts began to watch her departure each morning, with a kind of maternal satis faction, and wonder secretly that the dear child could contrive to look so pretty, with so very little. She even indulged in some ambitious dreams, respecting the girls future. Annie was really almost as beautiful as Alice had been at her age ; possibly some might TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. 271 think her face more attractive. She wished in her secret soul, that young Hastings would not make it in his way to call quite so often as he did, evidently considered it his sacred duty to do. He had been kind, very kind, she acknowledged most gratefully ; but he was not the sort of a young man she would, under other circumstances, be proud to own as an acquaintance. It annoyed her too, that he was becom ing quite prominent in the daily press, through its con stant notices of the meetings, and doings of the Working Men's Association a source of notoriety which she considered neither praiseworthy nor advan tageous. Perhaps these more recent views, respecting young Hastings, for whom she had come to entertain a genuine regard, were only temporary, and superinduced by the old Adam of pride and ambition which, unregenerate traits, had not been wholly expunged from her chastened heart and from a very little shine and shower, had sprung into a feeble existence. She conceived the very absurd fancy, that the young attorney was becoming attracted toward her protege. Twice now, he had escorted her home ; once when she had written a little beyond her time, and the night had fallen early on that short November day ; and again more recently, when he had, at her own request, ' come in ' and " refreshed her memory most delight fully," as she afterwards observed, "in respect to the dignified address and polished conversation of the thorough gentleman." Annie blushed, conscious of the somewhat plebian individual with whom she was secretly comparing this fine and learned gentleman, but said nothing-^ 272 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL but whispered to her own heart, " he is not half so good or true." But Mrs. Belding went on dreaming, and weav ing a pretty entanglement of love and romance around the rather portly figure of the astute and eligible young barrister. That tender lingering of the eyes, on the sweet face, had but one meaning to her ; and it could never be counterfeited. And if by-and-bye, he became conscious that he loved, what was to hinder his marry ing Arthur Farnham's niece ? Annie was from a good family none better and the fact of their present reduced circmstances was nothing or at least of small moment, in the light of her own judgment, and inherent pride of birth. How then, had she possessed the mysterious gift of mind reading, would she have resented this prudent soliloquy of the young attorney, as on the last of these occasions, he cleared himself with rapid haste from the villianous neighborhood. "I must not do this again !" and, as the innocent face rose up as it would persistently to his fancy, plaintively appealing to a chivalrous pity, with which in this instance he found himself magnanimously en dowed, he added remorsefully : " She might misconstrue my brotherly interest in her welfare ; girls usually do ; though I have certainly tried to make it plain, that she is to regard me only in the light of an elderly protector. What would Mabel and the girls say, if they should run across me in this direction ? They would hunt that old house out to-morrow !" Thus Mr, Nathaniel Granger reflected, as he TO THE "BREAD WINNERS. 273 hurried homeward one night, where he arrived in time to swallow a late dinner, and find himself booked for the opera, for which he possessed no genius or appreciation. But there seemed never any escape for him. Beautiful girls, and plain girls, school friends of his gay sisters, were always paying visits at the house. They came from the four winds, and expected to be escorted in as many directions. There was no end of expensive amusements for this class of nomads ; who, he opined, were all reconnoiter- ing for the most eligible spot in which to fix their future habitations. Beside these merry misses, he patiently sat through opera and theater, and waltzed with them through many an insipid dance, affecting a grim gaiety, but always glad to sit down at his quiet desk again, and delve into the less intricate, and more remunerative business there. He had been something of a traveller, and had enjoyed so much of fashionable life as to leave him without any particular enthusiasm for it. Along with his researches into the more obstruse sciences, he had made quite a specialty of the study of woman. This unfortunately, from his point of observation, had left him not perfectly happy as a marriageable bachelor. He had always intended to marry when the time came but after years of cool and deliberate investigation, he was afraid of the experiment. A woman's choice of a husband, according to the misanthropic Granger, usually consisted in selecting the largest prospective pile of finery for her use in the future. He was wise not to be deluded into making one or 274 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL more of the oft recurring divorce cases with which in his profession, he had enjoyed a satiety of acquaint ance ; or scandals in high life, in which the modern society papers abound. And yet, marriage with a poor girl, without the pale of fashionable life, was not to be thought of. He was proud and particularly sensitive to the world's opinions though aware they were not entitled to much respect. Besides, there were economic considerations not to be overlooked. He was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow : a touching picture, as presented in a sweet little Bible story ; but this one, in the light of Mr. Nathaniel Granger's experience, was more directly appealing to himself, as a responsible individual. His mother was a fashionable widow, with two gay, marriageable daughters ; exactly like the lilies which toil not, neither do they spin : and yet Solomon, in all all his glory was not arrayed like either one. If these fine sisters suited themselves in the matri monial market, possibly, he might venture to set up a modern establishment of his own, on his handsome income. Otherwise, he foresaw nothing in the future, but long processions of "seasons" spent in every part of the known world ; trunks filled with costumes from Worth's and hats and bonnets from the Lord knows where travelling far away down the future. It was a tiresome world to make the best of it. He almost wished himself a free and easy sort of savage, away from the treadmill grind that only turned out fashions and follies in endless, kaleidoscopic bewil derment. Sometimes, these thoughts introspective and per spective would force themselves upon his attention TO THE "BREAD WINNERS. 275 as he sat at his desk frowning over some obstruse question of the law, and so absorbed that he did not even raise his eyes at the rustle of a woman's dress that passed him by though the grave, pre-occupied lawyer had come in early, only to listen and wait for that important event. " But she must not know it : she might think herself something to him, when the case was far different. She must entertain no fancies about him." Yet as he sat there coldly speculative, his eyes would unconsciously wander away in the direction ot a trim little figure, bending seriously over a hard task ; and he would sometimes contrive to catch a faint outline of a pale, sweet face, at which he continued to gaze as long as it was visible, with a most unpater- nal look in their admiring depths. And then, perhaps upon some slight pretext of pro tectorship, he would find himself breaking the law as he had laid it down for the peace of mind of another and accompanying Annie West in safety to her obscure home. Then he could feast his eyes upon her beauty, and listen and marvel at her artless efforts to entertain him. " She must be nineteen or twenty," he thought, gazing half amusedly, half tenderly into her serious eyes, "and yet, I know many a chit of fifteen far more advanced in the science of coquetry. Wonder if she has ever thought of the bare possibility " At the door, Mrs. Belding wonld make her appear ance, smartly clad and smiling, but ' no', he would not call : he had thought it prudent to see Miss West home ; there was such unusual excitement on the street ; or he had an errand in this vicinity, and with 276 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL one look at the young lady, he would retire precipi tately, sighing as he turned away, and wondering, as he studied the pavement before him, with thoughtful eyes, how it was, that this sweet, child-woman possessed such power to rest his tired spirit." One day, as Mrs. Belding, after bestowing a linger ing and most admiring glance upon his retreating person, closed the door behind him, she said reflectively: "What a striking difference there is, to be sure, between your two male friends ! I don't know when I have met anyone more pleasing in his address than this Granger.'" Annie looked at her wistfully. " Your well-bred, easy-going man of the world asserts himself so unconsciously," she continued " such manners have a charm for me. I am sensitive to the last degree to their influence. Now I can hardly define what is amiss with young Hastings ; he always impresses me as being a downright honest, intelligent person ; neither too shy, nor too self-confident, and yet " " He wears coarse boots, and companies with publicans and sinners," laughed Annie gleefully. " Nonsense, child," returned the other, slightly impatient at the imputation which indeed was too true, not to carry a sharp edge." I hope my judge ment is not affected by such considerations and I really think, if superior age is entitled to any respect, as implying superior wisdom, you might pay me some deference in a matter of this kind. "To be sure I do," replied Annie, with ready obedience. " And I tell you plainly that I have often thought TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. 277 that young Hastings' frequent calls here are a disad vantage to you," pursued the elder lady ; " he is regarded as a sort of outlaw." "So was St. Paul," declared Annie with flashing eyes. The world is cruel to the very best men and women in it. You don't know of half the good he is doing among the poorer classes." " Counselling them to insubordination, and uphold ing them in it !" retorted Mrs. Belding sharply, " for that is the way his services as President of the Amalgamated Association are viewed by the better classes : addressing the workman here and there, who would be far better off at work, than listening to him." "We have worked," replied Annie, "when we might almost as well have been starving in idleness for we were starving at work. He says there are radical wrongs which must be combatted by earnest, thoughtful, determined men. He says that labor and capital are in antagonism all over the civilized world and that the great battle for equal human rights will be fought on American soil." Mrs. Belding smiled skeptically at Annie's rapid and somewhat heated defense of one, whom at heart, she frowningly discountenanced. It was not altogether that he held an office which had less of honor than dishonor, as its chief emolument or that he was poor and hopelessly identified with the vast brotherhood of workingmen but she seemed to foresee that he might stand like a rock, between her and her ambition. " I see you are growing very profound under your learned instructor," she replied at length. " He enjoys superior advantages no doubt, for enlightening himself and others upon these mighty questions with -jyS DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL which he is so greatly exercised ; and when he has settled it all fairly for the nation, possibly he may find his own personal and private interests specially ad vanced. When that time comes," she said smilingly, " I will consent for you to be his champion." " He will not need me then, any more than he does now," said Annie, sadly "but oh, Auntie, you do him such injustice ! and I am sure we owe him some little gratitude-" " Of course ! of course ! assented Mrs. Belding, "and I am sure I feel most kindly toward the young man, only, my dear," she whispered, "I am not willing to have you add any more tender feeling in payment of the debt : that is all. He is well enough as a friend ; or as man with a theory of some impracticable sort to work out ; or, as a would-be reformer but depend upon it, he would make the poorest kind of a husband for any girl who would be foolish enough to marry him !" "Why Auntie! Did you suppose that / ever even thought of him in that light ?" asked Annie, covering her face with both hands in her blushing confusion. " I would not be so bold, when he has never asked me," she protested simply. " Well, I confess," said Mrs. Belding quickly, " I hope he may never be so bold as to ask you for unfortunate as it would be for your own best interests to which you appear to be stone blind Annie ! I can see nothing improbable, or hazardous to Itim in the event." Perhaps Annie did not fully comprehend the signi ficance of this speech, or her guilelessness was too transparent to cast a shadow ; but she wisely forebore to answer it. TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 279 XIX. OUT OF THE SHADOWS. The events of a few weeks, which had followed each other in swift and strange succession in the life of Arthur Farnham, had as suddenly aroused him from a state of morbid inaction, to one of earnest thought, and tireless activity. It was not that the possession of wealth had quick ened his pulses into joyful beat ; or awakened in his soul, even an echo of his earlier hopes. But it was a subtle and mysterious presence that had sometimes stolen into his lonlier hours, with patience for their weariness, and balm for their aching ; and which now seemed to intensify his capabilities for doing. The change which had come over him, had been of slow growth ; yet there came an hour, from which he dated the beginning of a new life. It was a night, when sitting alone in the private parlor so lately occupied by another ; heedless of all the comfort of his surroundings ; and feeling the emptiness of the whole world, as he never felt it before ; when, with head bowed low upon his palms, and tears dropping silently down from his closed eyes, he bemoaned the wealth that could never be riches for him ; wealth, which once, he might have bartered his soul to win but which only mocked him now. 'What use had lie for the poor dust that other men so coveted ? She, for whose sake he would have 280 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL toiled in its pursuit, was far beyond its talismanic power to bless, or to blight. That golden head was lying low in a nameless grave, and the gentle spirit had entered into 'the Father's house of many mansions.' He had no need of riches now : it had come too late He loathed and spurned it." " Could he go back now ?" he asked himself, u freighted with all this treasure, to find only a grave ?" "Home!" He repeated the word with a sadly lingering cadence. " There was no more any home for him on earth. He might build a house for trie friendless ; or endow some charitable institution with this poor gold." Thus, he sat pondering heedless of the passing hours ; unconscious of the presence of a loving, pitying spirit, that glided in upon his desolation from some far starry height ; letting a stray beam from the open doors of paradise fall across his darkened soul. He felt the ray : it seemed to glow and glisten through all his being ; melting and subduing a heart that had been cold and hard, and sometimes defiant. A strange, yearning tenderness came over him, and he sobbed softly, gently as a child being hush ed to repose. " Could, ah ! could this sweet, soothing spirit be the "Holy Comforter" Himself, that now came to him, in his solitude and sorrow, so lovingly ? To him the doubter, the disbeliever? In glad surprise he cried out with the once faith less, the nevermore doubting disciple : " My Lord ! and my God ?" From that moment, his hitherto joyless eyes ; and empty heart ; and entire purposeless being, turned TO " THE BREAD WINNERS." 281 ' toward " The Master" with a willing obedience and love. Life ifs purposes and pursuits appeared to him in illuminated perspective. Perhaps to his chastened vision, its brevity, and stupendous moment as affect ing the eternity of the future was given to him now as a faint reflex of the last view that earth would cast upon his dying eyes, when about to quit its scenes forever. Time could never hang idly on his hands again; "the master had need of him." There was joyful stimulus in the thought. His loving, levelling spirit, was yet to find a temple in every heart ; and affect all the intercourse and relations of man with man ; until the kingdoms of this world, should become the kingdom of God, and his Christ whose reign would be 'righteousness.' To go back to the land he had left behind him, and work out the problem of life by this new method, became the subject of his most serious thought, and object of his highest ambition. Hitherto, he had labored only for self : now, the gospel of a universal brotherhood dawned upon his soul with a marvelous significance. The life of the humble Nazarene, was its truest exponent. Without such charity ; such humility, and spirit of self-renunciation ; such sym pathy with suffering ; what were all the the religions of the ages, save shams and mockeries ? This was what he came from Heaven to teach : a common love for common humanity. What were creeds and dogmas, compared to one living illustration of this divine principle ? What effect had sermons upon him ; compared with the persuasive eloquence of Tom's poor life of simple 282 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL faith, and human kinship ? He had been subject tD a religious training, almost pharisaical in its severity, and yet had become infidel in belief, and misanthropic in practice. He had paid all due respect to church observances : sitting unweariedly Sunday after Sunday, through litany and prayer, and listening uncomplaingly to the performances of trained choir, and the oratory of learned divine : but never had the lowly life of the Master so appealed to his heart and understanding as now. There were many laborers afield, toiling with heart and soul, for the establishment of His kingdom. Once they had been to him, as the small dust in the balance, compared with the great ones of the world : now he longed to join in the service, and be found among even the humblest of these. He addressed himself with all earnestness to the the adjustment of the business, which had so unex pectedly fallen into his hands. Fortunately an offer for his share in the Quartz Mining Company, had been made, and accepted, which seemed most auspic ious ; as it facilitated his departure, by placing ample means at his disposal. He therefore resolved to return home without delay. Having completed all necessary arrangements, for the safe disposition of his remaining interests, he issued an invitation to the workingmen of the town and vicinity, to meet him at the hotel on the evening of his departure. Also for the same night previous to the gathering he proposed for himself, a tea drink ing, at his friends Joe's. This humble house-holder had not presumed upon such honored fellowship, since TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 283 "the Cap'an was now himself again," but was over flowing with joy and welcome. Tom Carley was there too. The self-invited guest of the occasion, had, himself, supplied the table with many a luxury unknown in all its previous history. Yet the supper was not quite a cheerful one. The humble friends were more constrained in the presence of this now, prosperous individual, than had been their wont ; and Farnham's heart was full, and his thoughts too deep to flow forth unreservedly. " It's the last supper !" exclaimed Joe, suddenly, with a burst of feeling, " an' I must say, it's powerful sorry I feel though it's good luck too, that's takin' you away Cap'an, as nobody rejoices in more." He paused a moment, but as nobody offered an interruption continued : " It ain't so easy to part with friends, an' forget 'em; and I want to ask you now, Cap'an Farnham, if ever you come back to Stonington which of course you will have to sometime, if you're spared ; to look after the hotel an' things as is only leased ; why you'll look us up ; wont you ? you'll remember us ?" " I rather think so," Farnham replied, gravely ; fix ing his eyes on the questioner as if contemplating then and there, taking a life-size portrait of the shock head, and broad, kindly face, looking now, like a big tender-hearted boy's " and I trust I shall not have to travel quite that distance to remember you." He paused and after a moment, added in a voice, quite broken and hoarse : " Boys, I shall never forget you !" A profound silence followed, in which Mrs. Marten, 284 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL very much affected wiped her eyes a good deal, and at last overcoming her weakness sufficiently, declared: xJte would never forget him; never! an' she hoped if ever he come their way ag'in ; he'ud feel free to put up with 'em, as if 'twas hum. An' she would say too, that if he ever were tuk with a fever, an' were that bad, as he didn't know friend from foe, she begged the previlege of nussin of him which she would say, she had gone through, as ef he'd been her own. An* she hoped too, he didn't lay up any little word she might 'ave slung at him, when heated an' overdone,' as she hinted upon extreme occasions she had sometimes so degenerated, that she verily believed 'she wa'n't accountable for what she did." " Oh, no !" he remembered nothing but kindness, now. Kindness most unlocked for, and undeserved ; that he had no right to expect : but that would be remembered to his dying day." "We hear of ' entertainin' of angels unbewares," sobbed the poor woman, in response to this gallant and courteous speech " but I know well, ef ever I sot eyes on a angel in human flesh, Joe an' me have been a housen one." Farnham's face relaxed visibly, until its expression seemed almost to mock the good woman's tears ; but he said : " I expect there is the material for a very good angel, in every human being, born into the world ; if it could be evolved from the grosser part." " I guess there's a good deal besides angel in most folks !" returned the lady, looking doubtful whether she had quite comprehended, or answered properly. And now the dessert was served ; and over the TO " THE BREAD WINNERS*' 285 uncommon cheer, the friends grew chatty, and talked of all that had passed during the months which had seemed so long in their flight to one at least, since he, the guest, had been amongst them. How many times he had been given up to die of straits they had been in, when game eluded pursuit ; and of all the vicissitudes of pioneer life, which, if written out, would fill a volume in itself. " But Meester Voornam," Tom Carley hastened to say his honest eyes shining through tears, over these reminiscences of a common suffering pathetic now, in the light of the coming separation "You don't vorgets de Sabior, how He be wery goot in all de troubles ?" " Never !" cried Farnham, feelingly, " never ! my good fellow." There was moisture in his own eyes, as he stood up and grasped the hand of the dear old German. "And I'll never forget you, and your simple trustfulness in fair and foul weather. God bless you! Tom Carley !" Tom tried to speak, but could not for some moments ; but stood pressing the proffered hand, while a sudden joyful revelation, broke like sunlight, over his face. " You know him? 1 ' eh? Meester Voornam?" he asked at last, with a smile of wonderful satisfaction. "Yes, dear old Tom," replied Farnham, "I believe I do." Tom sank into a chair, and covered his poor old childish face, and streaming eyes, with two rough hands quite overcome by some intelligence, which only he had been able to appreciate. 286 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL " De Sabior," he whispered, "He do pe ze von frien', all same through ze journeys !" "Yes ! yes, Tom !" "Closer zen von brudder !" sobbed Tom. The hour had come appointed for the meeting, and Farnham purposely reserved until this time the presentation to the two friends conjointly, of a deed of some town lots, of which he had become the possessor. Joe's face flushed up, and he laid the paper down upon the table, and said with injured dignity : " Not that, Cap'an ! not that. We hain't done nothin" o' no account ; an' we don't want any pay leastwise o' that sort." Farnham comprehended the thought, the poor fel low had not quite expressed in words ; and hastened to say : " Nothing that I shall ever be able to do for you boys, will pay the debt of love I owe you ; and which I shall always bear toward you ; and through you, to the whole brotherhood of man." Mrs. Marten examined the discarded paper, with eager scrutiny ; and though her face suddenly lighted as if a candle had been placed behind it she broke down completely, and began to sob, wiping her cheeks with her apron. Tom had not recovered sufficiently from his secret thanksgiving, over " one sinner that repenteth" to attach any significance to the scene whatever ; and never knew, until Farnham was well on his way East, that he poor Tom Carley was a ' mon o' means, owning taxable property.' And now Farnham shook hands, and bade adieu to TO "THE BREAD WINNERS." 287 the weeping partner of poor Joe's life ; and the three repaired with all haste to the hotel, leaving the excited woman to her own devices. She immediately set about securing the precious paper, among her most valued relics, and took the way with a perceptible accession of dignity, to the house of her bosom friend, Sally Slack, with whom she had quarrelled only the day before, telling her that : " Slack was her name, and Slack her natur'." "Now, however, she could not enjoy this good fortune sufficiently, without the sight of her friend's discom fiture : and therefore condescended to a dignified truce, and accepted the woman's company upon an im mediate reconnoitering expedition to the afore-men tioned premises. At the hotel, a crowd had assembled, of various nationalties, who cheered vociferously when Captain Farnham entered, but became quiet and orderly, when he came forward and addressed them in a few brief, feeling words : He said ' he had no language to express what he felt toward them. They had made his cause their own, and risked everything to right him. They had secured him more than his own ; but it would be spent in the interest of the workingmeu, here and elsewhere. He would endeavor to prove his gratitude by the devotion of his restored life and liberty, to their truest and best interests. " But, while he pledged himself to them with the affection of a brother, and the fealty of a liege-man ; he assured them of his reverence for law and order, and that whatever of good he might seek to secure, must be through its purified channels. 288 DRAFTED IN. A SEQUEL " Every man in the nation, possessed his individual fraction of power to redress abuses, if he would but use it intelligently ; and there need be no riots, or mob-laws, within the pale of civilization. " He begged them, as a brother, to consider these things ! He said there was not so much difference between the members of the one great family of man as was sometimes conceded : that the dissimilarity was but the effect of circumstance and condition, and that the antagonism of the classes would only be, harmonized, when the true Christ-love, became a living principle in the hearts of all men. It was strange to himself, with what different feel ings he now looked into these faces, upturned to his from those he once possessed ! Life itself, wore a truer, a tenderer aspect. This narrow life, so bounded by mystery, was but the ante-chamber to the eternal ; whose lofty doors may swing backward to any one of us, on their silent hinges without a ring of warning. " He had a strange experience in his illness ; and now that he trod the solid earth once more, he could not rid himself of the impression, that he had been down to the grave and up to the judgment, and had listened to that awful accusation : " I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat ! Thirsty, and ye gave me no drink ; naked, and ye clothed me not : sick and in prison, and ye visited me not !" and when fainting at the rebuke, he had be sought the judge to reconsider his inoffensive earthly career, He had turned on him sad eyes, full of a yearning regret, and said in pitying tones, that yet he seemed to hear : TO "THE BREAD WINNERS.' 289 " Inasmuch as ye did it not unto the least of these my brethern, ye did it not unto me! " " Is it true ?" he asked, " that we shall answer here after, for the uses we have individually made of this present life ? That on the very threshold of another life, all the wrongs, the injuries and cruelties practiced on our fellows here, will rise up to confront us, like ghosts of murdered brothers ? " Ah," he cried in tones of startling earnestness, "this life was never given you and me, for purposes of rapine and robbery ! for greed and gain ! It is the elementary school for the training of angel spirits. It is for discipline in the happy rule that governs Heaven which, from its first principle, to its final clause, is love ! " And now, men and brothers !" he cried, with arms extended towards them, in greeting, and farewell : " My last affectionate words of persuasion shall be in the inspired language of an apostle of the Lord : "Fear God, and keep his commandments, which is the whole duty of man." " The site for a town hall, and also a sum of money toward its erection, belongs to you ; and to your children after you as this paper " he said, waving one toward them will tell you. When built, let it be named " Memorial Hall"; and may it be the rallying place, on many a joyful occasion throughout your lives : a place too, where you may often meet to strengthen each other's hands, and encourage each other's hearts, in every honest effort to make the world the better, that you have lived in it ! Heaven bless you ! one and all ; and farewell!" He passed out through the crowd ; which sat spell- 2QO DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL bound by the earnestness of his appeal, and quite unconscious that he was indeed leaving them. The thunder of an approaching train was heard ! The engine sent forth its piercing call : and a moment later, Captain Farnham, satchel in hand, had boarded the halting train ; and standing on the platform, with uncovered head, waved his parting adieu to the throng there hurriedly assembled until he was lost to sight. TO "THE BREAD WINNERS. 291 XX. INTO THE SUNSHINE. Several months have flown quickly by, since a mem orable day, when Mrs. Belding, having been summoned to the door, took in her trembling fingers a telegram, which her frightened heart told her, announced the death of the absent one. She could not open it giddy and faint, she could only fumble absently in her pocket for the money, which seemed always in demand. But Annie West, coming up at the moment just returned from her day at the office ; took it from her, and opening it pale, and scarcely less excited than herself, read aloud these words : "Shall be home to-night \" "Arthur Farnham." Then the two rushed into each other's arms, and cried there, like foolish, and unreasonable children. They became hysterical in their joy and laughed and cried together, as if undecided which were the correct thing. Even when he had dropped down into their very midst from some distant shadowy world and they had clasped him round, with glad, loving arms, and knew in truth that he was flesh and blood, there before them, and not a dim spectre, moving farther and far ther away ; it had still been problematical. ' He was so changed ; how could they help weeping over him ?' 292 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL Age had settled down upon his head, like a hoar frost in autumn, silvering the raven locks and beard, and touching his face once so readily kindled into smiles with a serious immobility of expression, that somehow reminded them of the calm that settles on the face of the dead. But he was here, really here with them ! The sight of his tall form, and the touch of his hands, gladdened them. Care in the past, and anxiety for the future, seemed to fall away, as if it had never been. They even made a joke of their poverty, and laughed at the meanness of their surroundings ; then cried again at sight of the sunken, hungry eyes, tnat seemed as if searching for another welcome. All this, was only a memory now. Time had swept on beyond it, and Mrs. Belding scarcely liked to refer to those dismal scenes. The little rooms which shel tered them through wretched days and nights, were ignored ; and she refused to drive on Bleak Street, because it made her lonely. They took rooms at the Spafford House, immedi ately after Mr. Farnham's return, that they might rest, and recuperate, as he said, while he looked about him a little, before deciding upon his future course. And how thoroughly restful that life had been, after all their work and weariness ! With ease and comfort came friends too ; and the days brightened more and more. Mr. Granger, whom Mrs. Belding had ascertained to be highly eligible, and of solid respectability, also con tinued his attentions ; he had no cause to blush now if discovered by any chance acquaintance, entering or TO " THE BREADWINNERS. 293 leaving the handsome private parlor of " his friend at the Spafford." He even waxed gallant ; making not the most dis tant a illusion to disparity of years, or elder brotherly interest, and became at length, the young lady's es cort to the opera, or any other places that promised entertainment of a rational kind, for which he de veloped a sudden fondness. Mrs. Belding looked on, smiling and satisfied. She chatted with the dowagers, in which this popular house abounded, and chaperoned her pretty protege here and there, with much secret pride and vast eclat. She found comfort too, in thinking that she was not herself, an old woman. That rest and good cheer, were softening the outlines of her face, and smoothing out some of the deep lines, which told too plainly, secrets of her poor life, that were better kept. She became interested, once more, in the latest styles for bonnets, and the most recherche modes and ma terials for dress, and even indulged in the anticipation of foreign travel, in company with a party who were to sail in the delightful month of June. Mr. Granger, and mother, with whom she had become acquainted, were to be of the number, and many others, equally agreeable. She had told Arthur it was desirable that Annie should go, as she had never been abroad. Young Hastings had discontinued his visits to them, since they had left the old neighborhood, for which Mrs. Belding could not be too thankful. The ac quaintance of such a person would be greatly to Annie's disadvantage, now, at least, whatever it might have been once ; and she fondly believed Annie did not 294 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL herself, regret his absence. She never mentioned his name, or seemed to miss him. True, she sometimes went to see his mother, but it was usually when she knew him to be away on some of his official duties. It had been at her sug gestion too, that the little lame girl was being in structed in vocal music, by one of the most competent professors in the city. That was as it should be. They ought to make suitable returns tor past kindnesses; and this was a sort of compromise between gratitude and charity. Mr. Farnham, who had been much exercised, in re gard to a choice of business, had decided to engage in some manufacturing interest, in which he could em ploy laborers at a small percentage of profit, on the capital invested ; and he now spent a good deal of time in a patient, and careful investigation of the business industries, in and about this great central workshop of the country. On all sides he was met with the same legend from employers; "there was no profit under the sun " in anything King Solomon's very experience, thousands of years before ! Could the policy of that Ancient Nation, have been analogous to our own ? He reflected that it was probable and judging from the lavish expenditure of gold in the public service, he concluded that the dear people of that ancient time had also been sufficiently protected from a monopoly of the dangerous "root !" The modern markets of the world were glutted with an over-production of every article which goes to make up the sum total, of human comfort : and yet, men begged, and starved, and suicided, in sight of TO " THE BREAD WINNERS 295 plenty. There was an over-production of the finest grain in the West ; and an over-production of coal and iron, and steel in the Middle States ; and an over-pro duction of paupers in the East augmented by daily consignments from the vast emporiums of the effete monarchies of the Old World ; and yet there were no statesmen great enough and g 1 od enough to utilize these God-given blessings, for the benefaction of the world's poor and the development of the world's wealth. A few great corporations prospered and grew disproportionately rich ; while the fermenting masses grew hungry, and stolid, and riotous. On 'the Hill/ as elsewhere, great excitement and disaffection prevailed. Besides existing evils, the heirs had appealed to the law, for a just and equitable division of the estate of Solomon Fox, deceased ; and the exasperating ' case ' was dragging its slow length along, through lower and higher court to the great scandal, and annoyance of the redoubtable Christo pher. It was observed, that he ate less and drank more, during this anxious and exciting time, than ever before. To drown his impatience while waiting for a de cision, which it seemed would never be reached, he hurled himself into the wild excitement of a sporting life, and followed the races from one city to another, betting heavily, and winning, and losing in about equal proportions. One day, his valet, who carried his purse, was knocked down and robbed ; whereupon the sports were renounced, and the Fox returned to the Hill. The loss had been considerable, and necessitated an immediate reduction of the workmen's wages. This resulted in a strike. 296 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL He at once contracted for laborers beyond the seas ; but when they arrived, he found to his chagrin, that they were utterly incapable of taking the places of the trained workmen. Here was a dilemma! The former had been evicted from their homes, and had gone forth Heaven only knew where ! but probably to add their poor quota to swell the sensational items of the daily press of murders and suicides ; and what now was he to do ? He consulted with a middle man, who, for the small consideration of three thousand dollars, en gaged to take these men off his hands, and furnish him with competent help. It seemed an extortionate sum, but Mr. Fox felt almost comforted in closing with the demand for it enabled him to triumph over his men. Those in the mines were also clamoring for an advance of twenty cents per ton of coal above the seventy being given them ; and he conceived the humane notion of turn ing them all adrift, and for an additional consideration, stipulating for a fresh relay of men to work the mines. All these changes had been carried into effect , a strong guard of police was detailed, to protect the foreign force at their work ; and yet like the poor remorseful Czar of the Russias this man enjoyed not one moment of secure repose. His nightly dreams were of riots and blood-shed, and conflagrations, of sacked houses, and scattered treasures. Often with the perspiration breaking over him in beaded drops, he would summon his wife from her sleep beside him, to listen to the wind, sweeping through the orchard trees, thinking it the tramp of maddened men. TO. "THE BREAD WINNERS. 297 " I see," said he, on one of these occasions, " that Farnham is back again ; he was on the balcony of the Spafford to-day, looking quite as if he owrwd the place." He flung himself over in the bed, in an angry, im patient way, and added : " I'll take that cut of him yet ! or my name's not Fox !" " Pshaw !" you'll do no such thing !" retorted the lady, " or why did'nt you do it, at the time ; if you calculated to do it all ? The husband made no answer, and after a moment she added : " I have always been ashamed of you, to think of the way you allowed those odious people to run over us." " Perhaps," suggested the husband, "you would like to take up the quarrel yourself ?" " I would not get the worst of it, if I did!" replied the amiable woman, " you may be sure of that ! " A long silence followed. " What's the use of your being so disagreeable, anyway ?" inquired the disconsolate Fox, at last. " Haven't I trouble enough without your trying to add anything to it ?" "You know very well," replied the wife, " that I am not trying to do anything of the sort : but those people vex me so ! I lose all patience when I think of them ! I expect he has come back with money." " I don't know what I can do about it, if he has !" replied the husband, irritably. "But what is your reason for thinking so ? I should sooner look for 298 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL him to skip, when he runs up a nice little bill at the Spafford. " Well, then you'll be disappointed ?" declared the lady. " You say I like to annoy you ; but I knew they were at the Spafford, before you went off to the races, and I wouldn't mention it to you : and I know a great deal more besides. That high-stepping woman, is taken into the best society, without a thing to recommend her, and Miss Annie is developing into a finished coquette they say and leads that young Granger (the woman hater, they call him), and half a dozen others about, in the easiest manner possible." " Nothing to her credit, I should say !" observed the virtuous Fox. " Well, what aggravates me most," declared the wife, " is, they are to sail with that party the Silvertons and Donithornes, and all that clique for Europe, on the Sixteenth." " Well ?" " It is really exasperating in you, to answer me in that way !" said the lady angrily. " I don't know how to please you then," returned the unfortunate husband "shall I say less or more?" " You might say that you had promised we should go back there ourselves, long before this " almost sobbed the unhappy woman. " And here we are, plodding about on this hill, and not the most distant prospect of our getting away." " Iliere you are wrong!" objected the husband, "there is a strong probability of our getting away from here though not so far as to Europe." "What do you mean? I want to know" inquired the lady quickly. TO " THE BREAD WINNERS." 299 " I mean if you must go to the bottom of it," he replied harshly, " that my affairs here are in a devil of a muss ;" and he turned away abruptly, and would not condescend to more words. One day, as Arthur Farnham was walking rapidly down South street, he met, and passed young Hast ings on his way. It was not the first time, by many, since his return ; for there was quite a friendship established between them but occupied with his own thoughts, he was hurrying on, with only a smiling recognition of the eyes a touch of the hat, and a wave of the hand when the other suddenly turned back, and in a hesitating manner, begged leave to join him in his walk : as he had something particular that he wished to say to him that is, if he had time to listen. Farnham assured him that he had both leisure, and interest, for whatever he had to communicate, and taking his arm, they walked on together. The blood mounted to young Hastings' face he evidently labored under some embarrassment, and much excitement of some hidden sort. " Well ?" queried Farnham, breaking the silence, in friendly encouragement. " I want to trouble you with a little affair of my own, and ask your advice in the matter ; if I may ?" " Certainly ! certainly !" was Farnham's assuring reply. Paul paused, and then with a kind of dismal courage, he announced : "The fact is, Mr. Farnham, I am a patent-right man !" Their eyes met in a dubious smile. 300 DRAFTED IN, A SEQUEL " With this little difference," he hastened to explain " I have spent a good deal of time and labor over an invention, and another fellow has secured the patent ; and commenced the manufacture of my machines." He continued to smile though his breath came quick, and his cheek blanched percepti bly as he spoke. " That changes your position a trifle, certainly," returned Farnham "as a patentee whose-so-ever the ' right" may be. But tell me how this has come about ? one should guard an invention, as they would a pile of gold dust." " It came about in this way : I completed my model, and having no means of securing a patent, or manufacturing the machines afterward, I tried to in terest a capitalist in the new invention. It was a simple method of generating and adapting steam to many practical uses, which had long been sought, in vain. Mine was harnessed to a plow. It worked like a charm ! It will tear up the soil like a young earth quake ! This man seemed greatly interested, and promised to put in money, against my idea, and we were to share equally in the profits. But he kept de laying, on some pretext or other, applying for the patent, and when I got home last week, after spending some time in the valley mines, I found this man (Ketchum he owns the large machine works on South street) had become the patentee of my idea, with the merest fraction of change, and was manu facturing and advertising my invention in the most industrious manner." " Never trust a man with such a suggestive name !" laughed Farnham. " But can you bring any proof," TO " THE BREAD WINNERS. 3