Foul Play

newspapers from him, and, on his fever abating, had him con

fter Robert Penfold, now; never mentioned his name. He s

impatience in his letters, and his father, who pitied him deeply, and was more than ever inclined to reward and indulge him, yielded readil

ok and ledger, and advise his junior; but these visits soon became

assets of the firm. Not being happy in his mind, he threw himself into comm

ever since his son's misfortune, as he called it, had crept to his desk like a culprit, expecting every

d coldly, "Mr. Penfold, you have been a faithful servant to us many years

ly. "There, there, there," said he, without raising his eyes, "let me hear no more about it, and, above all, never speak to me of that c

ndering much at his employer's goodne

known for a very ambitious and rising merchant. But, by and by, ambition had to enco

aughter gradually yielded to an attachment the warmth, sincerity and singleness of which were manifest. And the pair would have been married but for the circumstance that her father (partly throug

ting and receiving affectionate letters by every foreign post. Love, worthily bestowed, shed its balm upon his heart, and, under its soft bu

d Penfold; but he soon reasoned that worthy down

ents took place in another hemisphere; and in these events, which we are now to

on premature, the crime being so grave. He complained that the system had become too lax, and for his part he seldom gave a ticket-o

confidence all at once, and wrote the general an eloquent

t to his eloquent correspondent, remarking that he did not much mind employing a ticket-

te. But his final decision was as follows: "If you really mean to change your character, why, the name you have disgraced might hang round your neck. Well, I'll give you ev

at the tail of a threat, and let

and beauty; and, what with these and his workingman's clothes, and his cheeks and neck tanned by the sun, our readers would never have recog

mental or muscular; so Seaton gardened much more zealously than h

use he was always out of it. Taciturn an

him good; these his pretty compa

ng so suddenly, literally dazzled him. She had a clear cheek blooming with exercise, rich brown hair, smooth, glossy and abundant, and a very light hazel eye, of singular beauty and

, and he touched his hat to her. She inclined her head gently, but her eyes did not rest an instant on her garde

ss, and the sunshine of her presence, and there was a painful void; but that passed, and a certain se

on her, and, by degrees, she became the sun of his solitary existence. It was madness; but its first effect was not unwholesome. The daily study of this creature, who, though by no means the angel he took her for,

earned something about Miss Helen Rolleston that would have warned him to keep at the other en

at she became his goddess. If a day passed without his seeing her, he was dejected. When she was behind her time, he was restless, anxious, and his work distasteful; and then, when she came out at last, he thrilled all over, and the lawn, ay, the world i

ed him a glass of ale; Seaton declined it. Butt, a very clever rogue, seemed hurt. So then Seaton assented reluctantly. Butt took him to a public house in a narrow street, and into a private room. Seaton started as soon as he e

ne without trouble; and what they asked of him was a simple act of courtesy, such as in their opinion no man worthy of the name could deny to his fellow. It was to give General Rolleston's watchdog a pi

s face in his hands a momen

y n

een too g

nt to these pure egotists. Seaton, however, persisted, and on that one

round in search of a w

us, mate?" said one of th

e darted to the fireplace, and in a moment the poker was high in air, and the way he s

t up your knife, Bob. Can't a pal be out of a

. "Has the law been a friend to me? But I

ere are other cribs to be cracked besides that old

to crack some other crib

ed that he himself was capable of not robbing a man's house who had been good to him, or to a pal of his. Indeed this plausible person said so much,

rom the lawn only by some young trees in single file. Now Miss Rolleston's window looked out upon the lawn, so that Seaton's watchtower was not many yards from it; then, as the tool-house was only lighted from above, he bored a hole in the wooden structure, and through this he watched, a

s love increased, fed now from this new source, the swe

o her, and listened complacently to her gossip, for the sake of the few words she let fall now and then about her young mistress. As he never exchanged two sentences at a time with any other servant, this flattered

ousy, jealousy vigilance

of Miss Helen Rolleston, she was always welcome; h

ies together. They lay apart in her mind, until circums

e of monotonous pleasures, and had not accumulated any great store of mental resources-she was listless and languid, and would have yawned forty times in her papa's face, only she was too well-bred. She always turned her head aw

ed vehemence, "Ay, do, my dear," and so composed himself

em till they were all one monotonous rattle. But General Rolleston was little the worse for all this. As Apollo saved Horace f

towed a kiss, light as a zephyr, on his gray head. And, in truth, the bending attitude of this supple figure, clad in s

e sat down and wrote long letters to three other young ladies, gushing affection, asking questions of the kind nobody replies to, painting, with a young lady's colors, t

one o'clock, and Seaton wa

those wonderful hazel eyes toward the stars, and her watcher might well be pardoned if he s

ly gazing at the Southern Cross and other lovely stars shin

toward a young tree near her window. Its top branches were waving a good deal,

a hand came in sight, and after them the

ee. Helen shrieked with terror. At that very instant there was a flash, a pistol-shot, and the man's arms went whirling, and he staggered and fell over the edge of the flat, and struck the grass below with a heavy thud. Shots and blows followed, and all the so

le servants, one of whom was an old soldier. They searched the house first; but no

g on his back at the

heir amazement, it was the gar

e was sorry. But, after a little reflection, he said very st

to the hall and lai

and to retire behind the man. "Somebody sprinkle him with cold water," said he; "and be quiet, all of you, and keep out of sight, while I examine him." He stood before t

to writhe and show si

ton could not pity him; he waited grimly for returning c

long. He had to answer a que

Seaton, seeing the general standing before him, stretched out his hands, and said, i