X- LIBRARY J R O V I N G S LAND AND SEA, BY CAPT. HENRY E. DAVENPORT. BOSTON: WENTWORTH, HEWES & CO. W WASHINGTON STREET. 1858. INTRODUCTION. No books whatever are more instructive and entertaining than books of travels. They satisfy t,hat eager thirst after knowledge so strong in the breasts of all persons, and furnish the mind with matter for reflection. We present the reader, in the following pages, valuable facts and thrilling incidents, interspersed with some of the finest Tales in the language; and believe that there never was brought together, in so small a compass, a more copious collection of rational entertainment than will be met with in this volume. COMTEIVTS. PAQI TWO MILLIONAIRES, 7 Banker and the Grocer, 9 The Grocer rises in the Scale, 11 Hope and Consolation, 13 Better Prospects, 16 The Electoral Birth-Day, 20 The Equipage 26 The Victory, 31 The First of April, 34 Continued from Part First, 40 The Household 48 Village Schoolmaster, 53 Beginning of the Reformation, 56 Progress of the Reformation, 57 The Colony, 60 The New Dignity, 62 The Highest Festival, 67 A Fortunate Misfortune, 70 "I OWE YOU NOTHING, SIR," 75 The Teacher, 79 The Heir 82 NOTES OF A JOURNEY ACROSS THL ISTHMUS OF PANAMA/. 86 THE TWO PASSPORTS, 97 CONTEXTS. AUSTRALIA AND VAN DIEMEN'S LAND, ill The Barrel Tree, 117 Western Australia, 142 THE FAIRY CUP, 151 THE WHITE SWALLOW,....: 161 The Athapascow Foray, 166 Matonaza, 172 The Esquimaux "Village, *. 177 Wanderings and Sufferings, 181 Winter, 185 The Lover's Search, 190 Strange Events, 193 FOWLING IN FAROE AND SHETLAND, 201 A FUQUEER'S CURSE, 208 THE DESERTS OF AFRICA, 214 Inhabitants of the Desert, 225 The Commerce of the Desert > 243 LIFE IN AN INDIAMAN, 254 THE DEALER IN WISDOM, 295 THE KEY OF THE STREET, 303 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES, HEN I was a young man completing my studies at Jena, one of my most agreeable acquaintances was old Forest Counsellor Von Rodern, and some of my pleasantest hours were spent in his house. We used to assemble once or twice a week, a tolerably large circle, consisting in part of men like himself in the service of the State, " angestelr tie," though when, and where, and how, two thirds of these served, I never could make out; nor how the State could want such an army of them ; for truly of those " angesteltle " in most German States, their name is legion, and partly of such of the students as were less addicted to the uproarious merriment then and now in fashion among the Burseken. Even some of the "roaring boys" would now and then like a quiet evening at the Counsellor's, by way of relief to their wilder carousals, though somewhat in the proportion of Fal- staff's bread to his sack. The Counsellor was a kind-hearted, cheerful old man, at peace with himself and all the world, perhaps because the world had gone well with him, or, perhaps, that from a natural felicity of temperament, he had gone well with the world, never raising his expectations too high either of himself or others, and, therefore, escaping the ossifying and acidulating process so actively at work with those who have tasted too often of hope de- ceived, whether with or without any fault of their own. He never Tetended to give entertainment^ ; the refreshments were limited to 8 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. a cup of coffee, or of the anomalous beverage so innocently ac- cepted by our kinsfolk, the Germans, under the name of tea, and concocted in the proportion of a spoonful of the herb to a gallon of water. Many of the guests used to qualify the mixture with lemon, wine, or vanilla, which I wondered at till I tasted it in its primitive Btate, and then I held all means lawful which should make it taste of something. There was no want of amusement, though we neither declaimed tragedies, slandered our neighbors, nor played at cards. There was difference enough of age, temper, condition, and charac- ter among us to give variety to the conversation on whatever subject it chanced to fall ; and when the discussion threatened to become too warm, the amenity of our host acted as a kind of general dulcr- fier of all acerbities, and brought about, if not an agreement of principle, an agreement to differ. One of the most successful means of producing this desirable result was the Counsellor's reminiscences of his earlier life. He possessed much of the talents " de courtier" so highly valued as an accomplishment of society by our neighbors. Some of his narratives I have thought worth while transcribing, though I have small expectation of rendering them as agreeable to a reader as they were to a hearer. The conversation fell one evening on Rousseau's writings, and his awn character, his morbid susceptibility, his scorn, whether real or affected, of the rich and great, his proud poverty, and the contradiction between his misanthropy and his zeal for the reformation of society. Some defended the unhappy philosopher, whose life was a con- tinual warfare with himself and others, and blamed the friends who had not understood him. Others justified the friends, and asked which of his champions could honestly assert he could have kept on good terms with him for a month. The effects of opulence and indigence on the minds of gifted and right-minded men, came inci- dentally under discussion. What would Rousseau have been, had he been born to purple and fine linen to be served instead of serving? "I remember a story, or rather a couple of stories," said the Counsellor, " which have some reference to the subject of your dispute. I will not say they will settle it, but they may furnish some further argument. Both are singular in their way. One was the best-executed practical joke I ever heard of. The heroes of both were friends of my youth, and one of them is still one of my best and dearest." Listen if you like, learn if you can I THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. THE BANKER AND THE GROCER. AMONG my intimates at the University of Inbingen, Casimir Morn was the most distinguished by nature and fortune ; one had given him a handsome person, considerable talents, and an excel- lent heart ; the other a rich banker for a father, that the value of tho diamond might not be impaired for want of a fit setting. Be- fore entering the University he had travelled through the greater part of Germany, France, and Italy. His mind, already cultivated and enlarged, preserved him from contamination by the coarser ex- cesses of the wilder part of his fellow-students ; while the succor- ing hand held out to the more necessitous, attested that his temper- ance was the result not of prudence only, but of choice. Half a year before he left the University, I accompanied him in the vacation to his father's house. The elder Morn was banker to the Court, and lived in great splendor in the electoral city of Cassel, where he was visited by what are called the first people in the city. Near Morn's house, or rather palace, stood an old, dilapidated, gloomy-looking house, the abode of one Romanus, a grocer, a miserly old curmudgeon, who had the reputation of possessing the best filled coffers and the prettiest daughter in the city. He was said to be a millionaire ; yet he continued to weigh out coffee, pep- per, cheese, and treacle, with his own hand, nay, if he were dis- abled, the fair fingers of the fair Caroline were pressed into the ser- vice, for a shopman had never been admitted behind the counter of Herr Romanus. Casimir Morn and the pretty groceress had played together as neighbors' children, and seemed by no means inclined to drop the acquaintance now that they had ceased to be children. The banker, however, began to make somewhat of a wry face at the familiar tone of the young people towards each other. He was aspiring in his views, and thought of purchasing a patent of nobility ; and then, with the magic Von before his name, and his own handsome face and figure, his son might look for a better quartering in his escutcheon than a sugar loaf and Swiss cheese parted per pale. The grocer, on the other hand, might perhaps have held it expedient to keep the flies from buzzing too near his sweets ; and, no doubt, it was with this view that he always charged Casimir treble the usual price, when- ever he made the purchase of any of the other's wares the pretence for entering the shop. But Casimir, who was honestly and seriously in 10 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. love, had no intention that affairs should remain on this ambiguous footing. On the contrary, he gravely assured his father that if ever he brought home a wife it must be Caroline Romanus ; and Caroline assured her father that no young man was endurable to her eyes saving and excepting Casimir Morn. The banker loved his only son. He had nothing personally to object to the roses and the lilies, forget-me-not eyes and raven curls of Caroline, and saw some- thing greatly to admire in her father's million. Finding his son resolute, he was inclined to give way. Herr Romanus had, on his side v nothing to say against the banker's son. His father carried on the first business in the electorate ; and when, to these consider- ations, was added, that the lovers had already sworn fidelity to all eternity and beyond, it must be confessed that the marriage was highly expedient. Who would have guessed that we were all reckoning without our host ? The unlooked-for obstacle arose in the shape of a grave proposal of Herr Romanus, that his future son-in-law the handsome, graceful Casimir, the darling of the fair, with all his university honors blushing thick upon him should forthwith renounce the flowery paths of literature, forsake the thornier crown awaiting the successful pursuit of severer science, and, donning a white apron, serve sugar and snuff for the remainder of his days ! Herr Roma- nus had no faith in any pursuit above or below a counter. Learning was nothing in his eyes; "the service," no better than legalized thieving ; banking, gambling according to law. The banker was furious. His son, to whom his natural and acquired advantages, and his own connections with the court, opened the way to the first employments in the State, who had already been named Referendary to the High Court of something or other for the first six months without salary, certainly, but with the positive assurance of speedy advancement ; and now came this ridiculous old grocer with the preposterous demand that he should renounce all these splendid prospects, (the patent nobility included,) and sell treacle and herrings at three farthings apiece to the worthy burghers of . Was ever a lover reduced to stich an absurd dilemma before? At three-and-twenty it is hard to say what would not be undertaken for a fair and beloved maiden ; bat- teries might be stormed, wounds and death defied, a desert held as a paradise, Satan himself dared to mortal combat ; all might be borne ; but to sink from a minister of state in expectation to a seller of tea, coffee, tobacco, snuff, was worse than battery, desert, death, and the duel ! It struck me as somewhat odd, that instead of breaking off at THE TWO MILLIONAIKES. 11 once with the absurd old humorist, the proud banker should in private counsel his son to capitulate. Caroline, however, herself opposed her father's whim. It was agreed that Casimir should return to the University for half a year ; and, in the mean time, every engine should be set to work to soften the heart of Herr Romanus, including tears, fainting, and threats of going into a con- bizmption. THE GROCER RISES IN THE SCALE THE BANKER KICKS THE BEAM. CAROLINE ROMANUS was a diligent correspondent. Casimir was informed of everything that happened in the good city of , except what he most desired to know viz., that Herr Romanus had changed his mind. But no ; the old man was as immovable as the wooden negro at his own door. His son-in-law must be a grocer : he had said it, and he stuck to it. The only consolatory part of Caroline's letter was the concluding paragraph " After all, we can wait a little ; I am only sixteen, and you three-and- twenty." Four months had thus passed away, when one morning Casimir burst into my room, with an open letter in his hand and consterna- tion in his countenance. It was from the broker Morn, and con- tained this laconic and astounding information : " I am a bank- rupt and fugitive : I must leave directly. I am going to England, and thence to the West Indies. The ten thousand florins, secured to you by the enclosed paper, you will receive on Application. It i all I have been able to save for you from the wreck." Very naturally, such an unexpected blow of fate had a tendency to lengthen the visage even of a lover of three-and-twenty. The sum transmitted was not a third part of his mother's fortune which had been secured to Casimir. I attempted some words of consola- tion. He made a sign to me to be silent, and passing his hand rapidly over his brow " Do not mistake me," said he faltering ; " it is not the poverty I feel, but the disgrace. And do not at- tempt to console me for either : for one there is no consolation, and for the other no need of it. I should despise myself if the mere loss of wealth could sadden the future to me. Help me to divert my thoughts for to-day, if you can ; to-morrow I shall not need your help." Casimir returned to . His father's splendid house, with 12 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. all belonging to it, had been already sold. The whole city cried upon the runaway banker, and pitied the son, except the old grocer. He had lost eight thousand dollars by Morn's bankruptcy. At first, he had comforted himself with the hope that Casimir would be able to make it up to him out of his mother's fortune ; but when the young man frankly confessed that the same cause had deprived him of the greater part of his fortune, the old man laughed derid- ingly. " Whistle me another tune from that, young man," said he, twirling his queer-looking wig round and round upon his head, as he was wont on similar occasions. " Your father, Herr Casimir, is a clever fellow ! He would make a capital finance minister ! What would you wager, now, that he has brought his sheep to dry land in time ? " and here Eomanus dropped the fingers of his right hand into the hollow of his left, with a significant look, as if counting money. " How long is it to be before he makes his appearance amongst us again as a rich man? " Casimir colored deeply. " His father," he said, " had been un- fortunate thoughtless, perhaps but he was no deliberate de- ceiver." When Eomanus saw that Casimir was really unable to pay the eight thousand dollars, he demanded, without ceremony, all he had in part payment at least. " How, then, am I to live ? " asked the young man. " As yet I receive no salary from my appointment." " My heavens ! " whined the miser, " you are a learned man, Herr Casimir. You may be secretary to somebody ; but what is to become of me ? Oh ! I am a poor, ruined old man, driven out of house and home. If I am to lose all this monstrous sum, I and my poor child must beg from door to door." " Indeed, are you really poor ? " cried Morn. " No, you shall not beg. Take my little capital into your trade, and give me Caroline's hand. Make of me what you will. Industry and econ- omy will soon make up for the past. We shall be the happiest people in the world." Casimir said this with so much warmth and evident sincerity, that the old grocer was, to use a homely phrase, fairly dumb-found- ered. " What," said he at length, in his harshest tone, " is it a matter of rejoicing that your honorable papa then has cheated me out of my whole property ? And, to reward such honest dealing, I shall give you my daughter, shall I ? Your humble servant ! If your worthy father has made me a beggar, I will hold no beggar's wed- iing in my house, I promise you. Be so good as to take vourself THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. off, will you ? And, if I may be so bold as to ask a favor, I would beg that you never darken my doors again. I wash my hands of you. I have not brought up my girl to fling her into the arms of the first fellow without a penny in his pocket that has the impu- dence to ask her." And this was the result of poor Gasimir's interview with Hen Romanus. HOPE AND CONSOLATION. WHICHEVER way the unfortunate young man turned, he heard ex- ecrations on his father's name. Those who, during the banker's prosperity, had been his basest flatterers, now distinguished them- selves by the bitterness and violence of their reproaches. In con- sequence, the news of his father's death, which reached Casimir a few months after, brought with it a kind of melancholy consolation, notwithstanding his unfeigned sorrow. The unfortunate banker died at Antwerp of inflammation of the lungs, which had been neglected probably in the overwhelming griefs and vexations conse- quent on his bankruptcy. The death of Morn at last put an end to the storm of hostility, and the worthy people of even found some expressions of pity for the son at last. Casimir's courage rose again, after the first stunning effects of the blow, with that elastic vigor natural to his age. When the storm had somewhat blown over, he addressed himself for employment to some former friends of his family, and met with a civil reception from all. His appointment as Referendary to the Electoral Chamber was confirmed. " You must study at the law, Roman and financial," said the minister, " and I will think of you in time. Of course, as youngest in the office, you must work without salary. But, in a year or two, I hope we shall be able to do something for you. You are still very young ; one cannot expect much at four-and-twenty ! " Morn was well contented for the time. He fixed himself in a respectable citizen's house, right opposite the once splendid dwelling of his family less haunted by the memory of former magnificence than allured by the vision of Caroline's blue eyes and rose-tinted cheek ; for, although the old chandler had prohibited him from crossing his threshold, he could not prevent eyes from visiting aa they listed. Casimir's sitting-room and that used by Caroline Romanus were, 14 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. by good fortune, exactly opposite, and, when the sun shone, not a corner of either was invisible to the other. Each knew when the other came in or went out, how they were employed, when they were glad, when they were sorry. After the fashion of maidens of her class in Germany, Caroline's constant seat, when not employed in household duties, was perched up at the window ; so there was nothing very remarkable in her preferring her knitting needles to all other employment. Never, even among her country-women, was there such an indefatigable knitter. Within a year's time the language of looks and signs had been brought to such perfection that all they thought, wished, hoped, or feared, was mutually understood, without exchanging a word. Cheered by the glad eye and radiant smile of the fair and faith- ful Caroline, young Morn labored with unwearied diligence, not only in his own peculiar vocation, but was always ready to assist the superiors in office, who, having easier employment and more pay, found, of course, less leisure, with their accounts, memorials, minutes, &c. &c. He stood, therefore, high in the good graces of his colleagues, every one eulogized his talents and acquirements, asked his advice, and accepted his services ; and, in return, no one in the city received more invitations to balls, soirees, and picnics. The fathers praised his ready head and ready hand, the daughters declared that he sang admirably, waltzed divinely, and declaimed like an angel, in their private theatricals; but, alas ! in spite of this universal favor, Casimir Morn remained, at six-and-twenty, the generally-esteemed but unpaid junior Referendary of the Electoral Chamber of . " Never mind," was Caroline's unfailing topic of consolation ; "you are hit six-and-twenty, and I am just nineteen." The lovely Caroline was now in the full bloom, and beyond dispute the fairest maiden in the city. The fame of her beauty and her probable wealth even reached the court. Princes and Counts, with unim- peachable quarterings, condescended to press with their noble feet the very dirty pavement before the low, dark, strong-flavored shop of grocer Romanus ; and, what was more, to shed the light of their countenance on the cunning, miserly, old curmudgeon himself. A beauty like Caroline, and the heiress of a million, was well worth the sacrifice of all the genealogies, orders and diplomas in . Yet, neither counts, barons, knights, stf^e, war, court, chamber, justice, (civil and criminal,) finance, police, Church, or public instruc- tion, privy or public counsellor, could touch the heart of the old grocer, or his charming heiress. On the one hand, Herr Romanus adhered with the obstinacy of a whole herd of mules to his reeolu THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. don of finding or making his future son-in-law a grocer ; and, on the other, the damsel herself was as indifferent to the galaxy of stars in the court firmament as if they had been so many farthing rush- lights in her papa's shop. All her pretty coquetries, her winning glances, and gracious smiles for which counts and counsellors looked and sighed in vain were lavished, unasked for and by the dozen, on the honop- ary junior Referendary of the Electoral Chamber. This ought to have been consolation enough ; but, when two more years had passed over his head, without bringing any alteration in his prospects, Casimir's brow began to cloud sometimes, and other sighs than those of love to steal from his bosom. Old Romanus was as immovable as a rock to lovers' entreaties, and the minister seemed to have forgotten him altogether. Morn was an admirable laborer in the official vineyard, a man of the strictest honor, of the clearest head these were facts that no one ventured to gainsay and yet, when a place became vacant, no one thought any more of the untainted honor, the clear head, and gratuitous labors of the unpaid Referendary, Casimir Morn, than if there had been no such merits in existence, or no need of them in the electoral city of - . People had their sons, or their nephews, or their cousins thirty times removed, to provide for ; young men, who had neither served half so long nor deserved half so well, were continually put 'over his head ; and if he made any complaint, he was answered by a silent shrug, or a head-shaking at the nepotism of some brother official, or grave exclamations at the ingratitude of great men, sweetened, perhaps, by a vague assurance that although the omission of his name had been unavoidable this time, another he might de- pend, &c. &c. No sooner, however, was the complainant's back turned than the complainee was amazed at the assurance with which such claims were advanced, as if Mr. Casimir Morn really looked on himself as their equal, as if his pretensions admitted of any comparison with those of Von this, and Von the other ! If people of that class were wanted they would be called for, and so forth. With all his clear- headedness, Morn was of those thoroughly good-hearted people who forgive as easily as they are injured. In the blind-man's buff game of fortune, somehow they are always buff are paid for real hard service by a friendly pressure of the hand or a cordial word and run through fire and water for their friends, to get nothing but the singeing and sousing for their pains. They cannot comprehend such a thing as smiling treachery ; and the astonishing readiness with which some will be guilty of the basest compliances, for the meanest 16 THB TWO MILLIONAIRES. objects, is absolutely incredible to them. Morn looked willingly on the bright side of human life, and would gladly have ignored the existence of the shadow altogether. The belief in the moral purity of his fellow-men was a positive necessity for him. He bore his lot, therefore, with patience, if not with pleasure at least so he said to himself, " his merit was acknowledged and loved." That it should be so often and so oddly passed over in the distribution of the loaves and fishes of office, did certainly appear to him unjust ; yet in his own heart he doubted whether, after all, the fault might not be his own. He thought his services ought to speak for him instead of his lips; he was not fond of showing himself in a great man's antechamber, which, indeed, he seldom or never entered, unless business called him there ; courteous and obliging by nature and habit, he was yet more frank in the exposition of his opinions than beseemed an expectant ; and, more than all, he had an honor- able reserve in speaking of his circumstances ; and if he allowed his acquaintance to think him, or to pretend they thought hhn, much richer than he was, the weakness had its origin in a pardonable if not a praiseworthy motive. Perhaps others were esteemed more in need of advancement than himself, and therefore he was passed over. Poor Morn ! He still lived opposite Eomanus' house, and the blue heaven of Caroline's eyes still rained on him light and life. One morning in March it was his birthday and she made her appearance early at the window, wearing in her bosom the nosegay of snow-drops, of which she made a yearly imaginary offering to her lover. To-day you are eight-and-twenty, and I twenty, she telegraphed the pretty fingers lingered in tracing the last word. Twenty is not a desperate age, certainly ; but yet, when a girl has not only made up her mind for the last four years to be married, but actually fixed on the man, to turn her back upon the " teens " is a step in a maiden's life, particularly when we consider that another twenty might pass before Kramer Eomanus would alter his mind. In the mean time, Caroline's beauty was at its height ; by a necessary deduction, the next step must be downward ; and " I am growing an old bachelor,' sighed Casimir. He turned from the window, and sat down on the sofa with his back to the light. BETTER PROSPECTS. Some one knocked at the door. It was a servant of Privy Counsellor Count Von Bitterblolt. &c. &c. &c., who brought a gracious intimation that his lord wished to say a few words in private to Referendary Casimir Morn. ' A few words in private " from THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 17 Count Von Bitterblolt, the confidential minister of his Highness the Elector, was no small honor. Casimir flew to him on the wings of curiosity and expectation. He was received by the favorite with extraordinary graciousness. The Count had the gift of appearing excessively amiable and condescending towards his inferiors when he wanted to gain a point by them, and as outrageously insolent and arrogant when his point was gained ; he not only, like another great man, his countryman, threw away the peel when he had sucked the orange, but kicked it into the gutter. " It is his Highness' wish, my dear young friend," began Count Von Bitterblolt, " that his newly-acquired territory should as much as possible be principally assimilated to the old. In pursuance of this object, there must be a new survey made of the domain, with all its regalities, rights and privileges, and a certain conformity of administration introduced, and projects for a new system of taxation, suitable to the nature of the acquired lands, and the exigencies of the State, be drawn up. His Highness has already appointed an extraordinary commission. The afiair, my dear Mr. Morn, is a del- icate and a difficult one. The two Chamber Counsellors at the head of it are men advanced in life. They will never bring the business to an end. I have said as much to his Highness. But they are old and faithful servants to the State, and cannot be passed over; though, between ourselves, my dear young friend," in a charming tone of confidence added the Count, " two more unfit men could scarcely be found. To give perhaps a little more vivacity to their proceedings, it has also pleased his Highness to join my son to the commission, though, I give you my honor, I really opposed the appointment. I thought it my duty to do so. But princes, you know, my dear sir, do not love contradiction, and our excellent Elector is no exception. Unfortunately, my son's health is exceed- ingly delicate. I foresee the business will be horribly spun out, and that must not be. I have, therefore, thought of associating you, my dear Referendary, as secretary to the commission. Your expenses, of course, will be paid ; and if my son, with your assistance, accom- plishes his task, as I have no doubt he will, to the satisfaction of his Highness, it will create a most admirable opportunity for bringing your uncommon merit to the observation of his Highness. I have already proposed to myself the pleasure of conferring on you the first vacant office in the newly-acquired domain." Morn, as may well be supposed, readily closed with the ofier, the motives of which he perceived easily enough. The two elderly gentlemen were a couple of superannuated old blockheads, only thrust in to give a color to the appointment of the young Von 2 18 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. Bitterblolt, a raw youth not long from the University, totally igno- rant of that or any other business. From these premises might be deducted the very obvious conclusion, that the whole weight of the employment must fall on the shoulders of Mr. Secretary Morn. No matter, he was not afraid of labor ; no doubt the minister must feel the weight of his services, and would reward them accordingly ! The exceeding liberality of the Count, in paying his expenses, was not at present a matter of indifference to him. As he had served the State for four years without fee or reward, the interest of hia little capital had been insufficient even for his moderate expenses. Every year saw consequently a portion of the capital itself sunk, which again diminished the interest, which tended further to the impoverishment of Mr. Casimir Morn. He took a tender leave of his Caroline, and left , with the noble commissioners, full of the most animating hopes. It will be taken for granted that he had previously arranged a plan of corre- spondence with his beloved ; and even this was not so simple a matter as it may at first appear, since the cunning old millionaire, by way of teaching his daughter the right value of money, had hit upon the admirable plan of never giving her a farthing ; consequently, the cost of the correspondence fell wholly upon Morn. Casimir's life in the capital of the new province was pretty much what it had been at the Electoral. He labored hard in his vocation, made few ac- quaintances, that he might avoid useless expense, refreshed himself by a walk in the evening, and finished the day by reading a letter from or writing one to his second self. An accidental circumstance procured him another amusement shortly after. The rooms next to his in the hotel where he had taken up his abode were occupied by a foreigner, whom he usually encountered at the table d'hote where he never spoke ; and, after retiring for the night, Casimir used to hear him walking up and down his bed-chamber for hours together. The stranger was a pale, elegant young man, apparently about Morn's own age, was attended by two servants, and had lived nearly three weeks in the town, where, however, he seemed neither to know nor wish to know a single individual. He bore the., name of Devereux an English- man, therefore, Morn concluded ; and, one day, addressing him in his native language, partly out of a good desire to enliven the melancholy looking stranger, and partly because he was glad of an opportunity to practise his English. The Briton looked at him with surprise and some appearance of pleasure, and answered courteously but briefly, and then fell back Into his former silence. During the dinner, Casimir observed the THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 19 stranger casting penetrating glances towards him, and, when it was over, he came suddenly up to him, saying, " "Will you allow me to speak with you a moment alone ? " Casimir took him immediately into his own room. " I am about to make a very odd request to a stranger," began the Englishman, abruptly ; " but it will not be mended by circum- locution. A letter of credit I expected to find here has been de- layed by some strange accident. I have a pressing necessity to set out immediately for Amsterdam, and I am without money. Can you, or will you, lend me a hundred louis d'ors ? On my ajrival at Amsterdam, you shall receive it again directly, with what interest you please." Casimir was taken somewhat by surprise. He expressed none, however ; but, after a short pause, said, " I have not so much about me ; but I could procure it within fourteen days." " You will oblige me more than I can express ; you save me from a most unpleasant embarrassment," returned the Englishman, who shook Morn heartily by the hand, and left him. The whole affair had scarcely occupied five minutes. When he was alone, Casimir began to feel he had been a little over-hasty in his promise. A hundred louis d'ors were neither more nor less than the fourth part of his whole property. He shook his head. The Englishman's face announced honesty ; he looked like anything but an adventurer ; still, a hundred louis were the fourth part of his capital, and to put it at once in the power of a total stranger, on the strength of a pleasing countenance, was rather a thoughtless proceeding. " Well," was the conclusion of Morn's soliloquy, " well, my opinion is that he will not deceive me ; and if he should ? well, it will be the first time in my life, and the last." Apparently this was not the only grief the stranger had on his mind ; for, notwithstanding the promised assistance, Morn heard him at night again pacing his chamber in the same unquiet manner, and uttering heavy sighs, almost groans. " The man is very unhappy ; he must be worse off than I am," thought Morn. " A mere money embarrassment can never cause such heavy sorrow. He shall have the louis, however." The next day Devereux appeared at table as usual, his counte- nance overshadowed with a yet deeper melancholy, and he was silent as before. Morn, who felt unaccountably attached to him endeav- ored, by everything in his power, to enliven him. When he could be induced to talk, Devereux seemed quite a different person his features brightened, his whole deportment became attractive in no common degree. The two young men went out after dinner to walk 20 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. together, and Morn was still more charmed with his new acquaint- ance. Devereux was more than an agreeable companion ; his men- tal powers, considerable in themselves, had received every advantage from cultivation. The stores of ancient" and modern literature were familiar to both, and formed, with the fate and laws of nations, their chief topics of discourse. When Casimir had finished his day's task, Devereux came constantly to his room, and remained, till deep of the night, in conversation with him. Of the promised loan not a syllable was said on either side. Morn spoke openly of himself on his past and present hopes and prospects. His companion was less communicative ; but he learnt so much, in return, that Devereux had left his native land in consequence of a tragical occurrence, deeply affecting his future life, and was travelling in the hope of dissipating a heavy sorrow ! The intercourse of the two young men taught Morn, for the first time, the value of a friend. His letters to the fair Eomanus were almost as full of praises of his Devereux as of love for herself. His pretty mistress was half jealous of the agreeable stranger. In the mean time, Morn's louis d'ors came to hand, and were immediately carried by him into Devereux's room. The latter gave him, in re- turn, a written acknowledgment of the obligation, and the address of his family in England. " If I die before I can repay you," said he, " that is, within a few weeks, forward the paper, with this letter, directly." He put a sealed letter in Morn's hands as he spake, and then turned the conversation to some indifferent subject. They parted shortly after, almost in silence, with a fervent pressure of the hand, carrying with them remembrances and feelings beneficial alike to both. THE ELECTORAL BIRTH-DAY. THE loss of Devereux's society was more felt by Morn than he thought possible after so short an acquaintance. He had parted with a companion whom he really loved a friend, whose views and sentiments harmonized so admirably with his own, that in losing him he seemed to lose the better half of himself. His official labors became more than ever a necessity to him ; they served to divert and calm his thoughts.- Devereux and Caroline filled his heart entirely. " I am really a most fortunate man," cried he, in hia THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 21 enthusiasm of love and friendship. " I love, and am loved by, two of the noblest beings in the world." After the lapse of seven busy months, the report of Cabinet and Privy Counsellor, Von Bitterblolt, was ended, and the Commission- ers returned to the electoral residence. His Highness, the Elector, was so well content with the work that he bestowed Heaven knows what order on the young Count Heinrich Von Bitterblolt, and made an addition to the pension of the two reverend seniors who had served as ballast to the official vessel. Secretary Morn was the only person forgotten ; he had done nothing for a recompense, but deserved it. The Counts of Bitterblolt, indeed, father and son, were profuse in expressions of gratitude, and, to prove it, invited him to dinner. Fraulein Von Bitterblolt also found the Secretary exceedingly agreeable ; if he had been of noble, instead of plebeian origin, he might, perhaps, have found the daughter more grateful than the father. So soon, however, as the Cabinet Counsellor re- marked the interest the young lady took in the handsome Secretary, he held it advisable to invite him seldomer, and gradually not at all. Morn found it necessary to put the minister modestly in mind of his promise of an appointment in the newly acquired province ; where- upon his Excellency clapped him on the shoulder in the most friendly manner in the world, and assured him he would take care of him. " I have spoken of your talents and services more than once to his Highness," said he. "Wait till the birthday, when the greatest number of advancements are made ; I make no doubt your name will stand first on the list." How coujd Morn feel less than satisfied ? He looked upon his patent as good as made out, particularly when the minister proceeded to ask him what kind of place would be most agreeable to him. He thought of Caroline, and replied with great frdnkness that he would certainly prefer remaining in the residence. " It shall be thought further of," said his Excellency. " I should gladly have seen a man like you, my dear* Mr. Morn, in one of the first posts in the new province ; but, if you prefer remaining with us, I am afraid it will be rather more difficult to provide for you suitably in the capi- tal. However, we shall see. The old Chamber Counsellor, Bal- der, might, indeed, be pensioned off. Would that suit you ? " " I would not wish for more," returned Morn, his face glowing with pleasure. " Excellent," said the minister, and dismissed him with the best grace in the world. Gilded by such hopes, the winter glided away Caroline was as 22 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. faithful and fair as ever ; and if ever mistrust found entrance in Casimir's heart, a look or smile from the opposite window made it summer again. At length came March, the long-looked-for month that had given his Highness, the Elector, to an admiring world. The list of promotions was published ; patents for new appointments made out ; the streets were full of people riding and driving about to congratulate or be congratulated. Morn made a point of remain- ing at home, that he might not miss the messenger from the Elec- toral Chancery. The customary " compliment " for the bearer of the princely graces lay wrapt in paper ready on the table. Noon, evening ; still no messenger. His servant was despatched to the court printer for the list no such name as Morn was to be found, and no messenger came to correct an error of the press. Dinners and balls in honor of the day were given in all parts of the city ; the streets were gay with lights and music ; nobody troubled them- selves about poor Morn and frustrated hopes. He sat down in the pouting corner of his sofa, and groaned from the bottom of his heart. Morn had not passed a more unhappy night since his father's death. Sis long years had he served the State faithfully and diligently, fed only on the thinnest of all diets, hope ; through his silent help, others, with not half his talents or acquirements, had gained credit and substantial reward ; young Von Bitterblolt had been made Chamber president for the very service Morn had per- formed. He saw that his industry, his talents, his knowledge, availed him nothing. Men who were not only ignorant and incapa- ble, but known to be so, passed him everywhere in the race, if they had " connections," or had found some surer way of recommending themselves than by merit and service. To Caroline's hand he must renounce all pretension. By the perversest of all destinies, her constancy and unswerving faith but added to his sorrow. His social creed had received a cruel shock. The egotism of the greater part of mankind, the want of integrity in their relations with each other, appeared in their full hatefulness. The recollection of all the promises made but to be broken, the hol- low professions, the false smiles, all the spoken and acted lies of the last six years, made him sick at heart. All that he had hitherto labored to excuse in others their prejudice, their rapacity, their paltry pride, their envy, their shameful blackening all better and purer than themselves, now shone out in all their native ugliness. He could no longer deceive himself ; the greater part of the employes of looked on their offices and emoluments but as the meana of indulging their arrogance, their ambition, and animal excesses. THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 25 With respect to his plans for the future, all was uncertainty. Even had he been so inclined, it was no longer in his power, with his diminished resources, to labor gratuitously in his present em- ployment ; and it was repugnant to him to seek any other in this city. He longed to flee far away, to seek some distant village, where none knew him, and earn a living by the labor of his hands. It was sweet to dream of shunning all mankind as long as life should last, and think only of Devereux and Caroline, as of two noble spirits among thousands of miserable creatures, all so many willing sacrifices to the meanest passions. According to the custom of the place, and the people amongst whom he had lived, Morn ought to have put a good, or at least a smiling, face, upon his disappointment, congratulated others on their better fortune, and tried to knit up again the ravelled skein of his claims and expectations ; instead of this, he wrote a laconic note to the head of his department to signify his renunciation of the office he held in the service of his Highness, the Elector of , endorsed all the documents relating to it in his possession, and then went to bed and slept soundly. The next morning, the servant of the house brought him two notes and a bouquet of snow-drops. He now recollected that it was his birth-day, and breathed a heavy sigh. One of the notes was from Caroline, the other from President Van Bitterblolt. Morn knew the handwriting of both. " First for the bitters," said he, and opened the President's billet. Almost unconsciously to himself, a secret hope had found a corner of his breast to nestle in, that his loss would be regretted, that he would be entreated to do nothing hastily, that he would try to retain him by giving new and surer expectations ; he had half forgiven him already. Nothing of the sort. His Excellency the President " regretted, in courteous terms, that Mr. Morn had taken such a resolution, acknowledged the receipt of the documents, and remained his humble servant." " So that is the reward of six years' gratuitous service," said he, bitterly, and he flung the President's official verbiage aside. Caroline's note accompanying the bouquet was kind as ever, but there was a tone of sadness in it. The same topic of consolation had been so often repeated ! He went to the window, Caroline was already at hers : Casimir pressed the flowers to his lips and his heart, and retreated to his musing corner again. The city he must and would leave, and try his fortune elsewhere. Many were the projects he revolved in his mind. His only grief would be the parting from the angel of his childhood the tenderly-beloved Caroline. He was still engaged in a long and most touching conversation with her in imagination, when a loud knock at his door, and the voices of 24 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. several persona without, aroused him from his reverie. The door opened, and four men stumbled in, bearing between them two large and apparently very heavy chests. To the question of where were they to put down their burden, Morn answered by another where did they get it from ? It belonged to the gentleman who had just come post to . Morn's first thought was of Devereux ; and Devereux himself it was who entered in his travelling dress, just as the porters left the room. " I have been long enough away to learn your full value," was Devereux's exclamation, when the first greetings were over ; " let me take up my abode with you at once ; you will find room for a friend." Devereux's sudden appearance was balm to the wounded heart of Casimir ; joy almost deprived him of speech. " I have but this room and a bed-room," said he ; " if you can find accommodation on so small a scale, I shall be but too happy to share them with you." " But how is it you confine yourself within such narrow limits ? " asked the Englishman, greatly astonished. " They are quite as extensive as my means permit," answered Morn, smiling. " But I have been greatly deceived. I thought you must be rich, as you parted so readily with a hundred louis d'ors." " A friendly heart is always rich to a friend. It was a fourth of my whole property. If you had asked for more you should have had it. You wanted it." Devereux looked at him for some time in silence, and then, ad- vancing, grasped his hand with an earnest cordiality more expres- sive than words. " My servants I will despatch to the next house," said he, " but I remain with you in any corner you can spare. Had I been aware how you were situated, I should not have come upon you so suddenly." The matter was soon arranged, a bed prepared by the side of Morn's, and a supper bespoken from the next tavern. Before the night was passed, the hearts of both were freely poured out to each other. Devereux related his own history. He had been passion- ately in love with a young lady, who returned his love, but whose family, from some causes too long to explain here, were on the worst terms with his own. A mutual friend of the families, Devereux's oldest and best-loved companion, had offered his mediation; and Devereux himself, in the unsuspicious confidence of friendship, had done everything in his power to facilitate his meetings with his mistress. The lady's charms had proved too powerful for the friend's faith; he sought her for himself, and won so far upon her THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 25 relations, that the unhappy girl had only escaped their persecutions by her sudden death. Whisper of suicide got about. The betrayed and wretched lover forced his treacherous friend into a duel ; they fought at Calais, where Devereux had been left for dead upon the field. Many months elapsed before his outward wounds were healed ; those of the mind were incurable. His physicians had recommend- ed travelling ; all places had become alike to him ; and, unable to find rest in any, he had wandered almost all over Europe, when an accidental delay in his remittances had detained him in the town where he had encountered Morn. It was now Casimir's turn to relate what had befallen him since their meeting, and he had now, at least, the satisfaction of detailing his wrongs to a sympathizing ear. " You have been deceived only by the common herd of egotists, the rabble of humanity, but I by the friend of my infancy. Your beloved yet lives, and lives for you, the silent grave hides mine ; you may find a remedy, I never can. You would gladly renounce the world, you say, do so, but let me share your solitude. But, I repeat, your case admits of remedy." " Remedy, what remedy ? " echoed Morn. " Good Heaven, my dear Devereux, how little you know of people in this country ! " " The people in this country are very like the people in every other country," replied Devereux. " I can put it in your power to take a revenge worthy of them at least," added he, after a pause, and with a bitter smile. "How so?" " Only give me your word to throw no obstacle in my way, and I will bring the whole pack on all fours in a very short time. The old miser shall give you his daughter, the minister shall offer you all the ribbons and trumpery in his gift, and that without witchcraft. Pair and virtuous maidens may be won by other qualifications than beauty or honesty ; honors and dignities are not always, or often, the reward of talents, or knowledge, or industry." " But explain yourself a little, what is it you propose to do ? " " 0, the means will be very simple. Come, your word that you will not thwart me in my project of making fools of the dignitaries in this good and electoral city. I will use no dishonest means." " Well, be it as you will ; I have little reason to spare them, Heaven knows ! What is your plan of operations ? " " I must first know my men. Let me become acquainted with the field before I show my line of battle. As a preliminary, how- ever, you will do me the favor to make use of my new carriage , I shall put another pair of horses to it to-morrow ; you must drive 26 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. about, while I keep in the back-ground, and draw the public atten- tion on you as much as possible. As to your lovely neighbor, give her to understand that you have had a large sum bequeathed you in England." Morn shook his head, not altogether pleased, and yet unable to restrain his laughter. He had given his word to humor Devereux's whim, and as to the sentence of the " Residence," when the hoax should be known, he troubled himself little about that. Whatever were the results, he had made up his mind to leave the dominions of his Highness the Elector. Perhaps the punch, which had served as a supplement to their repast, might have had something to do both with the proposal and its acceptance. THE EQUIPAGE. On the following morning Devereux was early up and dressed. Morn would fain have obtained some further explanation of his Strange freak, but Devereux was immovable, vanished, he knew not whither, shortly after, and appeared no more for the greater part of the day. Instead of Devereux, came his German servant, Felix, to present himself to his new master, and set forth his new qualifications. " Do not forget the principles, faith and honesty," said Morn, when he had listened to the enunciation of his valet's capabilities. " Honesty, I can promise you, sir," was the answer, " and fidel- ity you will inspire me with." The answer pleased, and Felix was installed with Morn under the same conditions as those agreed upon with Devereux. Towards noon Count Von Kreb's name was announced. The young courtier advanced to Morn with open arms. " My dear fel- low, how are you ? It is a whole century since we met. First let me congratulate you on your acquisition, though it is my own loss. Ah! my two glorious bays. But your homine d'affaires is a clever fellow, up to every point about a horse ; you have a glori- ous purchase. Upon my soul, I loved these two creatures as my heart's blood;' if I had not outrun my income confoundedly of late the Elector himself should not have had them for his whole stud." " Have you been paid, my lord count," stammered Morn, his face flushing scarlet, " or must I " "All right, my dear friend, not a word of that," cried the Count ; " I came with a very different purpose. Baron Van "Wolpern would insist upon my recommending his place, Dreileben, to you, as your agent there says you are on the look-out for an investment ; but, on my honor, though I could not refuse one friend, it goes THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. against my conscience to palm off such a desert on another. It will not bring one-and-a-half per cent., and he asks a hundred and fifty thousand gilders for it. Do you know the place at all ? " " No," said Morn, curious to hear what would come next. " I entreat you, then, by all that is sacred, to go and look at the wilderness ; not a hamlet to be seen for some miles round, nothing under your windows in front but the Rhine, nothing behind but mountain and forest. One look will be enough to frighten you off the bargain, unless you have a mind to send a bullet through your head from sheer ennui, before you have lived there a month ; then, indeed, you could not do better than buy Dreileben. Now, with the property Dame Fortune has flung in your lap, you are entitled to look for something better. There is my estate, for instance, a real principality you must admit, a splendid locale, in the midst of corn-fields, a soil like a garden, right of forest, vineyards, mead- ows, territorial jurisdiction, and you shall have it for a hundred and ninety thousand, cash down. Just reflect a little, and only three quarters of an hour's drive from the residence. Heavens, what sums it has cost me in improvements ! I have an account here, ah, no, confound it, I have the worst memory, I must have left it in my desk ; but, my dear fellow, why not come and see for yourself? come, give me your promise, name your time." Much in the same style did the noble Count run on for some time longer. Morn perceived that Devereux had really commenced operations, as he said. He promised gravely to come and look at the estate at his earliest convenience, and Count Krebs took leave with the most lavish assurances of regard. At dinner time, Dev- ereux made his appearance, evidently extremely diverted with the farce he was acting. Morn, on the contrary, was more depressed. " You will make mankind yet more contemptible in my eyes," said he. " Not a week ago, this very Count Krebs held me unworthy of a look. I was never more surprised than when I saw him enter my room." " If men seem more contemptible to you, my friend," answered Devereux, " the fault is theirs, not mine. The witty Count was pointed out to me, by the master of the hotel where I sent my ser- vants, as having horses which he was desirous of parting with, and the animals are really worth what I gave for them. When the hotel-keeper heard that they were for you, and that you had become a rich man, he praised you up to the skies. When I inquired about an estate, a broker made his bow in less than a quarter of an hour, and offered me ten, at least, every one being, as he swore, a perfect paradise. Count Krebs swore, by all his gods, that you were 28 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. neither more nor less than a saint ; that you deserved, years ago, to be made Prime Minister ; that things would have looked very dif- ferent in the Electorate, and nobody knows what besides. It ia long since I have been so much amused. Come, my friend, cheer up, and play out the play. We must make all the puppets dance to the same tune." In due time, Devereux's splendid new equipage drove up to the door, with Felix behind, in a rich livery. Count Kreb's horses really merited his eulogium ; they were superb animals. The whole street was in commotion, almost every inhabitant loitering about the causeway, or standing at their windows, to discover the owner of so magnificent a " turn-out." But, when Morn appeared, and was assisted in by his gayly-attired servant, there was no end of the conjectures and inquiries. It will be easily supposed that the fair Caroline was neither the least anxious nor the least interested. " I 'd give these six kreutzers, ay, that I would, the whole six, to know whom that carriage belongs to," said old Eomanus, jing- ling in his hand the kreutzers he had just received for a red her- ring. " That is easily learnt," replied his daughter. " Fran Weber (Morn's landlady) must know." " To be sure, she must, my child," said the old gentleman, button- ing up his coin in a great hurry, as if he feared to be taken at his word ; " and I '11 go and ask her, that costs nothing." " 0, my heavens, who should it belong to but to the Referen- dary ! Have n't you heard of his extraordinary good luck, then ? Well, I don't begrudge it him, for he is really an angel of a man, and has just got a whole wagonful of gold from England. They say he 's now the richest man in the dominions of our gracious Elector. His servant told me so himself, and he had it from the English mer- chant who is stopping in the house." The old miser stared with leaden eye and open mouth, as if sud- denly afflicted with lockjaw, and, without another word, went home again, and sat himself down in silence' in the grimy leather-bottomed chair in the back of his shop. Caroline came dancing down to hear the news. For a long time her father gave her no answer. He had made it a law to himself never to mention Morn's name. " 0, Lord ! " groaned he at last, " to think of such a piece of luck befalling a paltry, lounging, good-for-nothing son of a good-for-noth- ing father, who has cheated me out of my whole property ; while a poor old honest man like me must toil and moil night and day to scrape a few pence together. Is that justice, is that the reward of honesty ? " and he looked ready to cry. THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 29 " But who knows whether it's true or no ?" said the worthy elder, brightening with the thought. " Wagon full of money ? pooh ! from England ? pooh ! by a lucky speculation ? pooh, pooh, pooh ! I was not born yesterday, Frau Weber." And Herr Romanua plucked off his queer-looking little jasey, twirled it about, as in great mental agitation he was wont, and rubbed his hands together till the dry, withered members threatened to ignite. Many were the conjectures and remarks to which Morn's gay equipage gave rise that day. It had even excited the notice of the Elector, as Morn drove past the palace. On the two succeeding days the " excitement " increased. Devereux had given out that his friend had gained a considerable sum in England ; and when he began to inquire about an estate, the word considerable acquired a more " considerable " meaning. Count Krebs, who always dealt in superlatives, swore, by all the saints in the calendar, that Morn was become the richest individual in that part of Germany; he played with his hundred thousands ; he must own whole provinces in the East and West Indies, &c., &c. There is nothing to which people like better to give credit than to the incredible. It is no uncommon thing to see an upright, simple-minded man held very cheap ; but to take a fool or a lunatic for a saint is the easiest thing in the world. People can find absurdity in the wisest man, with all the facility imaginable ; but let a Cagliostro undertake to work a mira- cle, and he is run after by high and low. If it had been said, Morn had got a hundred thousand guilders, people would have doubted, but millions, that produced conviction at once. " It is intelligible enough now why Morn gave up his place as Referendary," said the President Von Bitterblolt, to his father, the Privy Counsellor. " I thought at first that he had taken offence at the omission of his name among the promotions." " In fact, it is awkward enough that he was passed over," re- turned the Privy Counsellor ; " but who can always tell how things may turn out ? We might have made room for him well enough. There 's your sister, too. I really think the girl has taken a fancy to him, and, as the matter now stands, she could hardly do better for herself." " Nor for any of us, papa. Could not we find some excuse for the past?" The father and the son laid their heads together. The Privy Counsellor took the first* opportunity of praising the rare talents and services of the ex-Referendary to his Highness the Elector. Such a man must, by all means, remain in the service of the state, particularly as Morn had lately gained a large fortune by some for- 30 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. tunate speculations in England. It would be a shame if so much wealth should be squandered out of the country, &c., &c. " Hum," said the Elector, " I was wondering what made you all so suddenly zealous in Morn's favor. The Finance Minister, Rabe, was quite eloquent in his praise but a little while ago." This speech went like an arrow to the Privy Counsellor's heart ; for the Baron Von Rabe bad also a daughter to marry, and he, too, wanted money. " Rabe ever maintained," continued his Highness, " that Morn, as secretary to the commission of survey in the new territory, had done the whole work, while others pocketed the reward and the credit." The Privy Counsellor smiled with affected indifference, while turning sick with fear and rage ; and swore, in his heart of hearts, war to the knife to the Finance Minister, Von Rabe. Morn, in the mean time, had received an invitation to pay the Finance Minis- ter a visit. " I am delighted, my dear sir, that my heartfelt wishes for your advantage seem likely at last to be fulfilled," said the minister, with his most gracious smile. " There was a strong opposition some- where. I was never more surprised than when I heard you had been so unaccountably passed over. I felt it my duty to make a representation on the subject to his Highness the Elector himself; in fact, I told him frankly that the post of President of the Cham- ber, which Von Bitterblolt contrived to appropriate to himself, was yours by every rule of justice. In consequence of my remon- strance, his Highness has been graciously pleased to fix you in my department, and I have now the honor to present Privy Finance Counsellor Morn with the diploma of his appointment." Morn laid the diploma on a table near him without opening it ; thanked the minister for his condescension ; with a smile, that was bitter in spite of himself, begged leave respectfully to decline all and every appointment of the kind. He was scarcely at home again before the carriage of Count Von Bitterblolt stopped at his door. " You see I have come in search of you myself at last," said the Count, bestowing a paternal embrace on Casimir. " Where have you hidden yourself this century ? We must not forget each other in this way. Von Rabe has played me a shameful trick in getting you appointed in his department instead of mine. I shall never forgive him for it. Apropos, my daughter will never forgive me, if I forget her message. She gives a ball on Wednesday, and charged me to give you a special invitation. You will not fail her, THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 31 I hope ; ladies, you know, will not hear of disappointments on these occasions." Countess Ida Von Bitterblolt met with one this time, however. Casimir Morn met the Privy Counsellor's superabundant courtesies with cold politeness ; and his Excellency was beaten out of the field for the present, though not absolutely deprived of hope for the future. Morn's misanthropy was on the increase : he despised alike their present flattery and their former scorn ; of the two, the flattery was the more offensive, and the more his would-be friends endeav- ored to exalt him, the more deeply humiliated he felt. He longed for nothing so much as for solitude, that he might escape the sight and hearing of their sickening baseness. " The miserable wretches ! " he exclaimed, " do they take me for one of themselves ? My six years' service availed me nothing, but the mere report of wealth brings them about me like crows scenting at a carrion. I might be a fool a villain no matter, I am supposed to be a millionaire, and there is not a quality of heart or mind which they are not willing to give me credit for. The comedy is too disgusting, Devereux." " It is capital sport," replied Devereux. " But the master stroke is still to be played. The conquest of the fair Romanus is yet to be achieved." THE VICTORY. THK conquest was already half made before the friends began the attack. Old Romanus, who had hitherto made it a rule to avoid all mention of Morn's name, had it now on his own lips from morn- ing till night. There could be no doubt of the million any longer ; the whole city rung with the news he had refused an appoint- ment in the Ministry, and the Minister of Finance, Von Rabe, and his Excellency Count Von Bitterblolt, were ready politely to cut each other's throats, to obtain Casimir Morn for a son-in-law. " They say he will choose Countess Ida," said Caroline, slyly affecting an air of dejection, and glancing her bright blue eyes on her father. The old gentleman made no answer, but nodded his head with a cunning look, and reckoned some imaginary sum with his fingers. "Pah, pah, all stuff nonsense what has she got, I ask; what has she got ? Nothing ! a ruined family, root and branch ! How thai pleases me in the lad Morn ! he has got his money by honest 32 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. trade ; but his father was a rogue, an arrant rogue, and has made me as poor as Job, my girl. I shall never get a penny of all he owed me." There was a knock at the door, and the well-known stranger, the Englishman Devereux, entered. Caroline blushed like a carnation, and Herr Eomanus opened his eyes and mouth. " I have a little business to transact with you, Herr Eomanus, if you have no objection," said the stranger, with a courteous bow. " You mighl find it highly advantageous." "Business; I am at your lordship's service. Do me the great honor to sit down." " Mr. Casimir Morn, whose affairs in England I have had the honor of managing, wishing to retire from business, as he finds his income amply sufficient, (' So, so, so,' muttered Eomanus,) has been to view the estate of Dreileben, which is understood to be for sale ; he seems inclined to purchase it." " How, he indeed ! Dreileben ! but why Dreileben ? it 's a large purchase, ticklish speculation, very : they will ask a con- founded price, eh ? " " Mr. Morn has taken a fancy to it, and the name pleases him. He has often said it would be a Paradise for two, or perhaps three friends, who would desire to pass their lives together. By the three he means himself, his future wife, and one esteemed friend, under which appellation he is good enough to understand me." Caroline's blood mounted to her temples ; what could be the matter with her ? " But you are perfectly right about the price, Mr. Eomanus. Baron Von Wolpern demands no less a sum than a hundred and fifty thousand guilders: or, ready money, a hundred and thirty thousand, Mr. Morn will pay ready money, but," " Eeady money, a hundred and thirty thousand ! so, so ! an ex- cellent young an excellent young man." " Still the price seems enormous. He wishes that the bargain should be concluded by some one who understands the business better than he does. He would be willing to reward the trouble of any person inclined to act as his agent in this matter, by a gratifica- tion of a hundred guilders for every thousand abated in the pur- chase-money. Now, he maintains that there is not a man in the city so well qualified to transact business of this nature as Mr. Eomanus." " Your humble servant," said the old man, glancing suspiciously at his visitor. He could not understand any one giving away even THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 33 civility for nothing. " Now, if you would have the goodness to take this commission on yourself." " Hundred for every thousand : I am at your lordship's com- mand," ' It is a matter of extreme vexation to Mr. Morn that he has not been on such good terms with you of late years as formerly." "Trifles, tut mere trifles, mere trifles." " He told me, that at first it was his intention to have put his little capital in your hands instead of employing it in England; and, indeed, after that, he would have proposed a speculation in the English funds, but your coolness towards him " " Trifles, I tell you, thunder and lightning ! mere trifles ; and how should I know what he meant ? " said the old man, half crying. " Why was he so hard-hearted to a poor man like me, as not to say a word about it when he was rolling in gold ? " " But to return to this affair of Dreileben ; are you inclined to undertake it ? " Romanus walked up and down the room, with his hands behind him, muttering and grumbling to himself for some minutes. " I '11 do it," said he, at length ; " the profit is small, very small, but times are bad, very bad; an honest tradesman must not let anything slip through his fingers." In eight days the purchase was completed. Herr Romanus made a snug little profit of a thousand guilders, and went quite cheerfully to Casimir to announce the conclusion of the business, and congratu- late him on his acquisition. "And we may be good friends again, my worthy Mr. Casimir," said the old man with a smile, yet somewhat embarrassed. " I desire nothing more earnestly, Mr. Romanus," said Casimir, warmly. " Grant me but one favor make me and your daughter happy at once." " It can't be, Mr. Morn. Have n't I told you, over and over again, that the money I lost through your father has made me as poor as a church-mouse ? " " Not so very poor, I should hope," said Morn, smiling. " A beggar, sir; I tell you, a downright beggar. Ah, worthy Mr. Casimir, you are a rich man now, and you are an honorable man ; you won't let a poor old man like me suffer ; you '11 make up my loss to me ! " " Well, and if I do then ? " "Then I '11 thank you on my knees." " But, your daughter ? " " And the interest for seven years." 3 34 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. " Well, and the interest then ? " " Then the whole city will say, what a worthy, honest, excellent, upright man you are." " But Caroline ? " " And you must not forget that I gave your father the eight thousand dollars in gold. Oh, Mr. Casimir, louis d'ors and Caro- lines, all gold, all full weight. If you had seen them. Heaven forgive me my sins ! I would not swear, Mr. Casimir, but it makes my old eyes run over to think of it ! " " But if I give you fifteen hundred Carolines for one Caroline ? For your daughter Caroline ? " " I beg your pardon, but, with the interest, it would be above two thousand ! " " And if I did not hesitate to give you the two thousand, as soon as your daughter " " You are jesting with me, Mr. Morn. You see what little I have I want myself. I have been obliged to run in debt. Your father's bankruptcy was the ruin of me. I can give the girl noth- ing but what she carries on her back." "Be it so, I will take her on your own terms.' " Why, then I I must ask the girl herself." Herr Romanus betook himself to his daughter. Morn was ready to dance for joy. He flew like one beside himself to Devereux, to relate his success, and ask his sympathy, and Deveroux gave it heartily. Within eight days the marriage contract was drawn out and signed, and the lovely Caroline llomanus became a yet lovelier Caroline Morn. Till Dreileben was ready for their reception. Devereux had taken care to provide a suitable residence in the town. THE FIRST OF APRIL. "THE joke must be carried through," said the Englishman. " The whole city bows down before you, dear Morn ; even the Court itself courts your friendship. We will turn over a new leaf now. I shall give you out for poor, and see what sort of a grimace your dear friends will make then. And when the con- temptible crew have sunk themselves as low as possible, we will turn our backs upon them forever. I have let Baron Von Wolpern into the secret, for I must chastise the old curmudgeon, your father-in- THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 35 law, for the Jew's bargain he has driven with you. No remon- strance he deserves it." Devereux told the simple truth. The whole town were bowing to the ground before the supposed millionaire. And how should people, accustomed from their very childhood to value wealth, show, luxury, above all earthly good, do otherwise ? how feel anything but admiration and reverence for the amiable young man, who pos- sessed the prettiest wife, the finest estate in the territory, and a million ? The noblest and stiffest backs in the city bent in homage to this new luminary. Every one was solicitous for the notice of Herr Von Morn ; every lip instinctively uttered the noble prefix, without asking for the patent. Ministers, Grand every- things, and Count everybodies, loaded him with invitations. At some of the fetes where he was most pressingly invited, the electoral family were present ; the noble hosts were solicitous to present Herr Von Morn to their Highnesses, and their Highnesses' reception was most gracious ; but, strange to say, the object of all these flat- tering attentions felt anything but flattered. Not for what he was, but for what he had, were all these caresses lavished ; and it waa with no small violence to his feelings that he constrained himself to go through the disgusting farce. " I can bear it no longer," said Morn on one occasion, when a stronger dose of incense than ordinary had been offered up ; and Devereux in reply said, " We must carry it through ; I shall give you out for poor." Towards the latter end of March, Devereux had gone about with a look of affected anxiety, and dropped mysterious hints of bad news from England. He spoke of certain speculations being subject to enormous losses, as well as enormous gains. " It was so fortunate he had so many powerful friends in ," and so forth. Baron Von Wolpern was seen to shake his head and look thoughtful, when the sale of Dreileben was talked of " the purchase money was not yet paid down." It was whispered that Morn's splendid new equi- page would be disposed of privately : the town-house was announced to be let. The news flew like wildfire through the town, with a thousand additions. On the first of April the matter was placed beyond a doubt, by Morn's driving about to all his new friends, among whom it became known, with wonderful rapidity, that from some he had requested loans, from others securities or their good offices with the Elector for an appointment, &c. All those who, but four-and-twenty hours before, had overwhelmed him with offers of services, and half-stifled him with embraces, were in consternation at this new state of affairs. Some were " grieved beyond measure," in 36 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. proper courtly phrase, and others excused themselves coldly " they made it a rule never to be surety for any one ;" they had no interest ; some smiled with scarcely concealed malicious pleasure at the sud- den vanishing of the fairy treasure. One thing was evident, there was neither credit, money, nor interest, left in the whole city. A splendid ball and supper at the house of his Excellency Count Von Bitterblolt, at which Herr and Frau Yon Morn were to have been present, was, for some unexplained cause, adjourned sine die. With old Eomanus the result of all this was rather more serious than was intended. To him came Baron Von Wolpern one fine morning, accompanied by a lawyer of eminence, and politely re- quested of him, as negotiator in the purchase of Dreileben, security for the payment of the sum agreed on. Romanus had certainly given no written surety for his son-in- law ; but, in his eagerness to gripe the proffered gain, he had ver- bally, and pretty plainly given it to be understood, that, to hasten the purchase, he was ready to make advances ; but nothing was further from his thoughts than to be taken at his word. The evil reports that had been before flying about town had sorely disquieted him, and Morn's evasive answer to the questions he put to him had by no means tended to still the perturbation of his spirit. But when the Baron and his lawyer made their appearance, he was driven well-nigh crazy ! In a few hours after the Baron's visit he had a fit of apoplexy the very mention of a physician made him furious and the evening saw the end of his cares and his life together. DREILEBEN. THIS sudden death changed the whole aspect of affairs. _ Eo- manus left enormous wealth behind him, much more than had been expected. Casimir Morn had now really become the millionaire for which his rich and whimsical friend had compelled him to pass. Dreileben had been bought in Morn's name, but the money had been furnished by Devereux, to whom, by an agreement between him and Morn, it had been immediately conveyed. Almost as much disgusted with the world as his friend, Devereux had resolved to end his days in some agreeable solitude. The charge of overlooking the estate was to be Morn's ; he had positively refused to accept any gift from his English friend. Both were now nearly equally wealthy, but their plan of life remained the same. On the other THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 37 hand, the worthy citizens of faced about as if struck by a conjurer's wand : " It was the first of April when we heard of this sudden loss ; ah, the arch-jester, it was really too bad, but admirably done too ! " High and low enjoyed the joke alike ; Morn's doors were again besieged with visitors ; wealth and credit returned in a wonderfully short time; the acceptance of securities and recom- mendations was pressed as the greatest possible favor to the givers ; and as to dinners, balls, concerts, &c., &c., there was no end of them. " I am heart-sick at all this," said Morn. " Come, Caroline, come, Devereux, let us to Dreileben, and forget these whited mockeries. I have been long enough a dupe. What more have I to do in the world, as it is called ? Why should I be any longer a witness of these hollow jugglers, the sport of their false smiles ? Be wise as Solomon ; pure as an angel ; sacrifice yourself for society ; be a model of disinterestedness and beneficence but poor in this world's goods, and you are nothing, or worse than nothing ! Every blockhead will be exalted above you every cold-hearted egotist sneer you down every, even acknowledged, scoundrel be honored and caressed before you, if he but possess that mightiest of talismans wealth." As soon as the business of the inheritance was arranged, and the house and business of old Romanus disposed of, Morn left the city, in company with his wife and his friend, and has never since been known to enter it. About six years after these occurrences I had occasion to pay a visit to the electoral city. I knew that my old university friend, Casimir Morn, had formerly held some appointment there, and was rejoicing in the prospect of renewing my acquaintance with him. My earliest inquiries were concerning him. Few knew anything about him ; at last I learnt that he was living at Dreileben, brood ing over his money-bags, as his father-in-law had done before him, and keeping up no intercourse whatever with his neighbors. As soon as I had gathered these particulars, I got into a chaise one fine morning, and drove to Dreileben, musing and lamenting by the way on the perverse accident that could have changed my open-hearted, open-handed school friend into that most pitiful of created beings - a miser. The road lay through a succession of richly cultivated fields, to a forest, where, as the peasants informed us, the mansion was situated on the banks of the Rhine. When I entered the forest, how- ever, I found it no forest, but a delightful compromise between park and garden, adorned on every side with graceful temples, the rarest 38 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. plants, and exquisite groups of statuary in the purest marble. The expense of creating such a place must have been enormous. A spacious and magnificent house, with extensive out-buildings for agricultural purposes, stood before me, approached over a wide lawn smooth as velvet, and skirted by a magnificent orangery. Every- where I saw traces of an almost royal outlay, guided, however, by a noble taste ; none whatever of the avarice attributed to the pos- sessor. As I was getting out of the carriage a servant in a rich livery advanced to meet me, and, in answer to my inquiries for his master, was " very sorry, but the family had left Dreileben that morn- ing early, and were not expected back for some days." As there was no help for it, I returned to town ; in another week, I repeated the attempt, but with no better success ; the family were still absent. As my stay in the city was limited, I felt greatly vexed at my failure, and could not help expressing it in the circle I joined in the evening. I was answered by a general laugh. " If you were to go twenty times to Dreileben," said one of the party to me, " you would get the same reception. You might have been spared the trouble of going if you had mentioned your inten- tion beforehand. No one, be he who he may, is ever admitted within their doors. They have telescopes planted at certain points commanding the road, so that they are never to be taken by sur- prise. All the servants are previously instructed, and, as soon as any one of them spies a visitor, he runs in to warn his misanthropical masters." Thus informed, I wrote to Morn, expressing my desire to see him once more, and entreating that he would make me an exception to his general rule. I received a courteous answer, and the assurance that for me he would be at home ; the day and hour when I should be expected were punctually named. When I came within sight of the house, Morn advanced to meet me, with his beautiful wife on his arm. Both received me with a kindness and cordiality I had little expected, after all I had heard, and presented me to their friend, Devereux ; he was a young man about Morn's own age, of a graceful and highly prepossessing ex- terior, and anything but cynical in appearance. In a quarter of an hour we were the best friends in the world. I was entertained with a magnificence that I have not always found even in princely palaces. The interior of the house corresponded with the costliness of the arrangements without. The library was splendid ; the walls of all the larger rooms adorned with masterpieces of the greatest- painters ; and a music-room furnished with the finest instruments. THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 39 In my honor there was a concert such as I have seldom heard from amateurs. The upper servants were all musical, and the heads of the family performers of no ordinary pretensions. Morn had two lovely children ; Devereux was still a bachelor, and announced his determination of dying one. " And you are really happy here in your beautiful retirement ? " said I, inquir- ingly, when we were sitting in a pavilion in the garden, overlooking the lordly Rhine. Morn smiled. " Why not ? We form our own world here, and it is our happiness to know nothing of the other by experience. If we feel any curiosity about the proceedings of the fools, there are the newspapers to inform us. We prefer, however, to learn what the nobler spirits of other times have taught, or invented, or done ; to learn it in the immortal legacy of works they have bequeathed us. All that Nature, Art, and Science afford of fairest and noblest surrounds us here. What is wanting to our heaven ? Intercourse with the rapacious, mentally crippled, corrupt, self-seeking herd without, would sully its purity, and make us partakers in their well-deserved misery. Well is it for those who can free themselves from the coil, and, living with and for themselves, look on the say- ings and doings of what you call the world, as on a theatrical spec- tacle, in which they are spectators, not actors." These expressions led to a conversation on the true social relations of the wise ; and it was then that Morn related his own and Dev- ereux's stories, as I have repeated them to you. PART II. WHEN the Counsellor had concluded the history of his first Mil lionaire, Morn's conduct was warmly discussed, and variously com- mented on. All agreed that his scorn of the world and absolute seclusion must be looked upon as a revenge taken for its previous neglect, when the chances turned in his favor ; but, while some of the circle held him perfectly justifiable, if not praiseworthy, in such indulgence of his feelings, others censured him loudly ; had his cir- cumstances been different, he might have been excused ; but the withdrawal from all intercourse with his fellows, pardonable as self- defence in a poor man, was sheer egotism and narrow-heartedness in a rich one. "Rich or poor," said one, " every man has a right to seek his own happiness in his own way, provided he injure no one in the means selected." " Will you tell us how a man, gifted alike by nature and fortune, can withdraw himself from the active duties of life, without injuring a great many? " retorted an anti-Mornite. " It is easy to be philanthropic in theory," said another, " but, honestly speaking, which of us would be inclined to sacrifice him- self for the good of society, supposing his own views of happiness to consist in the renunciation of it ? Would you ; or you ; or you?" " Besides, Morn did not reject the world till the world rejected him," added the first speaker. " That is, he was cheated by a few knaves, from whom no one in their senses would have expected anything else, and he did not find everybody ready to make prompt acknowledgment of his (40) THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 41 merits and services, some of them being, by the by, known only to those interested in concealing them." " Was he the only person who, because his situation was subordi nate, has been obliged to submit in silence, while others engrossed the fruits of his labors ? Right doing would be a mighty easy thing, if applause and profit were its certain rewards." These words produced a second dispute. Each defended his own views with warmth, if not with judgment ; and the party sep- arated more confirmed, or at least more obstinate, in their own opinion than ever. At the next weekly meeting at the Forest Counsellor's, some of the disputants took up the argument where they had left it, and prepared to fight the battle manfully all over again. The Counsellor remained faithful to his character for mod- eration, and chose a middle path between Morn's censurers and his eulogists. The party were getting somewhat warm, when our host reminded us that we had not yet heard the story of the second Mil- lionaire. There was an immediate silence, at which the Counsellor dexterously profited to put an end to the dispute by the following narration : Some years ago, I was returning from Amsterdam, where I had been sent by my government to obtain payment for some timber for ship-building, about which some difficulties had arisen with the Dutch government. I had succeeded beyond my expectation in my commis- sion ; a new and more advantageous bargain had been made, and I was congratulating myself on the credit I should obtain with my government. It was evening : I was snugly packed in the corner of my new travelling chaise, hugging myself on the prospect of a comfortable night's rest, after travelling the whole of the pre- ceding night over some of the worst roads in Germany, and that is saying much. I was soon shaken out of my doze into which I had fallen by a tremendous jolt. My old servant, Kunz, who was on the box, was sent flying through the air, and deposited high and dry on a bank by the road-side, before he had time to take the pipe from his mouth, and I was projected with such force in the rear of the postilion, that he was under the horses' feet in a second. Fortunately, the animals, being natives, " and to the matter born," took our mishap very coolly, and stood quite still, while the bipeds were scattering in all directions, as if it had been an adventure they expected, and had made up their minds to. The axle-tree and a spring of the chaise were broken, and so was the postilion's nose ; I was quit for the fright, but poor Kunz had dislocated his shoulder. With some difficulty and great exertion we managed to get the chaise to the next village, and to the inn, or rather beer-house, 42 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. there was but one, and that a dirty, smoky den. I inquired imme- diately for a smith and a wheelwright ; neither were to be had in the place, and the landlord himself advised me to go to Hard, where I should get all I wanted. " There were no better work- men for many miles round than were to be found at Hard." Poor Kunz was suffering greatly, and the Esculapius of the village, who had been immediately summoned, could only shake his head and lament that the surgeon had died a few weeks before he himself never undertook operations. ' ' The best thing you can do," said he, " is to take your servant to Hard, where you will find an excellent surgeon." " And where, then, is this same Hard? " asked I; " /know no town of that name here." " It is not a town ; it is a village, a short four miles hence." " And how is it that the best artisans and the most skilful pro- fessional men live in the villages instead of the towns? " " Oh, that is the doing of the Schulze; he is a strange charac- ter, a humorist, as it is called, a fool, /say, who can do noth- ing like other people. He wants to make a city of his paltry vil- lage, I believe. He has money enough; they say he is a mil- lionaire, and it is like enough ; but he is a miserable, parsimonious wretch, and has as many whims as heirs. I know him well enough, though I have nothing to do with him, thank Heaven ! '* " And I shall find a good inn at Hard, you say? " "Oh, yes, certainly; a very good one. There are mineral waters there. Ila Schulze has built a house there for the visitors to the springs, and that will be his ruin in my humble opinion, that and the doctor he has thought fit to establish there ; a con- ceited, ignorant body a mere quack, with his new-fangled no- tions." The old gentleman held forth long and loudly in dispraise of his learned, or unlearned, brother or rival, whichever he might be ; nevertheless, as he admitted I should find the best surgeon, the best wheelwright, and the best smith, in Hard, to Hard I resolved to go. On the following morning, the chaise was patched up as well as it could be with ropes and poles ; Kunz, who was still in great pain, packed in as comfortably as circumstances admitted, and despatched before me to the much-talked-of Hard; and the weather being extraordinarily fine, and the way not easily mistaken, I followed on foot. Scarcely half a mile from the village I was leaving, there was a sudden and striking improvement in the condition of the land. On both sides of the carefully kept road were rows of fruit-trees, in the THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 43 finest order. The fields beyond seemed admirably cultivated ; not a weed to be seen, the grass abundant, and of the richest quality. Before me lay the village, consisting of cottages, not forming a street, but scattered among trees, as in a great garden. In the middle of the village, on a gentle eminence, rose the church. The whole arrangement of the place, the style of building, and the ex- traordinary fertility of the land around, the more agreeably sur- prised me from the striking contrast it presented to all I had hith- erto seen in this part of the country. " Why, this village of yours is a perfect paradise, father," said I to an aged peasant, who just then came up with me; "I have seen no such land as this for many a mile." " Yes, Grod be praised, there is no fault to be found with the land !" returned the ancient, leaning on his stick to rest himself be- side me as I stopped to look round me. " How comes it that your village lies so scattered, so unlike the other villages about ? " said I. "Ugh!" replied the old man, with a discontented grunt, "unlike it is, sure enough. Our village was burnt to the ground about fifteen years ago, and we were obliged to build it so, because the government would have it. They could n't have done it worse. I have a good mile further to go to church every Sunday, and that 's hard enough for us old folks, especially in winter, and some must go further still. Ah ! it was a terrible fire, sure enough. There were not five houses spared." " And bow did the fire happen ? " "Ugh! Heaven knows! People say all sorts of things! Some will have it the Schulze set it on fire himself, on purpose to vex us ; but I don't say that exactly." " But that is a terrible charge, indeed, against your Schulze." "Ah!" said the elder, shaking his head significantly, "many and many 's the trick he has played us. He was schoolmaster here first ; but he had interest somehow with the government, and so he was palmed upon us as the Schulze. 0, he 's as cunning as a fox, and as hard to catch ! " "Is he rich?" "I believe you; as rich as a Jew. But he can't enjoy his money ; he lives poorer than any day-laborer. But he is caught sometimes, cunning as he is," added the old man, chuckling. " When the whim seizes him, he throws away his money by the handful. He '11 ruin himself at last with his new-fangled nonsense ; and who cares? He only uses his money to tyrannize over his poor neighbors." 44 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. In this strain the ancient went on wandering, till I wished him good morning, and he struck off through a by-path. The view was so charming, so like our dreams of Arcadia, that, involuntarily loitering on my way, I sat down under a tree to enjoy it at my leisure. " How happy, how supremely happy, might the dwellers in this paradise become, if Satan did not always take a hand in the game of life ! " thought I. " Who but Satan could have put it into the heads of the government to send a fellow here to play the great man, and make these honest folks miserable ? " While I thus mused an old woman passed, whom I immediately hailed. " Good day, mother ! Whereabouts in the village is the public house, can you tell me ? " " Straight on, sir, on the left hand, near the church; I am the landlady." "So much the better. Then you can tell me at once what accommodation I can have for myself and my servant for a few days." "0," said the old lady with a discontented air, "that's an- other thing. I can't lodge gentlefolk ; I 've no convenience. You must go to t'other house there, higher up on the hill. I saw a broken gimcrack of a chaise there a while agone ; I suppose it was yours." " Do you see that little white house with the green shutters, there?" continued the old woman, when I asked for some further direction ; " that 's the Schulze's, and close to it is the big new inn for strangers." "0, and that belongs to the Schulze also, I suppose?" "Why, yes, and no, as one may say, it is his'n, and it is not, like everything else hereabouts. It 's all his fault that it was built." " It is of no advantage to you, then ? " " Not it, indeed, nor to any one else. Since he 's been in the village, my house is not worth half what it was. God forgive him ! he will have much to answer for at the last day. Yes, yes," con- tinued she, grumbling, " I should change my plan, quotha. A pretty thing, indeed, at my time of life, to go to school ! I was not to be cozened that way, Mr. Schulze ! The heavens be praised ! I can do without him or the house either, for the matter of that." While she was speaking, I heard a sudden and warm strife of tongues in one of the neighboring cottages. The old lady pricked up her ears, and nodded her head with a smile of malicious satisfaction. " Ah, ah ! old Gletchen 's catching it at last; serve her right, too THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 45 serve her right ! " and the old dame trotted off, evidently well pleased that one of her gossips had got into a scrape of some sort, probably with the redoubtable village monarch himself. As I passed the house whence the sounds proceeded, the door opened, and a man, in a dress no way superior to that of a peasant, except that it was scrupulously clean, came out. He was evidently dis- pleased at something ; close to him came an old woman in tears, who seemed to be deprecating his wrath, and after her walked a young man, who held out his hand to the departing visitor, with the words, ' ' You are perfectly right, Master Schulze ; I had warned mother often enough," pronounced in a hearty tone. "Well, well," returned the Schulze, with a kind of authorita- tive kindness, " for this once, I will overlook it." The old woman reiterated her assurances that the subject of complaint, whatever it might be, should not again occur, and the village despot walked off. He took the same path that had been pointed out to me as the nearest to the inn I was in search of. I quickened my pace. I had a curiosity to see the face of the griping millionaire of whom I had heard so much in so short a time ; yet I could not say why I should have any desire to see more of a man, to whose advantage so little could be said by those who knew him best. He went on so quickly that I should not have easily over- taken him, if he had not stopped again to speak to some countrymen coming from the village. We exchanged salutations as I came up, and he gave me the "pas" civilly enough, and that was enough to begin a conversation. It turned naturally enough upon the fruit- fulness of the surrounding country. His manner was perfectly unas- suming, but very decided, and his expressions betrayed a degree of cultivation greatly beyond what might have been expected from his rustic appearance. As to the land, he asserted roundly that it was neither better nor worse than the other land in the neighbor hood, with which I had instituted a comparison greatly to the advantage of the former ; the only difference he would admit was the better cultivation. " That very circumstance," I said, "was worthy all my admiration ! " "Every proprietor lives here in the midst of his own land,'-' said the Schulze, " and thus it is the easier to overlook and culti- vate it." " But this rich pasturage," said I . " You have not, perhaps, observed, that all the meadows lie together and are well irrigated. We have also fine marl in the neighborhood. So they have, or might have, in the other places of which you spoke just now ; but the people are idle and ignorant. 46 THE TWO MILLIOXAIBES. Nature is always a kind mother, but men do not always give them- selves the trouble to understand her language ; they prefer their own darkness to her light." This remark was somewhat too philosophi- cal for a village schoolmaster or Schulze. I turned to look again at my companion in his rustic tunic and coarse straw hat ; there was, I thought, something beyond his condition in his countenance, I might almost say noble. I fancied, moreover, that the features were familiar to me. The Schulze returned my gaze with a pen- etrating look. "Are you not," said he at length, " Adolphe Von Eodern?" " Von Rodern is my name," still unable to identify the person before me. He laughed, and held out his hand. " What, my slender friend, once the delight of every bright eye in ?" I attempted to withdraw my hand, for I took it into my head that my new acquaint- ance was hoaxing me ; but he held it fast, and went on " The world goes well with you ; why, what a broad-shouldered, portly- looking young man you are become ! And what good wind has blown you hither from the golden middle path you tore so well, to such a by-way as the road to Hard ? I bid you heartily\welcome, however, since you came. What, do you not know me yet ? " I stood looking stupid enough, I believe. I could not for my life recollect where I had seen the speaker. Suddenly a ray of light flashed on my mind. Was it could it be my university friend, Engelbert? " Engelbert it is, and no other." I was deeply moved ; the golden days of my youth returned in a moment. I returned his embrace heartily, and forgot in a moment all the ill that had been spoken of him. He called a boy from a neighboring field, and bade him run directly to his wife. " Say that I have found a brother," said he ; " tell her to have the breakfast carried under the lime trees. We will join her directly." I was called upon immediately for a sketch of my life since we had parted at Inbingen, the cause of my present journey, and my visit to Hard. The story of many of our former mutual friends came in episodically ; and, among others, Morn's, you may be sure, was not forgotten. "And now for yourself, my friend," said I, at length ; " it is your turn now." " I," replied Engelbert, laughing ; " you may satisfy yourself look at me. I am what I look like a peasant, and also Schulae of this village." " But, you strangest of beings ! how came you so ? Why, with THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 47 your fine talents and abundant knowledge, do I find you buried in this remote nook of earth ? Can it be your free choice ? " " My free choice ! " "And how long have you lived here ? " " Nineteen years, and most happily." " Well, but explain your- self a little." .. " Another time ; come to breakfast now. My wife and family will be waiting for us." We went on a little further, and a sudden turn of the path brought us to the lime trees, under the shade of which sat a beau- tiful woman of about thirty years of age, in a rustic dress, with an infant on her lap. At her feet sat another, under two years of age, to whom a rosy-cheeked, golden-haired brother was bringing flowers. Two elder boys, apparently between the ages of seven and twelve, were standing near their lovely mother, with books in their hands, and their great blue eyes fixed on me with curiosity. Their dress was like "their father's, and in no way differing, either in form or material, from that of peasants. The Schulze presented me to his wife, over whose delicate features a gentle blush passed as she returned my salutation. I was speedily acquainted with the whole charming group. The children lay on the grass, round a large, exquisitely clean, wooden vessel full of milk, which, with the ordi- nary black bread, formed their breakfast. White bread and newly churned fresh butter we're brought for me, with a flask of old Burgundy. " I know of old your hostility to milk breakfasts," said Engelbert. It seemed to me like a dream ; the sight of this really picturesque group, and the extraordinary rencontre with Engelbert as a peasant he who had been admitted to be the best endowed by nature, the richest in acquired knowledge amongst our whole circle at the university ! Somewhat eccentric he had alway? been considered, but his singularities had been excused as the harm less freaks of a young, inexperienced, and enthusiastic head. But that such a one, destined by nature and fortune for the most splendid career, should end in becoming a village schoolmaster and Schulze who, in Heaven's name, could ever have expected this ? His Augusta so he called his wife his children, were evi- dently most fondly attached to him, as he was to them. How could this man be so selfish, so grasping, so hard-hearted as he had been painted to me ? And yet the wealth he was said to possess awak ened my suspicions ; it had been well known, at the university, that his family was very moderately endowed with the goods of fortune; and then how did this opulence tally with the simplicity, not to say parsimony, exhibited in the dress and style of living of his family ? A miser he must certainly be. I resolved to lengthen my stay, and 48 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. examine my man a little closer. After breakfast, we continued our walk up the hill. " I cannot lodge you tinder my humble roof," said Engelbert " for I have no spare room. But you will find everything you can want in the inn. I have established baths there over the sulphur springs, and you may take your choice of the rooms, as the season has not yet begun. No visitors will be here before next month." THE HOUSEHOLD. THE wheelwright had already my carriage, and the surgeon my servant, in their hands. The mechanic undertook the speedy reno- vation of the chaise, for a hint from the all-powerful Schulze sufficed to make him lay all other work aside. The surgeon had put Kunz's arm in its place again, but it was excessively swollen, and at least a week's quiet was pronounced necessary for him. As far as I was personally concerned, I was well pleased with the delay. Engelbert and his family were well worthy of a visit on purpose. Everything about this humorist interested me the more, because I was every hour more thoroughly convinced that to few mortals was assigned so large a portion of pure happiness as to him. His house, like that of every other peasant, stood in the midst of a well- ordered flower and kitchen garden. Within reigned the strictest cleanliness, and not simplicity alone, but downright poverty. The sitting-room for the whole family contained but chairs and tables of the plainest kind, a wooden clock, and a small looking-glass. Engel- bert himself, his wife, and children, slept on mattresses stuffed with leaves and moss. The house linen was coarse, but of a dazzling white- ness. The table service might have been used in a convent of Capu- chins. When I insisted one day upon dining with the family, they bade me welcome, laughing, and warned me that my fare would not be sumptuous. The soup was excellent. We had one dish of roast meat, and abundance of vegetables, young, and well-cooked. The bread was common black bread ; the only drink a kind of thin beer or water ; and this was the whole fare. And yet I thought I had never dined so well. The charming mother, surrounded by the five cherub heads ; Engelbert, with his playful wisdom, the heartfelt happiness of all made a deep impression on me. I confess I thought myself in heaven, and felt provoked when Engelbert made himself merry with what he was pleased to call my sufferings as a town THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 49 gourmand at his rustic table. The only expense in the house was in' Engelbert's study. There he had a small, but choice collection of books, maps in abundance, an electrifying machine, an air-pump, and other instruments of physical science. The study was also the school-room of the children, and Augusta's boudoir, for here stood her piano, and in some of the empty drawers of her husband's cabinet she kept some finer articles of dress. " Admirable ! " said I. " But your family will outgrow your play-room, my dear Engelbert. You must think of extending it." " Not before ten years," returned he. " The temple of our hap- piness is small, but our happiness itself is great. We have more than room enough." " You are really and truly happy in these relations ? " " Look at these ! " said Engelbert, pointing to his wife and chil- dren. " What joyous health in every look and gesture ! And these- noble forms are animated by yet nobler souls. Here is my kingdom my republic my all ! I enjoy life in reality, not in appearance, as you do in your city palaces, full of inconvenient con- veniences, and your sickening and poverty-stricken villages. I have enough for the real wants of life, and ample sphere of action for my mental powers. I live apart from the splendid misery of a cor- rupt refinement, but not from the nobler humanity. These are the great immortals ! (pointing to his books.) To me lies open the bosom of Nature 'the glory of God the way of eternity ! What more should I ask or seek for ? " I pressed his hand, but with some embarrassment, for I knew not well how to answer him. I might have said, you are an enthusiast. But he was in the right, and I felt it ; and also that, in many of our social relations, we are abundantly absurd, and but too often sac- rifice the real good of life to our conventional notions. I might have frankly admitted, you are in the right ; but then I felt that he had wandered so widely from the accustomed path his ideas and motives were so little in harmony with the ideas and motives of the age, from and with which I had been and still was acting that a verbal acquiescence, while it was all I could give, would be of little value. I could not sufficiently admire his wonderful activity. He farmed on his own account, and took not merely a superintending, but an actual share in the business of the farm. His office of justice gave abundant employment, one might have thought, and yet it seemed to be merely a supplementary one to him. Every day he spent some hours alone in his study, and his two elder boys received instruction from him. These children were taught, all they were 4 60 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES taught, thoroughly. The trees of the forest, the plants of the gar- den, the geology of the neighborhood, were familiar to them, not only in appearance, but in their nature and properties. They called them by their scientific names, for they had learned no others. The prism, the magnet, the microscope, were familiar to them as their ordinary toys. The glorious map of the heavens was open to their constant observation, and they had been early rendered familiar with the starry host. As Engelbert took upon himself the education of the elder chil- dren and all out-door business, Augusta labored in the same spirit in her department. As well as the usual household arrangements, the care and direction of all the land whose produce was destined for domestic supply ; the corn, flax, hemp, &c. ; the management of the horses, sheep, cattle, goats, &c., belonging to the farm, were super- intended by her. Here she was absolute sovereign, and Engelbert laughingly acknowledged himself as subject. " But, after all, what I desire to know is, how you came here," said I to him one morning. "I admit thaUall I see is admirable; yet, with your noble faculties, you might surely-have- done your country other and larger service than by becoming the Schulze of a paltry village." He promised me an answer, and one fine Sunday morning, which he had promised to give up to me entirely, he came to fulfil his engagement. We went into the garden of the inn, which had been laid out in excellent taste for the visitors to the springs. The breakfast was prepared for us in a vine-canopied arbor, commanding a splendid view of the surrounding country. Some coffee was brought for me, but Engelbert remained true to his rustic fare milk and rye-bread. "And now," said he, when we had breakfasted, "I am ready to satisfy your curiosity. In the mean time, Augusta is busy with the children ; afterwards we will take a walk; then we go to church. The pastor, and some few other friends, will dine with us. In the afternoon, the young people of the village propose to give you a concert ; and in the evening we shall have a dance here, and you must be one of the dancers. And now hear and edify : " I left the university half a year later than you did," contin- ued Engelbert. "My guardian wished me to remain some time longer, but I put thirty louis d 'ors in my pocket, and set off on a tour through Germany into Switzerland ; thence I wandered into France. From Provence I crossed the sea to Naples, and came home through Rome and Vienna. Two louis d 'ors, out of my thirty, I brought back with me, for I had travelled mostly on foot THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 51 lived chiefly on bread and water, with an occasional glass of wine, and slept in barns and outhouses for nothing. I returned home just as my guardian was thinking of advertising me in the news- papers. He was extremely displeased with my proceedings, but in my own opinion I had gained as much instruction in my pedestrian tour through foreign countries, as I should have done from the chair of a professor. I passed my examination ; my acquirements were extolled, and I obtained an appointment in the Woods and Forests, (without salary, however,) by way of initiating me into public busi- ness. After the lapse of a year I presented myself as a candidate for promotion in my line. My superiors eulogized my activity, but objected to my age. I was only just three-and-twenty. Good, thought I ; if that be all, that is a fault that will mend every day. In another year I came again, and modestly proffered my claim to some Liliputian office. * " ' You have some property, I understand, Mr. Engelbert ? ' said the President to me. 'Why don't you dress better? You are really not presentable.' " ' Your Excellency,' I answered, 'the State has a right to expect good service from me, but has nothing to do with my clothes.' " His Excellency took my answer very much amiss, and I was dismissed with a cool bow. It happened about this time that there was a dispute between our court and a neighboring one respecting some secularized church property. The right was appar- ently on the side of the adverse party ; but I had, by accident, dis- covered in the archives of the Woods and Forests some documents which must inevitably decide the cause in our favor. I wrote thereupon a defence of the claim of our court, printed it, together with the original document, and transmitted both to the minister to be laid before the king. My production had great success. I received the order of merit ; that is to say, an ell of ribbon to dangle at my button-hole ; and, as I afterwards heard, I was looked upon as a rising man. Unluckily, I did not know what to do with the ribbon, and sent it back again with a respectful intimation that I had written neither for vanity nor any view to self-interest, but simply from a love of justice ; and that orders and ribbons were of no use to me. This brought down upon me the whole army of ribbon givers and takers. His Excellency the President of the Woods and Forests told me plainly that he took me for a fool, that the court was highly displeased, and that advancement was not to be thought of from that quarter. About the same time, I lost my guardian, who committed suicide when I attained my majority. The cause was made manifest soon enough. He had spent not only 52 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. bis own fortune, but tbe greater part of mine. I was heartily sorry for tbe man ; if he bad but possessed courage enougb to tell me so, he might have spared himself: I would have forgiven him freely. His property, that is to say, what remained of it, was sold. Of mine, four thousand guilders were all that fell to my share. His only child, a daughter, was sent to the orphan asylum. Poor child, her fate was a hard one ! I had youth and health, vigor of mind and body; I could easily replace what I had lost. I should have blushed to visit the sins of the father upon the child. I invested my four thousand guilders, and gave up the interest for the education* of the child, or for her maintenance till she should marry. But, for the orphan-house I would have none of it. The best orphan asylum, like all other institutions for edu- cation out of the domestic circle, is only an institution for the cor- ruption of morals. " The question was now, what I should do with myself? The State refused my services, because my coat was not to its liking. I shook the dust from my feet, therefore, in my native place, and left it to try and be useful elsewhere. I had kept money enough, according to my own view of the matter, to maintain me till I could find some employment. While yet a boy at school, I had read, somewhere, a treatise which had made a deep impression on nje. The subject was ' Of Unnecessary Necessities.' I had often wondered at the numberless superfluities which men choose to consider as necessaries, and, to procure which, they willingly became the sacrifice of others' vices and their own folly. The fewer wants, the fewer desires a man has, the less are his fears and vexations, the fewer his cares. The freest man is he who is least dependent on custom and con- venience, and, consequently, the least affected by circumstances. The essay concluded with these words : ' Cleave to the essential alone, and leave to fools the melancholy pleasure of appearance.' Even as a schoolboy, I had attempted to accommodate myself to this system. I did my duty in all things, and declined all praise from my masters. I often slept at night upon chairs beside my bed, instead of in it. I drank neither beer nor wine, tea nor coffee, but, simply, water. I never spent a fifth part of my pocket money on the trifles on which children are accustomed to waste their allowance, and was, therefore, often able to assist those of my school-fellows, who were poorer than myself, with real necessities, books, maps, and the like. I was delighted to leave the university, when, becom ing entirely my own master, I could pursue,, unmolested, the plan 1 had marked out for myself. The simplicity of my mode of living induced most of my acquaintances to esteem me poor. I was far THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 53 richer than the greater part of them with double my income, for I wanted nothing, and owed nothing ; many of those who pitied or blamed me set no limits to their wishes, and were deeply in debt. " My views of life, however, gave prodigious offence in my native city ; but I could not see why I should fare sumptuously, or lie softly, to please others, when I could please myself at far less cost. My dress was neat, and not out of the fashion, but I did not partic- ularly distinguish myself by the fineness of my linen, or employ the most fashionable tailor, and, therefore, I was held unpresentable in good society. I did my duty in my vocation ; but I never went to ' pay my respects ' to my superiors, and my manners were pro- nounced excessively unpolished. I wished to be valued in society for my talents, natural or acquired, and my moral worth; the well-judging public insisted upon fine clothes, flattery, and what it is pleased to call respect for appearances. I did not smoke ; I did not play at cards ; and frequented places of public amusement but little ; that was called an ' affectation of singularity.' My dis- favor with society grieved me but little, however ; I lived and acted according to my own convictions, was content with moderate means, had the power of helping many with my superfluity, was always cheerful, and never sick. All that was wanting to my happiness was the means of becoming more extensively useful. I could do without the suffrage of the world. Woe to him whose felicity depends on others, if he cannot find it in serving them without expecting their applause ' " THE VILLAGE SCHOOLMASTER. " I SPENT the better part of a year in rambling about this blessed Germany of ours without finding anywhere a suitable sphere of action. Every application for fitting employment was met with a ' but.' It is silly enough of the people, thought I, that will have nothing to do with a man who asks no more than the means of mak- ing himself useful to the best of his ability ! I had before pro- jected a journey to London, to offer my services to explore the inte- rior of Africa for the benefit of the world and of science ; and, if they were not then accepted, to visit that part of the world on my own account. No sooner thought than done j I turned my face to the north-west. " One evening, I entered the inn of a little town in my way, much 54 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. fatigued. While my supper was preparing, I took up a provincial ' Intelligencer,' in which I saw an advertisement for a village schoolmaster ; the salary was fifty guilders, with a house, firing, and the use of three acres of land. It struck me directly that this was the very thing for me. A village schoolmaster ! The calling gen- erally esteemed so humble, is, in fact, one of the very highest impor- tance. I might become the reformer of a whole village, the saviour of a thousand unhappy and neglected human beings. To how many important politico-economical, moral, religious, and patriotic points of view might I not pave the way for improvement ? Poor as the remuneration was, it was sufficient for me. Real service, in fact, can never be paid for. How can virtues of any kind be rewarded by the State ? State remuneration can only be meas- ured by the greater or less expenditure of knowledge and activ- ity required. For a village schoolmastership it is held that very little knowledge or labor is wanting ; it is a low kind of thing alto- gether ; hence the pecuniary recompense is paltry. But, for a mas- ter of the ceremonies, or a court chamberlain, indeed, most uncommon talents and virtues are demanded ; and that is, no doubt, the reason why more is paid for such articles than for village schoolmasters throughout the kingdom. " I went and offered myself as a candidate for the vacant office. The testimonials of ability I brought with me were examined, and I found I had the honor to be taken for a runaway student ; that did not concern me very greatly. Against my capabilities in read- ing, writing, arithmetic, and singing, there was nothing to be said, and yet the authorities hesitated. Nor was I greatly surprised that they did ; for it is not very usual for a man, who, upon occa- sion, could read and speak his six languages, to become a village schoolmaster. I doubt if, after all, I should have obtained the place, had there been any other candidates but myself and a deaf tailor. " My sound ears had the preference. " ' Hark you, friend,' said the Examiner and President of the High Provincial School Commission ; ' you shall have the place, but, understand, provisionally, for one year, in the course of which we shall see if your moral conduct is approved of.' " My letter of provincial installation was duly delivered to me, and with it a. letter to the most reverend Pastor Pflock, in Hard, who was to induct me into my office. " I was as happy as a king assuming that kings are in general happier than village schoolmasters. My dwelling in Hard was a ruinous barrack, as dirty as an uncleansed stable ; every window THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 55 patched with paper, and my sitting-room a gloomy den without a stove. The only stove in the place was in the school-room, which was to be tenanted every day by me and sixty-five children of both sexes. The garden was impassable from rubbish ; the three acres of land offered a complete Flora Hardinensis ; not a wild flower or weed growing in the whole country round but had its specimen there. Heavens ! here was room and verge enough for the spirit of reform to revel in. 1 The most reverend Pastor Pflock received me with severe dig- nity ; gave me abundance of advice ; and presented me, the fol- lowing Sunday, after service, to his congregation, with much solemnity, and many sharp warnings to my juvenile troop. " Pastor Pflock was esteemed a most zealous and orthodox man, who thundered every Sunday against infidels and dissenters with the voice of a stentor ; painted the terrors of hell every fortnight, and the joys of heaven once a month ; and, once a quarter, we had a vision of the last judgment. But, on the week days, and in com- mon life, he was a common kind of man enough, who was content to let the world wag as it listed, and troubled his head very little about the sayings or doings of his peasants, provided the due offer- ings were made to his kitchen, and he was not forgotten at wed- ding feasts and christenings. His flock was ignorant, brutal, poor, and lazy ; almost every one was in debt ; their agriculture was wretched, their method of rearing cattle was as bad as possible, and their favorite amusements squabbling, fighting, and going to law. The only thriving person in the village was the Schulze, who also kept the public house, and was a diligent fomenter of the quarrel- some and litigious propensities of his neighbors, by which he was a gainer both ways. The exterior of the village, the rows of mis- erable cottages, full of dirt and disorder, the coarse, lumpish demeanor of the peasants and their wives, the rude audacity of the children, their ragged and dirty clothing, all convinced me that here was my appointed sphere of usefulness here was I called to labor in my vocation in promoting the happiness of my fellow- men. I danced for joy round the schoolroom like a fool, till tho house shook again ! " The poverty of the school fund obliged me to make the necessary repairs at my own expense, if I would have it done at all. I had the windows mended, and the walls whitewashed, and the floors, tables, benches, and doors, thoroughly scoured ; dug up my garden, and planted it with vegetables, and set my three acres in order with my own hands. I kept a goat in the stable for the milk ; and I had common right of pasture with the rest of the village. I was 56 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. soon at home in my new abode. The reverend pastor himself was not cleaner or more comfortably lodged. The villagers stared, and seemed as much surprised at my orderly poverty as I was at their nasty abundance." BEGINNING OP THE KEFORMATION. "As soon as I had arranged my dwelling to my liking, I began my operations on the rising generation. They drove every day in and out of the schoolhouse like a herd of swine. I began by accus- toming every child to salute me on entering by giving me his hand ; and those who came with them dirty were dispatched forthwith to remedy the evil at the spring behind the house. Hands and feet I required to be clean as the face. Very few seemed to have any acquaintance with the comb. I desired they should all be combed smooth before they came, and the little savages laughed in my face. The laughing I soon settled with the cane. I entreated the assist- ance of the pastor, and begged him to preach to his flock on the uses of cleanliness. His reverence opened his eyes wider than usual ' What has that to do with religion, schoolmaster ? Be so good as to mind your own business.' However, with the assistance of the stick, I accomplished the combing also. The clothing now came under consideration. Here, nothing was to be done by force. My pupils were all ragged that I could not help, but I insisted that the rags should be clean. I gave little prizes to those'who came to school clean for a week together needles, knitting needles, scissors, knives, and other trifles, which I bought by the dozen at the neigh- boring fairs. The whole village, including the parson and the Schulze, sneered at my innovations : but I pursued my own plan obstinately. "Human beings must be unbrutified before they can be educated. With the help of these small rewards, I produced a very considera- ble improvement in the course of a year among the youth of the vil- lage ; and here and there a few of the elders began to feel some shame when the children themselves began to notice their dirty habits. As I passed through the village or fields, the little ones would leave their play, and come to greet me with a smile, and ofier their hands. They all liked me ; they .were afraid of my cane, pleased with my presents, and delighted to listen to the stories which I sometimes related to them. THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. " My liberalities made a wonderful talk in the village. In the first year I had really spent more than I received. Two of the poorest, half naked children, I had clothed anew at my own cost, and these proceedings puzzled the good people extremely. A village school- master was generally the poorest where all were poor ; no man who possessed any property of his own, however small, would take such an office. Instead, like my predecessors, of accepting presents, or rather alms, from the parents of the scholars, I gave away more than any one else. No one knew what to make of me. Some were of opinion that I was a fugitive from justice, a cash-keeper who had run away with his master's money, or something of that sort. It was a matter of course, that people, who rarely did or thought any good themselves, should think no better of me. The pastor, how- ever, gave a good character of me to the provincial school commis- sion, though not without adding some strictures on the system of giving rewards to scholars. - But, as giving is not so positively for- bidden by the law as taking, I was confirmed in my office of school- master for life." ' PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. " As soon as I was assured of my dignity, I lightened my task by dividing the school into classes, and making the elder pupils assist in teaching the younger, and by this method brought them all for- ward more quickly. For the poorest girls, I bought wool and knit- ting-needles, taught them to make use of them, and gave them what they made for their own property. This piqued the parents who were in better circumstances their daughters should be no worse off than their companions ; the knitting became general, and in time was followed by sewing. A poor woman in the village, with whom I divided my salary, undertook the instruction of the girls in needle- work. In the space of a year, not only the dirty, but the torn gowns and jackets had nearly vanished from- my schoolroom. In some few, indeed, the love of dirt and disorder seemed irradicable like other diseases, it ran in^the blood, and descended from genera tion to generation. " While the girls were making these advances in civilization, their male associates were not behindhand. Heading, writing, and arith- metic, were diligently pursued, and the diligence was rewarded by the relation of stories of various kinds. It is incredible with what 58 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. eagerness they would throng round me, when, on a holiday or Sun- day afternoon, I took my .seat in the fields, or woods, for this pur- pose. Every other amusement was readily forsaken for this ; and many, even, of the grown-up lads, who had ceased to attend the school, never failed to join their younger companions on these occa- sions. Sometimes I gave them a lesson in natural philosophy, or history, in geography, or a moral lecture ; but always in the form of a story. The young people thought they were only amused, while I was gradually undermining their prejudices, awaking their moral sense, and enlarging their views of the world. " I had not less satisfaction in the singing lessons which it was my duty, as schoolmaster, to give. I had some excellent voices among my scholars, and the vicar choral of a neighboring town assisted rao with notes and exercises. My young flock got on exceedingly well ; but to amend the church singing, where the elders were concerned, was more than I could accomplish. The whole strength of their lungs was brought into play upon all occasions ; they seemed to make a conscience of never sparing them. I presumed to direct the attention of Pastor Pflock to this subject, and asked him to use his influence with his worthy congregation that they should not bellow so unmercifully. " ' Eh ! what do you mean by that ? ' said the pastor. ' I let every one give free course to his devotional feelings ; let them cry aloud, and spajre not. Lukewarm singing, lukewarm Christianity, in my opinion.' "Apparently he had communicated my ridiculous, my unchristian censure, as he called it, to his whole flock ; for I soon remarked that they roared more pitilessly than ever, and came out of church red-hot with their exertions, and as hoarse as ravens. " I found I must be on my guard*with these good people, with whom I was very evidently anything but popular ; and, with my singing, sewing, washing, combing, and story-telling, passed for an innovating, mischievous busy-body. For this judgment, I was not a little indebted to the pastor, to whom I was not sufficiently sub- missive ; and to the Schulze still more largely, because I never spent anything in his house, and purloined, as he considered it, some of his customers with my Sunday story-telling. " I might have experienced more active efforts of the ill-will of this last dignitary and his partisans, had I not been, in some measure, defended from them by the warm attachment of the children, who never failed to give me warning in time of any conspiracy against me. But what contributed more than all to keep me scathless from thair malice, was a kind of superstitious belief in my powers of THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 59 mischief a belief which, being first induced by the old women of the village, had found ready admittance with all. " They took me, in short, for a conjurer, or something of the kind. To this wise conjecture, my extraordinary liberality, taken in con- junction with the scantiness of my apparent means, might have partly contributed, and partly that I had found out and frustrated more than one or two spiteful tricks intended to be played on me. It happened several times that I received a private visit from one or the other individual whose cow gave bad milk, or who had lost anything in house or field, to request that I would cut the cards, or make a spell of some kind, to discover the criminal. It was in vain that I tried to reason them out of this preposterous folly, and refused the offered money. They remained firm in their faith, that ' I knew more than I should.' Even my poor three acres brought me under suspicion, because, from being the worst, they were now the best and most productive in the parish. Although every one with their own eyes saw, or might see, that the elder lads helped me in the cultivation of the land, and the younger ones took it by turns to weed for me ; although I offered them the plain- est and simplest rules to obtain a like result with my own, they preferred their own solution of the enigma, ' I knew more than 1 should,' ' the devil had a hand in it,' &c. " I saw that the elder part of the population were not to be con- verted. My best hopes rested on their children, who were in a great measure under my influence. I had done much in the course of five years, when a scandalous attempt, on the part of the pastor, threatened the destruction of my plans of reformation. One day the pastor sent for me, received me with extraordinary and unusual civility ; and, while I was endeavoring to find out his motive for such an unexpected manifestation, he surprised me by a proposal to bestow on me in marriage a young person who lived in his house in some dependent capacity. He promised a good portion with her. I had no inclination to listen to or repeat village scandal, but I could not be ignorant that the girl's conduct was not irreproachable, and Pastor Pflock knew it full well. Of course, I gave a direct and immediate refusal ; perhaps I was somewhat too abrupt. From that time forward he never preached a sermon without launching forth into invectives against all profligate innovaters and ' infidels.' If I had had any doubt as to whom these thunders were directed, his looks would have speedily enlightened me and everybody else ; but I despised them too heartily to take any notice of them. By and by, I received notice that complaints had been lodged against me with the School Commission. I was charged with immoral 60 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. conduct ; I was unfit to be trusted with the instruction of chil- dren. I demanded a hearing ; I demanded the names of my accus- ers, which could not well be refused me ; and I never rested till the accusation and its cause had been traced home to Pastor Pflock. The motives for his extraordinary proposal were clear enough, and I succeeded in making them appear so to the Com- mission. From bullying, the unworthy pastor descended to suppli- cation, that the business might not become generally known. It transpired, nevertheless ; before many days were over, everything that had passed in the justice-room was known to every man, woman, and child in Hard. In another quarter of a year Pastor Pflock was removed, and another, Pastor Bode, replaced him. " The latter, a pious and excellent man somewhat advanced in life, and well acquainted with the world, without being corrupted by time, supported me warmly in every attempt for the improvement of the people, and labored zealously in his own calling for the object. He went from cottage to ccttage to give advice, warning, help, and consolation. I grieve to say, he reaped but a scanty harvest with all his toil. His preaching was not half so much attended or admired as Pflock's had been ; the customary offerings to the par- sonage kitchen much scantier. The good people of Hard main- tained stoutly that Pastor Bode ' did not preach the right sort of religion ; he was half an infidel, he did not believe in hell,' &c. &c. And then they shook their heads, and sighed for the high-seasoned homilies of Pastor Pflock, and the discourse usually ended with the ejaculation, 'Ah, he was the man; his was something like ser- mons ! Hard will not see his like again in a hurry ! ' " THE COLONY. " ABOUT this time a certain Baron Von Losecke paid a visit to Hard, on account of some forest land which he inherited in the neighborhood, and which he wanted to dispose of again, as he did not mean to live in this part of the country. The government had declined the purchase, because wood was not at all wanted here, and there was no navigable river to aid in its disposal elsewhere. The Baron next offered it to the parish of Hard, as the forest lay so conveniently at hand. But the parish was poor and in debt ; it was not in any particular want of wood ; and, if it were, preferred greatly stealing it from the Baron's forest to buying of him. The offer was THE TWO MILLION AIRES. 61 < __ a* refused, although he would have lowered his first demand of nine to seven thousand guilders. The Baron was quite at a loss what to do with his new acquisition, and went to ask advice of Pastor Bode, who referred him to me as the person in Hard most likely to give him proper counsel. He came, and the thought suddenly occurred to me to buy the wood myself. My plan was ready in a few moments. I could not be a loser. The Baron swore at the whole business ; he wanted, above all things, to be rid of the trouble, and at last declared that if I could find him a purchaser, he should have the wood for six thousand. I told him, at once, that I would buy it myself if he would accept, the half in ready money, and allow me reasonable tune to pay the other half, with a moderate rate of interest. He stared, first at me, and then at my naked school-room ; but people soon come to an understanding when both parties mean to do so. The bargain was soon struck, and the necessary instruments drawn up. I drew my outstanding capital of four thousand guilders from my native city, paid out of my pocket a yearly sum equivalent to the interest of it, which, if you remember, I had destined for the support of my guardian's daughter, and the Baron received the promised moiety immedi- ately. " The whole village was up in arms at the news of my purchase. No doubt I was supposed to have found the philosopher's stone. I was laughed at for my folly, nevertheless, and many rejoiced before- hand in the expectation that I had certainly overreached myself in my bargain. " The laughter did not very greatly disturb my equanimity. I hired wood-cutters, and a few experienced makers of potash, bought tubs and caldrons, built furnaces for the calcining, and trans- formed the fine beech wood into potash. My projects extended themselves. One of my best friends in the village was a young man named Lebrecht, an active, intelligent fellow, who had often assisted me in the school. I now made it over to him entirely with the income such as it was, and procured a ratification of the appoint- ment from the commission. The only share I retained was the story-telling lesson, as it might be called. The school-house I gave up entirely to my successor, and built a temporary abode in the for- est, to be near my workmen. I had cottages built for them also, which could be tenanted in the winter ; and thus commenced a new mode of life, pretty much like that of a settler in the back woods of America. The Harders shook their heads at my foolish undertaking, while one acre after another was changed into pot- ash. In a year some hundreds of acres were cleared. My potash 62 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. found a rapid sale, and thus the old, impenetrable beech forest, enugly packed in barrels, wandered to all parts of the world. The half of the produce was more than sufficient to pay the renr.ainder of the purchase money; the Baron was paid sooner than I expected, and I had beside some capital in hand, and the land. I now set to work upon a more substantial dwelling for myself, with barns and outhouses, I bought cattle, laid out the land in pasture and arable land, and so turned farmer, as well as potash-maker. In draining some part of the meadows, I discovered a spring. In testing its fitness for domestic purposes, I found it to be mineral. There is no other in all the country round. A new plan was quickly formed. I built this house for the reception of visitors, and adver- tised the healing properties of the spring in all the newspapers. It succeeded beyond all my expectations ; the visitors were so numerous, that, in a few years, I was obliged to add wings to the bathing-house. My capital yielded me a high interest. I por- tioned off more than three hundred acres into small, farms, and built houses upon them, for which I had lime, sand, and wood gratis, and every house had its tenant ready as soon as it was finished. I chose, in preference to all others, skilful artisans, who were either wanted by the water-drinking guests, or were not easily found in the neighborhood. I took care that the leases should be sufficiently advantageous to the tenant, to give him a real interest in the suc- cess of my colony. I was law-giver, as well as landlord, and my indulgence on some points, and inexorable severity on others, where the integrity of my colonists was concerned, were so well known, that my regulations were submitted to without hesitation. Look behind you, dear Roden, at those buildings, fourteen in number, which stand on the rising ground by the side of the forest. That 4 is m 7 colony." THE NEW DIGXITY. ' AMONG the yearly visitors to the waters, some of the authorities of the land were occasionally to be found, to whom I became known. Had I been dressed like one of themselves, my acquirements would certainly have raised no astonishment, but in one clothed in the coarse garments of a peasant, they were esteemed something won- derful. I passed, moreover, for an opulent man, and these two cir- cumstances procured my appointment as Schulze in Hard, on the THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 63 death of the old one, in spite of all the ancient inhabitants could say against it. My new dignity gave me as much joy, as, under other relations, the post of Prime Minister could have done. I was now in the position I had long desired, and my sphere of action exactly what I wished it to be. I was no stranger to the ingratitude of the Harders, but what else was to be expected from a people so poverty-stricken, ignorant, lazy, and stupid ? I must humanize them before I could look for humaner and nobler feelings from them. " I immediately began to work out my projects. Pastor Bode and the schoolmaster Lobrecht were zealous cooperators. Even as Schulze,-! continued my narrative lessons to the youth of the vil- lage. It was too powerful an engine in my scheme of moral refor- mation to be neglected. Eight years' experience had rendered me familiar with the chief sources of mischief in Hard, and I hastened to destroy them. One of the greatest was the litigious spirit of the people. They went to law about everything. I took upon myself to be an attorney, in defiance of the attorneys, and examined those local regulations, which most nearly concerned my peasants, and were most fertile in stuff for lawsuits. A good many I put an end to by amicable arrangement, and the number of my clients increased daily. My office enabled me continually to detect and frustrate the artifices by which provincial advocates often fermented and kept alive the foolish squabbles of the poor ignorant people for their own advantage. This alone was an immeasurable advantage for the village. In the midst of all these official labors, something occurred to me of which I had certainly often thought, but never before felt something which turned my head for a time, and put an effectual stop to my reformation. " One day I drove a wagon myself with a freight of potash to Berg, a market town about twelve miles from Hard, and where my agent for the sale of it lived. In the wagon I had also a sack of beans, which fell from it as I drove into Berg. A lad, who was passing, directed my attention to my loss. I ran back, and hoisted the sack on my shoulders to replace it in the wagon. At that moment a very pretty girl, whose dress announced her an inhabi- tant of Berg, came up with me. I do not know how I looked at her or she looked at me, but I felt the strangest sensation I had ever experienced in my life. While I was staring like a booby, I lost my hat, and, encumbered as I was, I could not stoop to recover it. The beauty saw my embarrassment, and, turning back with the best-hearted smile in the world, picked up the hat and gave it to me. To this day I do not know how I thanked her, or whether I 64 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. thanked her at all. The smile bewitched me so that I could think of nothing else, and am only surprised how I found my way to my agent's. " In the house of the agent a room was always reserved for me, because, in my frequent journeys to and fro, I found it sometimes convenient to remain the night in Berg. I might as well have gone back this time, but I did not. I staid in the hope of seeing my little beauty again, and never left the window commanding a view of the main street till I was called to dinner. " As I entered the room where the dinner was served, who should I see but the very object of my thoughts standing by the table ? Sho was evidently preparing to dine with us. The post of honor at the upper end was assigned to me, and the fair stranger placed herself opposite to me. Frau Diedrich, the agent's wife, said some- thing to me, to which I replied, ' Good, they are exquisite.' " ' Good heavens ! how sorry I am you did not come last week,' exclaimed the good lady, 'we had some much better.' " ' Much better ! ' said I, bewitched. Frau Diedrich was talking about the carp, and I of the black eyes of the maiden. The fair girl smiled, and looked down. " ' Lieber Himmel Herr Schulze, I don't think you heard a word I said ! ' said my hostess. " ' Let the matter alone, wife,' said the agent, rising to fetch his pipe. ' Herr Schulze is a learned man : he was star-gazing.' " ' Who is your new companion? ' I seized the first moment of asking, when the beautiful stranger had withdrawn. " ' She is no companion of mine,' replied Frau Diedrich; ' she is a poor girl, whom my sister, the Pastorin Muller, has brought up. My brother-in-law is lately dead, and my sister, being obliged to leave the vicarage, has sent her to me till she is settled again.' "' Poor, is she ? So much the better for me,' thought I. 'Then I may hope. I am not poor. I am not more than three-and-thirty, and not so bad-looking.' But then I looked again at the delicate town-bred girl, and then at myself a potash-maker in my peas- ant's blouse ! My courage sank a hundred fathoms deep. " Passing by the kitchen, I saw my beauty, with an apron before her, busy over the fire, and the thermometer rose a little. She looked as if performing an accustomed duty. In the evening, as I was sitting alone in my room, I heard something knocking like a knife on a chopping-board. I listened again, and recognized the sound of a detestable old harpsichord, with about as much tone as a tin-kettle, and horribly out of tune into the bargain. Thinking it was one of Diedrich's boys amusing himself, I opened the door be- THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 65 tween, and entered abruptly. Lo ! and behold ! there sat the fair maiden, again alone ! and the room was evidently the one appropri- ated to her use for the time. She started, and colored at my uncere- monious entry, and so did I. I seemed destined to appear before her in some awkward guise or other. Now the mischief was done. I could only make the best excuse I could think of, and beg permis- sion to try my skill at tuning the old harpsichord. She consented : I brought it into something like order, and was rewarded by hearing her play, which she did with great taste and feeling. The tin kettle sounded like the music of the spheres. She expressed some surprise to find me so musical, and afterwards, that I could, unlike most country people, speak of anything else than country matters. " ' Are the countiy people all so learned with you, Mr. Schulze ? ' asked she, with her gentle smile. " I do not know what I answered. The smile and the glance of her black eyes took away my breath and my senses for the time. The poor child seemed to have but little to amuse her in Diedrich's house, for on my asking her to walk out with me, she was ready in a moment. The walk did her good : her features lost a certain tinge of melancholy which I had admired as the greatest of charms till I saw the same features lighted up with smiles, and then I found gladness best became them. At supper, she sat opposite to me again ; and, after supper, we went to the old harpsichord again. This was too much. I never closed my eyes that night. The morning Btar found me as wakeful as the evening had left me. Lovers reckon by the stars, because they hover in spirit above the earth while they are lovers. I fancied I must be ill, and so I told Diedrich, and made that the excuse for remaining the whole day at Berg. My dear little neighbor had abundance of compassion for me, and did her best to amuse me. While she sung to me, or talked or walked with me, the headache I complained of left me, but my heart, ah, friend Roder ! When I returned to Hard, on the third day, I was absolutely miserable. I thought I was going to die, and I believe I made some verses to the moon ! " My official duties began to be terribly importunate, and, I am afraid, were very indifferently performed the week after my visit to Berg. On the other hand I was seized with a sudden zeal for beau- tifying my house, and had many things done which had hitherto appeared to me extremely superfluous. I even bought an excellent piano which I had found on sale in a neighboring town. This was hardly to be called a superfluity, but I had not felt inclined to cul- tivate my musical talents the whole eight or nine years I had spent in Hard with half the zeal as since my visit to Berg. The next 5 66 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. time I drove over, I bestowed a little more attention on my dress, and when I caught sight of the church tower of Berg behind the pine wood, I could almost hear my heart beat. Diedrich and his wife received me with their wonted cordiality, and their sweet friend returned my awkward greeting with a smile and a blush that looked almost like pleasure at seeing me again. " The harpsichord wanted tuning again, and, while I was doing it, T mentioned my purchase of a new piano, and expressed a hope that I should hear her play on it some day, and that was all I said. We went out to walk, and among the thousand things we talked about, the thing I wished most to say was exactly what I did not and could not say. "'Shall you be here again next week?' asked she, when she gave her hand at parting. We were alone, and yet, like an idiot, as I was, I could find no answer, but, 'On Thursday certainly,' as if I had been talking only to Frau Diedrich. " All the way home I had employment enough in quarrelling with myself, and vowing in my heart to acquit myself the ensuing week somewhat less like a simpleton. " My home was no longer as it had been to me. I wandered through my colony. I looked on my own creation, on the testi- mony of a resolute purpose resolutely pursued. I saw it was right, but it did not rejoice me ; I could not look on my work and say ' that it was good.' Beyond the right and useful, something was wanting, something higher, and that lay beyond my power. My work wanted consecration ; as yet, in my little world, the ' beau- tiful ' was not ! And the beautiful is everywhere the reflected light of Love; when hallowing the earthly, it reveals itself to earth. " This week that passed before I went to Berg again, was certainly longer than the whole eight years I had spent in Hard. This time I found courage to say that the tune had appeared immeasurably long since I had seen her, and she answered innocently, ' I am very glad when you come : I am so lost here. It is a pleasure to meet any one with whom we can sympathize.' And hereupon we were both silent, perhaps, because I took her hand and drew it within my arm, at these words, a freedom I had never ventured on before. I did, however, find courage enough, after a while, to say, that ' I should have thought it more likely that she would find here and everywhere hearts only too ready to sympathize with hers ;' to which she answered nothing, and I was as well satisfied that she did not. "When we returned to the house, I invited Diedrich and his wife THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 67 to come over to Hard and look at my new buildings. ' That we will, gladly,' answered he. 'I want to give Miss Augusta a day's pleasure before she goes back next week ;' and here he handed her a letter from his sister-in-law, her protectress. " ' And are you really going to leave us ? ' I asked her as sho gat at the old harpsichord in the evening. "Her hands dropped into her lap. 'I must, my foster-mother has sent for me.' " I thought I saw a tear sparkle through her long eyelashes, and ventured to press her hand to my lips when we parted for the night. " On my return to Hard, Diedrich and his whole family accom panied me. And when I was once more at home, and saw that home lighted by her bright presence, sunshine and joy were in me and around me ! My work was hallowed by the breath of love. The good was wedded to the beautiful. " Man's heart and hands can accomplish great things in the stir and tumult of the world. Woman is powerless in its troubled strife, yet nobler in her weakness, because more alien to the mere earthly than man. She sanctifies him through her love, awakens in him the sense of the beautiful, and she alone has received from Heaven the gift of crowning his brow with the wreath of victory. For men can never reward men for the struggle and the conquest. All that men can accomplish alone may be great, but it is loveless ; just in its purpose, but austere in aspect. Man's only exclusive work is red-handed war. Woe to that world where love is not ! " THE HIGHEST FESTIVAL. " I LODGED my guests in the Baths, with a private hint to the land- lord and his wife to amuse and occupy Diedrich and his wife as much as possible, that I might keep Augusta exclusively to myself. Frau Diedrich was scandalized at the humility of my household arrangements, and could not understand why I did not ' live better,' as she phrased it. 'I might easily do so,' I answered, looking at the only person to whom I was desirous of recommending my humble dwelling, ' but it is not necessary to my happiness. I will do without unnecessary necessaries, that I may have where- with to supply real ones.' "Diedrich shook his head, and merely replied, 'Herr SchuLze, 68 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. you are a humorist.' But the beloved one looked on me with sparkling eye and kindling cheek. ' Where such spotless neafc- ness reigns, who would seek or desire other adornment ? ' cried she. ' When health and contentment are the companions, who asks whether they sit at a table of beechen wood or mahogany ? if they are served on earthenware, or from porcelain and silver ? ' " I pressed the hand of my sweet advocate in silent gratitude, and led her through every part of my domain ; she had understanding and sympathy for all, and while her eyes wandered over the wide- spreading prospect, rich in fruit and promise, her heart seemed to swell within her, her eyes filled with tears. ' This is heavenly,' she murmured. " ' And will you forsake it, then? ' said I. ' Will it be heav- enly to me when you are gone ? ' She was silent, as if she did not understand me. ' Oh, remain ! Where else would you be loved and cherished as you are loved and cherished here ? Be mine ! For me there is no happiness without you. You are an orphan ; if I may hope to win your heart, who shall refuse me your hand ? ' " ' It is true, I have neither father nor mother,' said Augusta, and a shade of sadness crossed the clear heaven of her brow, like a white cloud over the transparent depths of a summer sky. ' But I have made a vow to myself, and I will keep it, never to dispose of myself without the consent and approbation of a man whom I love and honor beyond others in the world.' " ' And who may the one so honored be ? ' I asked, with a beat- ing heart. " ' The noblest-minded being on earth,' she replied, warmly. ' My father's death was sudden and most grievous. He had, though from no fault of his own, ruined a young man who had been his ward; and yet this young man was the only person in the world who had compassion on his orphan child. He shared with me the little my father's misfortunes had left him, provided me with suitable protection, gave me an education, any good that may be in me is his work. I owe him every breath I draw ; I honor him as my second father. Whero to find him I know not ; for, like the Providence that blesses us unseen, he has never beeti visible to my gratitude ; two letters I wrote him remain unanswered ; yet my determination is unalterable, never to accept the hand of any man without asking and obtaining his approbation.' ' ' ' And his name ? ' asked I, breathless with expectation. " ' His name is Engelbert.' " ' And yours is Augusta Lenz.' THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 69 " She looked at me with surprise. I took her hand and led her back into the house, into my study, and took from the drawer of my desk two letters, which I laid before her. ' ' ' Good heavens ! how did these letters fall into your hands, Mr. Schulze ? ' exclaimed Augusta, as she recognized her own hand- writing. " ' I am Engelbert,' was all I could say. " In spite of all I could do to hinder her, Augusta sunk on her knees before me, seized my hands, and covered them with tears and kisses. " ' Let me, let me,' she sobbed, resisting my efforts to raise her. ' How I have longed for this moment, when I could pour out my whole heart before my benefactor, my only friend !' "But I need say no more, my friend; you will guess how I answered, and how I sped in my wooing. From that moment began the real happiness of my life, a happiness that has never known pause or hindrance in its course, nor will, I hope and trust, till the hearts of both are stilled in death. " You may, perhaps, be surprised that we did not become sooner known to each other, and yet the cause was very simple. My agent, Diedrich, had never called me by any other name than my official one, as the people hereabouts are wont to do, and Augusta, who was a stranger to Hard and its relations, had taken it for granted that ' Herr Schulze ' bore only his family name, and nc very uncommon one either. " Whatever Frau Diedrich could say against the irregularity of such a proceeding, I empowered my good friend, Pastor Bode, tc publish the banns forthwith. Augusta had given me a double right, in admitting my authority as guardian to its full extent, to insist o:/ her leaving Hard no more. To the good woman who had charge of my bride, she wrote, by my desire, ensuring to her the yearly sum she had hitherto received as the price of Augusta's mainten- ance, and which she was not in circumstances to spare without inconvenience. Diedrich and his wife remained with Augusta my guests at the Baths. As bride, I invested her with the full authority of the future mistress, to order and arrange all within and without the house, according to her own pleasure. What a week we passed ! second only in felicity to those we have known since. " On the day of our wedding, my kind and gentle Augusta made her appearance, not in the extravagant and somewhat ridiculous finery of a town bride, but in the simple and unpretending costume suitable to the wife of a village Schulze, the guide and associate of peasants, over whom she claimed no other superiority but the 70 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. undisputed and undisputable one of greater knowledge and virtue. " A fortnight after this, Pastor Bode joined our hands at tho altar." A FORTUNATE MISFORTUNE. " AUGUSTA'S diligence and skill in domestic arrangements spared me many a care. Freed from all anxiety for my private affairs, I could devote myself the more entirely to the weightier duties of my office. " I had been about two years married, when the terrible day came which reduced all Hard to ashes. The conflagration had its origin in some very usual but unpardonable piece of carelessness on the part of one of the inhabitants. All help was useless. The good people of Hard stood by stupefied and totally inactive, while others from the neighboring villages were exerting themselves to the utmost to save their cattle and farming stock. There were not half a dozen houses left standing. " The blow was a heavy one ; the people were too ignorant and lazy to be otherwise than poor ; the aid afforded by government scanty, when measured by the want. The sufferers looked at one another in helpless consternation; the greatness of the calamity had robbed them, not only of their property, but of their heads and their hands, such as they were. I alone did not despair nay, even saw ground for hope from the very extent of the misfortune. All were now alike poor. They must work, if they meamt to eat. "As soon as it became a question of rebuilding the village, I delivered a memorial to the government, in which I endeavored to prove that a great advantage might accrue to the community of Hard, if such exchanges were effected between the owners of the land as to fix every man in the centre, or nearly BO, of his own portion. By this means, not only would the danger of a similar catastrophe be con- hiderably lessened, but, what was of yet more consequence, a fruitful source of dispute and litigation would be cut off, by the comparative isolation of the proprietors. My plan was approved of, and a com- mission appointed to effect the necessary exchanges, at the head of which I was placed, in spite of the murmurs and opposition of the Harders. The business was arranged at last, but not without con- siderable difficulty ; and every man's portion of land brought within a THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 71 ring-fence. The grand want at present was of timber for building. There was none fit for the purpose to be procured but from a con- siderable distance, and consequently at an enormous price ; and many were the lamentations that Baron von Lesecke's forests had not been purchased when he offered them ten years before. " I now caused the remainder of my timber to be felled, and sold at the most moderate price, without requiring immediate payment. The greater part I allowed to remain over for two years, without interest. To many persons I advanced money. The government did its part^ For the poorest of all, liberal collections were made among the guests at the Baths. " In little more than a year the village rose from its ashes in scattered dwellings, as you now see it. As a further security against fire, I had public ovens built, apart from the dwelling- houses ; better engines provided, and a well dug near every house. I had the water from my own lands, and those of others situated on the heights, conducted into one common channel, and directed toward the waste common land. Here the great canal was divided into a number of smaller canals, passing through the meadows, the fertility of which was increased threefold, by artificial inundation. The fields and gardens around soon showed signs of improvement. Being immediately under the eye of the owner, they were more carefully cultivated, and much valuable time spared, which had formerly been wasted in running from one outlying field to another. Poverty and necessity compelled the greater part to economy, both of time and money. The public house in the village was less visited. In my inn, I allowed neither wine nor spirits to be sold. The widow of the former Schulze, who still kept the house in the village, abused me unmercifully ; but I obtained my object. Had she followed my advice, and arranged her house for the reception of the water-drinkers and bathers, she might have been a much richer woman, for this house is often so full that new guests are continually obliged to leave the place for want of lodging. " It is true that the greater part of the village is still in debt to me, but their other debts are nearly acquitted, and this was the consequence of real misfortune. Our village is the most flour- ishing and industrious, and therefore the highest in credit, in the whole country. We have no more lawsuits, and squabbling and fighting are scarcely remembered among us. Many of my former scholars of both sexes are now themselves parents, and, I may honestly assert, are as warmly attached to me as ever. Order and cleanliness greet the eye and gladden the heart on every side. " It may have contributed in some measure to this happy change, 72 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. that I have remitted the interest of the sums owing to me to those who distinguished themselves the year through in the neatness of their houses and persons, the cultivation and good order of their fields, and in keeping from quarrels and litigation. By way of encouragement to the rest, I made a gift of the whole capital due to me, to the three families who first worked themselves free from all other debt." Engelbert had proceeded thus far in his narration, when we were interrupted by Augusta. She looked like a rose in its full pride of beauty, with all its buds clustering round. The infant was on her arm, the youngest boy clinging to her side, and the elder ones frolicking about her. What a morning greeting was there ! I felt a child again among those happy children of nature. The bell for church came up through the valley. We went all together, and I shall not easily forget the effect of the hymn of praise sung in four parts by the numerous congregation. Th address of the silver-haired pastor was worthy of the rest earnest, simple, touching intelligible to all practical for this life, yet teaching to look beyond it. When the service was over, the whole community assembled under the lime trees. The Schulze spoke in a kind and friendly manner to several who addressed him, and then, mounting a bench, read some government proclamations, and explained and cleared up some misunderstanding respecting them. When this business was over, he pointed me out with his hand to the assembly and said " I have here an old and dear friend on a visit to me ; and as I wish to give him pleasure, and also to make known to him those young people who have particularly distinguished themselves by their conduct since our last meeting, I invite them all to a dance and supper with me this evening." And here the Schulze read a long list of names from a paper which he held in his hand : hereupon a general whispering, hand- shaking, and smiling took place, and the assembly separated with joyous faces and sparkling eyes. The reverend pastor, the school- master, Librech, an intelligent, well-informed young countryman, possessed of considerable natural talent and an ardent thirst for knowledge, and the doctor and his wife, joined us at dinner, which, contrary to Engelbert's usual custom, was very handsome, and had been prepared at the bathing-house. I never passed a happier evening, and have rarely listened to a better concert. Seven-and- forty voices, male and female, executed choruses and motells, from Grann, Handel, Rolle, and Haydn, with a purity of style and pre- cision of tone that would not have disgraced a concert in the capital THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. 73 Engelbert, his wife, and two elder boys, were among the singers The concert was given in the open air, behind the garden of the bathing-house. The place seemed made for the purpose. A soft echo from the distant rocks sent back the harmony in magic sweet- ness ; the evening sun shone in full splendor on the fields, and broke through the trees on the broad grassy glade where we stood, chequering its deep emerald with broad gleams of gold, and hover- ing like a glory round many a fair young head. I confess the whole scene had something inexpressibly touching to me. ! and all this is the work of one man ! thought I, gazing around me. And this man, who, wherever he moved and looked, beheld his own creation, and that it was good, stood there simple and unassuming among the rest, a peasant among peasants. When the concert was over, I clasped his hand with heartfelt emotion, and exclaimed involuntarily, "Thou art one of the really great in the rustic garb." The evening closed with a dance in the large and handsome saloon of the dwelling-house.* Augusta was my first partner, and a very charming one I found her ; and after her some of the prettiest wives and maidens of Hard. Many of them danced exceeding well, and did infinite credit to the Frau Schulzin, who had been their only instructress. The venerable gray-haired pastor, who mingled with his flock like a grandfather among his beloved children's children, was not the least interesting person of the group. We sat at supper as chance or choice dictated. A fair young rustic, who sat next me, entertained me very agreeably and very rationally, far more so than many a fashionable damsel, whom it has been my lot to meet in circles of far higher pretensions, has done since. As soon as my carriage was mended, and my servant in condition to travel, I left Hard. Engelbert, who considered me as his guest in a house that belonged to him, would not hear of my offering any remuneration where I had lodged. I left his village, therefore, as his debtor, with what feelings of genuine admiration and respect, I need not describe to you. You have now the history of my second millionaire, (continued Counsellor Von Rodern,) deduce what advantage you can for the point in dispute. Even those among us who had defended Morn's misanthropy could not deny that Engelbert had had fully as much cause for hostility to society in general ; and confessed that, with the same views of social evil, he had been- no self-indulgent Morn, but an unwearied benefactor of his kind. Yet they were unwilling to give * A common practice in Germany. 74 THE TWO MILLIONAIRES. up the cause, but defended Morn, as Rousseau had been defended, on the score of the excessive susceptibility of his temper. " To speak more plainly, he was a vain man, or, as the phrenol- ogists would say, his approbativencss was strongly developed," said Von Krachen, smiling. "Hence he was easily deceived, and the often-deceived man is inevitably a mistrustful man. With less judgment than imagination, he was often as much mistaken in him- self as in others, adopted opinions upon insufficient grounds, and drew general inferences from particular cases." Engelbert had both head and heart in the right place, and did not abandon a general principle because of a trifling failure in peculiar instances. Many lament and complain of the perversity and corruption of the world. Engelbert hated the corruption, but he did not whine over it. He attacked it boldly within his own little world, and reformed it. He made war on the error, but not on the erring. Pity that there are not a few more Engelberts in the world ! But the greater part of our world-reformers like the theory far better than the practice. They can eulogize virtue freely, but have no courage for the practice of it. They are them- selves fettered by the very follies and prejudices against which they cry out so lustily. They are weaklings without heart for that truth and nature they so loudly commend, and hug the chain while they contemn the slavery. Or, if they make the sacrifice, they will have counter-sacrifices; praise, honor, popular applause. How many would like to put themselves in Engelbert's place, act the reformer's part, instead of declaiming it ; bear all that was repuV sive in it, bear to be misconstrued and misrepresented, and nevei once ask, will the world applaud the action? And till people are found willing to do this, take my word for it, though the preacher* may be many, the converts will be few "I OWE TOF NOT11NB, SIR," PART I. THE EARL . THE recess was drawing to a close. The countess and her daugh- ters had already left for London. The earl remained at the castle, to give further directions about the estate, with no companion but his heir. To this boy's interest the father was dedicating his life. He had watched him during ten years with intense anxiety. He had seen faculties of the highest order developing themselves in his char- acter, and he resolved to train him for the service of the state. Reflecting that much of his own time had been consumed in the petty cares of a numerous tenantry, the earl yielded to the proposals of his factor, divided his estate into large sheep-farms, and expelled his old tenants. In this way, he thought, his son would find fewer cares to trouble him when he grew up, and more time to realize his destiny. The arrangements were nearly completed. The factor and his officials had been with the earl all the morning. They were gone to eject the last of the tenants. The earl continued at the writing- desk, and wrote as follows to his countess : " These vile attacks, my dearest countess, we shall scorn. The newspapers must minister to the insatiate malice against our order, which rankles in the breasts of the vulgar. Our apology, our reason, I should rather say, is to be found in the ways of Prcivi- dence. We have acted in strict accordance with the laws which rule our race. Everywhere ignorance must give place to knowl- edge ; the incapable to those who have capacity. The business habits, the extensive enterprise, the improved skill of the Lowland farmers, supplant the backwardness, the unskilfulness, the sluggish- ness, of our Highland tenantry. We lament that it must be so. The touching verses in your own diary express our sorrow. But (75) 76 "I OWE YOU NOTHING. the time was come. The law of Providence was to be vindicated ; and our much bepitied tenantry are gone to supplant those who are less skilful in North America, who again, years ago, naturally en- tered into the place of the aborigines. " I sometimes feel, however, as if I would not have cared to be- come the voluntary agent in the hand of Providence, had it not been for our beloved Noel. My heart leaps up when I reflect how my present toils will advantage him. Often my thoughts project into the future. I see our boy a leader among the greatest. Not a day goes past which does not bring some token of his greatness to my sight. "This very morning he came to me, as I was reading in the deep window of the library, and said, pointing to the bay, ' Look there, father. I have seen the bay a thousand times filled with water, and the waves chasing each other to the beach. Far over on the opposite shore I can see the horses moving along the road ; and, to the right and left, our bay is walled in by land. I see land wherever I turn. When I come from London I see nothing but land. I should like to look upon the broad ocean, father. You told me yesterday it is to be seen from Headland Crag there. Be- hind it you say the sea rolls in from America. Let me go up there while you are engaged with the factor. I will climb up by the shepherds' track.' " "What a spirit, my countess ! Would it not have been cruel to have denied him ? I wished, indeed, to send a servant with him, but he would not go on that condition. The self-relying, courage- ous boy ! " While I write to you, he will be enjoying his reward. I well remember, when a boy, my first ascent of the crag. Up and up through the ploughed fields and the brown heath I climbed, until I reached the hard rock, rugged and bare, which shoots up at the summit. It was a worthy spectacle. Far as my eye could reach, the sea stretched out before me, until it seemed to blend into the very heavens. I had only seen it in the bay before, rolling in from the opposite shore. I now beheld it sweeping away into the infinite ; and even in my childhood I deemed it a glorious sight. So, doubtless, does our Noel deem it at this moment, as a new idea is taking its place in his mind." He gave the letter to a domestic to carry to the neighboring post- town, and took up the plans of his estate. In vaiu, however, did he attempt to fix his mind upon the dry outlines ; it was with Noel ou the top of Headland Crag. : I OWE YOU NOTHING." 77 The bell of the castle struck four as he was thus engaged. Ha had calculated on Noel's return before this hour. A pang of unea- siness shot through the father's heart. He strove to subdue it by his confidence in the boy's energy. It would not be subdued. In two hours more the -sun would set. Should night overtake the young adventurer, what mishaps might then ensue ! The earl rose in restlessness. The door of the library opened upon a lovely lawn that swept down like a crescent, shaping itself to the bay. A little to the left, on the public road, was a jutting point, from which a view of the path over the crag was commanded. Thither he bent his steps. In vain, however, did his eye range from top to base ; in vain he searched every turn of the footpath through his pocket- glass. No Noel was to be seen. An old thorn stump that grew near the summit was, for a moment, mistaken for the boy, and the anxious father made beckoning signs with his handkerchief. Then a solitary bush, half way to the base, was supposed to be the wearied heir resting for a little. Objects innumerable assumed the shape of Noel, but Noel himself came not. He was in the act of waving his handkerchief to one of these delusive objects, his uneasiness passing into fear, when he heard the approach of footsteps ; and, turning about to conceal his anxiety by the assumption of an in- different air, and to see what stranger was travelling on that lonely road, he beheld one of the most singular figures he had ever chanced to set his eyes upon. If our readers would fancy Samuel Johnson's head and shoulders perched upon a short, spare body, and the very slimmest legs these last particulars encased in dim shepherd tartan a camlet cloak suspended from the afore-mentioned shoulders, and an am- phibious expression of youth and age over the whole, they would see for themselves the traveller who now came forward to the earl and stood uncovered in his presence. His lordship was in no mood to be troubled at that time, but there was something in the demeanor of the traveller which com- manded his attention. "You have business with me?" insinuated his lordship, as the strano-er continued silent. "May I presume to know what you are?" "I was the schoolmaster of your late tenants," the stranger replied. "Your factor's servants have expelled me this morning from my school and home. I am now houseless and helpless. My wife and children are with me." As he spoke he pointed to the weary group resting on the beach, looking fixedly at the earl and himself. Now it was not specially 78 "I OWE YOU NOTHING." apparent to the earl that the poor man who stood beside him was a victim to the policy which he had been pursuing of late on his es- tate. Between the effects of that policy on his old tenantry, and the policy itself, he had drawn a sufficient veil, so that he could look at the one without being self-accusingly troubled about the other. He, therefore, listened to the statement which had just been made, as a formal judge would to a passionate plea of not guilty, with an almost entire indifference, arising out of the convic- tion that such things must necessarily occur. And yet the earl was not a bad man. He was simply one who looked upon human life from the position of an earldom. In the very philosophy which bred this indifference, there was an element which the sight of the wearied wife and children was exactly fitted to bring into action. We saw in his letter to the countess that he considered himself as an agent in the hand of Providence when he was expelling his un- skilful tenantry. On a similar ground he held that his order was the natural custodier, and the appointed dispenser of the charities of Providence. Hence, a few months before, he had hurried down from Parliament to sit as chairman at a county meeting, called to consider the case of the poor, and had made speeches which were circulated as the very cream and essence of benevolence. And hence, also, as if the action were the irresistible effect of the sight he was directed to, he drew a sovereign from his purse, and held it out to the houseless teacher. To his ntter amazement, the teacher put the hand which held out the gratuity from him, and said, with great dignity, "My lord, I did not come to beg your charity. God has en- dowed me with knowledge, and I desire to impart it." A frown crept over the earl's brow. The schoolmaster continued, " I have applied for two schools, and have been unsuccessful. I have no certificate. They who could best tell my worth, or want of worth, are far out on the sea. Your factor never heard of me. I have no man to speak for me. So I have come to your lordship. Your lordship's influence may procure me a school which is vacant on your neighbor's estate." " You have come in a wrong spirit," replied the earl, dropping the rejected sovereign back into his purse ; " and besides, you have come to one who knows you not. I cannot promise you my influ- ence." The last sentence was uttered in an irritated tone, and the speaker was turning away to be quit of the applicant, when the latter said, I OWE YOU NOTHING." 79 "If I have spoken rudely, my lord, pardon me. Indeed, I did not purpose to do so. Yet I have been sorely tried this day. I beg you, for my family's sake, not to withhold the favor I ask." The earl made no reply. The teacher waited for a moment, and then resumed, in a half soliloquy, for the hope of effecting his purpose was fading away, " I was trusting to your influence, my lord. I did not think it would have been refused. I thought I deserved it, to some extent. My father, and my father's father, were tenants under your ances- tors. I have taught the children of your tenantry. My lord " "I cannot help you, sir; I cannot help you," interrupted the earl, turning full round and confronting the poor teacher. " Your father's father I did not know. I do not know their son. If you taught the children of my tenantry, they would, doubtless, pay you for your work. You deserve nothing at my hands. I am not bound to you. I owe you nothing, sir, nothing." So saying, his lordship strode away to arouse the castle servants to the search for Noel, and left the schoolmaster standing in the middle of the road. PAKT II. THE TEACHER. IN a mean hovel, built by the farmers of the preceding genera- tion on a piece of land which could by no skill of husbandry known to them be turned to any other account, the man who was treated with so much contempt by the earl had kept a school since he was a boy. There, three miles from the spot on which he now stood, he had taught, with a loving and willing heart, the children of the ejected tenantry. He was a thoughtful, simple soul, who knew little of the world in which the earl moved. At this particular time, too, he was sickly. And the haughty words stung his heart, and brought the tear into his eye. " He owes me nothing ! " he muttered to himself. " I did not say he did. I never, till now, thought he did. I sought his help as a favor, not as a debt. Yet, now I think, he did owe it to me. God help my family ! Our trust is not in princes, nor in men's sons." He repressed his emotion, however, as well as he could, and returned to his wearied and houseless companions. They were all 80 "I OWE YOU NOTHING." weeping. They had seen the earl turning away, and guessed the result. Three children clung around the mother. The youngest did not understand the cause of the sorrow, but wept because the rest were weeping. A word about the teacher's wife. She was a true helper, and right noble soul. Her mind was firmer, more capacious, than her husband's. She had stayed up his sinking spirits when the proba- bility of their present circumstances first darkened their minds ; and now, in the actual circumstances, she was not wanting in either words or deeds of hope. Her grief gave way speedily to a better feeling. "Let us not fail to hope, Duncan," she said; "I feel assured that your application will be attended to. God will provide for you a school. We must hasten towards the town ! night is drawing on." Shall we tell our readers that the whole family knelt down upon the beach, and committed their way to that Being whose ear is ever open to the cry of the afflicted ? When they rose, the father slung the youngest child in a plaid upon his breast, the mother bound a little bundle of valuables upon her back, each took one of the two elder children by the hand, and thus they resumed their journey. Their road lay along the shore of the castle bay, and then round the peak, and along the other base of the headland, which Noel had ascended that morning. As they passed the castle, they saw the earl and domestics bustling and running about in great alarm. Ignorant of the cause, the poor teacher could not help recalling the bitter words which his lordship had spoken, and thus addressed his wife, " I think, Rachel, that my ill-requited toils among his tenantry might have engaged him to a little interest in our future welfare." " At all events, Duncan," the wife replied, " he owed you an apology kind words, at least for the rudeness of his factor's men to us this day. " Yes," she continued, with a dash of indigna- tion glowing in her face, " he owed you help, he owed you sympathy, he owed you justice. He was bound to you, to me, to these little ones, by our very sorrow, even, if it had not been caused by him- self." But eifcer he Jfcidignatjon or her grief, or both together, choked ner utterance, ancRshe said no more. Duncan did not venture to reply. In truth, he was unable. The wrong which had been done to him was at present hidden from his view by his anxiety about the future. He could not yet define it or utter it. It lay dumb in him in the deepTecesses of grief and fear. With Rachel, it was differ- ent ; she clearly saw the thought which her husband only dimly " I OWE YOU NOTHING." 81 felt. Although she continued silent, the thought was working in her soul. Her flushed face, her quickening steps, indicated how clearly she apprehended the injustice of the earl's reply. " Proud earl that he is ! " she exclaimed within her own mind, " with all his greatness he does not know how sacred is a human home. What other earl, what other earthly dignitary, what human heart, so cruel as to have acted as he and his have done ! He said, ' I do not know you I owe you nothing, you inconsiderable boor on my estate ! ' The man was wrong, proud peer ! who taught thee so to speak. A better than thou did not refuse to know us, and to help us well. Morning and evening He came to our solitary home. He came to us with life, with bread, with reason, with family ties, with words from His Father's bosom. He calls us no longer servants, but friends. Are His friends to be so despised ? refused the cup of cold water ? Sin lies at thy door, my lord !" Again, however, the current of her thoughts was interrupted. Duncan and the children were standing still. They had at length reached the extremity of the headland. The weary bend of the bay in which the castle stood had been travelled, and they were now prepared to wind round to the other base of the crag, which ran along the shore of the open sea, and skirted the road that led to the town. Why are they pausing here? What has rooted them so to the ground ? They cannot hide from themselves that night is hastening up behind them. Yet there they stand, gazing right across the mouth of the bay, and far over into the level country beyond. A column of smoke is rising against the eastern sky, in the distance. The wind heaves it to a side for a moment, then breaks it near the ground, and bright flames issue out beneath. Duncan and his family are again in tears. Rachel was the first to speak, " The home where our babes were born ! So Duncan " She could say no more. House and school were in flames. The officials of the " agent of Providence " were burning them as worth- less, and their late possessors had, unexpectedly, turned towards the painful sight. Mournfully they withdrew their gaze, and resumed their journey. In a few minutes they had doubled the cape of the crag, and the chill breath of the open sea beyond, came up sorely against the faces of the children. " The sea is gathering for a storm, Rachel," said the teacher. " Let us mend our steps, children," replied the mother; "we have to reach that spire shining far before us ere we rest." The sea rolled in heavily on their left. On their right, sloping up from the road, arose the northern face of Headland Crag. 82 " I OWE YOU NOTHING.' PART III. THE HEIR. WE return to the castle for a moment. The earl had ceased to think of his encounter with the teacher. Noel's continued absence filled him with alarm, and shut out every other thought. An instant search was determined on. The earl himself, and four domestics, with dogs and torches, set out for the shepherds' track. Others were directed to separate and ascend the hill from different points, hallooing at every step ; then to meet the earl and his companions upon the highest ridge, to consider how they should continue the search, if still unsuccessful. The level beams of the sun were resting on the summit of the crag as they set out, warning them to lose no time. It never occurred to the earl that Noel had been tempted to de- scend the crag by the northern side. Yet so it was. When the boy had clambered to the summit and obtained the wished-for sight, a further longing and curiosity drew him down to the shore which lay beneath. With all the thoughtlessness of a headstrong boy, he yielded to the longing, and found himself in an another hour stand- ing on a solitary shore at the base of that height which had taken him three hours to climb from the castle bay. While he stood, his eye caught a ship in the distance, running before the wind with all her canvas set. Noel was in raptures. All the coaches he had ever seen were nothing compared with this. Sailing-boats of every shape were glorious in his eyes. He gazed, he followed, he fairly ran. The same longing which led him to descend the hill, impelled him after the sailing vessel. Along the shore he ran, until he was thoroughly tired, keeping his eye fixed on the ship as long as it remained in sight. When he be- thought himself of home, he was far from the beaten foot-path by which he had crossed. Struggling with weariness and hunger, he slowly retraced his steps. Late in the afternoon he had once more reached the entrance to the track. He looked upwards : the hill rose above him dark with gathering shadows ; to his view, nearly thrice the height which it appeared in the morning from the castle windows. Dismay and weariness overpowered him. He sat down on the beach to rest, and soon fell asleep, his head resting upon an old gray stone. While he slept the tide began to turn. The sea rolled towards his resting-place, the waves broke within a few paces of his feet : a fierce wind came riding on their back. " I OWE YOU NOTHING." 83 He was sleeping within tide-mark, but had providentially lain down on a swell of sand ; the waves girdling him more closely, but he was still above their reach. Yet all the more terrible did his condition seem when he awoke and saw that his couch of sand was surrounded by the waters. One cry of intense agony burst from his lips. He heard the storm howling in the air. He felt the waves dashing at his feet. Behind, before, the path was closed. " Father ! father ! father ! " he cried, and alternately leaped and cowered down with fear. The sun had sunk, but there was still light enough to discern objects on the hill. With a child's hope he continued to call upon his father, although no living thing was to be seen from top to base. Suddenly a light glanced over the ridge. Another, and another ! The hill-top seemed on fire. Noel could discern figures within the light, and instinctively knew they were from the castle. He re- doubled his cries. " I am here ! I am here ! I am here ! " No human voice could reach so high. The heavy beat of the thundering sea was heard but faintly by the earl and his domestics on the ridge. They, however, resolved to descend. The earl was bewildered, he knew not what to think. His mind ran on pitfalls, and wild beasts, and cold, and hunger, and every possible evil, but that which engirdled his beloved Noel. With the speed of huntsmen they de- scended, darting hither and thither into every nook, searching every bush and brake in their way. Noel beheld their torches flashing nearer ; he felt also, behind him, the might of approaching waters. His cries continued to mingle with the blast. Our readers have heard the loudest storm sinking into a moment- ary lull. They have listened to the noise of the tempest receding to gather new strength. In such a lull, the voice of Noel at length pierced upwards to his father's ears. Some dim image of the actual condition of his boy glanced into his father's mind. He and his domestics, hallooing for Noel's sake, waving their torches, hurried down, towards the shore. Yet, in vain had they hurried, if the deliverance of the boy had depended upon them. The tide was fairly upon him. The waves were already dashing over his feet. A few moments more and he must have been swept away. He could no longer cry. Terror now mastered him and struck him dumb. He saw the black waves hurrying past him on either side : the howl of the mighty wind sounded through his heart : he was about to sink through fear and exhaustion, and abandon him- self to the tide, when he felt himself lifted from the sand and borne 84 " I OWE YOU NOTHING." through the darkness and the waters in the arms of a human being. Twice his deliverer was overthrown by the rush of the waves rolling to the shore. With firm clasp he was still enabled to hold the child and recover his footing. At that moment the earl and his people sprang from the shep- herds' track. They ran about in all directions, hallooing the boy's name. Some of them leaped down upon the beach. A woman and three children were gazing into the sea with the greatest agitation. " Help ! help ! " cried the woman, " he is there ! in save my husband and the child ! " Before the men could comprehend her meaning, they beheld a man bearing a child aloft, struggling towards the shore, nearer, nearer. His burden is safe ! He, himself, sinks exhausted into the arms of the woman. Noel rushed into his father's arms, and clasped him again and again. A few words sufficed to explain his danger and his unex- pected deliverance. The earl turned to thank the brave being to whom he owed so much. He found him still leaning on the wo- man's breast ; and manifested the tenderest sympathy. " My benefactor, my friend, my brother, how shall I ever repay you ? Come with us to the castle. Accept this purse. In what way can I assist you, or pay you the debt you have so generously laid me under ? " He was going on in this somewhat incoherent style, when the man lifted up his face from his wife's bosom and answered, in tones which the earl too well remembered, " My lord, you owe me nothing. I have but done my duty." It was our teacher. The screams of the heir caught his ears too, in that momentary lull of the storm. Giving the child to Rachel, he had ventured through the surge, and was enabled to do the deed we have already described. We will not attempt to describe the mingled feelings of the earl. The liveliest gratitude struggled painfully within him beneath the pressure of Duncan's proud retort. To this man he had spoken rudely but a few hours before. He was now bound to him eternally. Once and again he proffered his thanks, and renewed his offers of hospitality and help. The pride of the teacher stepped between, and waved his lordship's help away. " This morning," said the earl, " you asked a favor at my han-is. May I now offer what I then refused ? " I OWE YOU NOTHING." 85 " My lord, you owe me nothing nothing, my lord. Kachel, let us hasten on our way." Rachel had listened with eagerness all the while. She would not have spoken in the earl's presence, if her name had not been men- tioned. She knew her husband's pride of heart : she knew how deeply he had cause to feel the conduct of the earl's officials. But now the circumstances were changed. The peer was asking what the teacher had to bestow. " Duncan," said she, " have you forgotten that God has bound the human race together in bonds of mutual debt ? Each one owes something to every other, and to all. Whatever God has given to one, which he has not given to all, is given to be returned to the brotherhood of earth. Our gifts, our goods, our affections, what- ever we have which others have not, we must look upon as due to them. Did you not look upon yourself as debtor to the children you taught, to me, to these little ones ? Is not this your own be- loved doctrine ? Will you refuse to acknowledge it now ? Owe you not to this earl the acceptance of his thanks and help ? " These words were uttered slowly to an unwilling ear. But they broke down the proud spirit, and accomplished their end. " Enough, Rachel. I have acted sinfully. My lord, bear with a man vexed and irritated by the unusual events of this day. I accept your kind offer ; and will gladly return with you to the castle, and renew my request to-morrow." The earl was touched. He had learned a lesson this day which had at once humbled and exalted him ; with a truer feeling towards his brother man than had ever stirred in his bosom hitherto, he re- plied, " Duncan, I will more than grant your request. You shall abide on our estate, and be provided there with a school worthy of you." He was as good as his word. A handsome school was built for Duncan within a mile from the castle. Better days dawned on him and his brave Rachel. On looking back, he felt that he had been truly led by a way he knew not, not merely to improved circumstances, but to clearer apprehensions of the duty which man everywhere owes to man. He never ceased to impress on his own children that a poor man may be as proud as a peer, and as inconsiderately with* hold what he owes to his titled brother. NOTES OF 1 JOfflMEf ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF PMAHA. WE left New York on the 17th of July ; and on the 28th of the same month cast anchor before Chagres, one of the eastern ports of the Isthmus of Panama. A leaden sky, a humid and oppressive atmosphere, and peals of thunder, that were echoed from the depths of the close woods, contributed not a little to give a mel- ancholy aspect to a port whose reputation for unhealthiness has eclipsed even that of Senegal. Though Chagres is so conveniently situated between the two oceans, and the two lines of steam navigation that connect the United States with California, it is but a miserable village, com- posed of a few Indian huts, which are constructed of wood and stubble, and stand on each side of the river. The streets are complete puddles during the rainy season, which occurs in winter. This season is most fatal to health, because of the humid heat that pre- vails, and the deleterious miasma which is disengaged from all parts of the soil. Serious maladies may be contracted within a few hours ; and strangers are eager to leave this inhospitable place. The boat- men of the river Chagres, who were formerly hard put to it to earn a miserable subsistence, now gain very considerably by the American emigration to California, and the haste of travellers to leave this noxious coast and get up the river to Panama. In order to secure their own price from the poor strangers at their mercy, they take care only to exhibit a small number of boats while there are plenty more out of sight along the opposite bank of the river. We left Chagres on the 30th July. The entrance of the river presented a most rich and beautiful aspect. Palms and cocoa-nut trees, and other gigantic productions of the climate, made two bar- riers on either side the stream of impenetrable verdure. Their long (8C) A JOURNEY ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 87 branches, gracefully inclining over the water, projected afar their splendid shadows, by which the voyager was only too happy to profit. The first impression produced by the sight of this luxuriance of nature is that of profound admiration ; to which shortly succeeds a vague sinking of the spirits. This doubtless proceeds from the enervating odors sent forth by tropical vegetation, and from the gases produced by the soil of the plants, whose absorption, emission, and flow of sap, acquire, in the heat and humidity to which they are constantly subjected, an extraordinary energy. Alternately peace- ful as a lake, and impetuous as a cataract, this river seems to pride itself in its violent contrasts. Its habitual visitors were more sur- prised than frightened by our approach. Here the wild turkey-hen, with plumage of ebony, sailed round a palm tree, slowly beating the air with her heavy wings. Further on were clouds of paroquets, gay with a thousand tints, and uttering their sharp, provoking cries. From time to time we could distinguish, in the middle of the thick- ets, the scaly and yellowish bodies of alligators, which are very common on the borders of the Chagres, where they wait entire hours for their prey, in a state of perfect immobility. We were not long in arriving at a filthy hamlet, named Gatoung. There are few things so comical as a disembarkation in this country. The moment you place your foot upon the soil, which is nothing but mud, it sinks beneath your feet ; and it is not without a great deal of trouble, and often at the sacrifice of your boots, which are left imbedded in the dirt, that you at length gain the top of the slope. We were ignorant, when we quitted New York, that the Isthmus of Panama was altogether without resources. We had not therefore been careful to lay in a store of victuals necessary for our journey ; and a little sea biscuit and a few pots of preserves com- posed all our stock. Our halt at Gatoung gave us the opportunity of visiting several Indian huts, where we met with the most hospi- table Welcome, and we profited by this reception to try to procure some food. They at length directed us to a habitation where the inmates had a pot on the fire ; the preparation of an otta of rice was quite an event in the district. A few crown-pieces obtained us a portion of this modest repast, and we succeeded besides in dis- covering in a neighboring hut a stray bottle of Xeres. Having for- gotten to bring rain-water from Chagres, we found ourselves reduced to quench our thirst with the unhealthy water of the river, the crudity of which it was well to correct with a few drops of a spirit- uous liquor, even after it had been filtered. One of our number had fortunately brought with him a filter, which enabled us to ob- tain a passable draught. Thirst is perhaps the most dangerous 88 A JOURNEY ACKOSS THE ISTHMUS OP PANAMA. enemy one has to encounter on the Isthmus of Panama. I have seen more than one American pay with his life for the fatal habit of listening to the temptations of this demon. Continuing our route, night surprised us, and lent a new aspect to the surrounding scene. The majestic shadows of the huge trees upon the waters the pale rays of the moon, that made the river like a sheet of silver the silence around, uninterrupted save by the regular strokes of the oars, and the cries of the night birds, all contributed to the fascination of the hour. At length we arrived at a small creek, where our old pilot made us remain until sunrise. Towards the evening of the second day, we arrived at the village of Pedro Blanco, where, after long and troublesome negotiations, we succeeded in obtaining a little rice for supper. Two of my travelling companions, who had been exploring the neighboring forest, brought in a couple of pretty paroquets, which were soon plucked, and added as a relish to our rice. But the flesh of this bird is far from equalling its plumage ; and, notwithstanding the good-will of our sportsmen, they were compelled to pronounce their game horribly tough. The next day the boatmen substituted the palanca for the oar. The palanca is a long pole, terminating in an iron point, which is pushed into the bed of the river, or into the roots or trunks of the trees, in such a manner as to shove the boat onwards, as much as pos- sible avoiding the current. This mode of propulsion, more efficacious than the oar, has likewise the merit of being less fatiguing. But it exposes the passengers to certain dangers, and this was to be our day of misfortunes. One of the boatmen, by some awkwardness, lost his palanca. The boat, which had been adroitly guided close along the bank of the stream, ceded to the impetuosity of the cur- rent, which was not to be mastered by an unequal number of palan- cas, and was driven against an enormous trunk of a submerged tree in the middle of the river. The frightful force of the shock staved in our front plank. The water began to pour in, and we saw our- selves on the point of capsizing, without the power of leaving the boat, shut in as we were by its roof of branches and our numerous packages. But we escaped this danger by a species of miracle, and the current, carrying us rapidly on, left the poor Indian, who had lost his palanca, suspended in the air to the bough of a tree, which he had seized with all his strength to avert the violence of the shock. Seeing us leaving him rapidly behind, he at length allowed himself to drop into the water, and swam ashore. The two men who now remained shoved the boat towards a creek, where we found a shelter A JOURNEY ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 89 for the night, and where the other Indian shortly afterwards rejoined us. Here we repaired the damage we had received. This night, another boat, containing several Americans, was moored beside ours. The desperate condition of one of their number had compelled them to halt. The unhappy man had been suddenly attacked by cholera, after drinking a little milk and eat- ing several oranges. I shall never forget the night that we passed beside the poor sufferer, who, far from his family and all remedies, was fust approaching his end, without even a bed to lie upon. His companions unceasingly administered eau-de-vie, which had no other effect but to accelerate the disease. The plaintive groans of the wretched man hindered us from shutting our eyes for a moment, and at the same time recalled the dangers to which we ourselves were exposed in that frightful climate. The next morning he was no more ; and his friends were obliged to beg the assistance of their boatmen, and of some inhabitants of the neighboring hamlet, in rendering the last duties to his remains. Having now repaired the breach in our plank, we would have continued our route, but one of the men, retained by the hope of participating in the benefits of the interment, opposed our depart- ure. Hoping, doubtless, to moderate my eagerness to continue the journey, he said, pointing at the same time to the corpse of the American with a significant smile " Este muerto y od esta enfermo " (he is dead, and you are ill) ; an observation far from reassuring to a traveller laboring under a slight attack of fever in an unhealthy climate. The interment over, and the piastres pock- eted, our phlegmatic boatmen decided upon continuing the voyage. The banks of the river now began to lose their grand and pictu- resque aspect, which they had owed to the beauty and density of the woods with which they were clothed. We terminated happily a day so ill commenced, and arrived at night at the village of San, Pablo. The next morning, at a little distance from a small town named Gorgona, we perceived an American steamboat abandoned in the river. The numerous obstacles it had encountered had completely disabled it after only a few voyages. In order to secure a safe nav- igation for steamers of the very smallest dimensions, the Rio Chagres ought to be completely cleared. It is obstructed, through- out the whole extent of its course, by trunks of trees, often hidden by merely a few feet of water. While waiting for the great roada which the Americans intend to establish through the isthmus, it is urgent that the Rio Chagres should be rendered navigable. The 90 A JOURNEY ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. emigrants and the country generally have the greatest interest in this measure. The Chagres rises near Graces, a small town situated about six leagues from Panama and two from Gorgona. Its course is nearly seventeen leagues. Travellers, en route for Panama, sail up it as far as Cruces, which, besides being two leagues nearer than Gor- gona to Panama, possesses also an ancient royal Spanish road a very bad one, it is true, but much better than that of which we shall have occasion to speak. Most of the Americans who landed at Chagres at the same time with our party went on to Cruces, which was likewise our first intention. But our boatmen and oth- ers assuring us that the means of transport were very rare, and cholera and fever rife, we determined to land at Gorgona a reso- lution of which we afterwards had reason to repent. In this coun- try a stranger cannot be too much on his guard against the mis- representations of the boatmen, on the one hand, whose interest it is to shorten the voyage, and of the inhabitants, on the other, in order to secure to themselves the advantage of his sojourn in their locality. There is a regularly organized conspiracy against his purse. Gorgona is, like Chagres, an irregular assemblage of from sixty to eighty huts, intersected by steep streets, where mud and water replace the pavement. These habitations are but one story high ; they have neither flooring nor ceiling, and they are frequently flooded during the rainy season. The town has already its hotel, which possesses four beds, a few hammocks, no windows, but nu- merous holes in its thatched roof, which permit one to contemplate the firmament when the weather is fine, and favor the inmates with gratuitous douches when it rains. The food corresponds with the lodging. Contrary to what one usually remarks in unhealthy climates, the natives of New Granada appear equally exposed with strangers to the reigning maladies. There is scarcely a hut where one does not encounter some poor wretch trembling with the calentura, or the fever. The cholera, likewise, in 1849, made terrible ravages. The physical characteristics of the population are easily enumer- ated. They possess finely-formed limbs, equally vigorous and supple, copper-colored skins, tolerably regular features, and black hair, but not crisp like that of the negroes. The men are gener- ally clad in a species of shirt, which descends a little way down the leg. The women add to this a petticoat. Both sexes wear straw hats, with broad brims to shade them from the sun. The inhabitant of the Isthmus of Panama is kind and hospitable. In A JOURNEY ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 91 great matters he may be entirely trusted, but it is well to place tempting trifles out of sight. He wants energy and character; there is no very decided leaning to good or evil. An extreme filial tenderness, as among the Chinese, is the sole peculiarity that breaks in upon his habitual indifference ; all his faculties seem to languish under the enervating effects of the climate. Nothing is more monotonous than rural life in these countries. With the excep- tion of some rare excursions, the people pass their time in smoking, and sleeping in a wretched hut, scarcely sheltered from sun and rain by a roof of palm-leaves. Many huts are formed of nothing but four stakes supporting a species of loft, where the family pass the night extended upon mats, and to which they mount by the trunk of a tree, notched at regular distances, so as to serve for a ladder. The domestic utensils consist of one or two kettles, and a few large jars, of a spherical form, which hold rice and rain-water. They light a fire on the ground, and cook in the open air. Men and women eat squatted upon their heels ; and the use of tobacco is common to both sexes. Gorgona possesses an alcade, to whom we were obliged to address ourselves for the fifteen or twenty mules which were needed to con- vey us and our luggage to Panama. The complaisant magistrate placed himself at our service, and promised us an unlimited num- ber of these rare and fndispensableNjuadrupeds. But time passed, and the mules did not appear. The travellers who had preceded us had engrossed them all. We were consequently obliged to sep- arate for a time, much against our inclination, and to hire the mules as they returned by twos and threes to Gorgona. The hire of a mule varies from eight to sixteen piastres. Our advance guard, composed of two mules, two Indians, and the youngest of my fellow-travellers, set out on the 5th of August. Impatient to arrive at Panama, I followed the next day, the land- lord of the hotel having procured me a little mare, and a guido twelve years of age. Furnished with some sea-biscuit and choco- late, my fusil strapped to my shoulder, and hunting-knife at my side, I mounted my pitiful beast, after having disposed of a water- proof cloak on its croup, and placed under the saddle a blanket, which had been of the greatest service. In this fashion I left Gorgona, after having bidden adieu to my remaining comrades, who were to rejoin me at Panama as soon as possible, bringing with them our luggage. From the beginning of my journey, we trav- ersed most abominable roads. Steep and slippery declivities, riv- ulets, precipices, narrow passes, where the rocks approached each other so closely that the mare could not advance without the great- 92 A JOURNEY ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OP PANAMA. est trouble, and at a sore expense to my poor knees, which were every moment grazed against their sharp edges, all announced a tiresome journey. I could not avoid making comparisons between my guide and my horse. The beast greatly exceeded the boy in topographical knowledge ; and, with a modesty for which I gave him credit, the latter at length resigned himself to the leading of the former, walking in the rear, and only crying out, from time to time, aqui (here), or aca (there). When the branches of the trees or their overgrown trunks barred further passage, my young native resumed the lead, and speedily levelled the obstacles by the aid of a cleaver, without which an Indian never sets out on a jour- ney. Sometimes the mare would stop and inflate her nostrils at the sight of a half-devoured mule, regretfully abandoned at the noise of our approach by the vultures that disputed its remains. The poor beast was constantly knee-deep in mud ; for what they call a road in this country is simply the bed of a river, more or less dry in fine weather, but filled again by the first heavy shower. Divers claps of thunder now announced the approach of one of those storms which take place every day during the winter, and in a few minutes inundate the country. Urged on by the pouring rain, we reached, just in time, a tolerably large river, which was now forded without difficulty, but would have been impassable an hour later. We were luckily-fcnablecl to take refuge in a shed, where I dried my clothes, and determined to remain for the night. The next morning, at an early hour, we continued our journey. In place of the good road I had been led to expect, I still encoun- tered these muddy plains, and eternal hills bristling with rocks. At length we reached a house situated upon an elevation half-way between Gorgona and Panama. Here we obtained some coffee, without which I could scarcely have been able to endure the fatigues of the journey. At four, we arrived at the last dwelling before reaching Panama. For one instant I thought of passing the night here ; but my guide hindered me from following this happy inspiration, solemnly assuring me that we should reach our destina- tion the same evening. We therefore continued our way through a prairie where the road from Gorgona unites itself with that lead- ing to Graces, which, though horribly uneven, is at any rate tolera- bly free from mud. Here a new annoyance was reserved for me. My wretched mare, accustomed to the worst roads, refused to advance now that there was a little improvement. I was reduced, knocked up as I was, to dismount and lead her. By blows and cries we contrived to make her advance a little way; but our progress was so slow, that some workmen occupied in repairing the A JOURNEY ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 93 road laughingly prophesied that she would never arrive at Panama. This prediction, confirmed as it was by a feverish trembling of the animal, was far from being agreeable. While thus slowly pro- gressing, night surprised us a night of clouds and rain. The obscurity was such that we could not have told where we were, save for the ignis fatuus, the fire-flies, and the lightning. At length, unhoped-for happiness ! we distinguished the barking of a dog, and soon afterwards a light. We had reached Panama. The reader may judge of my satisfaction on seeing the end of my eight days of painful journeying, accomplished under such disagreeable cir- cumstances. I quickly made my way to the Hotel de France, where I found my young companion, who had set out the day before me ; and there I speedily got rid of the fever that still hung about me. Panama is a ruinous town, the population of which does not exceed 7000 souls. There is nothing remarkable about it but the immense number of churches, monuments of past grandeur, and now invaded by creeping-plants and turf. The bells of these venerable edifices are half rusty, and morning and evening ring the most lugubrious peals. There are, besides, some fortifications, and a dozen old guns, disposed along the rampart that faces the Pacific Ocean. This is a magnificent point of view, whence may be seen the church-steeples, the vessels in the roadstead, a quantity of islets, and, about two miles distant, towards the extremity of the peninsula upon which Panama is situated, the ruins of the former town, abandoned during the wars of the Hibustiers, in conse- quence of the reiterated attacks of a famous pirate. Panama is traversed by two principal streets, containing a few tolerable shops, and a number of stalls, where they vend liquors. These last, kept by obliging senoritas, boast a sort of counter, and are separated by a screen from the bedchamber, where the indo- lent saleswomen swing in their hammocks the greatest part of the day, smoking their cigarettes, and waiting for customers. The houses are built of stone, and ornamented with wooden balconies. The walls present that beautiful whiteness which distinguishes Spanish masonry in hot countries. But there is nothing elegant about these buildings, and their interiors are deplorable. The rooms are almost destitute of furniture; curtains are unknown, even in the governor's palace ; and it would be hard to find in the whole town a good bed or a safe lock. The pavements and foot- paths respond to the houses. The climate of this town is unhealthy, especially during the winter rains, which commence in May, and end in October or November. 94 A JOURNEY ACROSS THE I6THMU3 OF PANAMA. The complexions of the inhabitants evince the noxious influence of vitiated air. Fevers are very common among the natives, as also mephitic colic, induced by the badness of the water, in drinking which one cannot be too cautious. The population of Panama is composed of ancient Spanish fam- ilies, natives, and half-breeds. The costume of both men and women is European, a little degenerated and simplified, to suit the climate. The women go with the head uncovered, and decorate their black tresses with flowers of penetrating odor. Without being beautiful, their features are agreeable enough, and they have a good deal of grace and coquetry about them. The habitual indifference of the inhabitants is strongly contrasted by the bowlings and clamor that accompany their funeral ceremonies. These lamentations, however, appear to be hired. Their interments are managed after a singular fashion, as they employ a species of omnibus coffin, in which they place the corpse, to carry it to the cemetery. Once arrived there, they take the body from the bier, and throw it at once into a fosse, returning with the empty coffin. The natives patronize music, and other amusements, among which may be reckoned cock-fighting. But the sicknesses, which, in 1849, clothed nearly every family in mourning, have put an end to the fetes, and thrown over all a tinge of distress and fear. The public works are executed by convicts, who are seen passing every instant under military escort. These guardians appear very polite to their prisoners, for, if any of the latter are stopped in the streets by an acquaintance, the soldiers stop also, and wait very tranquilly until the convicts are pleased to continue their way. Panama possesses three or four hotels, which, upon our arrival, we found crowded with travellers. Eight, ten, fifteen were sleep- ing in the same chamber, upon hard rope beds, without mattresses. The charge of a week's board and lodging varied from $6 75 to $7 50 cents, without reckoning wine, which costs from 37 cents to 75 cents the bottle for ordinary Bordeaux. Meat and fruit abound, but vegetables are very rare. We had taken up our abode in the Hotel de France, situated in one of the healthiest quarters of the town; and here the companions whom we had left at Gorgona hastened to rejoin us. The crowd of emigrants, though still very considerable, was infi- nitely less than it had been for some months previously, for thou- sands of Americans had been compelled to abandon the place, and return home, in default of financial resources, or means of transport to California. Never have I seen more deplorable figures than those of the poor Yankees, congregated in this little town, dragging A JOURNEY ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 95 themselves painfully along the streets, some under the influence of fever, others under the curse of idleness, disputing with oaths and imprecations upon the easiest and cheapest modes of reaching San Francisco, parading their bad-humor from stall to stall, which they endeavor to dissipate by reiterated doses of brandy, and then hast- ening to throw away the little money they have left, in gaming- houses, the last hope of these poor idlers. Once ruined, the Yankee becomes himself again that is to say, the most industrious and enterprising of men. He finds a thousand resources, he invents a hundred modes of making money. One will engage himself as a sailor, another as a cook, a third opens a shop at Panama, and, a few weeks afterwards, procures some lots of goods to be assigned to him. He then commences selling, at magnificent prices, assortments of American boots, harder than wood, and newly-invented coats, that would have mouldered away at. San Francisco without attract- ing a single admirer. A number of articles, in fact, find a far readier sale at ports situated on the way to California, than in the country itself, which is inundated with products of all species. In the mixture of the floating and the indigenous population of Panama there is a most striking contrast between an almost extinct civilization and a spirit of young and powerful enterprise, full of nerve and promise for the future. The hoary steeples, these deserted monuments, attest the former magnificence of the place, the wretched inhabitants of which are, without doubt, the descendants of the proud and brilliant chevaliers of other days. All is poetry and grandeur in the past ; in the present, silence and decay. But mark those columns of smoke, those pantings proceeding from the huge lungs of the steam-monsters in the roadstead. Those large vessels are freighted with passengers furnished with every species of instrument. They go to acquire wealth, to organize a new state ; how differently from the soldiers of Cortez and Pizarro ! Happier than these, it is neither at the price of their own blood, nor that of the peaceable inhabitants of the gold country, that they conduct their future oper- ations. Thanks to them, Panama already beholds the commence- ment of a new prosperity. Whether the project of a railway through the Isthmus replace that of the Nicaraguan canal, or simply a good road for ordinary communication from Chagres to Panama, the future prosperity of this town is assured. A point of junction between the two Americas, a feeble barrier to the two oceans, it ia one of the places marked out by the hand of Providence for the re- union of nations a belt of land that will serve for the migrations of races, and bring the United States nearer to China bj some thousands of miles. 96 A JOURNEY ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. The Isthmus of Panama, notwithstanding its extreme fertility, is but slightly cultivated ; yet the rare agricultural experiments attempted by Europeans in these parts have been attended by mag- nificent results. With a little industry, some instruments of labor, and collected capitals, immense fortunes might be made. But there are no journals to record these facts, and no one dreams of settling here. The Californian torrent still rolls on, to endure privations and dangers in a country denuded of vegetation, the climate and salubrity of which even the Isthmus of Panama needs not to envy. [ 'Sailing vessels frequently arrive at this port in search of pas- sengers for California, and make a lucrative affair of it. Many travellers, disappointed in the regular means of transport, avail themselves with blind eagerness of any opportunities of quitting Panama, without considering that sailing vessels are frequently, in these seas, exposed to dead calms, and are consequently incalculably delayed. THI TWO PASSPORTS, IN the autumn of 1830, being engaged in a tour of the Rhenish provinces, I arrived one evening about dusk at the small town of Bergheim, some half way between Aix la Chapelle and the fragrant city of Cologne. Bergheim has a quiet, comfortable inn, at which Michel, my voiturier, (who was absolute in these matters,) had ordained that I should stop for the night ; nor did I feel any dispo- sition to quarrel with the arrangement, when Herr Hons, the land- lord, all civility and broken English, ushered me into his snug Speisesaal, where, instead of the dull, uncompanionable German- stove I expected to find, a bright and crackling wood-fire blazed merrily on the hearth. I was glad, moreover, not to find myself the sole occupant of the saal, for, after all, it may be doubted whether the chief pleasure of travel be not to see travellers ; and I will confess, for my own part, that, without disparagement either of snowy Alps or cindery volcanoes, of a Strasburg cathedral or of a Basilica vaticana, of Florence galleries or of Roman ruins to me the people of any country (with one sole exception) rank by no means among its least interesting features. My exception is Swit- zerland, where, between the glorious earth, and the inglorious race that possesses it, the extremes of grandeur and littleness are brought into too painful juxtaposition and contrast. Nothing can stand higher in the scale of nature than Switzerland nothing in that of manhood lower than the Swiss. In the Speisesaal, then, at Bergheim, it was my fortune to light upon two goodly tomes (if I may so phrase it) of " the proper study of mankind :" they were, moreover, to give the coup de grace to my metaphor, controversial, and on opposite sides of the question as well as of the fire. In other words, there sat, installed each in his chimney-corner, and armed the one with a cigar, the other with a mighty pendulous pipe two " dim smokified men," plainly Ger- 7 (97> THE TWO PASSPORTS. mans both, though widely dissinrilar specimens of that very hetero- geneous and multiform variety of human kind, engaged when I entered, in a conversation (or, to name it in their own way, a 'twkt speaking) the more vivacious for the considerable discrepancy mani- fest in the sentiments of the speakers. The cigarist was a pale, slight, voluble creature, under-sized and yet stooping, long-armed, round-shouldered, narrow-chested, using a great deal of gesticulation as he talked, and by a particular uniform drawing-out of the right arm, and a remarkable flourish, or rather twitch, of the right hand, (the left being comparatively at rest,) as well as by a look, not eas- ily denned, of inefficiency and dubious fidget about the lower extrem- ities, as if they were not in their accustomed position, giving you assurance of a tailor, as unequivocally as' if he had chosen to sit on the table instead of at it ; while his sharp intonation, round-about fluency, mincing utterance, occasional lapses into a Low Dutch dia- lect, frequent exclamations of " yuter Tott ! " and continued inter- chan