what would become of that child if
anything were to happen——" But he finished
the sentence only by whipping on the
horses.

A large assembly of Virginia notables
had been invited to Glenoak to meet Mr.
Cartwright's New England guest. " I am
going to be shown off," thought John
Ackland to himself; and he entered the house,
hot and blushing, like the sun rising through
a fog. Among these notables was Judge
Griffin, " Our greatest legal authority, sir,"
whispered Cartwright, as he pushed his
guest forward, and presented him to the
judge with expressions of overflowing
eulogy and friendship.

Mr. Ackland, of Boston city, was a
representative man, he said, " a splendid
specimen, sir, of our great merchant
princes of the North, whom he was proud
to receive under his roof. More than that,
he himself was under deep obligations
(why should he be ashamed to avow it?),
the very deepest obligations to his worthy
friend and honoured guest, John K.
Ackland!" Here Mr. Cartwright, apparently
under the impression that he had been
proposing a toast, paused, and prepared to
lift his glass to his lips, but finding that he
had, just then, no glass to lift, he informed
the judge and his other guests that dinner
would soon be served, and expressed a hope
that in the meanwhile Mr. Ackland would
favour him with a few moments of his
private attention for the settlement of
a matter of business to which, indeed, he
partly owed the honour of that gentleman's
visit. The two gentlemen were then
closeted together for nearly an hour. When
they rejoined the rest of the company at
dinner, Mr. Cartwright appeared to have
made (during their recent interview) a
most favourable impression on his New
England guest. Host and guest were
already on terms of the most cordial intimacy
with each other, and Cartwright himself
was in the highest possible spirits. One of
the company present on that occasion, a
very young gentleman, who had had
some betting transactions with the owner
of Glenoak—transactions from which he
had derived a very high appreciation of
the remarkable 'cuteness of that gentleman
—expressed to his neighbour at table a
decided opinion that his friend Philip S. must
certainly have succeeded, before dinner,
in getting a pot o' money out of the Yankee,
who looked as well pleased as people
usually do when they have done something
foolish. After dinner, when the gentlemen
lit their cigars, and strolled into the
garden, Cartwright linking one arm in that
of Judge Griffin, and the other in that of
John Ackland, exclaimed,

"I wish, judge, that you, whose powers
of persuasion are irresistible, would induce
my friend here to listen to reason. No,
no!" he continued, as John Ackland made
some gesture of impatience, " no, my
esteemed friend, why should I conceal the
truth? The fact is, judge, that Mr. Ackland
and myself have had some pecuniary
transactions with each other, in which he
has been creditor, let me add, the most
forbearing and considerate creditor that ever
man had, and I, of course, debtor——"

"A highly honourable one," put in John
Ackland.

"My dear sir, that is the very point in
question. Allow me to deserve the flattering
epithet. Judge Griffin shall decide the
case. You must know, judge, that the
unfortunate force of circumstances (why
should I be ashamed to own it?) has
compelled me to keep this gentleman waiting
an unconscionably long time for the repayment
of a considerable sum of money which
he has been good enough to advance to me,
partly on my personal security. Under
these circumstances, I was naturally anxious
that he should not, finally, be a loser by the
generosity of his patience. It is, therefore,
needless to say that the rate of interest
offered by myself for the renewed postponement
of the liquidation of this loan was, in
the last instance, a high one. I am happy
to say that I have, this afternoon, had the
pleasure of refunding to my friend the
entire capital of the debt. On that capital,
however, a year's interest was still owing.
Of course I added the amount of it to that
of the capital. But he (wonderful man!)
refuses—absolutely refuses—to receive it.
Tell him, judge (you know me), that he is
depriving me of a luxury which I have too
seldom enjoyed—the luxury of paying my
debts—and that the capital——"

"Was a very largo one," interrupted
Mr. Ackland, who had been listening with
growing impatience to this speech. " Pardon
me if I confess that I had not counted on
the entire recovery of it—especially so
soon. The interest to which Mr. Cartwright
has referred was fixed in accordance
with that erroneous impression. For which
—ahem—my excuse must be, sir, that—
well, that I am not—never was—a man of
sanguine temperament. Sir, Mr. Cartwright
has greatly embarrassed me. Under
present circumstances, I really—I could