HALF A MILLION OF MONEY.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 385, 24 October 1868, Page 2

HALF A MILLION OF MONEY.

BY THE AUTHOR OF " BARBARA'S HISTORY."

CHAPTER I. TIIR PASSING! OF A HUNDRED YKARS. 'Marry!' echoed the stout farmer, all aghast. The pastor nodded. ' Marry ? At my time of life ? At forty-sev No, thank you, brother. Not if I know it.'

' Our poor father always desired it,' said Martin. Saxon took no notice.

' And it is in some sense thy duty to provide an heir to this fortune which '

' The fortune be 1 beg thv pardon Martin; but what can it matter to either thee or me what becomes of the fortune after we are dead and gone ? It would go to found charities, aud do goodsomehow and somewhere. 'Twould be in better hands than mine, I'll engage.'

'1 am not so sure of that,' replied the pastor. ' Public charities do not always do as much good as private ones. Besides, I should like to think that a portion of that great sum might be devoted hereafter to the benefit of our poor brethren in Switzerland. I should like to think that by-and-by there might be a good road made between Tamins and Fliuis ; and that the poor herdsman at Altfelden might have a chapel of their own, instead of toiling hither eight long miles every Sabbath ; and that a bridge might be built over the liinter Rhine down by Ortenstien, where poor Bitli's children were drowned last winter when crossing by the ferry." Saxon smoked on in silence.

' All this might be done, and more,' added the pastor, 'lf thou wouldst marry, and bring up a son to inherit the fortune-' ' Humph!' ejaculated the farmer, looking very grim. ' Besides,' said Martin, timidly, 'we want a woman in the house.' ' What for ?' growlp-d Saxon. 'To keep us tidy and civilized,' replied the pastor. ' Things were very different, Sax, when our dear mother was with us. The house does not look like the same place., '" ' There's old Lotsch' muttered Saxon. 'He does as well as any woman. He cooks, makes bread -'

'Cooks' ?, remonstrated the younger brother.

* Why, the kid to-day was nearly raw, and the mutton yesterday was baked to a cinder.'

The honest farmer stroked his beard, and sighed. He could not contradict that stubborn statement. Martin saw his advantage, and followed it up. ' There is but one remedy,' he said, ' and that a plain one. As' I told thee before, Sax, thou must marry. 'Tis thy duty.' Whom can I marry?' faltered Saxon, dolefully.

'"Well I've thought of that too rejoined the pastor, in a encouraging tone. 'There's the eldest daughter of our neighbour Clauss. She is a good, prudent, housewifely maiden, and would suit thee exactly.' The elder brother made a wry face. ' Siio's [thirty-five, if she's an hour,' said he, 'and no beauty.' ' Brother Saxon,' replied the pastor, 'I am ashamed of thee. What does a sensible man of seven-and-forty want of youth and beauty in a wife? Besides, Marie Clauss is only thirtytwo. I made particular inquiry about her age this morning.' ' "Why not marry yourself, Martin?' said the farmer. 'l'm sure that would do quite as well.' 'My dear Saxon, only look again at the will, aud observe that it is the direct heir male of the eldest son of the eldest son— — \

Saxon Trefaldcn pitched his pipe into the fire, and sprang to Ids feet with an exclamanation that sounded very like an oath.

' Enough, brother, enough!' he enterrupted.

' Say no more—put the will away — I'll go down to the Bergthal to-morrow, and ask her.'

And so Saxon Trefaldon put on his Sunday coat the following morning, and went forth like a lamb to the sacrifice.

' Perhaps she'll refuse me,' thought he, as he knocked at Farmer Cluas's door, and caught a glimpse of the fair Mario at an upper easement. But that inexorable virgin did nothing of the kind. She married him.

There were no ill-cooked dinners after that happy event had taken place. The old house became a marvel of cleanliness, and the bride proved her-

self a very Phoenix of prudence aud housewifery. She reformed everything including the hapless brothers thems Ives. She banished their pipes, condemned old Carlo to his kennel, made stringent by-laws on the subject of hoots, changed the hour of every meal, and, in short, made them botli miserable. Worst of all, she was childless. This was their bitterest disappointment. They had given up their pipes, their peace, aud their liberty, for nothing. Poor Martin always looked very guilty if any allusion Happened to be made to this subject. Matters went on thus for seven years, aud then, to the amazement of the village, and the . delight of the brothers, Madame Marie made her husband the happy father oj a fine boy. Such a glorious baby was never seen. He had fair hair, and blue eyes, and his father's nose ; and they christened him Saxon ; and the bells were rung ; and the heir to the great fortune w.-.s born at last!

CHAPTER 11. ANNO DOMINI-18G0. Two persons sat together in a firstfloor room overlooking Chancery lane. The afternoon sky was grey, and cold, and dull; and the room was colder, greyer, duller than the sky. Everything about the place looked sordid and neglected. The rain-channelled smoke of years had crusted on the windows. The deed-boxes on the shelves behind the door, the shabby books in the book-case opposite the fireplace, the yellow map that hung over the mantelpiece, the tape-tied papers on the table, were all thickly coated with white dust. There was nothing fresh or bright within those four walls, except a huge green safe with pannelled iron doors and glittering scutcheons, fixed into a recess beside the fireplace. There were only two old-fashioned horse-hair covered chairs in the room. There was not even a carpet on the floor. A more comfortless place could scarcely be conceived beyond the walls of a prison ; and yet, perhaps, it was not more comfortless than such places generally are.

It was the private room of William Trefalden, Esquire, attorney-at-law, and it opened out from the still drearier office in which his clerks were at work. There was a clock in each room, and an almanack on each mantelshelf. The hands of both clocks pointed to half-past four, and the almanacks both proclaimed that it was the' second day ot March, a.d. eighteen hundred and sixty.

The two persons sitting in the inner room were the lawyer and one of his clients. Placed as he was with his back to the window and his face partly shaded by his . hand, Mr Trefalden's features were scarcely distinguishable in the gathering gloom of the afternoon. His client —a stout, pale man, with a forest of iron-grey hair about his massive temples —sat opposite, with the light full upon his face, and his hands crossed on the knob of his umbrella.

' I have come to talk to you, Mr Trefalden,' said he, ' about that Castletowers mortgage.'

'The Castletowcrs mortgage?' repeated Mr Trefalden.

' Yes—l think I could do better with my money. In wish to for close.'

The lawyer shifted round a little further from the light, and drew his hand a little lower over his eyes. ' What better do you think you could do with your money, Mrßehrens ?' he said, after a moment's pause. 'lt is an excellent investment. The Castletowcrs estate is burthened with no other incumbrance ; and what can you desire better than five per cent secured on landed property ?' ' I have nothing to say against ifc, as an investment,' replied the client; ' but I prefer something else.' Mr Trefalden looked up with a keen, inquiring glance. ' You are too wise a man, I am sure, Mr Behrens,' said he, 'to let yourself be tempted by any unsafe rate of interest.'

The client smiled grimly. ' Tou are too wise a man, I should hope, Mr Trefalden,' rejoined he, 'to suspect Oliver Behrens of any such folly ? No, the fact is that five per cent is no longer of such importance to me as it was seven years ago, and 1 have a mind to lay out that twenty five thousand upon land.' 'Upon land?' echoed the lawyer. I My dear sir, it would scarcely bring you three and a half per cent.' 'I know that,' replied the client. ' I can afford it.' There was another brief silence.

' You will give notice, I suppose,' said Mr Trefalden, quietly, ' till you have seen something which you think likely to suit you.' ' 1 have seen

something already,' replied Mr Behrens. ' Indeed ?' f Yes ; in "Worcestershire —one hundred and thirty miles from London.' ' Is not that somewhat far for a man of business,Mr Behrens V * No, I have my box in Surrey, you know, adjoining the Castletowers grounds.' ' True, Have you taken any step 3 towards the purchase ?' ' I have given your address to the lawyers in whose care the papers are left, and have desired them to communicate with you upon the subject I trust to you to see that the title is all as it should be.' Mr Trefalden slightely bent his lead. ' I will give you my best advice upon it,' he replied. 'ln the mean "time, I presume, you would wish to give notice of your desire to close the ' Precisely what I came here to do.' Mr Trefalden took up a pen, and an oblong slid of paper. ' Tou will allow twelve months, of 'course ?' said he interrogatively. ' Certainly not. Why should I ? Only six are stipulated for in the deed.' ' True; but courtesy ' ' Tush ! this is a matter of law, not courtesy,' interrupted the client. ' Still, I fear it will prove a serious inconvenience to Lord Castletower's remonstrated the lawyer. 'Twenty-five, thousand pounds is a large sum.' ' Lord Castletower's convenience is nothing to me,' replied the other, abruptly. ' I'm a man of the people, Mr Trefalden. I have no respect for coronets.' ' Yery possible, Mr Behrens,' said Trefalden, in the same subdued tone ; 4 but you may remember that your interest has been paid with scrupulous regularity, and that it is a very hard matter for a poor nobleman—Lord Castletower is poor—to find so heavy a sum as twenty-five thousand pounds at only six months notice.' ' He did not think it too short when he gave me the bond,' said Mr Behrens. 'He wanted money,' replied Mr Trefalden, with a scarcely perceptible shrug of the shoulders. ' Well, and now I want it. Come, come, Mr Trefalden, Lord Castletower's is your client, and, no doubt, you would like to oblige him ; but I am your client too—and a better one than he is, I'll be bound!' ' I trust, Mr Behrens, that I should never seek to oblige one client at the expense of another,' said the lawyer, stiffly. 'lf you think that I would, you wrong me greatly.' ' I think, sir, that, like most other folks, you have more respect for a lord than a woolstapler,' answered the man of the people, with a hard smile, ' But I don't blame you for it. You're a professional man, and all professional men have those prejudices.' ' I beg your pardon,' said Mr Trefalden. ' I have none. lam the son of a merchant, and my family have all been merchants for generations. But this is idle. Let us proceed with our business. lam to take your instructions, Mr Behrens, to serve Lord Castletowers with a notice of your desire to foreclose the mortgage in six months time ?' Mr Behrens nodded, and the lawyer made a note of the matter. ' I am also to understand that should Lord Castletowers request a further delay of six months, you would not be disposed to grant it ?'

' Certainly not.' Mr Trefalden laid his pen aside. ' If he can't find the money,' said the woolstapler,' let him sell the old place. I'll buy it.' ' shall I tell his lordship so'? asked MrjTrefalden, with a slight touch of sarcasm in his voice. 'lf you like. But it wont come to that, Mr Trefalden. You're a rich man —aha! you needn't shake your head —you're a rich man, and you'll lend him the money.' ' Indeed you are quite mistaken, Mr. Behrens,' replied the lawyer, rising. ** I am a very poor man.' * Ay, you say so, of course ; but I know what the world thinks of your poverty, Mr Trefalden. 'Well, good morning. You're looking pale, sir. .you work to hard, and think too much. That's the way with you clever saving men. You should take care of yourself.' Pshaw! how can a bachelor take «care of himself?' said Mr Trefalden, nvith a faint smile. " True; you should look out for an heiress.' The lawyer shook his head. 'No, no,' said he*'l prefer my liberty. Good morning.' MrTrefalden ushered|his client through the office, listened for a moment to his heavy footfall going down the stairs, hastened back to his private room, and shut the door.

' Good G-od!' exclaimed he in a low agitated tone, - what's to be done now ? This is ruin—ruin !' He took three or four restless turns round the room, then flung himself into his chair, and buried his face in his hands.

• He might as well say that I looked pale,' muttered he. " I felt pale. It eame upon me like a thunderstroke. I a rich man, indeed ! I with twentyfive thousand pounds at command! Merciful powers ! what can Ido ? To whom can I turn for it ? What security have I to give? Only six months notice, too. lam lost! lam lost!' (To he Continued.)