CHAPTER X —RISKING IT.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 207, 6 September 1873, Page 3

CHAPTER X —RISKING IT.

Whih Mp St Quentin found himself in London, his inclination to form a second marriage, find tint* mate an important a'teration in the programme he had sketched out for the employment and en]ovment of his remaining years of he iJth and spirits, did not subside, but rather grew stronger. He was a rich man ; he bad the means of indulging every taste he possessed, and no one was ever more conscious of the power of wealth tha- Mr St Quentin. But lie believed himself to be free from delusion or credulity on that subject ; lie believed himself to know as well what money could not, as what it could, buy. Among purchasable things, he did not enumerate the love of a handsome young girl like Miriam ; but he did enumerate the handsome young giW herself, and he seriously contemplated making that purchase. The investment would be less hazardous than most of it» kind, and less onerous. Miriam had seen nothing of the world, consequently, she would be satisfied with seeing s,ueh portions and phosps of it as he should choose to shew her, after what fashion he plensed She had a very unhappy home, and tlxiefore would be grateful to him for removing her n-oni it ami substituting one in wind she should enjoj luxury and happiness Independence did not make one among the many , benefits which Mr St Quentin proposed to bostow upon Miriam ; he did not include it in the bargain, whoso items he calculated with the 0001-blooded sagucitj of a man of business, rather than with the feelmjs of even an elderly j jo\er. He had not an exalted nation of human nature, and he had an almost habitual contempt Cor women, which the cleu-r ones amon^ them, with whom he lurl b.-en brought in contact, detected, under all the glo»s of Ins politf ne-s, and resented by disliking hno. Miriam nas eleu'r, but sue had not seen enough of him to be able to detect him m this respect, nor had she sufficient experience. Besides, lie did not consciously despise Miriam ; Ins admiration, the feelm* wlncu made him couit her for his wife prevented that ; but tthere must beagood deiil of potential contempt latent in the mind of a man of Mr St Quentm's kind towards a, woman w ho is lo be bought. He would do all sorts of fine things for this handsome «nrl, if she accepted him— as he had very little doubt she would —in a nay to secure he.' gratitude and good belianoui- Sh«•should be splendidly housed, dressed, end served ; he would treat her in all respects well ; but he would take care that it should be for lier interest to behave well to him in return, to •consult his wishe* in other matters than merely those in which he would have it m his power to enforco them ; and tou;efrain from rendering the difference in their ages a source •o|dnnoy»nce to him. Miriam should have the certainty of w^lth and comfort during his lifetime ; but whether she .should continue to enjoy them after his death, was a point which he deliberately purposed to leave undecided. A wife from whom one does not expect love, had better be en•couraged to behave well by fear of one kind or another. Mr St Quentin'j experience of the motive-power of the love of wealth, inspired him with well-founded confidence in that of the fear of poverty. His calculations were not generous, but it would be too much to pronounce them unjust. No one in existence, savo Mr St Quentin, knew what his wealth really was, and in what it consisted. All his business matters had been wound up in India, without the assistance of any friend, or of any English m*n of business. He was in tire htbrt of expressing a sf,rong dislike to lawyers and a rooted distrust of them ; and whenever lie boasted, which was not often— for, though secretly vain and fond' of his money, he wus not vulgarly purse-proud— of anything conaiected with the acquisition of hn fortune, it was of tlie care and persistence with which he had avoided them. To owe nothing to any sagacity save his own, to transact his own business, and keep his own counsel, had been MrSt Quentin's rule of acliou ; and it certainly had resulted m just the kind and degree of success which his cold and selfish nature I appreciated. No man had ever suffered less from the pressure of family ties than Mr St Quentiu, and his estimation of that item m his fate was high and candid. Miriam might have been ever so much handsomer and more charming than she was, without inducing Mr St Quentin to think of niarryin" lier, had she been one of a numerous family, or had she been troubled with strong family affections. That her chief -feeling about her father was a vivid desire and firm purpose *o get away f.om him as soon as possible, and that any pliu-e in the world would be preferable, in her eves, to lier present home, weie great points in l<er favor, in his o'pminn He knew nothing about the atlae'iment which evi-tml 1 o ' ivT" llt>r .■!!!? ''^brother; for Mimm never talked of Walter, and Mr St Qu.«nlm thought women were certain lo Milk on any subject which interested them Walter Clint ' h»il bi-iiai«l ill, and his father had got rid of linn, and it did n-jt matter to Miriam. Thus, erroneously, did the cil■cuL'liii.r suitor sum up the situation The error was an impoitant o.ie, hut he was not destined to find it out then I.iat w.nch was of most import to him was, that in marrying Miuam he should incur no responsibility beyond herself Ti.e longer he contemplated the project the more it pleaded him, and the less ho apprehended any difficulty in can-vine it out. J b Mr St Quentin had contrived that he should not lose sight of Ins friends m Hampshire, or be Josr iighr of by them, during Ins absence, and he resolved to make that as brief as possible. He speedily found means to open a friendly ■correspondence «ith Miriam, apropos of Miss Monitor. Mr dind Mrs Dibley had been ns sood as their word, and a pupil with whose parents Mr St Quentin was acquainted, wa« on her way to London, for consignment to Crewnt Home Hampstead. Hence a visit on the part of Miriam's new acquaintance, enthusiasts commendation of Miriam on the part of Miss Monitor, and a letter from that lady to her former pupil, in which the amiability, the charming manners, the high prmcij les, the aad elevated ideas on edusubjects, and the general dehghtfulness of Mr St Quentin, were enlarged upon in glowing terms. Miriam's new acquaintance had, in f..ct, thoroughly pumped M.nam's old friend and had derived from the operation the confirmation of his belief that Miriam would gladly accent the alternative to her hfe at the Firs which hf could oS her and that ke could not have found a more iiolatcd and unbended woman on whom to bestow his bounty, and over whom to exercise his power, if he had been seeking one Mr St Quentin did not consider that he was acting loolishly in making up his mind to marry Miriam after a week ;s acquaintance. A week, or a year, he thought, would be all the same in point of any real knowledge of her .character to be acquired before marriage. It was always under such circumstances, a masquerade. Besides he did not care much about her character. She was clever and spirited, ladylike and amusing— he had seen all that, in much less than a wcek-but he did care very much about her beauty, which was a pitrnt fact, requiring no time to develop*. He had never admired any woman so much not -even in his «arly c*ys ; not even his first w.fe a pretty sentimental pewon, of whom he had speedily wearied totally different f.om Miriam in style and m mind, so far as he knew Miriam ■ mind. There had been very little of his first Are a , mind to know ; in her case, heart had preponderated, and, to a man like Mr St Queutm that sort of thin- i- very tiresome. ° " •' Two or three polka notes to Miriam, some parcels of ■choice seeds and cutlmgs for the garden , n which Mrs •^ooke delighted ; a few judicious message, to Mr Clint, referring to his promise of friendly offices in r« pec t to the place in Hampjhire-now, in reality, the last county in all England in winch Mr St Quent.n would think of settling — kept up the requisite communication with them all Miriam understood the meaning of all this perfeetlv, and acquiesced m it. Day by day her mind was hardening and her conscience wilfully dosing its approaches against the sense of the sin against herself and womanhood she was contemplating. If evr n she sould have endured li«r father's temper, and the internal wretctadness of her home, she could not have endured the ennui of her surrounding— the dullness, the narrowness of the existence to which she was condemned. The spirit of revolt was strong within her, but strong still the love of pleasure, of a full, luxurious, vaneg«ted hfe, in which she should realise what she now only fancied m her crude school-girl way. The temptation, winch at first had only one source, now gathered strength from several, and shut out every consideration beyond its allurement. During the few months, which had elapsed rLrd? im w left /^ 001 ; S \ ohad matured "ith surprising Xn™ 7 " * /"J?^ hacl ° bserml tllls - and > in strange way, it had influenced him It ought to have come m naturally to Mr Clint to bully . woman as a girl, but it d eiSedly if' PfrlmpB mm ' but he *«« «*» !»«■

The Mattkb KxPiAire Itself :-An awkward affair which once occurred to o»e „f fche Judges on the Western Circuit, has been the subject of much mirth. It appear" that, harm* nmshed his labors and cast off h» forensTwg at his lodgings, he had retired into the nerf room to wart fo? hw brother Judge whom he **s about to aocompany to meet lome of the local aristocracy at dinner. The female servant of the house had entered the bedchamber by a side door, and, apt knowing that the Judge « u in thu next room, in a frolic arrayed herself in his w,g. j j ut , t at the r«L";?»7 *| he T n "i Mo| " y WaS adl " lrin ? herself ,n the looking ghus, the Judge unexpectedly entered the room • and poor Mopsy, catc!nn 2 a ..g| lt of the stern oo.mtenan.T l.iokin,r over her 9 1,0u1d,r in the gl ,M,, M , WM 80 alarmed that she fanted and woul 1 .lAVt,. IAVt , fa! , 011 to the , oun j f a in his arms. U tins cr ,t,eal moment his brother Judge nrmed.and.on opening the dr P s,, ng room door, w,tl, «v,. t > «cc if he was ready , di.eovored ],„ learned brother w.tli the fainting m»,d ,n |,u, u arms. The llltru i er aulck . v - t tempted to withdraw ; when |,» brother JuliJ Sited tor heafen', M ke,.lop and hear tin, matter „% \Zd \<< l "Nerer m,n,l, mv r l, B , • brotl ,er-tI,P matter explam. it! elf "

I Jouknaiism — Newspapers are gelling to bo much more than mere transcripts of the no wo and gossip of the day. j They are pioneers in learned explorations ; they are foremost in geographical hitfory ; they air teachers of social science. They are no longer Mttisficd uitli denominating the knowledge laboriously collected bv si vain, bj tnvellers, by experimenter! in nntural philosophy ; th.«y mint pursue their own investigations, and *end th*ir tgont* into all the half-explored fields of science an. l ml venture. The repot I c of to-day it the adventuicr «*ln> |ionetrite* the desert an ! the jungle, the scholar who senivhes for rdics o\ the forgotten past, the courier who beats the ne» s of vctory to Courts and Congresses across a wildeiuesi and through hostile armies, the detective who pries into public abuses and discovers hidden wrongs, the pioneer who throws new countries open to the world, the philanthropist who unbars i the door of the torture chamber, the chemist who delects adulteration in the spice-box, the inspector who veiz«s false weights and measured, the auditor who exposes a theft in the public tivnury. Joir'nabsm busies itself now with everything Hi it affects the public welfare. It trenches upon tin' province once sacred to the scholar, and supplies the delect* of a. i elueient Government. Year by year the ambition heroine? larger, its purposes more beneficent, and its means more abundant ; and we can hardly doubt that it is destined in a very short t'tne to be the more foremost of all the secular pr .fessiom — the most poner/ul in its operations, I tho most brilliant in its rewatd*, ami the most useful to m inkmd — New York Tribune How TO Find Baby —Two French ladies were looking for the little daughter of one ol them in a group of baby carnages " ])n you «cc him?" asked the friend of the m>t her "Him" lam looking lor her nurse " "Her nurse H" "Yes; all children look alike. I know the nurse, and can find the child best in that way." "As for myself, I think all boniuw look alik " "How do you find yours, then • ) " " O i, 1 kn <w I he soldier who is her beau." TaH PkiUdeiphia JfeJiral Time* reports that a student, undergoing his examinaiiou, was allied what was the mode of action of disiufiiat&utrt. lie replied, " Thej smell so badly that the people open the window, and the fresh air gets in." A correspondent (unmarried) suggests that Solomon's wisdom was due to the fact that he had seven hundred wives whom he consulted on nil occasions. .Arlemus Ward said of Chaucer, " He has talcut, but he can't spell."