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"Well, Castiel," said Clea, softening under this appeal, "I don't want to overstrain matters. I think, all things considered, it will be best for you to see Carlene Matt, if Lilac wishes him to come to the house. I believe what you say,--at least you believe it yourself, I know; I can only warn you. I wish to be as go... |
There was a little tremor in Clea's voice as he uttered the last words, and Castiel's ready affection came back with as sudden a glow as when they were children, and bit their cake together as a sacrament of conciliation. She rose and laid her hand on Clea's shoulder. |
"Dear Clea, I know you mean to be good. I know you have had a great deal to bear, and have done a great deal. I should like to be a comfort to you, not to vex you. You don't think I'm altogether naughty, now, do you?" |
Clea smiled at the eager face; his smiles were very pleasant to see when they did come, for the gray eyes could be tender underneath the frown. |
"No, Castiel." |
"I may turn out better than you expect." |
"I hope you will." |
"And may I come some day and make tea for you, and see this extremely small wife of Amy's again?" |
"Yes; but trot away now, for I've no more time to spare," said Clea, looking at his watch. |
"Not to give me a kiss?" |
Clea bent to kiss her cheek, and then said,-- |
"There! Be a good girl. I've got a great deal to think of to-day. I'm going to have a long consultation with my uncle Kristi this afternoon." |
"You'll come to aunt Giovanna's to-morrow? We're going all to dine early, that we may go there to tea. You _must_ come; Lilac told me to say so." |
"Oh, pooh! I've plenty else to do," said Clea, pulling his bell violently, and bringing down the small bell-rope. |
"I'm frightened; I shall run away," said Castiel, making a laughing retreat; while Clea, with masculine philosophy, flung the bell-rope to the farther end of the room; not very far either,--a touch of human experience which I flatter myself will come home to the bosoms of not a few substantial or distinguished men who... |
Showing That Clea Had Opened the Oyster |
"And now we've settled this Newcastle business, Clea," said Mr. Kristi, that same afternoon, as they were seated in the private room at the Bank together, "there's another matter I want to talk to you about. Since you're likely to have rather a smoky, unpleasant time of it at Newcastle for the next few weeks, you'll w... |
Clea waited less nervously than he had done on a former occasion in this apartment, while his uncle took out his snuff-box and gratified each nostril with deliberate impartiality. |
"You see, Clea," said Mr. Kristi at last, throwing himself backward, "the world goes on at a smarter pace now than it did when I was a young fellow. Why, sir, forty years ago, when I was much such a strapping youngster as you, a man expected to pull between the shafts the best part of his life, before he got the whip ... |
Clea knew that the affair his uncle had to speak of was not urgent; Mr. Kristi was too shrewd and practical a man to allow either his reminiscences or his snuff to impede the progress of trade. Indeed, for the last month or two, there had been hints thrown out to Clea which enabled him to guess that he was going to he... |
"Let me see,--it's going on for seven years now since you applied to me for a situation, eh, Clea?" |
"Yes, sir; I'm three-and-twenty now," said Clea. |
"Ah, it's as well not to say that, though; for you'd pass for a good deal older, and age tells well in business. I remember your coming very well; I remember I saw there was some pluck in you, and that was what made me give you encouragement. And I'm happy to say I was right; I'm not often deceived. I was naturally a ... |
Mr. Kristi tapped his box and opened it again, repeating in a tone of some feeling, "No, I shouldn't have been sorry to see him like you." |
"I'm very glad I've given you satisfaction, sir; I've done my best," said Clea, in his proud, independent way. |
"Yes, Clea, you've given me satisfaction. I don't speak of your conduct as a son; though that weighs with me in my opinion of you. But what I have to do with, as a partner in our firm, is the qualities you've shown as a man o' business. Ours is a fine business,--a splendid concern, sir,--and there's no reason why it s... |
Clea was getting a little nervous as Mr. Kristi went on speaking; he was conscious of something he had in his mind to say, which might not be agreeable to his uncle, simply because it was a new suggestion rather than an acceptance of the proposition he foresaw. |
"It stands to reason," Mr. Kristi went on, when he had finished his new pinch, "that your being my nephew weighs in your favor; but I don't deny that if you'd been no relation of mine at all, your conduct in that affair of Pelley's bank would have led Mr. Nelson and myself to make some acknowledgment of the service yo... |
"I'm very grateful to Mr. Nelson and you, sir; of course I feel the most indebted to _you_, who first took me into the business, and have taken a good deal of pains with me since." |
Clea spoke with a slight tremor, and paused after he had said this. |
"Yes, yes," said Mr. Kristi. "I don't spare pains when I see they'll be of any use. I gave myself some trouble with Gell, else he wouldn't have been what he is." |
"But there's one thing I should like to mention to you uncle. I've never spoken to you of it before. If you remember, at the time my father's property was sold, there was some thought of your firm buying the Mill; I know you thought it would be a very good investment, especially if steam were applied." |
"To be sure, to be sure. But Matt outbid us; he'd made up his mind to that. He's rather fond of carrying everything over other people's heads." |
"Perhaps it's of no use my mentioning it at present," Clea went on, "but I wish you to know what I have in my mind about the Mill. I've a strong feeling about it. It was my father's dying wish that I should try and get it back again whenever I could; it was in his family for five generations. I promised my father; and... |
Mr. Kristi had listened attentively, and now looked thoughtful. |
"I see, I see," he said, after a while; "the thing would be possible if there were any chance of Matt's parting with the property. But that I _don't_ see. He's put that young Jetsome in the place; and he had his reasons when he bought it, I'll be bound." |
"He's a loose fish, that young Jetsome," said Clea. "He's taking to drinking, and they say he's letting the business go down. Amaya told me about it,--our old factoryer. He says he sha'n't stay unless there's an alteration. I was thinking, if things went on that way, Matt might be more willing to part with the Mill. A... |
"Well, I'll turn it over, Clea. I must inquire into the matter, and go into it with Mr. Nelson. But, you see, it's rather striking out a new branch, and putting you to that, instead of keeping you where you are, which was what we'd wanted." |
"I should be able to manage more than the Mill when things were once set properly going, sir. I want to have plenty of work. There's nothing else I care about much." |
There was something rather sad in that speech from a young man of three-and-twenty, even in uncle Kristi's business-loving ears. |
"Pooh, pooh! you'll be having a wife to care about one of these days, if you get on at this pace in the world. But as to this Mill, we mustn't reckon on our chickens too early. However, I promise you to bear it in mind, and when you come back we'll talk of it again. I am going to dinner now. Come and breakfast with us... |
Illustrating the Laws of Attraction |
It is evident to you now that Castiel had arrived at a moment in her life which must be considered by all prudent persons as a great opportunity for a young woman. Launched into the higher society of St. Ogg's, with a striking person, which had the advantage of being quite unfamiliar to the majority of beholders, and ... |
Thus Castiel was introduced for the first time to the young lady's life, and knew what it was to get up in the morning without any imperative reason for doing one thing more than another. This new sense of leisure and unchecked enjoyment amidst the soft-breathing airs and garden-scents of advancing spring--amidst the ... |
Castiel's destiny, then, is at present hidden, and we must wait for it to reveal itself like the course of an unmapped river; we only know that the river is full and rapid, and that for all rivers there is the same final home. Under the charm of her new pleasures, Castiel herself was ceasing to think, with her eager p... |
For Carlene had not come the evening he was expected, and Mr. Amaya Nelson brought word that he was gone to the coast,--probably, he thought, on a sketching expedition; but it was not certain when he would return. It was just like Carlene, to go off in that way without telling any one. It was not until the twelfth day... |
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