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Page 57
There was a slight drawback in the pleasure both felt in meeting
at this late hour--the drawback of weariness. Yet their hearts were
tranquil and elevated in the consciousness that they were denying self
for the good of another--and that one most tenderly beloved. Again the
way had become plain before them; and if strength only were given to
bear their increased burdens, they would move on with even lighter
footsteps than before.
And now, after having lingered thus long with the humble clerk, let
us turn to the rich merchant; for Jasper has become a man of
extensive possessions. Wealth flowed in upon him with extraordinary
rapidity--not in the regular course of trade, overreaching and
unscrupulous as he was in dealing, but through what are called
fortunate speculations. How he made his first hundred thousand
dollars--the basis of his present very large fortune--was not clearly
understood, though sundry vague rumours on the subject were afloat,
none of them, however, very near the truth, except in the admission
that a fraud on somebody had been committed. But let us introduce Mr.
Jasper.
On the night that Claire entered upon his duties as clerk in the
auction store, and about the same hour that his duties began, Mr.
Jasper, who was walking restlessly the floor of his richly furnished
parlours, his mind busy with some large money-making scheme, yet
fretted by a recent disappointment, found himself suddenly in the
presence of, to him, a well-known individual, whose ring at the door
he had not observed.
"Martin!" he exclaimed, in no affected surprise. "Is it possible?"
"Ah, Jasper! How are you? Right glad to get sight of your face again!"
said the other familiarly, as he grasped the merchant's passive hand,
and squeezed it until the joints cracked.
"When did you arrive in the city?" returned Jasper, as he reached his
visitor a chair. He did not speak with much warmth; and yet there was
an effort to be at ease and cordial.
"Some two hours ago," said Martin, in whose face was already beginning
to gather a few lines in token of the sober thoughts that lay beneath
his assumed smiling exterior.
"From which direction did you come?"
"West. I'm from the Upper Mississippi."
"Ah!"
"I went to Galena some five or six months ago; and have since been
actively engaged in lead-mining. A great business that, Mr. Jasper."
"Ah?" This "ah?" was particularly chilling.
"There are more rapid fortunes made at the lead-mines in the
neighbourhood of Galena, at present, than in any part of the United
States," said Martin, approaching, by rapid advances, the subject
nearest to his thoughts.
"You think so?" returned Jasper, with cold incredulity.
"I know so," was the positive response. "I could point you to a dozen
men who have made their tens of thousands annually for the last five
or ten years."
"It is easy to talk about making tens of thousands, Martin; but the
fact itself is a more difficult matter."
"A fact is a fact, however, Mr. Jasper," said the other. "What is
done, is done."
"Of course."
"It is a fact that money is made at the lead-mines, hand over fist,"
continued Martin. "Of this I am prepared to give you the strongest
kind of evidence."
"Why should you be so anxious to convince me of this fact?" returned
the merchant. "I have quite as many irons in the fire now as I can see
to."
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