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YOL. 111.
In a Pine Grove.
I stood beneath some venerable pines,
Where stately sterns, like clustered
columns, rose,
In wide cathedral aisles whose distant
roof
Soars like the arch of heaven’s protect
ing dome.
I stood and listened to a sound like waves
In long folds leaping on a distant shore,
With measured constant motion; with
a tone
Symphonions with the silence of the
stars.
Remembrance came of one calm even
tide,
Passed on the lofty margin of the sea,
Among the ruins of a noble pile,
That lifts its old gray visage to the storm;
As in the troublous times of bygone
years, *
When grave recluses paved the solemn
nave,
And music blended with torn ocean’s
roar:
Whence, far to sea, the plaintive vesper
chime
Told the brown fisherman the hour of
prayer.
W r as that some Novice of the olden time,
By western window seated, while the sun
Touched lovingly her wealth of golden
hair,
And lit with rosy glow the Abbey
walls ?
Only the shafts of sunset through the
stems,
The sound of wind through the clustering
pines.
[London Society.]
A ROMANCE
OF A COUNTING-HOUSE.
CHAPTER I.
It came about in this way. I had mar-’
ried and was going to make my fortune,
and therefore (having that laudable end
in view) left a good situation at Yorkshire
to settle down in Liverpool as a merchant
“on ray own account” and commence to
make it without delay. I had not much
capital, and so resolved to economize at
first. In course of time I imagined the
tidy brougham and the country house
across the Mersey would certainly come;
and one serence September evening, many
years ago, I was walking up and down
St. George’s landing-stage, building cas
tles in the air, wondering whether rents
were high at New Brighton, and whether
Kate would prefer a pony phaeton to a
brougham. lam not sorry to add that I
still reside in a modest house up Edge
Hill way, and that I come to business as
Cmsar went to Rome, according to Joe
Miller, summa dihgentia , on the top of
an omnibus. I was waiting for Mr.
Moses to return to his office in a street
hard by—call it Mersey street, and fer
the reason that M. Moss Moses had a
furnished place to let which his adver
tisement called “two spacious counting
rooms'’—goodness knows I never count
ed much there in the shape of coin; and
I did not like the situation; nor the nar
row, dark staircase ; nor the look of the
boy of Hebrew extraction who bawled
“Cub id,” when I knocked, and told me,
“Mr. Boses would be id at eight o’clock;’’
but twenty-five pounds a year was very
cheap, so I told my young friend I would
call at that time, and look at the “count
ing-no*. ms.”
How well I remember that night! The
ferry-boats from the Chresbire shore
gliding along with their lights twinkling
like glowworms, the vast hull of the Great
Eastern just visible iu the Sloyne, the
squared yards and all a-taunt look of a
seventy-four of the old school, showing
. , * # CD
b:ack and distinct against the daffodil sky,
and the lap of the swell against the under
timbers of the stage —I was inclined to be
sentimental; but Mr. Moss Moses claim
ed my attention, and once more I entered
AT7QTTSTA, GA., SEPTEMBER 24, 1870.
his office, and found him awaiting me.
He was a little, fat, good-tempered Jew,
who spoke decent English; and who, I
afterwards found out, was constantly af
firming in season, and out of season, that
he was no descendant of Abraham.
“Ilillo, Brunton!” he cried, jumping
from his chair. “My lad told me you’d
been here; where have you been these two
months and more ? Look here, old fellow,
I’ve advertised your place; but you can
have it on the old terms.”
“Some mistake, sir, I believe,” and I
handed him a card bearing the inscrip
tion “Charles Harker.”
He took it and held it to the gas-light,
looked at the back, considered it end
ways, and pondered over it upside down.
Then taking the candle his clerk had
brought, held it close to my face.
“If you are not disposed to proceed to
business, I will bid you good-night,” said
I, greatly annoyed at his manner.
“It’s him, and it ain’t him,” he said
aloud ; “Carl never could look a man in
the face as this one does. And yet I
don’t see my way through the features.”
“There is no necessity for you to
trouble yourself about my features !” I
exclaimed, opening the door—“good
night.”
“Stop, stop, my good sir ! and don’t be
offended. It’s a mistake. All Isaac’s
mistake, upon my honor.”
“All a bistake, echoed young Isaac.
My curiosity was excited, and, besides,
I really wanted the offices; and I there
fore allowed myself to be persuaded into
mounting the narrow staircase, until we
faced a door bearing the name of Brun
ton on it in white letters, and having the
two upper panels glazed, more, I should
imagine, to supply light to the staircase
than for admission of light to the office
Mr. Moses produced a key, and turn
ing to me with a good-natured smile, said,
“I’d have sworn you were Brunton five
minutes ago, but I am sure now that I
was wrong, Carl always swore as he came
upstairs, and you haven’t. It’s Bruntou’s
face all but the eyes, and I’d swear to
the eyes anywhere. That is to the
twinkle of ’em, y-ou know.”
And he unlocked the door and invited
me within.
Walking to a table on which he had
placed the light, I took a chair, and pro
duced my pocket-book.
“Before we go further, Mr. Moses, let
us quite understand each other. I have
no wish to derive any benefit from any
virtues Mr. Brunton may possess, and I
am going to convince you that I am what
I represented myself to he. Be good
enough to read that letter.”
It was one from a merchant in the
noith, only received that moraine:, and
mentioned circumstances which were suf
ficient to settle anv doubts as to my iden
tity.
Mr. Moses read it, folded it up briskly,
and presented it to me with a bcw.
“Sir, I apologize. I confess that up to
this moment I fancied it was Carl; but
what puzzled me was, that such a surly
fellow should take to larking and play
ing the fool. You are very much like
my last tenant, sir, that is alt.”
“Very well; now that matter is settled,
let us look at the rooms.”
The lighted gas showed me a large one
and very barely furnished. There was a
large leather-covered table with a desk
on it, four chairs, an inkstand, and a par
tially filled waste-p-'per basket, and that
was all.
“Rather meagre, Mr. Moss.”
“Now, my dear sir, what more could
you want ? Would you like a safe ?
I’ve got one to spare down-stairs and yen
shad have it, and anew mat for your feet
—there now, I hate haggling.”
“Let me sec the other room, please.”
It was one which a person sitting at
the table would have right opposite to
him, and it had no door. “It was a
clerk’s office,” Mr. Moss said, “and you
wanted your eye on such chaps.” I sug
gested that the principle might some-
times want privacy, whereupon he said
“ho hod the door downstairs and it
! should be hung at once if I wished it.”
But having no intention of engaging a
clerk present I told him it was of no
consequence.
The room was about half the size of
the outer one, and contained a desk and
stool, h here was a large closet for coals
and such-like matters, and a good allow
ance of dust and cobwebs all over.
‘Til have it cleaned up to-morrow,” said
Mr. Moss. “It looks beautiful when
clean, and you’ll find the desk to be real
Spanish mohogany.”
They would suit me well enough, and
I told Mr. Moss so; paid him a quarter’s
rent in advance, and rose to depart
“Oh! by-the-way, Mr. Moss,” I ex
claimed, a sudden thought striking me;
“I will send a man to paint my name
on the door, and on the wall down
stairs.”
“Very good, sir; I would do it at once
if I were you. Carl was a loose fish, and
if you delayed it until you g}t here you
might be annoyed.”
“Plow so ? What was he ?”
“Take a cigar first, Mr. Harker, you’ll
find no better in Liverpool. Lord ! how
like him you do look when I don’t see
your eyes.”
“And yet I have not been thought
to resemble a loose fish before, Mr.
Moss.”
“I didn’t mean that. Have you never
seen an ugly person resemble a very hand
some one ? I have, many a time. Well,
about Carl : he was here about two years,
and call me a Jew if I could reckon him
up. He used to come here about noon,
and work up to eight or nine o’clock at
night; but what business he worked at
I never could find out. I knew he had
a big ledger, and two or three such books;
but a big ledger won’t make a business
any more than a big carpet bag will, and
he always carried one. He would come
and smoke a cigar with me now and then;
but I never came up here during all that
time, and he kept this door locked. He
always seemed to bo expecting a blow,
did poor Carl, more like a rat in a corner
than anything else, poor beggar ! Well,
sir, one morning I found the key on my
mat, and found the place just as you see
it, and have never seen Carl since. One
or two queer looking men have inquired
about him, and asked if he was coming
back, and I said most likely he would,
and likely enough he will.”
“Not at all an interesting story,” I
thought, aud I felt inclined to yawn in
Mr. Moss’s face; but I thanked him for
information, and promised to take pos
session in three days, which I spent in
presenting my letters o f introduction, and
making other arrangements for the prose
cution of my plans.
At length the eventful day arrived, and
I stood in my own office, with my name
emblazoned on the door and passage wall.
I was waiting for a friend to call on me
(who, by-the-way, had promised to put me
in the way of doing some business that
very day), and felt impatient for his ar
rival in consequence.
The office was clean and tidy, and the
floors had been well scrubbed.
Why hadn’t they emptied the waste
paper basket of all that lumber ?
The office-keeper had lighted a fire, and
I took up the basket to perform the opera
tion myself; but from some cause or other
I placed it on the table and began idly
to burn the scraps one by one.
I had nearly disposed of them all when
a scrap attracted my attention and I read
it. It was torn so as to leave a few
words intact, and it ran thus—
“ Louise has given your description,
and you may rely on our finding 3-011.
Forward the plates at once, or ”
Then another piece of mysterious pa
per, apparently a plan of some place or
other.
What did th’s mean ?
But I had no time to consider, for mv
friend entered, and putting the two pieces
of paper in my drawer, I emptied the
basket in the fire, and went out with him
to do a good day’s work.
Returning late in the evening, I relit
the fire, and addressed myse'f to the writ
ing of two important letters to be posted
by 11:30 that night, in order to be in
time for the Cunard liner, which sailed
early in the morning ; and then it was
that the black darkness of the doorless
room opposite to me began to trouble me
most.
It had troubled me before* but on this
night it troubled me twofold. From child
hood I have been imaginative, and know
ing this, I stirred the fire, called myself
an ass, and went on with rny letter. But
not for long. My eyes wandered to the
black darkness of the doorway, and I
began to ransack my memory for statistics
of men who could tell by some occult pow
er if any one were bidden in the room
they entered ; and I laughed aloud when
I remembered that I had read (f one sen
sitive gentleman, who by this same occult
sense had found that a surgeon’s skeleton
was in a closet behind him.
I own I dislike being in the dark, but
I will do myself the justice to say that I
have resolution enough to overcome the
dislike.
Therefore I proposed to myself to very
quietly walk into the dark room which
which troubled me and (without a light),
look out of the windows, aud slowly
return.
I went—the very first step beyond the
threshold dispelled my fears. I could see
the glimmer of the stars through the glass,
hear the rattle of the cabs outside.
it was quite a cheerful place, after all !
Ila ! there was a shufiling noise there
by the closet, aud then my fears return
ed and overpowered me. 1 strove to walk
out like a tragedy hero; but ivy pace
quickened as I neared the door and
heard the shuffling noise close to me,
and the next moment a powerful hand
was at my throat, and helpless on the
floor with the cold muzzle of a pistol
pressed to my- head, I was bound and
dragged into the outer office, thrust into
my chair and confronted by two quiet
lookiDg men, one of whom laid his re
volver on the table, saying at the same
time with an ugly sneer : “So, Brunton,
we have caught you at last.”
CHAPTER 11.
The speaker was a mild, intelligent
looking man of about thirty'-five. 111 a
proper dress lie would have looked like a
high-church clergyman. His companion
was evidently a foreigner, and I imagine
a German, lie was about fifty- y-ears of
age and wore spectacles, and a profusion
of beard and whiskers covered more
than half his face. But he had a winning
smile and good teeth, which he often
took an opportunity of showing.
“We have found you at last.”
I am thankful to say that I am not.
nervous when I see danger, and I
boldly 7 replied—
“My name is Harker and not Burton ;
Mr. Moss, the lanulurd of these premises,
has noticed my resemblance to his late
tenant, and is satisfied that I am not the
same. Depend upon it that I shall make
you repent this outrage.”
I tried to rise to call for help from the
street, but the pistol was cocked and
pointed at me, and there was that in the
man’s face which cautioned me against
rashness in my helpless position.
“I will sit down,” I replied, “and hear
what you have to say; but if I choose to
do it I shall do my best to raise au alarm
in spite of your revolver.”
‘A ell spoke, Carl,” said the foreig
ner ; “Louise always say- he a plucky 7
one.”
“Now then, Burton,” whispered the
other, “let us have no nonsense. We
have not met be 0 e, it isjtrue, but Louise
has so well described you, that putting
another name on your door was simply
idiotic. Besides one of ours has watch
ed for your return, and wo comm uni-■
ted with him directly as we landed. Go
free if you like, but we will h i.v .* the
'plates''
“Dat’s the matter vid us,” echoed the
German ; “ve vill have the p.ates.”
“I know nothing of any plates,” I cried
“nor of Louise, nor of you. All I know
is, that you will see the inside of a prison
very shortly.”
“And you think you can throw us,
throw me over in this way! Do you
think you deal with children?”
“I think I deal with a burglar. Most
certainly with a rascal of some-sort or
other.”
Here my two friends held a whispered
conference. Then he of the revolver
turned sharply towards me.
“ Will you marry Louise ? Will
you give up the plates, aud marry my
sister?”
“She love you like old boots,” added
the German ; and from which I opine
that he prided himself on a knowledge of
English idiom.
Iu spite of my serious position I was
getting thoroughly amused. The dark
doorway held unknown terrors to un
excited imagination; but two common
place fellows who had make a mistake
only caused a feeling of merriment, even
in spite of the revolver.
“1 am sorry I cannot oblige you,” I
replied. “I am flattered by the lady’s
preference ; but having one wife al
ready, I fear I must decline taking a
second ; and as for the plates, please ex
plain what you mean.”
The answer to this flippant speech was
a blow on the face, wLich sent the blood
streaming on the fl >or.
“\ou ll remember insulting the sister
of Louis Orloff! Here, Baron, let us
gag him, and search ; he will be rais
ing an alarm presently.”
They thrust a piece of rope between
my teeth, compressing my windpipe to
make me open my mouth ; and there I
sat helpless whilst they turned out the
contents of my desk and drawers, not
forgetting my cashbox, which was open
ed with a key taken from my waistcoat
pocket, and the contents appropriated.
Knowing that the two scraps of paper I
had found in the waste-paper basket, and
placed in my drawer, must have reference
! tj their visit, I watched very anxiously
when they opened it. But they escaped
notice, and 1 felt that I had got some
clue to the mystery, even if these men
escaped; and I had quite determined
| that they should not escape, for I was in
j securely bound, and had been working
I liarti K. get niy right hand free, and”
I thanks tu having a very narrow one, I
I now found myself able to slip it through
! the loop widen encircled the wrist; but
I I “bided my time,” for I saw that a
faße move might bring a bullet through
my head.
“Be p.ates is in ze oder room, Carl
! Brunton, mou ami,” said the Baton.
I smiling, aud patting my shoulder. “Vy
not say? \v shoot we you? You do
dem so well, ve no get any like dem
And you use them yourself, and den.
Ach Gott ! you upset do cart of do
apple.”
“Yes,” I thought ; “and it’s odd to me
if 1 don’t upset your cart of de apple be
fore long.”
“In dare ; in back room?” asked the
Laron, with another amiable smile.
I said, “Yes,” with my eyes.
&ce now, ray Louis, you were t >
rough. You into him pitch like dam
So sec him amiable.” Then to me
“And you will marry Louise, who ’ we
you like old boots?”
My- other hand was fiee now. I t:i and
to speak, and implored with my eyes idr
the gag to be removed.
The Baron removed it, and while
doing so I resolved on a plan of o-iera
tiem.
“You will marry Louise and r
,l , . n,, ** * &
tne plates?
“I will give you every satisfaction ”
‘A .A it, business, said Louis Or luff,
No. 28.