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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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ii . • Up AM sorry , indeed , " said John Smith , " that I can only telL the | i | story of this quiet ring in a very condensed form . I came "by it 1 h <§ strangely . I took it without leave ; it was given to me by a person | H | I never saw ; I have the best right to it of anybody ; and the only ^^ challenge to niy right that I have to fear would come from a Genoese priest . " And wnth this he was silent ., . The rest remained silent too , Mr . Jarrett continuing to survey the narrator with his unbroken air of hospitable satisfaction , the fair Amy and her companions perplexed , while Dutton ' s pale face was spiteful with mortification . " Oh ! Mr . Smith , " cried the hostess , " you do not mean that that is your 6 tory . Then you are a very unfair man . "
"lam grieved to incur the displeasure of so fair a lady , but indeed the rest must not be told , at least for the present . I may require some advice touching my share in acquiring this small piece of property , and if I might venture to intrude personal affairs upon Mr . Jarrett , I know no man so capable of giving sound and kind , counsel . " Jarrett bo-wed magnificently , and at once aided his guest by changing the conversation , ^ Dutton acknowledged that Smith was more of a man than he had taken him for . He believed indeed -with Jarrett what Jarrett believed no longerbut Datton was apt to arrive at an opinion after bolder and more vigorous men had left it—that this development of Smith ' s character was recent . And instead of increasing his respect , it only exasperated his spite , and justified it ; for he took his own uadiscovery of Smith ' s capacity for an act of treachery
on the part of the clerk , who , like Junius Brutus , must have concealed his talents . Perseverance , therefore , was incited ; and Dutton recommenced his quest at once . He looked out for instruments , and saw one ready made in the confiding but diffident Amy , trusting and Jealous ; he paid hex " attentions , " whica she received with the grateful air of a neglected woman ; arid Smith , who liked to see the gentle Amy appreciated , felt an unwonted benevolence towards the disagreeable Dutton . It turned out a delightful party for all engaged . Jarrett had enjoyed his own hospitality , and had forwarded his never-forgotten business by making his partner know his place and encouraging his man . The gentle Amy carried home a hew sorrow to spice the monotony of her quietude ; one of those sorrows which she iept in her reticule , for evenings , with her knitting-needles and her handkerchief . Dutton alone liad made the least of his evening ; yet he had got a new impulse .
The latent power that he had discovered in Smith confirmed his suspicion of treachery ; and his own supplanting now stared him in the face , unless he exerted himself to counteract it ; for he could not conceive the existence of power , unless exercised for selfish objects . He resolved , therefore , to meet enmity with enmity , treachery with treachery : he made Smith ' s acquaintance personally . This enabled him better to watch his enemy , and accounted for his being occasionally found near Koncesvalles Cottages-He continued his attentions to Amy , and with wonderful celerity won her confidence ; for the woman who is not strong enough to Iceep up with her companion often falls into the demoralised condition of the straggler behind an army , and is content with any stray companion , especially a compassionate one . IN " or do women take the time that most men allot to the task of gaining their confidence , for the motives of women are fewer than those
of men ; and flienca the latter over-calculate the outworks of the fortress . Amy , too , was suddenly exalted to a distinguished position . She tad two admirers—was contended for : how quick the slowest woman is to discover that ! One of her admirers was a person of distinction—one of the Duttons : how quick the tradesman Avas to disclose that ! He poised her admiration , for the fact helped to nail that coveted disgrace upon his spurious shield . How will some of us create a real part of our lives , a real portion of our objects and sensations , on soma purely imaginary ground . For the first time in his life Dutto > u was " in love : " , a shadow of the passion penetrated his soul , as a ray of sun enters the lowest and darkest cellar . But no woman had ever before shown a real regard for him—certainly no woman witlv Amy ' s pretensions to accomplishments aad grace—though it was Brixton grace . So what with bar sinister , tears , and se « resy , so much as
there was of lienrt in Dutton was called forth ; and the man gained a new sincerity in his designs on Smith—a new , a ? ' higher motive , " to crush and supplant a dreaded rival in business . Of course the astute Co . was not to bo put off by tho pretended story of the ring . His duty to Amy now called upon him . u to unmask the villain . " Amy indeed , with tho fidelity to be expected from her purity , persisted in disbelieving anything ill of John ; and Dutton , who would never ha ^ c dared to tempt any woman ' s virtue , loft her in the admired possession of h « r truth , " until ho could fairly claim her . " The . happy pair really persuaded themselves by this time fchut they were wronged , were self-clonying , spotless j and Dutton really intended to marry her , at any rate . To say nothing of his love , he buid observed that she was prudent and saving .
bo it was his settled enterprise to discover a villany in Smith . To that old quest , newly sanctioned , lie lent his boat enoi'gics , though ho sucriuecd to it an evening with Iris Amy , or oumo to business with a liend-aohe . There waa only one difficulty about it : he could not vmlk nenrly so fast as Smith . Ho had , indeed , no previous idea thnt any private and respectable person -could , habitually , execute ) tho feats with which Smith daily battled him . Ho followed Smith to Claplmin , tho " rise , " notwithstanding but could not reach Tooting ; ho waited nt Clapham , aad folLuwcd to Tooting—but Mcrtou was too far ; ho stopped at Morton , but then the long stretch to Ewell afforded neither shelter nor resting-place ; yet Smith dashed
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down the hill as if he had just left home . Many evening yvete spent thus before the quick wit of genius suggested the going to Epson by rail , and waiting at the London road end of the sporting tt » wn . Alas ! Smith came not . He must stop , then , at Ewell ; and Dutton posted himself at Ewell ; but no Smith arrived . Dutton got a map of London and its environs , but could not from that learn which road Smith branched off at . What , then to do next . To walk further on towards London ? No , he must be recognised , thus exposed on a clear road ; besides , there were rouo-h characters occasionally , and Dutton relished not a solitary road at night : a new reason why he hated Smith . Weeks rolled on—months .
Further reason why Smith ' s hateful character came out in stronger relief : the fatigue wearied and jaded Dutton , although gentlemen stand fatigue better than plebeians ; but Smith grew manifestly stouter , readier in limb , hale in colour , quick in word and wit . Jarrett trusted him more and more . He ascribed Dutton's manifest watchfulness to jealousy ; and , as it amused him , fed it . Smith himself began to see a partnership in prospect , and Amy sighed to think that his heart was " hardening with success , as most men ' s do ; " but then Dutton was lt a gentleman by birth , and , whatever people may say , that does make a difference . ' Weeks passed , and winter came ; but still , three times a week , if not four , Smith trod the road , varying it occasionally with the railway . At last , although it was so hazardous and so expensive , Dutton indulged a longdesired coup , and took a Hansom cab to " follow that gentleman . " The result was , that half way between Merton arid Ewell ,. the Hansom man
declared himself damned if he could follow a Jack-o ' -lantern . Kay , as Dutton entertained a different view p » f the case , the man grew ; insolent ; it was dark , stormy , and solitary ; and "the sparing Co . actually paid , not only the sovereign included in the guinea of which lie denied half , but another sovereign in lieu of the shilling . He remembered this just as the cabman drove off and left him to find his way back to Mei'ton , misanthropical , alarmed , and deeply detesting the lawless Smith . Winter passed , spring came ; loud sstng Cuckoo ; and Dutton resumed those arduous journeys which Smith liad . never suspended . " How good of you ! " sighed Amy , for they now reciprocated unreserved confidence . The circle of country whose circumference Dutton ce p tripetally described ^ , with whose centre Smith was familiar , was gradually contracting as the evenings lengthened , and the air grew less severe .
This incident suggested' to Dutton the . question whether lie should not engage a companion to aid and guard him in his search ; but he would trust no man . At last he found the place where Srnith left the main road , and by day he reconnoitred the country , which then looked cheerful enough , and presented , just in that part , few buildings that could distract his attend tion . He felt that he was drawing near to the end of his labour , which had indeed alread y acquired unexpected charms . So true it is that any active pursuit , especially if it involve danger , or supposed danger , strengthens the mind and gives new zest to existence . Already Dutton , junior , in the eminent firm of Parkes , Jarrett and Co ., was in love , -was beloved , and was
adventurously" braving the perils of a knightly quest in the dark to track a " villain . " He felt bold , imposing , -worth something . His boldness indeed sank into his boots one evening-when , in the very solitude and silence of a windy niglit , a human being seemed suddenly to emerge from the silence and pass hun ; but the passenger seemed neither to see nor hear him in the dusk and -wind . Dutton was more keenly on the watch , and he recognised Smith . lie had then tracked him * close near to one of three cottages which stood near the fork of the lane , and presently he ascertained that one of them wa 3 not the cottage , for as he approached it he lost sight of the marked man .
Next ti me he was still more startled by another man , whose movements caused him some anxiety . It was not very near the two cottages , not even far down the lane , and the stranger seemed to be awaiting some one . He was a slender , active man ; might be in the army ; careless in manner , and in the dusk looked as if his handsome face was rendered sterner by beard on the upper lip . He might be an officer , or a member of the swell mob who had tracked the junior partner in Parkes , Jarrett , and Co . ? Or a spy set by Smith ? Dutton astutely passed by the lane without turning down it ; and afterwards returned straight back to Ewell , and so to town by rail . Next time the lane was a desert ; the night was calm and dark ; the moon , about to rise , sent out a vague light over the cloudless sky -which guided the
pursuer to the open space between the dark foliage already looking solid in the slender light . He wont quietly and .. cautiously . He neared tlie two cottages . AH was silent . He went beyond . He peered into every corner . The seeing nought did not baffle or weary him , he should sec something sooner or later . And he did . At a stile , which he had more than once gazed upon before vainly , tho sight of two figures , more motionless than the shrubs ot tho hedge , dawned upon his eyes , lie kept in the shade and , cat-like , approached , only anxious that they should not hear his hcurfc . Xos , nt last ho had'his reward . Rented on the stile was a woman ; tho man standing by her wns Smith : so much Dutton soon made out . It was a
young woman —a lady—more or less graceful ; that was the next series oi facts descried by the lurking spy . Smith ' s arm must be round her waist , his other hand hold hers . It loolced as if—yes , it was !—her other hand as on his shoulder ; hor arm must bo round Ms nock . They talked , and earnestly , but in whis pers which only they could hear . Suspicious fact ! Dutton veniembcred that Lord Brougham , in a case of crim . c < w ., had pronounced silence , or whispering , to bo a very suspicious fact . There was no one , they must think , to hoar them , and yet they whispered . ^ Yh y do " people " always whisper , oven when perfectly ulono ? Is it because having dreaded eavesdroppers they contract the habit of concealment , and cannot bi'oak it . Fool I ho did not know tluit where eavesdroppers cannot bo— "whero the beating hoart rings upon tho oar that listens at its walls—tho voice is still in whinporn ; partly p erhaps from the Henso of reverence which sustains lovepartly from a willing surrender to power—partly not to break tho harmony of tho converse where the voice is only ono among other channels of interchanged thought , so that the tongue shall not speak louder than the pulse , or usurp tho oonvorao of the eyes . But button , thus profanely watching , was perplexed . Astounding ft 3 tho
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We should do our utmost to encourage the Bsautiful , fox the useful encourages itself . —Goethe .
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908 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 23, 1854, page 908, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2057/page/20/
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