Rhoda Fleming -- Volume 1

res; so, to show his brother-in-law the fun of a theatre was one part of his projecte

he visit of a promising youth, over his fat goose for next day's dinner, and his shrimps for this day

Bank, and it fretted him to think that the mysterious respect entertained for his wealth by the

ly sighing for answer. "If ever you come up to London, brother William John," said Anthony, "you mind you go about arm-in-arm with me, or you'll be judging by appearances, and says you, 'Lor', what a thousander fellow this is!' and 'What a millioner fellow that is!' You'll be giving your millions and your thousands to the wrong people, when they haven't got a penny. All London 'll be

ling-wax of his own and could have stamped it with the office-stamp of Boyne's Bank for that matter, to make it as dignified and costly as the vaunted red seals and green seals of the placards-he would have bought one, had he not, by one of his lucky mental illuminations, recollected that it was within his power to procure an order to taste wine at the Docks, where you may get as much wine as you like out of big sixpenny glasses, and try cask after cask, walking down gas-lit paths between the huge bellies of wine which groan to be tapped and tried, that men may know them. The idea of payin

was a curiosity costume; but the broad brim of the hat, the square cut of the brown coat, and the

William John?" he inquired, with an a

er, feeling seriously

it in the street," Anthony rejoine

your old un

as, but had come with the princi

is gal. She gives ye the nut, and you're to crack it, and the

hdrawing his fingers from the button they had been teasi

n pay for-there was the cream of it!-that was better than Peruvian bark to my constitution. It was as good to me as a sniff of sea-breeze and no excursion expenses. I'd like another, just to feel young again, when I'd have backed myself to beat-cabmen? Ah! I've stood up, when I was a young 'un, and shut up a Cheap Jack at a fair. Circulation's the soul o' cha

n Anthony and the farmer as to the porterage of the bulky bag; but it being onl

ther William John," he said,

d that he was stro

thony remarked, setting down the bag to lay his

hed away to Australia, made millions, fit to be a lord, and there he was! liable to the law! and everybody bowing their hats and their heads off to him, and his knees knocking at the sight of a policeman-a man of a red complexion, full habit of body, enjoyed his dinner and his wine, and on account of his turning white so often, they called him-'sealing-wax and Parchment' was one name; 'Carrots and turnips' was another; 'Blumonge and somethin

terest yet, Anthony brought them to Mrs. Wicklow's house. Mrs. Wicklow promised to put them into the track of the omnibuses running toward Dahlia's abode in the Southwest, and Mary Ann Wicklow, who had a burning desire in her bosom to

r carriage, not to mind me. I got my own notions of value. And if that Mr. Ayrton of hers 'll bank at Boyne's, I'

with her heart's expectation, and insensible to hints or reproof. The people who entered the omnibus seemed to her stale ph

, she felt for the first time, that she was nearing the sister for whom she hungered, and the sensation beset her that she had landed in

in a general tone; she knowing better than to presen

select Dahlia's habitation from the other hueless residences. She fixed upon one, but she was wrong, and

15 is the corner house, the

t a couple of dozen paces distant, seeing that London cabs, crawlers as they usually were, could, when required, and paid for it, do their business like lightning. Her observation was illustrated the moment after they had left her in the rear

e coming, and she was not on the look-out for them!-a strange conflict of facts, over which Rhoda knitted her black brows, so that she looked menacing to the maid opening the

ould you call again to-morrow, as she have made a pressing appointment, and was sure you would excuse her, but her husband was very anxious for

airly accomplished the recital o

at home?-Not at

ear?" quoth the

o you know?" Rhoda a

. A letter fro

morn

ss; this

What time did she go ou

young woman repeat herself. She says, nobody's at home

ock to-morrow?"

at twelve o'clock to-morrow, and punct

and turned. Rhoda follo

d with queries and inter

not until she said: "Yo

at Rhoda awakened to a

us face, not speaking to Rhoda, who had no desire to hear a word from him, and let him be. Mary Ann steered him and called from behind the turnings he was to take, while she speculated aloud to Rhoda upon the nature of the business that had torn Dahlia from the house so inoppo

why do we w

the farmer, chafing a

se, when we can

ides of wayfarers, which hustled them one way and another, when out, at last, came the old, broad, bent figure, with little finicking steps, and hurried past them head foremost, his arms narrowed across a bulgy breast. He stopped to make sure that they were following, beckoned with his chin, and proceeded at a mighty rate. Marvellous was his rounding of corners, his thre

didn't guess I was worth some thousands when I got away from you just now? Let any chap t

exed at the small amount of discoverable asto

iam John, goes on compound-interesting, just like good coin. Didn't you feel a sort of heat as I brushed by you-eh? That was a matter of one-two-three-four" Anthony watched the farmer as his voice swelled up on the

e was lightened of its air of oppression, for a puzzle was dissolved in his brain. It was now manifest to him that Anthony was trusted in this extraordinary manner because the heads and managers of Boyne's Bank knew the old man to be possessed of a certain very respectable sum: in all p

said, "Ah, y

; and when he mentioned that Dahlia had not been at home when he called, he at the same time sounded his hearer for excuses to be

If you catch her in, these next three or four

ony's dolorous shake of his head, e

if only you was in a

s turn, and he plunged his

family will, some day,

my family do, b

I don't mind you telling your young man, whoever he is; and I'd like him to be a strapping young six-footer I've got in my eye, who farms. What does he farm with to make farming answer now-a-days? Why, he farms with

r dear sister and her father very, very soon. She wished she were her own mistress that she might run to them, but men when they are husbands require so much waiting on that she could never call five minutes her own. She would entreat them to call tomorrow, only she would then be moving to her new lodgings. "But, oh! my dear, my blessed Rhoda!" the letter concluded, "do keep fast in your

ffectionate words, but

ed on the farmer's mild,

"Let us wa

ng out of it. Thinking over it was useless; except for this one thought: how did