IN DANGER.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 63, 13 August 1874, Page 3

IN DANGER.

IN FOUR CHAPTERS. [From "Chamber's Journal."] Chapter I. 'Yes, yes, yes! to be sure, I will—that is, of course, if I can,' said my godfather, rattling the half-crowns in his pocket so loudly, that the silvery jingle caused the other occupants of the strangers' room to cast sidelong glances at the proprietor of these obtrusive coins, and at myself, as we stood together near the door. It's late, though, at three-and-tvventy, to break gauge, and be shunted on to a new line, Jack, my lad,'

added the speaker, after a brief pause ; ' but I never did approve, myself, of your reading for the bar, as you did.' ' Tt was my poor mother's wish, you know,' I replied ; 'but the study of law and equity was never much to my taste, and I suspect I shall prove more useful in a less ambitious calling. Ido know a little of geometry and surveying and ' — 'That's true,' interrupted my companion, who was always in a hurry, and who had also an unconscious preference for the sound of his own voice. 'You did credit to my recommendation when I helped you to earn the only lump of guineas you ever made in your life, on the staff of the Pontypool Extension. And Clewett—a good judge, Ned 01 cwett—regretted lo see a young fellow with such a knack at the theodolite thrown away in Lincoln's Inn. I've no time to talk now. Board-meeting in the City first, and then to catch the fast four-o'clock for Grimsby. But dine with me here on Tuesday—no, on Wednesday ; sharp seven, mind —and perhaps you'll hear of something to your advantage, as the newspapers say.' And then, with a hasty hand-shake, he was gone ; and I felt my heart considerably lightened as I emerged ' through the stately portals, and desccuded the stone steps of the mighty Megalosaurus Club, affectionately known as the 'Meg' among its members, a committee-man among whom was my sponsor, John Grubstock. A very rich man was my godfather Grubstock, whose name of John had been bestowed upon myself, John Aylmer Masterton, at my christening. He was not reckoned rich at that time, but merely, in financial parlance 'warm;' and it was considered a complimeut to his sterling worth, not to his wordly status, that he was invited to play so important, a part at the baptismal ceremony. Grubstocks and lAylmcrs were, both families of them, somehow akin to us Mastertons ; but we naturally thought more of the more aristocratic gens of Aylmer than of the plain patronymic of the sturdy civil engineer. Drink, debt, and high play had, however, improved the former race off the surface of that earth on which they had done little but to swagger and to spend ; while Cousin John Grubstock had thriven exceedingly. Few were the city pies, in his own peculiar line of harbour and tunnel, of suspension-bridge and tramway, in which he had not a finger, deft in the pulling out of golden plums. Too practical a mar, and too honorable withal, for mere speculations not propped by a solid basis of actual fact, his very name had grown to be the surest guarantee for the carrying out of an enterprise ; and ' Safe John Grubstock is in it' was a rumour that would send up the shares of any freshly floated company. He worked hard yet, but it was for sheer love of work, and the habit of restlessness which becomes second nature to the more active of his profession. That he would die in harness was what gossips predicted. The full extent of his possessions would probably never be known until his will should go up for probate. His wealth accrued fast ; and his quiet wife ani daughters, happy among their azaleas and croquet-lawns at Dorking, made no attempt, by profuse expenditure, to keep pace with the increment of his revenue. In the trying times of my father's sudden death and my mother's lingering illness, Mr Grubstock had approved himself a friend both liberal and delicate. To be continued.