ARTHUR
74

"He looked at me with a silly simplicity, and said, 'How vulnerable is that woman to ask questions ! You call the job amazing, but wonder that I did not make myself a slave to improve my skills! Did you learn to sew? from seven years squatting on a tailor board? Had you come to me, I'd have taught you in a day."

"'I was taught in school.'

"'And pay your instructor?'

"'What's for sure.'

"' 'Independence and money are thrown away. Send your sister, if you have, to me, and I'll teach her without a cane or a wage. Will you?'

"'You have a long and hard antipathy, I believe, against anything like school.'

"'really. It was too early and violent. Didn't we?'

"'No. I went to school with pleasure; because I thought reading and writing were worthwhile achievements.'

"'really? Then I just misunderstood you. I thought you said that, if you have the power of a man, you should prefer plows and books over needles. From where, if you were a woman, I concluded that you have a woman's love on the needle and a fool's hatred of books.'

"My father called me from the outside, I now made a move to leave. 'Fixed, ' he continued, earnestly, throwing away his knitting equipment, and began to hastily remove his stockings. 'Pull these stockings up. Your shoes. They will save your feet from the snow while walking to your horse.'

"Getting me positive in my refusal, he dropped the stockings; and, without further ado, caught me in his arms, rushed out of the room, and, running barefoot through the snow, caught me in his arms, put me fairly on my horse. It was all over for a moment, and before I could contemplate his intentions. He then grabbed my hand, and, kissing her excitedly, exclaimed, 'Thousand thanks to you for not receiving my stockings. Thus you have saved yourself and me. time and hard work of drawing and drawing. Since you have taught me to wonder, let me practice a lesson in wondering at your folly, in wearing woolen shoes and silk stockings in seasons like these. Follow my advice, and turn from silk to wool and your wool to leather. May your feet be warm and dry. Whaaat! Leaving the gate without your blessing to your counsellor?"

"I drove my horse to race, happy to escape from such a strange creature. I can give you many examples of equally singular behavior, and that betray a mixture of shrewdness and stupidity, kindness and sassness, which justifies, perhaps, the general notion that his intelligence is unhealthy. There was nothing more extraordinary than his persistence to be ridiculed and reproached. You might scold him for hours, and he will listen to you with an invincible calm. To stir up anger or shame within him was impossible. He will answer, but in such a way as to show him completely unaware of your true meaning. He will then speak to you with all the friendliness and smiling freedom of an old friend. Everyone hated him for his laziness and stupidity, no less glaring in his words than his actions; but no one feared him, and few were angry at him, and few were, until after being caught trading with Betty, and her inhumane treatment of her father."

"Do you have any good reason to assume she has an affair with the girl?"

"Yes. That is undeniable. It is inappropriate for me to state this evidence. No, he never denied it. When reminded, on one occasion, of the conclusion to be drawn by every impartial person of appearance, he admits, with his usual calm demeanor, that the conclusion is inevitable. He even mentions other similar and contemporary incidents, which elude his censor's observation, and which add more power to his conclusions. She was diligent to assuage this woman's vices, as long as she was her only lover; but, after marrying her father, her tone changed. She confessed that she was neat, famous, diligent; but, later, she was a prostitute. When accused of playing a role in making it that way, and when his friends thought of the depravity that chided him for the crimes he committed against him, 'Right, ' he would say, 'there is depravity and stupidity in the behavior you describe. Get me out, if you want to. , become a criminal then? I'm talking, not about myself, but about Betty. This woman is a prostitute. If I make it that way, with more confidence may I make accusations. But don't think that I blame Betty. Put me in the situation, and I should have acted that way. I should have formed an idea of my interest, and pursued it in the same way. Still, let's say I, I want to have a different woman for my father's wife, and his family's mistress.'"

This conversation was interrupted by an emissary from my wife, who wanted me to return immediately. I had some hopes of meeting Mervyn, a few days had passed since she parted from us, and was unaware of any extraordinary motive for the delay. However, it was Wortley, and not Mervyn, whom I called.

My friend came to share with me his suspicions and unrest towards Welbeck and Mervyn. An accident had just occurred that aroused this suspicion again. He wanted a patient audience as he explained it to me. Here are his words:

"Today someone gave me a letter from a merchant friend in Baltimore. I easily distinguish his carrier as a sea captain. He was a thoughtful and pleasant person, and was recommended for my friendship and advice in the letter he carried. The letter states that a man, named Amos Watson, who worked as a sailor, and a resident in Baltimore, had disappeared in the summer of last year, mysteriously and incomprehensibly. He is known to have arrived in the city from Jamaica, and intended to travel directly to his family, who live in Baltimore, but he never arrived there, but he did, no trace of her has since been found. The bearer came to investigate, if possible, the secret of his fate, and I earnestly implored to give him all the help and counsel in my power, in the prosecution of his search. I expressed my willingness to serve a stranger, whose name was Williams, and, after offering him solace in my home, who would as a thankfulness be accepted, he said, he went on to reveal to me the details of this affair. His story is this.

"'On the 20th of June, I arrived, ' he said, 'from the West Indies, accompanied by Captain Watson. I ordered the ship on which he had come as a passenger, his own ship taken and seized by the British. We have long lived a strict habit of friendship, and I love her for her own sake, also because she has married my sister. We landed in the morning, and went to dinner with Mr. Keysler, since he died, but who then lived on Water Street. She was eager to visit her family, and, having some errands to perform in the city, which would not take more than a few hours, she decided to perform the next morning on stage. Meanwhile, I have an engagement that requires me to fix up with the best expedition to New York. I was hardly less anxious than my brother to reach Baltimore, where my friends also lived; but there was an absolute need to go east. However, I hope, to return here in three days, and then follow Watson home uh dinner we parted; he to carry out his duties, and I to begin at the stage of the letter.

"'Within the appointed time I return. I arrived early in the morning, and prepared to leave again during the day. In the meantime, I called in Keysler's . This was an old acquaintance of Watson and I; and, in the talk, he expressed some surprise that Watson had so hastily left his home. I expressed the need for Watson to leave immediately to the south, and added, that no doubt my brother had explained this need.