Page:Once a Week Volume V.djvu/570

 . 16, 1861.] children, and they’ll give you a true honest love and regard, with all the bowing and curtseying and lip-honour you ever received in your richest days, fairly deserved and freely given.”

“Indeed I will try to deserve it,” said Helen, earnestly.

“God bless you, child, 1 know you will,” said Mrs. Wendell.

“But before I can begin I must have a little money, Mrs. Wendell. I must have some clothes, and though I shall get the plainest and cheapest, they will cost something. Then I must take a little house, and furnish it. I know you will help me to do everything in the cheapest manner, but some money is indispensable; so I have thought of selling my watch and chain. They cost a hundred guineas, but I would gladly sell them for quarter the sum; perhaps Mr. Hubbs would buy them; he would be sure of getting much more than I would expect him to give me for them, in any of the large towns.

“Well, it’s a pity to sell your watch, it is a real pretty one, and I know it keeps first-rate time. You hadn’t ought to part with it, Miss Lennox; and why need you? There’s Mr. Dillon would be only too glad to let you have all the money you want; and you might pay it back whenever you could.”

“Yes, I am sure he would lend it,” said Helen, “but I would rather not borrow from any one. I would rather, too, that you wouldn’t say anything about it to Mr. Dillon.”

“If you are afraid that he would presume on any assistance he might have it in his power to give you, you know very little of Keefe Dillon,” said Mrs. Wendell; “there’s not a more generous and unselfish heart than his on earth.”

“I am sure of that,” said Helen; “but still I don’t wish him to know anything of this till it is all settled. Promise me that you won’t tell him:”—and she looked anxiously up at Mrs. Wendell, who was closely examining her countenance.

“Well, Miss Lennox, I suppose you know best; I promise.”

“And now about the watch,” said Helen; “do you think Mr. Hubbs will buy it?”

“We can but try. However, dear, he’s a close and a hard hand at a bargain. I guess he’ll try to get it as cheap as he can.”

“They talk about cunning Yankees, but I reckon it would take considerable of them to outwit that one Englishman. I’m feared he won’t give half its value.”

“We can’t help that, Mrs. Wendell; we must take what he’ll give.”

“Well, I’ll take it down to him this afternoon, and see what he’ll say.”

“Will you, Mrs. Wendell?” exclaimed Helen. “Oh, how kind of you! I did not know how to ask such a favour, though I hated to go myself: yet this is a bad way of proving that I am able to help myself, and meet the difficulties I shall have to encounter with courage and cheerfulness. Directly an opportunity of showing my strength comes, see how glad I am to throw the burden on another instead of hearing it myself, as I ought to do.”

“Never mind, dear, there’s no need to walk through the river when there’s a boat at hand ready to take you over,” said Mrs. Wendell; “you’ll have plenty of chances to prove your energy by-and-by, I guess, so you needn’t fret after this one.”

Mr. Trafalgar Hubbs, for he bore that high-sounding appellation, was the son of a bankrupt tradesman, and had carried very little money to the new world to be the seed of that large fortune which he purposed making; but he had a large capital of worldly wisdom; with this, however, he contrived to get on much better than most emigrants possessing a hundredfold more tangible wealth; and his prudence, energy, and industry seemed to increase in proportion to his means of displaying them.

Though not many years in Canada he already possessed a couple of the best farms in the settlement; had built a saw and grist mill, which was paying largely; and had also established a general store at Long Arrow, which defied all competition. This store was close to one of the wharfs. It was a. frame-house, divided into three apartments, and a loft overhead, to which there were two modes of gaining entrance, one a trap-door from the shop, the other a flight of steps from the outside of the house. Mr. Hubbs’s name, in bright letters, was painted over the door, which, with the window-sashes, was of green; the house was a deep red. On each side of the entrance stood piles of patent pails, heaped up nearly as high as the roof; corn-brooms, spades, and rakes rested beside them, and sickles, cradles, and scythes were also displayed there. The shop was arranged inside with great order and neatness, in spite of its heterogeneous contents. On one side were drawers containing all the miscellaneous articles comprehended under the term groceries, and hogsheads of sugar, barrels of flour, bags of peas and Indian meal, firkins of butter, cheese, hams, and barrels of pork were ranged beneath; on the opposite side were shelves filled with muslins, calicoes, linens, and woollens; strings of straw hats and bonnets, bundles of hosiery, shoes, and boots hung from the ceiling; delft, earthen, and metal ware filled up the back of the shop; while the windows were garnished with such articles as he judged would prove most tempting to the eye, not forgetting bull’s eyes, candy, apples, and cakes of maple sugar, to attract the younger members of the community.

Mr. Hubbs was a middle-aged man, but he evidently thought himself still young and handsome, and took pains to make other people think so to. He had a cold, keen, supercilious expression. There was a great deal of vulgar self-importance and vanity in his manner; but he was not without his good points, and he took at least as much pride in possessing that sturdy honesty and probity, which Englishmen love to consider their national characteristics, as in his hard-earned acquisitions, and the talents which had obtained them.

When Mrs. Wendell reached the store she found its master sitting on a chair beside the door, reading a “Times” newspaper. She was one of his best customers, so he addressed her in a very gracious tone.

“Good day, Mrs. Wendell, how do you find yourself?”