"why, don john, how you frightened me!" exclaimed miss nellie patterdale, as she sprang up from her reclining position in a lolling-chair.
it was an intensely warm day near the close of june, and the young lady had chosen the coolest and shadiest place she could find on the piazza of her father's elegant mansion in belfast. she was as pretty as she was bright and vivacious, and was a general favorite among the pupils of the high school, which she attended. she was deeply absorbed in the reading of a story in one of the july magazines, which had[12] just come from the post-office, when she heard a step near her. the sound startled her, it was so near; and, looking up, she discovered the young man whom she had spoken to close beside her. he was not don john of austria, but donald john ramsay of belfast, who had been addressed by his companions simply as don, a natural abbreviation of his first name, until he of austria happened to be mentioned in the history recitation in school, when the whole class looked at don, and smiled; some of the girls even giggled, and got a check for it; but the republican young gentleman became a titular spanish hidalgo from that moment. though he was the son of a boat-builder, by trade a ship carpenter, he was a good-looking, and gentlemanly fellow, and was treated with kindness and consideration by most of the sons and daughters of the wealthy men of belfast, who attended the high school. it was hardly a secret that don john regarded miss nellie with especial admiration, or that, while he was polite to all the young ladies, he was particularly so to her. it is a fact, too, that he blushed when she turned her startled gaze upon him on the[13] piazza; and it is just as true that miss nellie colored deeply, though it may have been only the natural consequence of her surprise.
"i beg your pardon, nellie; i did not mean to frighten you," replied donald.
"i don't suppose you did, don john; but you startled me just as much as though you had meant it," added she, with a pleasant smile, so forgiving that the young man had no fear of the consequences. "how terribly hot it is! i am almost melted."
"it is very warm," answered donald, who, somehow or other, found it very difficult to carry on a conversation with nellie; and his eyes seemed to him to be twice as serviceable as his tongue.
"it is dreadful warm."
and so they went on repeating the same thing over and over again, till there was no other known form of expression for warm weather.
"how in the world did you get to the side of my chair without my hearing you?" demanded nellie, when it was evidently impossible to say anything more about the heat.
"i came up the front steps, and was walking around on the piazza to your father's library. i[14] didn't see you till you spoke," replied donald, reminded by this explanation that he had come to captain patterdale's house for a purpose. "is ned at home?"
"no; he has gone up to searsport to stay over sunday with uncle henry."
"has he? i'm sorry. is your father at home?"
"he is in his library, and there is some one with him. won't you sit down, don john?"
"thank you," added donald, seating himself in a rustic chair. "it is very warm this afternoon."
nellie actually laughed, for she was conscious of the difficulties of the situation—more so than her visitor. but we must do our hero—for such he is—the justice to say, that he did not refer to the exhausted topic with the intention of confining the conversation to it, but to introduce the business which had called him to the house.
"it is intensely hot, don john," laughed nellie.
"but i was going to ask you if you would not like to take a sail," said donald, with a blush. "with your father, i mean," added he, with a deeper blush, as he realized that he had[15] actually asked a girl to go out in a boat with him.
"i should be delighted to go, but i can't. mother won't let me go on the water when the sun is out, it hurts my eyes so," answered nellie; and the young man was sure she was very sorry she could not go.
"perhaps we can go after sunset, then," suggested donald. "i am sorry ned is not at home; for his yacht is finished, and father says the paint is dry enough to use her. we are going to have a little trial trip in her over to turtle head, and, perhaps, round by searsport."
"is the sea foam really done?" asked nellie, her eyes sparkling with delight.
"yes, she is all ready, and father will deliver her to ned on monday, if everything works right about her. i thought some of your folks, especially ned, would like to be in her on the first trip."
"i should, for one; but i suppose it is no use for me to think of it. my eyes are ever so much better, and i hope i shall be able to sail in the sea foam soon."
"i hope so, too. we expect she will beat the skylark; father thinks she will."[16]
"i don't care whether she does or not," laughed nellie.
"do you think i could see your father just a moment?" asked donald. "i only want to know whether or not he will go with us."
"i think so; i will go and speak to him. come in, don john," replied nellie, rising from her lolling-chair, and walking around the corner of the house to the front door.
donald followed her. the elegant mansion was located on a corner lot, with a broad hall through the centre of it, on one side of which was the large drawing-room, and on the other the sitting and dining-rooms. at the end of the great hall was a door opening into the library, a large apartment, which occupied the whole of a one-story addition to the original structure. it had also an independent outside door, which opened upon the piazza; and opposite to it was a flight of steps, down to the gravel walk terminating at a gate on the cross street. people who came to see captain patterdale on business could enter at this gate, and go to the library without passing through the house. on the present occasion, a horse and wagon stood at the gate, which indi[17]cated to miss nellie that her father was engaged. this team had stood there for an hour, and donald had watched it for half that time, waiting for the owner to leave, though he was not at all anxious to terminate the interview with his fair schoolmate.
nellie knocked at the library door, and her father told her to come in. she passed in, while donald waited the pleasure of the rich man in the hall.
he was invited to enter. captain patterdale was evidently bored by his visitor, and gave the young man a cordial greeting. donald stated his business very briefly; but the captain did not say whether he would or would not go upon the trial trip of the sea foam. he asked a hundred questions about the new yacht, and it was plain that he did not care to resume the conversation with his visitor, who walked nervously about the room, apparently vexed at the interruption, and dissatisfied thus far with the result of his interview with the captain.
what would have appeared to be true to an observer was actually so. the visitor was one jacob hasbrook, from a neighboring town, and his reputation for honesty and fair dealings was not the[18] best in the world. captain patterdale held his note, without security, for thirteen hundred and fifty dollars. hasbrook had property, but his creditors were never sure of him till they were paid. at the present interview he had astonished captain patterdale by paying the note in full, with interest, on the day it became due. but it was soon clear enough to the rich man that the payment was only a "blind" to induce him to embark in a doubtful speculation with hasbrook. the nature and immense profits of the enterprise had been eloquently set forth by the visitor, and his own capacity to manage it enlarged upon; but the nabob, who had made his fortune by hard work, was utterly wanting in enthusiasm. he had received the money in payment of his note, which he had expected to lose, or to obtain only after resorting to legal measures, and he was fully determined to have nothing more to do with the man. he had said all this as mildly as he could; but hasbrook was persistent, and probably felt that in paying an honest debt he had thrown away thirteen hundred and fifty dollars.
he would not go, though captain patterdale[19] gave him sufficient excuse for doing so, or even for cutting his acquaintance. the rich man continued to talk with don john, to the intense disgust of the speculator, who stood looking at a tin box, painted green, which lay on a chair. perhaps he looked upon this box as the grave of his hopes; for it contained the money he had just paid to the captain—the wasted money, because the rich man would not embark with him in his brilliant enterprise, though he had taken so much pains, and parted with so much money, to prove that he was an honest man. he appeared to be interested in the box, and he looked at it all the time, with only an impatient glance occasionally at the nabob, who appeared to be trifling with his bright hopes. the tin chest was about nine inches each way, and contained the private papers and other valuables of the rich man, including, now, the thirteen hundred and fifty dollars just received.
captain patterdale was president of the twenty-first national bank of belfast, which was located a short distance from his house. the tin box was kept in the vaults of the bank; but the owner had taken it home to examine some documents at his leisure, intending to return it to the bank[20] before night. as it was in the library when mr. hasbrook called, the money was deposited in it for safe keeping over night.
"i'm afraid i can't go with you, donald," said captain patterdale, after he had asked him all the questions he could think of about the sea foam.
"i am sorry, sir; for miss nellie wanted to go, and i was going to ask father to wait till after sunset on her account," added the young man.
mr. hasbrook began to look hopeful; for the last remark of the nabob indicated a possible termination of the conversation. donald began his retreat toward the hall of the mansion, for he wanted to see the fair daughter again; but he had not reached the door before the captain called him back.
"i suppose your father wants some more money to-night," said he, feeling in his pocket for the key to open the tin box.
"he didn't say anything to me about it, sir," replied donald; "i don't think he does."
hasbrook looked hopeless again; for captain patterdale began to calculate how much he had paid, and how much more he was to pay, for the yacht. while he was doing so, there was a[21] knock at the street door, and, upon being invited to do so, mr. laud cavendish entered the library with a bill in his hand.
mr. laud cavendish was a great man in his own estimation, and a great swell in the estimation of everybody else. he was a clerk or salesman in a store; but he was dressed very elegantly for a provincial city like belfast, and for a "counter-jumper" on six or eight dollars a week. he was about eighteen years old, tall, and rather slender. his upper lip was adorned with an incipient mustache, which had been tenderly coaxed and colored for two years, without producing any prodigious result, though it was the pride and glory of the owner. mr. cavendish was a dreamy young gentleman, who believed that the fates had made a bad mistake in his case, inasmuch as he was the son of an honest and industrious carpenter, instead of the son and heir of one of the nabobs of belfast. he believed that he was fitted to adorn the highest circle in society, to shine among the aristocracy of the city, and it was a cruel shame that he should be compelled to work in a store, weigh out tea and sugar, carry goods to the elegant mansions where he ought to be ad[22]mitted at the front, instead of the back, door, collect bills, and perform whatever other service might be required of him. the fates had blundered and conspired against him; but he was not without hope that the daughter of some rich man, who might fall in love with him and his mustache, would redeem him from his slavery to an occupation he hated, and lift him up to the sphere where he belonged. laud was "soaring after the infinite," and so he rather neglected the mundane and practical, and his employer did not consider him a very desirable clerk.
mr. laud cavendish came with a bill in his hand, the footing of which was the sum due his employer for certain necessary articles just delivered at the kitchen door of the elegant mansion. captain patterdale opened the tin box, and took therefrom some twenty dollars to pay the bill, which laud receipted. mr. hasbrook hoped he would go, and that don john would go; and perhaps they would have gone if a rather exciting event had not occurred to detain them.
"father! father!" exclaimed miss nellie, rushing into the library.
"what's the matter, nellie?" demanded her[23] father, calmly; for he had long been a sea captain, and was used to emergencies.
"michael has just dropped down in a fit!" gasped nellie.
"where is he?"
"in the yard."
captain patterdale, followed by his three visitors, rushed through the hall, out at the front door, near which the unfortunate man had fallen, and, with the assistance of his companions, lifted him from the ground. michael was the hired man who took care of the horses, and kept the grounds around the elegant mansion in order. he was raking the gravel walk near the piazza where nellie was laboring to keep cool. as we have hinted before, and as nellie and don john had several times repeated, the day was intensely hot. the sun where the man worked was absolutely scorching, and the hired man had experienced a sun-stroke. captain patterdale and his visitors bore him to his room in the l, and don john ran for the doctor, who appeared in less than ten minutes. the visitors all did what they could, mr. laud cavendish behaving very well. michael's wife and other friends soon arrived,[24] and there was nothing more for laud to do. he went down stairs, and, finding nellie in the hall, he tried to comfort her; for she was very much concerned for poor michael.
"do you think he will die, mr. cavendish?" asked she, almost as much moved as though the poor man had been her father.
"o, no! i think he will recover. these irishmen have thick heads, and they don't die so easily of sun-stroke; for that's what the doctor says it is," replied laud, knowingly.
nellie thought, if this was a true view of coup de soleil, laud would never die of it. she thought this; but she was not so impolite as to say it. she asked him no more questions; for she saw don john approaching through the dining-room.
"good afternoon, miss patterdale," said laud, with a bow and a flourish, as he retired towards the library, where he had left his hat.
in a few moments more, the rattle of the wagon, with which he delivered goods to the customers, was heard as he drove off. don john came into the hall, and nellie asked him ever so many questions about the condition of michael, and what the doctor said about him; all of[25] which the young man answered to the best of his ability.
"do you think he will die, don john?" she asked.
"i am sure i can't tell," replied donald; "i hope not."
"michael is real good, and i am so sorry for him!" added nellie.
but michael is hardly a personage in our story, and we do not purpose to enter into the diagnosis of his case. he has our sympathies on the merit of his sufferings alone, and quite as much for nellie's sake; for it was tender, and gentle, and kind in her to feel so much for a poor irish laborer. while she and donald were talking about the case, mr. hasbrook came down stairs, and passed through the hall into the library, where he, also, had left his hat. in a few moments more the rattle of his wagon was heard, as he drove off, indignant and disgusted at the indifference of the nabob in refusing to take an interest in his brilliant enterprise. he was angry with himself for having paid his note before he had enlisted the payee in his cause.
"how is he, father?" asked nellie, as captain patterdale entered the hall.[26]
"the doctor thinks he sees some favorable symptoms."
"will he die?"
"the doctor thinks he will get over it. but he wants some ice, and i must get it for him."
"i suppose you will not go in the sea foam now?" asked donald.
"no; it is impossible," replied the captain, as he passed into the dining-room to the refrigerator.
the father was like the daughter; and though he was a millionnaire, or a demi-millionnaire—we don't know which, for we were never allowed to look over his taxable valuation—though he was a nabob, he took right hold, and worked with his own hands for the comfort and the recovery of the sufferer. it was creditable to his heart that he did so, and we never grudge such a man his "pile," especially when he has earned it by his own labor, or made it in honorable, legitimate business. the captain went up stairs again with a large dish of ice, to assist the doctor in the treatment of his patient.
donald staid in the hall, talking with miss nellie, as long as he thought it proper to do so, though[27] not as long as he desired, and then entered the library where he, also, had left his hat. perhaps it was a singular coincidence that all three of the visitors had left their hats in that room; but then it was not proper for them to sit with their hats on in the presence of such a magnate as captain patterdale, and no decent man would stop for a hat when a person had fallen in a fit.
captain patterdale's hat was still there; and, unluckily, there was something else belonging to him which was not there.
