"Haven"t a moment to spare. The boat goes in half an hour."
"What boat?"
"The New Haven boat. So come, go along with me to the slip, and we"ll talk the matter over by the way."
"I"m all attention," said Williams, as the two young men stepped forth upon the pavement.
"Well, you must know," began Lawson, "that I have a first rate love affair on my hands."
"You!"
"Now don"t smile; but hear me."
"Go on--I"m all attention."
"You know old Everett?"
"Thomas Everett, the silk importer?"
"The same."
"I know something about him."
"You know, I presume, that he has a pretty fair looking daughter?"
"And I know," replied Williams, "that when "pretty fair looking" is said, pretty much all is said in her favor."
"Not by a great deal," was the decided answer of Lawson.
"Pray what is there beyond this that a man can call attractive?"
"Her father"s money."
"I didn"t think of that."
"Didn"t you?"
"No. But it would take the saving influence of a pretty large sum to give her a marriageable merit in my eyes."
"Gold hides a mult.i.tude of defects, you know, Fred."
"It does; but it has to be heaped up very high to cover a wife"s defects, if they be as radical as those in Caroline Everett. Why, to speak out the plain, homespun truth, the girl"s a fool!"
"She isn"t over bright, Fred, I know," replied Lawson. "But to call her a fool, is to use rather a broad a.s.sertion."
"She certainly hasn"t good common sense. I would be ashamed of her in company a dozen times a day if she were any thing to me."
"She"s young, you know, Fred."
"Yes, a young and silly girl."
"Just silly enough for my purpose. But, she will grow older and wiser, you know. Young and silly is a very good fault."
"Where is she now?"
"At a boarding school some thirty miles from New Haven. Do you know why her father sent her there?"
"No."
"She would meet me on her way to and from school while in the city, and the old gentleman had, I presume, some objections to me as a son-in-law."
"And not without reason," replied Williams.
"I could not have asked him to do a thing more consonant with my wishes," continued Lawson. "Caroline told me where she was going, and I was not long in making a visit to the neighborhood. Great attention is paid to physical development in the school, and the young ladies are required to walk, daily, in the open air, amid the beautiful, romantic, and secluded scenery by which the place is surrounded. They walk alone, or in company, as suits their fancies.
Caroline chose to walk alone when I was near at hand; and we met in a certain retired glen, where the sweet quiet of nature was broken only by the dreamy murmur of a silvery stream, and there we talked of love. It is not in the heart of a woman to withstand a scene like this. I told, in burning words, my pa.s.sion, and she hearkened and was won." Lawson paused for some moments; but, as Williams made no remark, he continued--
"It is hopeless to think of gaining her father"s consent to a marriage. He is pence-proud, and I, as you know, am penniless."
"I do not think he would be likely to fancy you for a son-in-law,"
said Williams.
"I have the best of reasons, for knowing that he would not. He has already spoken of me to his daughter in very severe terms."
"As she has informed you?"
"Yes. But, like a sensible girl, she prefers consulting her own taste in matters of the heart."
"A very sensible girl, certainly!"
"Isn"t she! Well, as delays are dangerous, I have made up my mind to consummate this business as quickly as possible. You know how hard pressed I am in certain quarters, and how necessary it is that I should get my pecuniary matters in a more stable position. In a word, then, my business, on the present occasion, is to remove Caroline from school, it being my opinion that she has completed her education."
"Has she consented to this?"
"No; but she won"t require any great persuasion. I"ll manage all that. What I want you to do is, first, to engage me rooms at Howard"s, and, second, to meet me at the boat, day after to-morrow, with a carriage."
"Where will you have the ceremony performed?"
"In this city. I have already engaged the Rev. Mr. B---- to do that little work for me. He will join us at the hotel immediately on our arrival, and in your presence, as a witness, the knot will be tied."
"All very nicely arranged," said Williams.
"Isn"t it! And what is more, the whole thing will go off like clock work. Of course I can depend on you. You will meet us at the boat."
"I will, certainly."
"Then good by." They were by this time at the landing. The two young men shook hands, and Lawson sprung on board of the boat, while Williams returned thoughtfully to his office.
Charles Lawson was a young man having neither principle nor character. A connection with certain families in New York, added to a good address, polished manners, and an unblushing a.s.surance, had given him access to society at certain points, and of this facility he had taken every advantage. Too idle and dissolute for useful effort in society, he looked with a cold, calculating baseness to marriage as the means whereby he was to gain the position at which he aspired. Possessing no attractive virtues--no personal merits of any kind, his prospects of a connection, such as he wished to form, through the medium of any honorable advances, were hopeless, and this he perfectly well understood. But, the conviction did not in the least abate the ardor of his purpose. And, in a mean and dastardly spirit, he approached one young school girl after another, until he found in Caroline Everett one weak enough to be flattered by his attentions. The father of Caroline, who was a man of some discrimination and force of mind, understood his daughter"s character, and knowing the danger to which she was exposed, kept upon her a watchful eye. Caroline"s meetings with Lawson were not continued long before he became aware of the fact, and he at once removed her to a school at a distance from the city. It would have been wiser had he taken her home altogether. Lawson could have desired no better arrangement, so far as his wishes were concerned.