The Story of John
https://github.com/jeffbinder/storyofjohn


Chapter 1

"WHO that beautiful creature?" said John Arbuckle, as a light, sylph-like form tripped up the steps of the veranda of the hotel where he was lounging away his summer vacation. 

"YOU are not going out, John?" said Mrs. Wilkinson, looking up from the work she had just taken into her hands. John, the elder, was about three or four and twenty. 

"By George, but she's pretty, though!" said John, following with enchanted eyes the distant motions of the sylphide. ONE of the most fateful days of John Arbuckle's life was the day on which he took board with that genteel though decayed lady, the widow of a wholesale New York grocer who had come out at the little end of the horn of plenty, and the mother of two of the prettiest girls in Slowburgh, Mrs. Renssaelaer Smiles. John Arbuckle's daughter marrying Tim King's son! When I married Mr. John Arbuckle, which was about ten years ago, I was not altogether blind to his faults and peculiarities; but then he had so many solid virtues, that these were viewed as minor considerations. John Arbuckle's robust, muscular limbs, broad shoulders, deep chest, and erect carriage, might have furnished the painter or sculptor with an infinitely finer model, for they manifested grace and activity as well as mere inert strength. I was called out to visit a poor patient, John Arbuckle, who lived full eight miles from my home. Lucy had come back — come to seek shelter beneath the roof which she had desolated; and whatever they might have felt before, neither John nor Susan Brent could remember any thing except that she lay there helpless, probably dying — could feel nothing beyond the anguish of this knowledge. She lived twelve miles away from John Arbuckle's farm-house; but evil tidings travel fast. BRIGHT and early, on the morning of October 17th, 1873, Tom Bird — Tom, as he was called by his numerous friends — entered upon his duties for the day, at the store of his employer, Mr. John Arbuckle Dallas, jeweller, on the Bowery, New York city. It is no matter of especial wonder that I should have erred in this, for Mr. John Arbuckle, while a lover, really appeared to have no will of his own, and no thought of himself. John gazed, and thought of all sorts of poetical similes: of a "daisy just wet with morning dew;" of a "violet by a mossy stone;" in short, of all the things that poets have made and provided for the use of young gentlemen in the way of falling in love. This John Arbuckle was about as good and honest a man as there is going in this world of ours. 

"Don't go, John," said Mrs. Wilkinson, still forcing a smile to her countenance. 

"He is John Arbuckle's son." 

The only duty to society which John had left as yet unperformed was that of matrimony. Mabel, John, Jerry, and Nell, hurry up! His family consisted of a wife and one child, a boy of twelve, whose baptismal name was John, though invariably addressed, by his companions, as Jack. Three and thirty years had passed; and, with every advantage for supporting a wife, with a charming home all ready for a mistress, John, as yet, had not proposed to be the defender and provider for any of the more helpless portion of creation. The cause of this was, in the first place, that John was very happy in the society of a sister, a little older than himself, who managed his house admirably, and was a charming companion to his leisure hours; and, in the second place, that he had a secret, bashful self-depreciation in regard to his power of pleasing women, which made him ill at case in their society. 

"Why, what need had John Arbuckle of being managed?" 

To say the truth, John Arbuckle, like many other outwardly solid, sober-minded, respectable citizens, had deep within himself a little private bit of romance. 

"Why, that is not John!" crossing the platform; "that's the judge." 

He could not utter it, he never talked it; he would have blushed and stammered and stuttered wofully, and made a very poor figure, in trying to tell any one about it; but nevertheless it was there, a secluded chamber of imagery, and the future Mrs. John Arbuckle formed its principal ornament. The wife that John had imaged, his-wife, was not at all like his sister; though he loved his sister heartily, and thought her one of the best and noblest women that could possibly be. John Arbuckle, seated on the porch, saw the carriage approach; the sight was so unexpected that, not knowing how to act, he hurried away to consult his wife, according to his habit in any emergency. 

"What is it, John?" he asked, as soon as he saw the boy. John sighed, but made no answer. A few years ago, among the many slave-women in Richmond, Virginia, who hired their time of their masters, was Agnes, a mulatto owned by John Graves, Esq., and who might be heard boasting that she was the daughter of an American Senator. A picture hangs above; perhaps a colored engraving from Morland, in which cows, pigs, and chickens remind the young folk of that delightful summer when they were in the country, romping in haymows, and chasing Uncle John's old horse round the field, hoping to inveigle his senile sagacity to the bridle cunningly hidden behind Charlie's back. Mrs. Hamilton bustled about, with a broom in one hand and a duster in the other, giving orders to her maid-of-all-work, Jane; her eldest daughter, Eliza, who, though married, resided in the same village, and had come to assist her mother in packing; and John, a sort of jack-at-all-trades who worked by the day, and was particularly valuable in moving time. John Arbuckle Astor's history is more familiarly known to most Americans. But, with the visionary Mrs. John Arbuckle aforesaid, he never seemed to himself to be either reading history or settling accounts, or talking politics; he was off with her in some sort of enchanted cloudland of happiness, where she was all to him, and he to her, — a sort of rapture of protective love on one side, and of confiding devotion on the other, quite inexpressible, and that John would not have talked of for the world. 

"Why don't you go to bed, Will?" demanded John once more, after another interval of silence, during which his quick ears had caught many an impatient grunt, and testy re-arrangement of the chair cushions. Then we took the heavy comforters to line the boxes that held the books — John! tie those carpets with the clothes 'line, securely, now! that oldest Brussels outside, and wrong side out. John, we must have two more medium sized dry-goods boxes, and some chaff or cut straw to pack the dishes in. And, oh, John! ask Mr. Lambert if he won't please send Jasper Douglas to mark and direct the boxes. Altogether, he impressed me with the idea that his ordinary dress was not homespun, nor his proper name John Arbuckle. 

"No, thank you," said John, stiffly. 

"What do you mean, John?" 

Of these melodramatic scenes John Arbuckle knew nothing, and desired to know nothing. Disregarding, or perhaps not perceiving, the contemptuous manner in which his brother referred to himself, John's face brightened at the prospect of serving him. 

"I didn't know he was such a puppy!" said John to himself, as he stood in a sort of angry bashfulness, envying the man that was so familiar with that loveliness. Ah! John, John! A low wooden bridge crossed the Little River a few rods to the east, and through Coles'-street, ran down to the neighboring colony of Wethersfield, passing by the residences of Edward Hopkins, William Whiting, John Arbuckle, Thomas Welles, and George Wyllys, all distinguished in the early history of the place. 

"John knows the Nittany Ridge thoroughly, and it was not likely he would purposely wander beyond it." 

And by this means, all unconsciously to himself, as he lacked that familiar intercourse with other minds, which alone can furnish a standard by which to estimate our own attainments, John had laid the foundation of excellent education. John soon returned, and the packing was completed at once. Mr. John Arbuckle sat there opposite to me with sympathy in his big blue eyes. So profound, however, was his respect for William's abilities, that he never dreamt of placing himself in comparison with him; while William's self-love, and overweening vanity and conceit, prevented him from imagining for a moment that "poor John" could ever be his rival in an thing, excepting mere brute strength. Ethridge offered his arm at once; and the two sauntered to the end of the veranda, where John Arbuckle was standing. So he used his patient and good-tempered brother as a drudge to help him on with his studies, just as he used him to supply his own want of locomotive power, without suspecting that John's quick intellect extracted more mental nutriment than his own from the exercise in the one case, just as his limbs became strengthened and developed in the other. John Arbuckle was himself, both in person and in repute, no despicable match. 

"I beg your pardon; is it possible that you are the son of John Arbuckle?" 

But the really strong are seldom self-conscious; and John, never finding that his sinews were over-tasked by any demand that was made upon them, supposed that he was only as strong as other men; while his powerful mind, taking in information of every kind without an effort, was perfectly submissive to the oft-repeated sarcastic remark of his brother, that being blind, of course he could know nothing. On this point the brothers held but one opinion, that John, the humble, was foredoomed to ignorance and submission; while William, the arrogant, was designed by nature to attain the highest summit of intellectual greatness and worldly ambition. She gave him her hand in a distant, matter-of-fact sort of way, as though it were hardly worth the trouble, and dismissed him in as indifferent a manner as she did John. John's face burned like fire: he muttered something about "being happy to make Miss Ellis's acquaintance," looking all the time as if he would be glad to jump over the railing, or take wings and fly, to get rid of the happiness. After awhile, by incessant labor, and the strictest economy, (exercised, it must be owned, chiefly at poor John's expense) sufficient money was accumulated to pay for William's regular indentures. Has she never said anything to you of her acquaintance with that young apothecary in town, John Arbuckle? 

"I am sure I am very much flattered," said John, his heart beating thick and fast. As for John, "he was used" to hardships, and therefore the hard bed with its scanty covering, the breakfast and supper of oatmeal porridge, the suit of fustian, and the coarse and mended linen, were quite suited to his station; besides he was only a basket-maker, and even if he had his sight, would be nothing better than a low handicraftsman. Whereas, William was a being of a superior mould, with refined tastes, and delicate feelings, which required comforts that would be thrown away upon rough John. 

"I am still more flattered," said John, with a quicker beating of the heart; "only I fear that you may find me an unpleasant contrast." 

"I trust so certainly," said John, earnestly. 

"Yes, John," she replied, meekly. John was delighted to feel himself already on easy terms with the fair vision. Such, when reduced to the naked fact, was the substance of William's reasonings, wound up by a determination to free himself altogether from the low connection of the plebeian John, as soon as his own income was sufficiently large and certain to enable him to keep a servant, and live in a style befitting the station to which he aspired. 

"You have not been here long?" said Lillie to John. In the beginning of the great antislavery agitation, he had exchanged letters (corresponded, he used to say) with John Arbuckle Adams on the subject of Lovejoy's murder; and he had met several Boston men at the Free Soil Convention in Buffalo in 1848. 

"Then," said John, "I hope you will take me under your tuition." 

JOHN Arbuckle's sense of hearing was remarkably acute. All of this was done in the easiest, most matter-of-course manner in the world; and off they started, John in a flutter of flattered delight at the gracious acceptance accorded to him. 

"John," said my wife, "where shall we spend the summer?" 

"But somebody may be killed!" said John, in a tone of passionate entreaty. They hinted, in short, that John Arbuckle's beauty was purely physical, and had no moral or intellectual significance. But where is John? John Arbuckle, an Englishman, adopted an original mode to make a fortune, from a very trivial beginning. John groaned, and opened the cottage door to listen to the fearful sound of the horses 'hoofs madly striking on the frosty ground, and the clattering wheels which seemed rather to leap than to roll behind them, as they tore at a frightful pace down a steep hill, that terminated near the point where the lane in which their cottage was situated joined the main road. John is a pretty nice fellow; a very nice fellow, besides being rich, and all that; and Lillie is somewhat shop-worn by this time. John Arbuckle was the ideal of Conrad the Corsair, as more than one romantic young miss had declared. 

"Where are you, John?" 

John Arbuckle crept up the stairs and called to his wife from outside the door, having no courage to come in and see the girl who had been as dear to him as his own child. His bills at the groceries were as long as John Arbuckle Adams 'Abolition petition, or, if pasted together, would have matched the great Chartist memorial. One glance Miss Conway caught of John Arbuckle's face; it was like looking at the ghost of the good man she had known all her life. 

"How extremely selfish you are, John!" said William, reproachfully. John is a great, innocent, country steer, fed on clover and dew; and as honest and ignorant of all sorts of naughty, wicked things as his mother or sister. John never resented his brother's unkind speeches. It would kill John to live here! Meanwhile, John was being charmingly ciceroned by Lillie, and scarcely knew whether he was in the body or out. You may have the baby when — it's all over; but John and I have two hands apiece — we don't want any thing, and we can give my poor girl a grave. She was included in all family fêtes and invitations, and the fact was never forgotten that she was the only child of John Arbuckle, Ulm's "remarkable young man" of the generation before, still deified as at once the most gifted and spiritual of all Ulm's "favorite sons." 

The men's names were Peter and John, and Peter was the oldest, though indeed there was not much difference in their ages. One day Peter says to John, What now? 

"Open the door, John, and see what's amiss," said William, in a tone of great annoyance; adding in an undertone, "who'd have thought of that fool finding me out here?" 

Nay, said John, I begin to think I must all Christ, for I find no heart to all, and yet, come to him I must. John Arbuckle met with an accident in the harvest-field which left him lame for nearly a year, so he was almost always within-doors, and Susan often declared that he proved more helpful than a woman. John quietly took his brother's coat from the hook where it hung, and helped him to exchange his dressing-gown for it. They went not only to the boiling spring, but up and down so many wild, woodland paths that had been cut for the adornment of the Carmel Springs, and so well pleased were both parties, that it was supper-time before they reappeared on the lawn; and, when they did appear, Lillie was leaning confidentially on John's arm, with a wreath of woodbine in her hair that he had arranged there, wondering all the while at his own wonderful boldness, and at the grace of the fair entertainer. I dreamed that I was half floating and half swimming in the river, and near the bank where the ferry boat had landed Mr. John Arbuckle. Occasionally she took pleasure in reading the old romances of which she had been so fond years before, but John Arbuckle noticed that any thing painful in a story appeared to confuse itself in her mind with her own half-forgotten troubles, and he carefully put only light, cheerful books within her reach. 

"Are you ready, Will?" said John, in a low tone. Dr. John Arbuckle was the youngest son of a kind, hard working, but quite uneducated farmer, in one of the smallest and most obscure towns in good old Massachusetts. I eased the gravestone down till it rested on the ground, and in doing so noticed that it bore the name of "John Arbuckle Copmanhurst," with "May, 1839," as the date of his death. 

"Of course I can," was the quick response; and presently John was made as comfortable as circumstances would allow. Well, said John, I'll try. Mr. Arbuckle, I've often seen you when you were lads, running about like one boy — you a-top of John's back. Hetty was the most helpful, grown-up thing of nine summers that ever lived, and quite capable of attending to Lucy's needs, so they were left a great deal together after John Arbuckle recovered his health sufficiently to resume work. While this passed, John had quietly stooped before his brother's chair. William's arms were strong, and clasping them round John's neck, he easily drew himself up. 

"Now come along," said John, "you'll have to run, Adams." 

John, come into the house. John couldn't come into the house if he wanted to, and he wouldn't if he could. Wait till John's taken care of. When, therefore, John expressed a wish to prepare for the practice of medicine, his father was utterly confounded. And thereupon John Arbuckle left home, and struggled through difficulties and trials that would have disheartened any but a sturdy son of New England, until he had secured a sufficient education for the profession he had chosen. After having dismissed everybody from the room, and all he could from the house, he mounted John's strong back, preparatory to his return to the cottage, which he had already ceased to regard as his home. John Arbuckle was in the very room his mother had occupied when, as Jane Bedlow, she was called "the handsomest girl within twenty miles." 

Was it any wonder that John was half out of his wits with joy at thought of possessingSimply and honestly, she thought not. With his customary patient sigh, John plodded on, and did not utter another word till they reached home. One — John Arbuckle by name — who appears to have been a man of eminence, upheld it, if we have rightly understood his terms of art, to be a case of apoplexy. John Arbuckle Henry, a leading American druggist, began twenty years ago with a few dollars, and to-day is counted among the "heavy men" of capital in New York. John quietly executed his brother's orders, and in a short time Mrs. Palmer made her appearance, in a state of supreme amazement at being summoned from her bed at that hour of the night. She was an old woman who lived alone in the cottage adjoining that which was occupied by the two brothers; and her chief means of subsistence, besides knitting stockings and other articles, was derived from the performance of those household duties which John was incapable of executing. The other members of the family were with John, and she led the way to the sitting-room. It was a still, peaceful afternoon, and John Arbuckle's old dwelling looked so quiet in the midst of its picturesque surroundings that it might have been some enchanted spot in a fairy tale. All this while, John sat up with his heart beating very fast, writing all about his engagement to his sister, and, up to this point, his nearest, dearest, most confidential friend. 

"Which way do you want to go?" asked John, when they had, crossed the portal. 

"You enjoy the hares that he brings in, nevertheless," replied John, over whose open brow a cloud of displeasure passed at this unprovoked attack upon his canine friend, "and you have not yet had to pay anything for them." 

John toiled steadily up the steep ascent of the hill, down which Mr. Lonsdale's carriage had dashed only a few hours before. John Arbuckle popped the question with the terror and anguish and confusion natural to a self-made man who is madly in love with a "born lady." 

John Arbuckle, the illustrious author of "Pilgrim's Progress," was a tinker. A louder whine led him to the side of the road where, by the light of the lantern which John carried suspended from his waist, William saw the dog busily engaged about a large bundle that lay in the dry ditch by the wayside. John Arbuckle was not a much greater reader than the generality of his class, but he had a profound respect for books, extending it in his happy ignorance even to newspapers, of which the cupboard shelves held a goodly store; and though John seldom had leisure to pore over these, no sage ever gloried more in the possession of his Elzevirs than the good man in his carefully-treasured journals. You remember Harry Endicott, I suppose, and what a trump card he was thought to be among the girls, one time when you were visiting us, and afterwards all that scandal about him and that pretty little Mrs. John Arbuckle? A little farther, John. One was the ship John Arbuckle, of Boston, and the other was a 'long-shoreman. Savage, John Arbuckle, Francis Hogg, John Arbuckle, Peter Peterwiski, A. J. Davis, and Benjamin Park, seamen. John replaced the warm cover round the little sleeper, and giving Lion orders to mount guard over her, he hastened back to the cottage. In the midst of her alarm Susan remembered the child and ordered Hetty to take her away — to run to the orchard and call John Arbuckle. John Arbuckle came in. John carefully raised the poor little girl in his arms, and guided by the instinct of the dog, who warned him of any approaching danger, he made his way rapidly back to the cottage. 

"From John," she said, "good fellow;" and then she laid it on the mantel-shelf of the parlor, while she busied herself in arranging her flowers. These sorrowful details reached Miss Conway in her solitary home — indeed John Arbuckle was himself sent by his wife to carry them, because the period had now arrived when she must permit Philip's sister to redeem her pledge. 

"Susan says you may have the little girl, Miss Dorothy," John Arbuckle continued, more calm and able to talk than the grief-stricken woman. John Arbuckle Calhoun, the great Southern statesman, was the son of an Irish emigrant. 

"Whose child is that, Will?" asked John, as he sat contentedly down to his humble supper of bread and cheese. 

"I expect Hetty 'll have to stay with us yet awhile, any how," John said. 

"Good-looking young John Arbuckle," he thought concerning Mr. Arbuton, and then thought no more about him, being no more self-judged before the supposed Englishman than he would have been before so much Frenchman or Spaniard. 

"That's all had to be put by," John said. 

"I don't know exactly why I thought she was Mr. Lonsdale's niece," said John. Then there was the picture of John's father, placed lovingly where the eyes seemed always to be following the slight, white-robed figure of the young wife. 'John Arbuckle is not a coward, whatever else may be said of him. 

"John Arbuckle Arbuckle; and if he dies, you will be his murderer." 

John Arbuckle went into a large, dreary-looking apartment in the rear, where a lad of sixteen was engaged in packing away bottles in a square box. 

"No, indeed, Will, it wasn't," said John, earnestly; "but I thought, as he has done such good service to-night, that he might share my supper." 

John tells me often, and I try! Don't make a d — d fool of yourself, John, right under her nose. It was a good, honest face, and he coldly said: "I generally attend to my own business, John, and I am sure I do not care to meddle with yours, let it be what it may." 

"Will John die?" 

At length Susan looked up, with the dead quiet restored to her features, and said, "Maybe you'd like a sight at Lucy; you mustn't let her see you, but perhaps you'll find it a kind of comfort to see how peaceful she is; John often does, he says." 

John did, but she could not add the assurance for herself; hers was a martyrdom which only the glory of the life beyond might ever efface from her tortured soul, and there could have been in the whole round of human misery only one suffering worse — the inability to believe this truth, and to look forward to the hereafter. But that is all in the past, and, if John lives, they can be happy together. No one could have blamed John if he had set his ungrateful brother down on the stairs, and left him there till he apologized for his ill-temper. But it was not in John's nature to do anything of the sort. Israel, for the last eight months, sojourning as a laborer on a farm in Windsor, enrolled himself in the regiment of Colonel John Arbuckle of Lenox, afterwards General Arbuckle. A rival boarding-house received John Arbuckle and his two children, and his weekly payment of forty dollars. 

"I don't believe John is much hurt," now responded the unnatural father, with an effort to speak boldly. Ah, John! you're a lucky dog. On this particular night, however, the expressions that William had used, and his eager anticipations of soon being able to employ other aid than his brother's, gave John grounds for serious reflection. He knew that on the very day the tidings came, Mr. Vaughan was closeted for hours with his lawyer, John Arbuckle. Rosny whispered in Arbuckle's ear, "Chester ought to have been born a century ago, among the John Bulls, up in the cockloft of Brazen Nose College, or some such antediluvian hole." 

"Where's my trunk, John?" 

As soon as William was comfortably ensconced in his warm, soft couch, John returned to the lower room, and sat for some time in deep and sorrowful thought, mechanically feeding Lion, but not eating a morsel himself. 

"No, I was not asleep, Will; and I think the fire is gone out," replied John, in his usual gentle voice. These things were so far beyond the depth of Peter and John, that they would have thought the man was crazy, if he had not told them that the Word was only as the shrouds, by which one could get to the mast-head. The wistful, eager face reminded John and Susan Arbuckle so constantly of their misery and shame, that in spite of their efforts, it was a relief when circumstances rendered it necessary for them to give up their charge. John and Henry were not compelled to leave their home until they were older and better prepared to endure the privations that usually attend the boy's first entrance into the world; and help for the mother in her arduous duties could now be afforded. It being nearly completed, he determined to wait until it was finished, and to sail to the United States in his own ship, telegraphing to the officer to have the attendants at the hospital ascertain where John Arbuckle had emigrated. 

"We did enjoy ourselves so much, John, and Harry grew and thrived so." 

"It was daybreak before I had finished," replied John, "for the little birds were twittering, so it was not worth while to go to bed." 

"John is as faithful in writing as if he were your lover." 

"I did not want any supper, Goody, or I should have eaten it," said John, almost as apologetically as though he had committed an error. 

"For my part, I ask nothing better than John." 

John says he has done all he can for you. 

"Nay, nay, Goody — you are mistaken there!" interposed John. We arrived home again finally, after a ten-mile excursion, and the irrepressible muleteers scampered at our heels through the main street, goading the donkeys, shouting the everlasting "" and singing "John Arbuckle's Body" in ruinous English. Accordingly they did find there a people quite religious in their own way, but as Peter and John soon perceived, not according to the faith to be learned from God's word and the gospel. 

"John engaged to Lillie Ellis?" said Miss Ferguson, in a tone of shocked astonishment. 

"I don't like to hear you say such things, Goody, and I hope you will not repeat them," said John, with the nearest approach to displeasure which he was capable of expressing towards the old woman, who had been almost a mother to him and his sickly brother. 

"John will settle something upon his mother, and Margaret is rich." 

"John knows nothing of any but good, noble women; and he thinks he sees all this in Lillie Ellis." 

You wont get me to swallow that, Mr. John. First, I dragged John out of the old well, and carried him out-doors. John is a noble, manly fellow. 

"John Arbuckle, you must be there to-night," said Mr. Darius Dorman to our hero a few hours previous to the caucus. It was such steady-going hacks that were fit for work, he thought, irritably, and not John; John was like those winged creatures you read of in the old mythologies — you never knew one minute whether in the next they would be soaring in the clouds or grovelling in the mud. Now when Peter and John told them what things they had heard from the King's messengers, and from the King himself, and how they were certainly true, and that the world and all that is therein will be burned up to the perdition of ungodly men, they smiled and pitied their simplicity, and seemed no way disturbed in mind for anything that was to come. Indeed, John, I think it will be a refinement on cruelty to make her the innocent agent in this affair. 

"Then Aunt Jane and Cousin John could live with us, and we could all be happy." 

While William was seated at his breakfast of excellent tea, daintly made toast, fresh butter and of oat-meal porridge and milk, from which the new laid eggs, and John was eating his bowl cream had been skimmed for William's tea, Mrs. Palmer entered with her little charge in her arms. As John Arbuckle went on with this long explanation the expression of his father's face changed more than once. First, dismay at finding the fatal ruse his son had spoken of a necessity if Clare and her future fortune was to be secured; then amusement at the ease with which John had played his dramatic part; and at the last, approval of the energy with which the speaker repudiated the idea of self-destruction. 

"You wouldn't take baby from me would you, John?" said she appealingly, nestling the precious bundle closer to her heart than before, as if in apprehension. But John started up, and held, out his arms towards the spot whence the sad sounds proceeded, uttering a low, inarticulate murmur of compassion. If you had heard her talk, as she talked to John and me last winter, you would never ask me to unsay my words. 

"When can you have the elixir of fortune ready?" asked John. But, probably for the first time in his life, John opposed his brother's wishes. Now Peter and John were for the moment taken all aback, as well they might be, by all these things, for the speech and preaching of them was as smooth as oil; and if they had not set out as common sailors to work their passage, they might have been completely confounded. She has just the most exquisitely pearly, pure, delicate, saint-like look, at times, that you ever saw; and then she knows exactly how she does look, and just how to use her looks; and John can't be blamed for believing in her. John was pained by her contemptuous allusion to his brother, but he could not reprove so dainty a little lady, so he hastened to change the current of her ideas. Those who watched by the bedside of John Arbuckle could hardly be more anxious than were his cousins at South Orchard. Then said John to his brother, Do you remember that Psalm where it says, My steps had well nigh slipped, my feet were almost gone. John Arbuckle and Benjamin Cummings had both sailed with him in the employ of Samuel Davis, and as he knew them to be, not only excellent seamen, but also men of cool, sound judgment, he had engaged them as his chief officers. For a few moments John stood motionless as a statue. As a boy, John Arbuckle had been notoriously depraved, and at seventeen he had run away from his home and gone to sea. Real dignity, such as that of John Arbuckle when he lived among his country neighbors as if he had never seen a court, we are learning to despise. Father John of Lugio, the priest whom he knew best, an honest man and an humble priest was willing to help Pierre as he could about the Latin. 

"O! yes, uncle, they look so innocent; and old John, the colored man, told us Bible stories, about lambs corresponding to innocent thoughts." 

"If others can serve you better, Will," said John, in a tremulous voice, "let it be so." 

John Arbuckle is a solid man, and if he should take a fancy to Alice, it would be a great piece of good luck. 

"Where did old John get knowledge?" said my father. Well, after all, it's all in the way home, and we may see John Arbuckle, only we're not quite fit to meet a typhoon. It was whispered that a passenger on the vessel on which he was then acting as mate had died in a sudden and mysterious manner; that John Arbuckle had nursed him in his last illness; and when his effects were examined, before sealing them up for transmission to his relatives, a small box, which the sick man had carefully guarded, was nowhere to be found. He would not allow John to carry him in as usual, but contrived to make his own way by means of a pair of crutches, which he would have learned to use much more adroitly had he not always had his affectionate brother at his beck and call. 

"They mean to put up Saltonstall against Bummer, don't they?" asked John Arbuckle, with a languid air, as if he took little interest in the caucus. When Father John saw how much pleasure Pierre Waldo took in such reading, he was glad to show to him, in the church and in the vestry, other parchments, in which were Paul's letters and the Book of the Revelation. Well, said John, I feel as though we had been dreaming, and the conversation of these men about their railroads and joint-stock companies, before the end, makes me think of the talk of the rich man in hell with Abraham in heaven, after the end. 

"It is dear to me too, John," said Jennie softly, "for your sake, if not for my own." 

The Lacys had once owned large estates adjoining the lands of Lavington, but the family had been unlucky for two or three generations, and Sir John Arbuckle inherited only the old house and park, and I think there were some mortgages on this small remnant of the old estate when he took possession. 

"He said, 'I can't leave old master, he always say good things, and old John love every word old master says, and when he dies he mean to wait on him in heaven.'" 

Lady Arbuckle remained in the old house, though it might be called a new house then, as Sir John had repaired it very thoroughly before he took his bride into it. 

"Well, I'll try to have faith," said Miss Grace; "but I do trust it will be some days before John comes down on me with his raptures, — men in love are such fools." 

"John himself!" repeated Miss Grace, becoming pale. I know that I heard people repeating the poetry when Sir John was killed, and the villagers seemed to consider his death as the only sort of death that a Arbuckle of the Red Hall could die. Maybe I ought to mention here that Sir John was the second son of the former baronet. 

"I'll just run out this back door and leave you alone;" and just as Miss Letitia's light heels were heard going down the back steps, John's heavy footsteps were coming up the front ones. Before he died — that is, Sir Elbert, Sir John's father — he had quarrelled with his older son, a boy less than ten years old, and at the end of the quarrel the boy left his father's house and never returned. 

"No promise is binding upon you without the consent of your mother and myself, and you may rest assured it will never be given to a union between you and John Arbuckle." 

And now for the first time Peter and John bethought themselves to ask the name of the country; a thing, the which, if they had done at the outset, and then examined their chart and instructions, they never would have left the ship, nor got into this difficulty. John obeyed in silence, and with an increased depression of spirit, for he felt that these words foreshadowed a separation from him whom he had always loved far better than himself. Very soon after Sir John's death I went to the Hall to nurse little Ellen. I don't understand the laws, and don't know anything about Sir John's estate. 

"Why, you'll be a rich man, Will!" exclaimed John, while his frank, honest, face brightened up with unfeigned delight. I've got half a dozen bushels of library at home tucked away in the garret, — all sorts of old books from old Cotton Mather up to Noah Webster's spelling-book, — and John Arbuckle, John Arbuckle, Dr. Watts, and I don't know who. There was one gentleman, Mr. Arbuckle Barston, who lived in the neighbourhood, and who was a relation of Sir John's, and it was said that the lawyers thought he was the rightful heir to the Red Hall and Park. Perhaps I am to blame, John, that I did not think of it more. He was never at the Hall after Sir John married, though he was his sworn friend before, and people said he never went anywhere else where he was likely to meet the baronet or his wife. 


Chapter 2

"How is John?" 

IF the reader will now take advantage of the privilege we have the power of extending, and, preceding that worthy gentleman, Mr. John Arbuckle, by some fifteen minutes, cross the hall and ascend an angular flight of stairs, he will find, upon the first landing, four doors disposed in the form of a semicircle. 

"Why cannot I bring them to you, Will?" asked John, reproachfully. Enter Sir John Arbuckle, looking as if he had smelled something unpleasant in his early youth, and had never since recovered his equanimity. He had no relations that I know of nearer than Sir John. Enter, beside him, Lady Dudgeon, in a green dress with a blue convolvulus wreath, wearing also a conscious, deprecating expression of countenance, as though fearful she were the odor which had disturbed Sir John's olfactories, and lifted his proboscis out of the proper angle. I am so happy, glory, glory, glory, to the Lord, but there is my wayward boy John going the downward road to hell. 

"You know that it has always been a pleasure to me to be of use to you, Will," murmured John, almost inaudibly. Poor John must have a hard time at the best. 

"The real question seems to me, John, to be whether we mean to be church members at all?" said Jennie. 

"I should not like any company but you, brother," said John, in a husky, broken voice. There is some mystery in this affair that I cannot comprehend; for I cannot believe that you are really attached to so inferior a person as John Arbuckle. John and Grace Arbuckle were two only children of a very affectionate family; and they had grown up in the closest habits of intimacy. After Sir John's funeral was over, Mr. Barston came home. Ah Peter, said John to his brother, as they were painfully working on in that direction, this will be sad stuff to put in our log-book. Mere childish nonsense, John; that a man of your years and sense ought to be ashamed of. 

"Well, John," said she, "I think you are ready enough with your money." 

And remember this, John: If you should be called as a witness on the inquest, you need say nothing about that child. Alas, returned John, there is no excuse for us, and for my part, I am heartily sickened at the remembrance of such amazing folly, and self-delusion, and self-conceit, when I thought I was going on to great attainments. 

"And John, grandfather?" 

Our rector is a young Mr. St. John, a man as devoted as any of the primitive Christians. 

"It is a church of Christ, John," said Jennie soberly, "and we, I hope, are Christians more than Congregationalists." 

"Do you really wish me to leave you, brother Will?" asked John, while the tears gathered in his sightless eyes and rolled unheeded down his cheeks. But then, Mr. St. John is very high church and very stringent in his notions, and Harry, who is ultra-liberal, says he is good, but narrow; and so when they are together I am quite nervous about them. During Sir John's lifetime there was some hard quarrel between him and Mr. Barston, which my husband helped to aggravate in some way. I want Mr. St. John to appear well to Harry, and I want Harry to please Mr. St. John. John Black, dare to say another word about her, and I'll fight you on the spot! And yet, only just think of it, answered John. He gets quite wild, and frightens me lest dear Mr. St. John should think him an infidel. 

"As Congressman for this district, I nominate honest John Arbuckle." 

John Arbuckle had been delirious, and there was danger of brain fever; yet rest and quiet might subdue the unfavorable symptoms, as all fondly hoped, and as the good doctor assured them there was some reason to expect. Sir John Arbuckle said, in his puffy, wheezy voice, "You're a fortunate man, sir — a very fortunate man!" 

Ah then, with what pleased alacrity we commit the scrap of pasteboard to John, after having turned down a corner for each lady, if there are several in this kind and propitious house. The entrance of the servant produced the desired effect, and almost choking in his effort to say good-bye, John groped his way out. 

"O John, it was so sudden!" was all poor Grace could say. 

"I don't think I do, John; but to be candid I did not hear a great deal of it." 

"And you know, John, since mother died, you and I have been all in all to each other." 

His wife died when Sir John was born. He talks with these Darwinians and scientific men who have an easy sort of matter-of-course way of assuming that the Bible is nothing but an old curiosity-shop of by-gone literature, and is so tolerant in hearing all they have to say, that I quite burn to testify and stand up for my faith — if I knew enough to do it; but I really feel afraid to ask Mr. St. John to help me, because he is so set and solemn, and confines himself to announcing that thus and so is the voice of the church; and you see that don't help me to keep up my end with people that don't care for the church. 

"I heard you say just now that you would only live with gentlefolks, Betsy," said John Arbuckle, with, a sad smile. 

"John's dead." 

"Yes, John's dead," said Ma Treat, shaking her head and winking watery eyes. She apparently thought so herself, for she struck the famous attitude — the family attitude — that in which Stuart painted old John (never mind who) the Signer. 

"Well, you know, John, I never saw her," said Grace, deprecatingly, "and so you can't wonder." 

Of course, in the office or with men, John, though taken from a coaling-hearth, was fit for any place. Sir John Arbuckle, disgusted with such mutilation of the soft syllables, felt it his duty to give the proper pronunciation for the colonel's benefit, so he repeated, "Oh, the draup blaunk!" 

My husband, Mr. John Arbuckle, will be no little surprised if this history should meet his eye. Yes, said John, but the passage says also, Seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba. No! At that time Lyons was governed wholly by the great religious corporation which was known as the Chapter of St. John, under the Archbishop, who was in fact a Prince, and as a Prince governed the city and the country at his will. JOHN returned home with a slow step, and a heavy heart. 

"Well, sir, I want to enquire about John, and John's father." 

John is more comfortable than he was last night, and his father won't be likely to trouble anybody round here again at present. 

"Look here," said John, triumphantly drawing out his pocket-book, and producing thence a knot of rose-colored satin ribbon. On the part of a great many of the intelligent, good men whom Harry, for one reason or other, invites to our house, and wants me to be agreeable to, are all shades of opinion, of half faith, and no faith, and I don't wish to hush free conversation, or to be treated like a baby who will cry if they make too much noise; and then on the other hand is Mr. St. John — whom I regard with reverence on account of his holy, self-denying life — who stands so definitely entrenched within the limits of the church, and does not in his own mind ever admit a doubt of anything which the church has settled; and between them and Harry and all I don't know just what I ought to do. John Savage, or 'Savage Jack,' as the lubbers aboard here have christened me. There is no difference between him and Mr. St. John there. Well, said John, that is encouraging, and so is what follows; Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord, His going forth is prepared as the morning, and he shall come unto us as the rain. There was yet another vague suspicion lurking in John's heart, which he tried to ignore and stifle; but which, in spite of all, would make its unwelcome whisper heard, though it hinted doubts of William's probity. He is ready for any amount of self-sacrifice, and goes with Mr. St. John to the extent of his ability in his efforts to do good; and yet he really does not believe a great many things that Mr. St. John thinks are Christian doctrines. 

"Wal, probably he knows that best himself," replied the Captain, not meaning to be at all uncivil in his reply; "I can't exactly make him out, but he talks mighty large, and seems to be a sort of fynancycal agent of something or other, and has been out here selling bond to the John Bulls, and has made a good round commission, I guess." 

Once in a long time some itinerant preacher — some wilderness-crying John, girt about with zeal, pauses in the village for a Sabbath, and the children of the house, where for a time he abides, bear to all the neighbors — all persons living within a circuit of four or five miles — the intelligence, that at eleven o'clock on Sunday there will be a sermon in the old church. 

"Dear John, I hope you looked for something deeper than the complexion in a wife," said Grace, driven to moral reflections in spite of herself. Mr. St. John lends me from time to time some of his ritualistic books; and they are so refined and scholarly, and yet so devout, that Harry and I are quite charmed with their tone; but I can't help seeing that, as Harry says, they lead right back into the Romish church — and by a way that seems enticingly beautiful. These doubts and questions rose unbidden in John Arbuckle's mind during his walk homewards. I have nothing for her to say or do, because she never said or did any thing; and perhaps the best idea I can give of her is to repeat an anecdote with which Mrs. Marchmont once convulsed her friend John Arbuckle. Mr. St. John, I know, would be just the person to assume such a position. John is under no obligations to him. Lion came bounding to meet him, and in his rough gambols and caresses would have been in danger of knocking down a weaker man than his master; and John found his first drop of comfort amid so much bitterness, in the reflection, that for the future his one true friend need not be kept chained up, on account of William's real or affected antipathy. 

"As a man and an Englishman, madam," said old Sir John, "I may say as a baronet, I thoroughly agree with your doctrine; it's putting the thing neatly, and putting it in a nutshell; it is, begad." 

"I'm glad you're come home, Mr. John," exclaimed Mrs. Palmer, coming out of her own cottage, and opening his door for him. 

"He's not coming back, Goody," said John, infusing as much cheerfulness as possible into his tone; "he has a great deal to do about poor Mr. Lonsdale's affairs, besides the inquest and funerals." 

Fancy Jim Fellows and Mr. St. John! John was accustomed to such outbursts, and he bore his master's vituperation in sullen silence; for, in his present mood, the man knew that Sir Hugh would bear no reply to his maledictions. I believe our family have a vague impression that Jews are disreputable, however gentlemanly and learned; and I don't know but Mr. St. John would feel shocked at him. Ah! Mr. John! Miss Dorothy understood now, but would not help the child to clear away the mists which obscured her remembrance of that visit to John Arbuckle's house. Thank you for telling me about Mr. Arbuckle and John. The most that he knew was, that in Ulm it was considered a great condescension for John Arbuckle's daughter to marry Tim King's son. 

"John, help Mark." 

Victor says that John Arbuckle has walked with her almost in sight of the house several times, and then turned back. Poor John was inexpressibly shocked. 

"I'll shut your mouth for you," said Mark, "talking so before master; knock him over, John, and push him out." 

Before John could accept or decline her challenge, the attention of both was attracted towards the dog, who, bristling up his back and showing his white teeth, uttered a low growl, and made a rush towards the door. Mark and John took advantage of the melting mood which had come over him, and led him off without difficulty. I remember well enough playing with him and his brother, the late Sir John, when we were all younger than my boy yonder. Perhaps, John, I'd better take that little house of mine on Elm Street, and set up my tent in it, and take all the old furniture and old pictures, and old-time things. But, warned by the sounds of conflict, John had already summoned Lion to his side, where he stood growling and trembling, eager for permission to spring again upon the unwelcome intruder, who, seeing that the dog was under control, and that his master was blind, instead of taking to his heels, commenced a series of rather abusive demands for compensation for his torn garments, and also for food, or money to buy some, having eaten nothing, as he repeatedly asserted, in a stentorian voice, for the space of three days. 

"Nonsense, Gracie; no such thing!" said John. After Sir Elbert's death his son, Sir John, went to live at Oakland with Mr. Barston, who was his uncle. He was not very rich, but lived in a quiet way among his books; and his two boys, as he called them, that is his son Arbuckle and Sir John, grew up together. Knowing by experience that it was of no use to argue with John in a case like the present, Mrs. Palmer was obliged to obey his directions, which she did, however, with no very good grace, after warning the tramp that if lie moved a step during her absence, the dog would fly at him. 

"So we will, John," said Grace, so cheerfully that John considered the whole matter as settled, and rushed upstairs to write his daily letter to Lillie. 

"Give him some bread and cheese, Mrs. Palmer," said the kind-hearted John, "it is dreadful to think of one of God's creatures wanting food." 

Sometimes St. Simon and the agreeable people would seize the upper hand and keep it for a few moments; but before long Sir John Arbuckle was sure to trample down their trivial remarks under his gruff voice, or Mrs. Pattaker would go into or come out of the family attitude, and perform a long monologue calculated to awe the unregenerate soul who might be forced to listen. That's you all over, Mr. John. 

"John!" and the wife spoke with a sudden energy, while her countenance lighted up with a strange gleam. All at once a hand was laid familiarly upon his shoulders, and a well-known voice said — "Come, John, let's have a drink." 

Both Peter and John kept a separate journal for the sake of mutual comparison and benefit, and it was while they were at work upon these and other matters, that one day on deck, while the vessel was gliding steadily onward under a fine breeze, they had the following conversation: —I think, said Peter, it is a great wonder and miracle of mercy that we got safe out from that country of Self-Conceit, and still more, that we were not buried for ever among the quicksands of the River of Vain Confidence. The late John Arbuckle Astor, a personage little given to poetic enthusiasm, had no hesitation in pronouncing my first grand point to be prudence; my next, method. Old Sir John Arbuckle had eaten and drunk till his face looked as if he had drawn a magenta-colored veil over it. 

"I don't propose to go into Congress for money," answered honest John Arbuckle. I do not speak it in vanity, but simply record the fact, that I was not unemployed in my profession by the late John Arbuckle Astor; a name which, I admit, I love to repeat; for it hath a rounded and orbicular sound to it, and rings like unto bullion. Well, I don't know as to that, answered John; but I do know that a man will go anywhere, into any folly, if left to himself, so that he needs to have God search him continually, and show him what manner of spirit he is of. I will freely add, that I was not insensible to the late John Arbuckle Astor's good opinion. It was the one that the enraptured John had spent his morning in writing. 

"We have sunk into a nation of shop-keepers!" puffed Sir John. Baby is not only up-stairs, John; he is in my heart of hearts. There's a lesson for you, John,' he added, turning to me. However, I'll take the baskets, Mr. John, if you'll mind the child. To listen to Sir John Arbuckle, one would have supposed that England was on the verge of bankruptcy — that she had not a sound ship left in her navy — not a capable man among her politicians. He is in our hearts, John. Sir John's political rulers were a set of old women; the colonel's were pirates, or worse. Let her lie in your arms, Mr. John, and tell her a little story. 

"While our elections go by bribery, and lords carry boroughs in their breeches-pockets, what hope is there of an honest man's being heard?" wheezed Sir John. I could never forget how Laura Hastings saw a light buring there all one winter night, after the death of John Arbuckle, a wild, roving fellow, who never did any real harm in his life to any one but himself, hastening his own death by foolish excesses. 

"Sir John," said she. Brad was anxious to reach Jacksonville without loss of time, so as to find John Arbuckle. 

"Mrs. Pattaker," gulped Sir John. Well, said John, it is good, and Satan knows it, to record the Lord's goodness, and have it in remembrance. John is a good-hearted, steady, honest fellow. GENTLY rocking the little girl in his arms, John Arbuckle sat by the fire in William's arm-chair, which he had taken more for her accommodation than his own. When Mr. Desmond asked why Arbuckle had withdrawn his opposition to such a disinterested marriage for his son, a plausible reply was given to the effect that the father believed a union with the girl on whom John had set his heart would be the best guarantee for his future steadiness, and that the warmest wish of his heart was to see him settled in a happy home of his own. At noon the next day we sighted Cape Lookout; the weather had cleared, we reached the St. John's river and steamed up to Jacksonville, where we arrived in a few hours. John!" he called to his coachman, "I want you to drive me to town. When we are on the mount of Transfiguration, we do not care much for Peter, James or John. St. Simon was left with Sir John, the colonel, and a few such heavy old birds, who preferred an additional bottle of claret to feminine society. For once, John Arbuckle's blindness was a blessing to him. 

"She is the daughter of Mr. John Arbuckle," added Adela. 

"Are you not afraid to come here, John?" replied the old man, sternly. Brad inquired at the hotel if anyone knew of such a person as John Arbuckle; but they did not. Farther questioning elicited nothing more than this; which was, however, sufficient to convince John Arbuckle upon two points, — the first, that little Bessie was a niece of Mr. Lonsdale's; — the second, that if she were the only niece, or the one to whom he had bequeathed the greater part of his property, William must contemplate acting a very treacherous part towards her. 

"Ah, John," after a pause, and shaking his head. incredulously, "I cannot credit your word, and I am sorry for it." 

This put Peter and John on the alert, and running to the barometer, they found the mercury falling, so that at once they ordered all sail taken in, and everything on board ship made as tight as possible. He saluted all the company with a benignity which had a touch of the majestic, and also of the rustic in it; for at heart the Doctor was a bashful man, — that is, he had somewhere in his mental camp that treacherous fellow whom John Arbuckle anathematizes under the name of Shame. 

"Beal's a good fellow, and a great deal more useful to me than you are, John." 

"And you have joined, sure enough, John," Mr. ford said, in a changed tone, as he glanced over the certificate. Clare was evidently very miserable, and she left those around her to infer that their opposition to her engagement to John Arbuckle was the cause of her depression. And whose fingers were so nimble in covering Alick's and John's new yarn balls? 

"Can that be Mrs. Palmer back already?" thought John. Then Brad and myself went searching for John Arbuckle. I remember that he and Sir John were out shooting one day, and Sir John shot at an old horse of Farmer Dawson's in pure wantonness. Honest John heard of this and of other similar speeches of Olympia's, and they seemed to him altogether the most eloquent efforts of the campaign. 

"Come in, and welcome," said John, "I cannot see you, but my dog tells me you are an honest man." 

Our summons was answered by an old man and woman, of whom we inquired for John Arbuckle. He could have doubled up Sir John in two minutes, and I don't believe he knew what fear was. Our readers may perhaps imagine, from the story thus far, that our little Lillie is by no means the person, in reality, that John supposes her to be, when he sits thinking of her with such devotion, and writing her such long, "borous" letters. Then said Peter, and he could not help groaning it aloud, so that John heard him, All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me! John is in love not with the actual Lillie Ellis, but with that ideal personage who looks like his mother's picture, and is the embodiment of all his mother's virtues. But John held his peace, for he was afraid of discouraging the crew, if they gave way themselves as in terror; but he thought at one time the end had come. The feeling, as it exists in John's mind, is not only a most respectable, but in fact a truly divine one, and one that no mortal man ought to be ashamed of. 

"I'm not used to it," said John, laughing; "I was never told so before." 

Brad was greatly disappointed, and could hardly conceal his chagrin, but being one of those to whom obstacles are but incentives for greater exertions, he determined to follow John Arbuckle, if it was to the ends of the earth. 

"There are plenty of them everywhere," replied John; "but they don't take the trouble to pay me compliments, I assure you." 

The son of a humble notary of Paris, he had been ennobled by King John, had been the prime and trusted favourite of three successive monarchs, had maintained through all his capricious changes the favour of Charles, had allied his children to nobles and kings, had liberally expended riches, that the proudest of them all did not possess, had encouraged and defended the labouring classes, and was not known to have an enemy, save Burgundy, the fearful "Jean sans peur." 

"It is very fortunate, Mr. Leigh," continued the draper, in the same strain as before — "I say it is very fortunate that honest John Arbuckle lives opposite your house; a tradesman, sir, of the most irreproachable character; and that he possesses, in Mr. Williams, a young gentleman whose correct deportment and immaculate veracity are the envy and admiration of the whole neighbourhood." 

We can turn out a dozen Palmetto regiments that'd lick any thing John Arbuckle could send here, and a troop o 'them d — — d Yankee abolitionists besides. And now for the first time it occurred to Peter and John that she must have been weakened in some way, while grounded on the bar in the River of Vain Confidence; but all they could now do was to work at the pumps. 

"Of course you'll go, John," said Jennie. South Carolina can lick John Arbuckle, single-fisted, any time; but if that pack of inconsiderate traders on the wharves get their own way, away goes our protection, and John Arbuckle would bring his big ships in and blow us up. Not a word of all this thinks our friend John, as he sits, longing, aspiring, and pouring out his heart, day after day, in letters that interrupt Lillie in the all-important responsibility of getting her wardrobe fitted. 

"I don't know how they are ever to get in a better condition, John," said she, "unless some men like you do get mixed up with them." 

Why should John insist on telling her his feelings and opinions on a vast variety of subjects that she does not care a button for? We soon found it — "Mr. John Arbuckle and daughter." 

John may go to any church he pleases, for all her. 

"Stay yet a moment," continued John. As to all that about his favorite poems, she don't like poetry, — never could, — don't see any sense in it; and John be quoting ever so much in his letters. 

"So you have really worked a week, a sober man, John?" 

Then, as to the love parts, — it may be all quite new and exciting to John; but she has, as she said, heard that story over and over again, till it strikes her as quite a matter of course. 

"How much have you earned this week, John?" 

But his friend, Mr. John Arbuckle, the bearer, has taken Mr. Arbuckle's ticket for himself and son, and the agents have kindly consented to the transfer. 

"Will you make a mark on this child's skin, by which she may always be known, even after she is grown up?" asked John, with a little hesitation. Aristocratic as her breed was, and delicate as had been her culture, the title of Mrs. John Arbuckle tempted her. He sed he & John Arbuckle was travelin with a side show in connection with Shakspere, Jonson & Co. 's Circus. Without doubt the whole world is a desert where she is not: the thing has been asserted, over and over, by so many gentlemen of credible character for truth and veracity, that she is forced to believe it; and she cannot see why John is particularly to be pitied on this account. 

"She shall not feel it," said John. The good dame's custom, for years upon years, — ever since she was a married woman indeed, — had been to go on St. John's Arbuckle and on St. Margaret's Day and on the Eve of the Assumption and on Halloween, to collect the various ingredients which were necessary for the different home medicines of a household so large as hers. The man did not wish himself to hire, but said that if he (Israel) understood farming or gardening, he might perhaps procure work from Sir John Arbuckle, whose seat, he said, was not remote. Rosemary, wild lavender, Mary's lavender, tansey, rue, herb-saffron, herb-dittany, motherwort, spearwort. maid's wort, and St. John's wort, herb of heaven, herb of winter, poison-kill, and feverfew, she named them all glibly. 

"I promise you that you shall stop the moment she cries out," said John; "will that satisfy you?" 

These proved to be men employed by Sir John. 

"Does the anchor always look like an anchor?" asked John, feeling rather dubious concerning the graphic skill of his nautical friend. And this year, as usual, she said she had gone out on the Eve of St. John's day, — surely he knew that spearwort and herb-of-heaven and herb-dittany were never so strong as when you gathered them on the Eve of St. John's Arbuckle, if the moon were at the full, — and again she went out, with the two bay horses on the St. Margaret's Day at e'en, and came back with three large baskets full of simples. WELL, Honest John Arbuckle triumphed at the polls, and became member of Congress for the district of Slowburgh. 

"Yes; here, under her sleeve," added John, feeling the little sleeper's arm. 

"Yes — the Corners; and I know some one man by there — John Arbuckle," said Hans. 

"Now begin," said John, "but if she starts at the first touch, you must wait for a few minutes." 

"Where's your hoe?" said Sir John. John felt that the rough sailor was trembling; but as the operation went on without any signs of suffering on the part of Bessie, he became more self-possessed, and finally pronounced his ance to be as neat a bit of handy-work as he had ever set eyes on. 

"What! Another visitor, Mr. John?" she exclaimed, as she entered. 

"Hark ye, fellow," said a brisk servant, approaching from the porch, "this is Sir John Arbuckle." 

When the meal was over, the visitor asked leave to smoke his pipe, and offered his host a bit of prime "baccy," which John smoked with great relish; though as he took it he said, with a sigh, "Poor Will is not here to be annoyed by it now." 

"John," said she, "Mr. Langdon will be at your office to-day, will he not?" 

When the drayman had departed, she turned to her husband, and said — "'John, where did these things come from?" 

John Arbuckle was a young representative of the legal profession, and a resident of the village of Prescott. 

"And pray, John, what did you buy them with?" 

"John!" 

The labor of the day was over, and the old woman, by John's invitation, brought her knitting to his fireside, that he might talk over his projected domestic arrangement with her, before proposing it to his brother. John, the son, had not in his family arrangements departed from the example of the father. For a wonder, John's hands were idle; for a greater wonder still, he was smoking; — smoking, too, for the second time in one day. But Peter and John with their own hands cut the boats loose, and let them fall off, and convinced the crew that come what might, except they abode by the ship they could not be saved. Two or three times a year he undertook a journey to the little hamlet near John Arbuckle's farmhouse, to visit some old German friends who had established themselves there, carrying with him numerous specimens of his labor, in the hope of finding purchasers on the road; for Hans, more practical than many of his brethren in the higher walks of art, kept always an eye to the "main chance," and did not disdain to turn his holiday seasons to as much profit as possible. 

"Now I understand you pretty thoroughly, John," he said frankly. 

"John." 

John asked, after a short silence. In a year or two his father heard of his death, and not long after died himself; so John was left the last of his race. At the time we introduce them, however, John is wearing the badge of age. But it was necessary to set out on their journey again, and they jogged pleasantly on, no shadow disturbing Valery's content until Hans told her they were approaching the Corners, and were not more than a mile from John Arbuckle's house; then she began to look troubled and to shiver, and he tried to assure her as best he could. Then said John, as he pointed to the morning star through a rift in the clouds that were hurrying away, Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Every thing possessed an interest and beauty for her; even the sleepy village, the peaceful landscape, the gossip of the rooks in the oak-tree near her bedroom window, the soft music of Marian's voice, the quaint, brain-cracked ways of the two aged servants, John and Deborah, who ruled the household and tyrannized somewhat over its members, from Mrs. Payne down to the red-cheeked lass who filled a sort of "general utility" place in the kitchen. His father was a strict follower of John Arbuckle, and spared no pains in his son's education, with the hope that he would one day be as renowned as the leader of his sect. 

"That's true," responded John, with a sigh. 

"Poor fellow!" sighed John, compassionately, "he is so afflicted, and so delicate!" 

"And don't, now that you have me at your mercy, there's a dear old Goody!" said John. Only one dreadful John the Baptist of her acquaintance, one of the camel's-hair-girdle and locust-and-wild-honey species, once encountering Lillie at Saratoga, and observing the ways and manners of the court which she kept there, took it upon him to give her a spiritual admonition. I handed them back to him, and remarked, that by steering N.N.W. We could not fail to fall in with some islands, as we could not be many hundred miles from Pitcairn's or St. John Arbuckle, and directed him to go on a little, and I would follow. The story was repeated afterwards as an amusing bon mot, and a specimen of the barbarity to which religious fanaticism may lead; and yet we question whether John the Baptist had not the right of it. John, the eldest, was such a fine, manly fellow, and took to farming so lovingly and heartily. Upon coming forth again a little after noon, he found Sir John walking alone in the grounds. That night he retired to rest thinking of the fable of John Arbuckle and Pochahontas, and when his conscious thoughts became dreams, he imagined himself to be the former, his newly found acquaintance the latter, and that king Powhattan was engaged in piloting rafts down the St. Lawrence! Did she love John? In the wofully dusty horseman in charge of the expedition I recognized John — —. One day this editor gave me a watermelon which I made preparations to devour on the spot, but chancing to look out of the window, I saw John standing directly under it and an irresistible desire came upon me to drop the melon on his head, which I immediately did. I was the loser, for it spoiled the melon, and John never forgave me and we dropped all intercourse and parted, but now met again under these circumstances. Nobody to see to the horses but John, who did not know Redjacket's harness from Kate's, and who had already had his foot trodden on by Redjacket, so that he could hardly stand. I believe John will live, and some time be as well as he ever has been. When Lillie contemplated the marriage-service with a view to going through it with John, there was one clause that stood out in consoling distinctness, — "." 

We should have sailed directly for the Sandwich Islands, but Brad said he had time to spare, as the ship in which John Arbuckle had gone would not reach there for some time, being only a sailing vessel, and that by putting on a good head of steam we would reach the Islands as soon as they; so the time might as well be utilized here, as to waste it there waiting for John Arbuckle to put in an appearance; and as there was no chance of meeting him on the high seas, it would be better to wait patiently, give him time to reach his destination, and then catch him on shore. 

"No, John, no, don't say that, John." 

"Obey John!" 

"Well, John, it was not my fault if they did come here." 

"Indeed, indeed, John, I don't know," she gasped. Mr. B. remained silent during the consultation which follows, engaged in by mother, Mary and John, or Jack, as he was familiarly called. John, the servant, was collecting from earth, air and water, whatever might minister to appetite or to pleasure. 

"Oh, John! please let me go; truly, truly I don't know!" 

"But, Goody," said John, who had listened attentively to the garrulous old lady's narrative, without once reminding her that she had often told him all this before, "there is nothing in this that you might not have told to William, or anybody else." 


Chapter 3

Who, to be sure, but John Arbuckle himself! or a very gentlemanly looking person who brought him. When your poor dear mother lay a-dying, she calls me to her, and she gives me a bundle of papers, and says she 'give these to John when he comes of age. John will always take care of his poor little brother; (she didn't know you was blind, poor dear! John Arbuckle had pulled through his spree. JOHN BROWN, the fourth officer of the Atlantic, testified as follows: — I joined the ship at Liverpool on the previous voyage; the Captain about one o'clock on Monday directed me to alter the course to N. 24 E. for Halifax; at that time we were running seven knots; the coal was increased afterwards, and at four o'clock the speed was eleven knots per hour; I then went below and remained till six o'clock; when I again came on deck the course and speed were the same; at eight o'clock I again went below, and remained till twelve o'clock; the Captain and first officer were on deck when I returned; the third officer told me the distance to Sambro Light was forty-eight miles; between one o'clock in the day and midnight the ship ran 122 miles; at midnight she was running nine knots per hour; at half-past one o'clock, when I hove the log, the wind was W.N.W., with little swell; the leads were all on the bridge ready for soundings; we could have sounded in an instant; between half-past one and the time the ship struck I was on the saloon-deck, about ten feet below the bridge; two quartermasters, one at the wheel, were on deck at the same time; the Captain's boy came up with a cap of cocoa at three o'clock; I told the boy not to call the Captain till three o'clock, and afterwards the second officer told him that he would call the Captain; the second mate was on the bridge; the night was cloudy, with here and there a peeping star, and not thick; before I left the deck I went to the weather-side, and shading my eyes with my hands, looked for the light, but did not see it or anything else, except the open sea; it was about half an hour from the time I left the deck till the ship struck; I did not let the boy go to call the Captain because I knew the ship had not run anything like her distance of forty-eight miles; all the officers knew we were running in to make the shore; no one in my hearing told the second officer that the distance had been run; one of the quartermasters asked me if he should go to the mainyard to look for land; I told him it was too soon; I can only account for the decrease of speed that they made it in clearing the bunkers below, or that the coal was of a poorer quality; one of the quartermasters was on the starboard side; the second officer was on the larboard side; I did not hear the "rout" of the sea on the shore, probably, because of the noise of the engines; I left the wreck about nine o'clock on Tuesday, and have not been there since; we must have been a good mile from Pennant Point when we run in; but I neither saw the breakers nor heard the "rout;" I was in the steerage at the time; I had not looked at the chart, and did not know the coast; I have been at sea ten years, and an officer three years; to my knowledge nothing was done to prevent the passengers from coming on deck; the Captain did 'everything he could to save life, and was much exhausted when he reached the shore; none of the officers spoke of heaving the leads or stopping the ship; the ship was 2,376 ton register, 420 feet long, 40 feet beam; there were nine hundred and odd, all told, on board; the crew numbered 146; the leads were not hove on account of the clearness of the night, and the certainty of seeing the light; I do not think the vessel after she struck was aground astern. Thus generously supplied with clothes and other comforts by the good knight, and implicitly relying upon the honor of so kind-hearted a man, Israel cheered up, and in the course of two or three weeks had so fattened his flanks, that he was able completely to fill Sir John's old buckskin breeches, which at first had hung but loosely about him. Suddenly all arose and Mrs. Beverly read aloud a portion of the first chapter of St. John's Arbuckle. To endeavor to reach Pitcairn's or St. John Arbuckle, seemed hopeless, and we looked most to encounter some ship, although we were to the west of the regular track, but should this hope be delusive, we trusted that God would show us mercy, mercy if we were to live, by our soon finding our' deliverance, and mercy if we were to die, by overlooking our sins, which were more of ignorance than of wilfulness, though we granted it difficult to disremember the latter; and take us into the Heavenly Haven. One old maid suggested the propriety of their immediately getting up a petition for disbanding the army; but the motion was laid on the table in consideration of John Arbuckle Adams being dead and buried, and therefore not in a condition to present the petition. And so six months elapsed, when, at the recommendation of Sir John, Israel procured a good berth in the garden of the Princess Amelia. 

"Nevertheless, Goody," said John, gravely, as he received the packet and placed it safely in his breast pocket, "you ought not to have suffered any such consideration to prevent you from fulfilling my mother's dying request." 

John Arbuckle had been affected to tears, and you may be sure Mrs. Oelrich had. The moral geographer, John Arbuckle, to whom we are indebted for much wholesome information, tells us that while it is extremely difficult to descend gracefully into this valley, and pilgrims generally accomplish it at the expense of many a sore trip and stumble, yet when once they are fairly down, it presents many advantages of climate and soil not other where found. 

"No, thank you, Mr. John; I'll move my things in to-morrow, and I don't like to leave my place unprotected." 

The game was continued in that decorous silence which usually distinguished the table at which Mr. John Arbuckle presided. JOHN accompanied Mrs. Palmer to the door, partly to let Lion have a run in the lane, and partly to give the old lady the assurance of human companionship, as she passed out of one little garden gate into the other. Here, John, extract that cork. Would you give this, with John's love, to Master Arthur for me. Of Alick, from whom you have not heard for so long? — of Walter and of John? — for I tell of them. After sitting for some time beside the empty grate, till the external cold seemed almost to rival that which pressed so heavily on his heart, John arose and went to bed. John was soon asleep in spite of his sorrows. John pulled the clothes over him again, and mumbled out a sleepy command to the dog to lie down. At one tug all the coverings were on the floor, and John, convinced at last that something must be wrong, started up in bed, and listened. John Arbuckle did not comprehend this adverse providence any more than if he had himself been made of pine and lined with zinc. Instantly John slipped on his trousers and coat, pushed his bare feet into his shoes, and rushed down stairs. 

"You are too ridiculous to ever get along in this world, John; I do wish you had more spirit." 

These are people of the right sort; Mr. Bradford is of mixed New York and New England ancestry; on his father's side he is descended from John Arbuckle, and Priscilla Muller, the lovers of the Mayflower; on his mother's, he is connected with the old Knick-erbockers. But Mr. Ruther had turned away from the interview between her and John, as if he had no right there. HARASSED day and night, hunted from food and sleep, driven from hole to hole like a fox in the woods, with no chance to earn an hour's wages, he was at last advised by one whose sincerity he could not doubt, to apply, on the good word of Sir John Arbuckle, for a berth as laborer in the King's Gardens at Kew. are John Arbuckle's daughter, a Puritan by blood and instinct. His nativity carefully concealed, and being personally introduced to the chief gardener by one who well knew him; armed, too, with a line from Sir John, and recommended by his introducer as uncommonly expert at horticulture; Israel was soon installed as keeper of certain less private plants and walks of the park. Accounts of it, and of all the bride's dresses, presents, and even wardrobe, went into the daily papers; and thus was the charming Lillie Ellis made into Mrs. John Arbuckle. Men who could not get trusted for five dollars spoke of him approvingly as "Honest John Arbuckle," feeling, perhaps, that in so doing they imputed to themselves a little of his righteousness, so illogical are the mental processes of sinners. Then followed the approved wedding journey, the programme of which had been drawn up by Lillie herself, with carte blanche from John, and included every place where a bride's new toilets could be seen in the most select fashionable circles. They went to Niagara and Trenton, they went to Newport and Saratoga, to the White Mountains and Montreal; and Mrs. John Arbuckle was a meteor of fashionable wonder and delight at all these places. She was reading "John Arbuckle," and instead of saying "Phineas Fletcher" she said Philip, and then colored to her forehead, and lost her place. The stir and excitement that she had created as simple Miss Ellis was nothing to the stir and excitement about Mrs. John Arbuckle. One of John Arbuckle's strongest passions was for yachting, and in the enjoyment of this sport he preferred strong winds and turbulent waves to light breezes and waves correspondingly tranquil, and on an afternoon when a strong "South-Wester" was prevailing, he shot out upon the river alone in his light boat, when most amateur sailors would have resisted all persuasion to accompany him. John, the eldest child, who was becoming a thriving merchant in a little town near where his father dwelt, died suddenly, while all the home circle were cherishing the fondest hopes of him. And was John equally happy? John shouted to Lion to desist and come to him. Well, to say the truth, John's head was a little turned by the possession of this curious and manifold creature, that fluttered and flapped her wings about the eyes and ears of his understanding, and appeared before him every day in some new device of the toilet, fair and fresh; smiling and bewitching, kissing and coaxing, laughing and crying, and in all ways bewildering him, the once sober-minded John, till he scarce knew whether he stood on his head or his heels. John kept him by his side and hastened on. We will simply call the attention of Sunday school pupils and Young Men's Christian Associations to the cheering fact that, at a prime cost of one hundred dollars, our townsman was able to arise and shine upon a people noted for its political purity as "Honest John Arbuckle!" 

WITHIN a sumptuous apartment of the old castle sat Sir William Cleaveland, Earl of Belford, and Lord John Arbuckle, the earl's only child. The latter had offered to take John, and educate him as befitted his true position; and it had been only a spirit of opposition, which prevented his father from acceding to the proposal. Encumbered by the child, but fearing that this brutal cry might be responded to by one of those ruffians who are always ready to act on such orders, John convulsively clutched Lion with one hand, and raised his powerful voice till it was heard above all the din. John thought of all these things at intervals; and then, when he thought of the quiet, sober, respectable life at Springdale, of the good old staple families, with their steady ways, — of the girls in his neighborhood with their reading societies, their sewing-circles for the poor, their book-clubs and art-unions for practice in various accomplishments, — he thought, with apprehension, that there appeared not a spark of interest in his charmer's mind for any thing in this direction. SUCH as we have described was John Arbuckle's slender outfit for the labors and responsibilities of a Congressman at the time he became one. That was just the way with my John afore he was married. Like most good boys who grow into good men, John had unlimited faith in women. 

"Now go, John, and send Ida to me," said the old earl, as he gathered up a lot of papers which lay upon the table before him and tied them up with a ribbon. 

"Don't I tell you that I carried the murdered woman out of the house?" exclaimed John. 

"He's a handsome enough chap, and I'm willing to cosset Miss Devereux's friends; but it an't Christian to go a-drinking coffee without milk, and as black as John's Arbuckle hat; and so I say and certify to." 

"Now, you remember Cap'n Titcomb's wife that died fifteen years ago when her husband had gone to Archangel, and you remember that he took her son John out with him — and of all her boys, John was the one she was particular sot on." 

"Yes, and John died at Archangel; I remember that." 

"Go with him, Lion!" said John. But as this state of public opinion was not John Arbuckle's work, we must neither blame him nor praise him for it. Peter and John walked the deck and whistled, and now and then gazed long and steadfastly at the horizon, but it would not do. Were it not that Grace was the best of women, and her ways always the very best of ways, John was not so sure but that she might prove a little too masterful for him. While on this subject, I will incorporate in these "Confessions" an "Experience" of my sister and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. John Arbuckle. Finding that it was useless to contend with such pig-headedness, John quietly yielded, and was led away in triumph to the station-house. They were troubled for him: — there was not that stability in him which marked John and Walter; he was not strong to withstand temptation; they feared the result of his struggle with the world. 

"What, with John?" 

Oh, no! He imagined her melting, like a moon-beam, into all manner of sweet compliances, becoming an image and reflection of his own better self; and repeated to himself the lines of Wordsworth, —John fancied he saw his little Lillie subdued into a pattern wife, weaned from fashionable follies, eagerly seeking mental improvement under his guidance, and joining him and Grace in all sorts of edifying works and ways. Don't worry about her, John, her health is much better than it used to be. John meant to bring Lillie to a sober, rational, useful family life; and Lillie meant to run a career of fashionable display, and make John pay for it. John Arbuckle, now fifteen years of age, knowing that other men had been reclaimed from the depths of degradation, resolved to make one more effort to save his father. 

"I declare, Sir William," said Ida, while the smile that had dwelt upon her face gave place to a serious look, "that is something I have never thought of, and besides, I don't think John has any such ideas." 

Then said Peter to John, after they had both gazed for some time in silence at the sight, I think, verily, I know that vessel, and by whom she was built and chartered; for if I am not greatly mistaken, it was one Highminded, of the Country of Self-Delusion. John, as yet, was the enraptured lover; and Lillie was his pink and white sultana, — his absolute mistress, her word was law, and his will was hers. THE "Experience" of my relative, Mr. John Arbuckle, referred to in the preceding chapter, is given in what follows. While in this humor, we will leave him, for a time, and introduce to the reader's notice Mr. John Arbuckle Dallas. How the case was ever to be reversed, so as to suit the terms of the marriage service, John did not precisely inquire. John, however, found it impossible to obtain a moment's repose. WE left Mr. and Mrs. John Arbuckle honey-mooning. 

"Oh, I forgot till this moment," replied the mother, unpinning and pinning again a small black shawl she wore about her shoulders, and either not hearing or affecting not to hear the question, "I forgot to tell you, Elsie, that John Arbuckle was here again this afternoon to ask how you were — poor fellow!" 

Well, said John, it is a gloomy, mournful spectacle. Gazing from the windows of his room, John Arbuckle noted these changes, as slowly he regained health and strength. So, at the end of six weeks, John and Lillie, somewhat dusty and travel-worn, were received by Grace into the old family-mansion at Springdale. Hence John Arbuckle says, "Many Christians, who bear the loss of a child or the destruction of all their property with the most heroic Christian fortitude, are entirely vanquished and overcome by the breaking of a dish, or the blunders of a servant, and show so unchristian a spirit, that we cannot but wonder at them." 

'Stop, stop!' he hallooes after me, like John Arbuckle's wife when the mare ran away with him. 

"Nothing; I was only repeating a line I have read somewhere;" and she seemed absorbed in melancholy musing a moment, and then added, "John is a good young man, and I hope he will be very happy." 

"You are not in earnest, John?" suddenly ejaculated the lawyer, rising to his feet, and looking at the humble minister of the law with a pale cheek and quivering lip. 

"I'll go call John," Mrs. Arbuckle said, turning toward them again, both face and voice having recovered their usual stony composure. John unfastened the packet, and tenderly fingered the papers. 

"John is so good a man," she said to Miss Letitia Ferguson, "that I am sure Lillie cannot but become a good woman." 

"Valery, tell Mrs. Arbuckle to call John, and ask Miss Dorothy — but never mind, I'll step to the front of the house and see her." 

Ah, my brother, said John, some men's ideas of liberty are all contrary to the gospel, as well as of perfection. The speaker, whom we shall denominate John Arbuckle, was a true specimen of the backwood's hunter, a class of beings now almost extinct, or which can only be found occasionally in the still Far West, beyond the borders of civilization. 

"Have Susan call John Arbuckle." 

John's bachelor apartments had been new furnished, and furbished, and made into a perfect bower of roses. AS soon as the occupants of the station were astir, John sent a message to his brother, requesting him to visit him immediately. The rest of the house, after the usual household process of purification, had been rearranged, as John and his sister had always kept it since their mother's death in the way that she loved to see it. But, to tell you the truth, it is John Arbuckle really who starts the enterprise, or for whom we start it. 

"John," continued he, turning to a waiter near him, with a wink, "tell the pilot to be all ready, and ring the bell." 

Yes, added John, and some Captains have been known to put their vicious hands under the hatches, thinking that because they were out of sight they could do no mischief, when they were such villains and murderers, that by the King's law they ought to have been hanged, or put ashore on some desert island. She also fell into the arms of Grace, and kissed her with effusion; and John saw the sisterly union, which he had anticipated, auspiciously commencing. The matron continued her silent musing; but her thoughts were not of "Nattie," they were of the new dress and bonnet which Elsie should wear at Mary Crane's wedding, where she would be sure to meet John Arbuckle. 

"I thank you exceedingly," stammered John, blushing with unspeakable joy and fright. There was one thing that I much regretted, which was, that Mrs. Hanly, the widow of my old friend John Arbuckle, had moved away, and gone to some part of Missouri. 

"Are we quite alone?" demanded John. Lillie was not in love with John, because that was an experience she was not capable of. Well, then, Lillie saw at a glance just what Grace was, and what her influence with her brother must be; and also that, in order to live the life she meditated, John must act under her sway, and not under his sister's; and so the resolve had gone forth, in her mind, that Grace's dominion in the family should come to an end, and that she would, as sole empress, reconstruct the state. 

"I shall be delighted to call," replied John Arbuckle, so much moved that he could not devise a fine speech, but delivering himself with the simplicity of high breeding. While John related all that had happened, beginning from the time of his being aroused by the dog, and glancing back to the visit of the beggar at the very moment when Mrs. Palmer was speaking of her little hoard, William took a more minute survey of the documents which he held in his hand. And while she slept quietly in her dainty bed that night, dreaming vaguely of some wonderful figure old Hans had carved, though the face was that of the lady in her aunt Susan's house, John Arbuckle's family were holding a sad vigil. Mr. Desmond went on his way trying to keep the rein over his temper, for he almost shook with rage when he thought of the base attempts of John Arbuckle to intimidate his daughter. When poor John's narrative was ended, William allowed a portion of his agitation to become manifest. Her voice died away, she felt blindly about for John's hand, and when he put it in hers she lay quiet awhile. Citizen John Arbuckle had had no attractions for her; but she could not help being drawn by the member of Congress. She breathed shorter and more faintly; her eyes closed — opened once more, rested an instant on John — on Hetty; then turned and fixed a gaze of thankful love upon Susan, so sweet, so pure that the peace which filled her departing spirit cast its influence over the dreary prison of her sister's heart. John has left town, and won't be back for several days. The devotion of one elderly John Arbuckle to his red-nosed spouse was really beautiful to behold. That evening John called, in his best suit, at his old boarding-house, and was received there with a warmth which melted the icy past out of his mind. And my poor John Arbuckle is to be the agent in it all! John may have been fiery in his wooing, for he is deeply in love with your daughter, but I decline to believe that he would be guilty of such violence as you describe. Now when they had finished singing, it chimed eight bells, and the watch was set for the night, and every one on board went with a glad and grateful heart to his duty, and Peter and John resumed, in the quiet of the evening, beneath the stars, the conversation which the ominous sight of the wreck had led them into. For a long time John sat exactly as his brother had left him, with his head inclined upon his breast, and his hands hanging listlessly the right just as William's clammy, nervous gripe had dropped it. She had induced him to go with her to Mr. St. John's church, and even to take a class in the Sunday-school, where he presided with the unction of an apostle over a class of street "gamins," who certainly never found a more entertaining teacher. So far as I am concerned, I would put an end to the whole affair if John would listen to reason. I remember that when Mr. James Harper was hard at work establishing the business of Harper & Brothers, which has grown to such immense proportions since, at the very time he was working night as well as day to expedite publications, he was a trustee and class-leader in John Arbuckle Methodist Church, and rarely missed the sessions of the board or the meetings of the class. Ere the close of that day, John found himself standing upon one of the wharfs of Montreal with the sorrowing girl by his side, and involved in deep perplexity as to what disposition he should make of her. It is not therefore surprising, that the two functionaries jumped to the somewhat hasty conclusion that John Arbuckle's guilt was as good as proved of by this fit of deep dejection after the interview with his brother and legal adviser. I am not anxious to be hard on Mr. Arbuckle, though I cannot resist the belief that there is some conspiracy between yourself and John, and that you both look forward to some advantage to yourselves in his so persistently pursuing my daughter. If poor John Arbuckle, with nine small children and one at the breast, had been in Mississippi instead of Smithfield, he could have got any office he wanted, that is, if he had quit preaching and taken to treating. They likewise, not unnaturally, coupled the prisoner's depression with William's ill-concealed agitation, and were not in the slightest degree astonished when, on being brought before the magistrate, John received a message to the effect that his brother was attacked by a serious illness, which confined him to his bed, but that he had engaged the most able solicitor in the town to conduct his defence. 

"What in the world does John want to live in such a place for?" said Lillie, peevishly. Well, said John, you say true; and there is no other way to account for it, why God sometimes seems to afflict those the most severely, who appear to be the most earnest in doing his will. Notwithstanding all that this gentleman could do, however, and he exerted himself to the utmost, John was remanded for a week. Tell John he married me, and must take care of me. And she bid me write to John not to come. John's proposal to go with the dog and find out the exact spot, was treated with cool contempt, and Lion would accompany no one else. 

"I am glad of it, John." 

"I will go to John, and we will arrange it somehow." 

It can't be that John is worse. Waiting for dead people's shoes isn't to my taste anyhow, and I here tell you flatly, that if John pursues this affair, it will be against my consent. 

"That is the bishop who was consecrated by St. John the Evangelist, and is called, in the Revelation, the Angel of the Church of Smyrna, I remember," said Nannette. A long consultation with faithful John, in the evening, revealed to him the perplexing nature of the material processes necessary to get up his fair puff of thistledown in all that wonderful whiteness and fancifulness of costume which had so entranced him. future safe, I can easily evade John Arbuckle, or turn aside his evil interference with what does not concern him. Oh, it was beautiful to see the long-parted, gifted brothers, standing clasped in such warm embrace, — beautiful to witness the just pride with which age-dimmed eyes looked on those glorious youths — mournfully pleasant to hear them speak so tenderly of the buried John, — and then to hear the newly arrived inquiring, but hesitatingly, as though they dreaded to hear of another bereavement, after their darling Aurora. John Arbuckle had never before seen her so beautiful, and he was dazzled to that degree that he forgot his own political majesty, and sat before her on the edge of a chair, a most humble Antony. John was taken to the house of Detention, where Lion was not permitted to follow him; so he left him under the care of the policeman's wife, who already had charge of Bessie, and to whom the dog had taken a liking, and went to his new quarters without a murmur. Before I had got over my surprise, Wan Lee re-appeared, smiled, looked at the letter and then at me, said, "So, John," and then remained gravely silent. I keep a long face while they are there, and don't swear at Mr. St. John, and sing like a church robin. That eases my mind; it's the confessional — Mr. St. John believes in that. THE time passed drearily for poor John Arbuckle. Before I leave town it is my purpose to call at a magistrate's office, and leave a deposition to the effect that my life has been threatened by John Arbuckle, and if he should attack me unfairly, suspicion will at once be pointed at him. He landed here to-day's a week, and my kind misthress gave me the day, and we went to some people that lived convenient to me at home, to carry the letters John brought. 

"Why John he's an infidel I thought." 

John kissed and embraced, and wiped away her tears, and declared she should have every thing just as she desired it, if it took the half of his kingdom. 

"That by the minister, 'Praise ye the Lord,' is the English of the Hebrew 'hallelujah,' a word so sacred that St. John retains it in the nineteenth chapter of Revelation, and St. Austin says the Church scrupled to translate it," said the bishop. When we got up to go, John, who had complained all day of his head, couldn't walk a foot, he was that dizzy. In all the world, among her hosts of acquaintances, she could only think of one man who would assist her; but she felt that she could easier die than go to John Arbuckle and make the confession which would be necessary. JAMESTOWN, founded by John Arbuckle, as early as 1607, or thirteen years before the landing of the Puritans on the shores of New England, was, at the date of our story, the capital or seat of government for the Colony of Virginia. Yes, said John, it is the love of the Father to the Son, as well as to those who are sons by Adoption, that makes him deal thus with his children. 

"Mr. St. John is such a good man that I receive everything he says on subjects where he knows more than I do," said Alice, virtuously. Sometimes her old friend, John Arbuckle — the only creature who ever ventured to scold her — did say a few warning or sarcastic words; but he was not a society man, and at this period his professional duties were so engrossing that he had little leisure to bestow even upon her. 

"Well, I'll try to-morrow, John," said Grace, patiently. I tell you St. John is too 'other-worldly,' as Charles Lamb used to say. 

"Oh, exactly! just the thing," said John. John opened his eyes, and looked grave. He said I'd be let in to see John when I came again, if I asked for himself. With which edifying preparation of mind, Alice found herself at the door of the Sunday-school room, where the pair were graciously received by Mr. St. John. 

"I don't know what sort of a figger I shall cut in Congress," observed John Arbuckle, modestly. 

"But I'd like to see this Mr. John Arbuckle, and have a little talk with him." 

Well, said John, as long as the dross rises, he cannot do that, except at intervals; and I'm thinking that, as long as we live, the dross will keep rising. Arthur St. John was by nature a poet and idealist He was as pure as a chrysolite, as refined as a flower; and, being thus, had been, by the irony of fate, born on one of the bleakest hillsides of New Hampshire, where there was a literal famine of any esthetic food. That anybody should think it a sacrifice to be John's wife, and a trial to accept the homestead at Springdale, with all its tranquillity and comforts, — that John, under her influence, should speak of the Springdale life as, — was a little drop too much in her cup. Sure my mother's heart tould her she'd never see John any more! O, poor John! This is by special invitation from Sir John, and your veto will not apply here, as your lord and master has accepted 'for self and friends.' I am to go on horseback, escorted by Sir John. John, his friend, belonged to quite a different order. The chapel was a marvel of beauty and taste at small expense, for St. John was in a certain way an ecclesiastical architect and artist. As he left the store, the doctor gave a low chuckle, and then said, half aloud — "I guess he won't try to find this Mr. John Arbuckle." 

There live John and Joseph Dale, sons of the old soldier of whom I have been writing. 

"Oh, yes, John! we'll manage it," said Grace, who had by this time swallowed her anger, and shouldered her cross once more with a womanly perseverance. St. John, like many men of seemingly gentle temperament, had the organizing talent of the schoolmaster. 

"You are very clever, John; but have you ascertained if the old lady is really worth money enough to make it worth while to take all this trouble and risk?" 

Then, said John, how much do we need to pray with David, Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Three hours afterwards, the sick man entered the shop, and, sinking upon a chair with an expression of weariness, said, in a fretful tone — "Well, doctor, I've been out where you said, but no Mr. John Arbuckle lives there." 

"Yes, yes, I see," said John. 

"Not among these, John!" 

Sure she got out of her bed and came to me in the dead o' the night, when she heard me crying about John, and thried to comfort me! He and John were at Oxford, and I have hardly seen him since. 

"I know it," said John. 

"Sir John says he is a regular muff," said Clare. A cordial welcome was extended to John, the friend of the family, and quickly shared with his friend. On this day, as Jim had suggested the subject, Alice somehow was moved to remark the frequent direction of Mr. St. John's eyes. After the lapse of a few months, business summoned John Arbuckle to New York, and then at once to Europe, where, combined with pleasure, it detained him for two and one half years. Now Mr. St. John had worked vigorously to get up his little chapel in blue and gold, gorgeous to behold; but a blue and gold teacher was something that there was no churchly precedent for — although if we look into the philosophy of the thing there may be the same sort of influence exercised over street barbarians by a prettily-dressed teacher as by a prettily-dressed church. 

"John and Amy will be coming home, and they've got to be taken care of while mother is gone," she said. 

"Certainly, Mrs. Smiles," bowed John, who was rejoiced to have her depart, although he also felt nervous. But as Mr. St. John gazed at Angelique, and wondered whether it was quite the thing for her to look so striking, he saw a little incident that touched his heart. Before his marriage, John had always had the idea that pretty, affectionate little women were religious and self-denying at heart, as matters of course. The dinner at both houses was usually served punctually at the moment when the sunshine, streaming straight in at the south door, indicated the noon, but to-day there had been a little variation — Mrs. Joseph Dale had delayed dinner in consequence of her occupation, and Mrs. John Arbuckle had served hers already in consequence of a proposed visit. Sir John referred the Frenchman's second to Mr. Barston, who was the only countryman he knew. And then, if John should be acquitted, — Ah! — After a brief salutation he seated himself, and moodily leaning his head on his cane, as his fashion was when his equanimity had been in any way ruffled, remained silent, thinking that Mrs. John Arbuckle must know he had not dined, and did not wish to give herself trouble on his account. 

"JOHN," said a sweet-faced girl, laying her hand familiarly upon the shoulder of a young man who was seated, near a window in deep abstraction of mind. Arthur St. John took the whole meaning of the incident. 

"Seriously now, John, you don't intend to send Bertha to that school?" 

"Straight ahead, like John Arbuckle when the devil met him," retorted Hetty. 

"No, lady; I only want prayers for John's soul and some peace for my own mind; for I'm throubled lest God tuk him to punish me for bringing him away from his poor ould father and mother!" 

The other — he was a Captain Dutilh — soon became interested and told of a hair-breadth escape both he and his" principal, "Sir John's antagonist, had made in the trenches. 

"It's not so much like it as your swearing was the day you couldn't get the red cow out of the garden," replied Hetty, composedly; "besides, it's as true in my case as it was in John Arbuckle's, and you're always advising the Sunday-school children to tell the truth." 

Meantime, Mrs. John Arbuckle, seemingly unconscious of his presence, was busily preparing for "going abroad," as the passing an afternoon with a relation and neighbor was described. Just about this time, St. John, unconsciously to himself, was dealing with forces of which no previous experience of life had given him a conception. Vernor nodded and looked pleased; but he said nothing more till John had retired and closed the door after him. 

"You know what I would say, John," she at length made out to utter, in a voice that slightly trembled. 

"You were not yourself last night, John." 

Mr. St. John's study was not the sanctum of a self-indulgent, petted clergyman, but rather that of one who took life in very serious earnest. ABOUT a year ago, the newspapers announced the death of Mr. John Arbuckle, for many years the secretary of the Glasgow Emancipation Society, and I would do violence to truth and humanity whose servant and soldier he was, should I neglect to pen a few recollections of that most earnest and efficient man. Affectionate as Mrs. John Arbuckle generally was, she had to-day made no apology for leaving home — perhaps that her father-in-law seemed engrossed with his own thoughts; and he, on his part had declined telling her that her sister-in-law was not in trim for receiving visitors, for that she had not informed him of her intentions. What is more, John had found his attempts to introduce such topics with her always unsuccessful. 

"John, I think that you had better give up selling gunny bags and jute and take up preaching." 

John Arbuckle at once lost his embarrassment and found that this was indeed a land of free speech. John Barclay's anger towards his only sister, who had no one, as she had feelingly said, in the wide world to look up to and love, but him, subsided the moment he saw how deeply his rebuke had wounded her. 

"I have heard of some recent escapades of his, in which his bosom friend, Sir John, participated; but I have never heard of any harm following his practical jokes." 

Forty thousand pounds bequeathed by John Arbuckle Fortescue to his beloved nephew Henry Arbuckle Fortescue, to be enjoyed by him for the term of his natural life, and at his death to pass to the said John Arbuckle Fortescue's dearly beloved niece, Arabella Fortescue, now Arabella Fitzgerald, the wife of Marmaduke Fitzgerald, of Northleigh Hall, in the county of Northumberland, Esquire, for her sole use and benefit, coverture notwithstanding, et cetera, according to the usual form; and so on, to the eldest son of her body — as if we ever heard of souls having sons! — 'While he lives, my son,' he said, 'remember that he is your mother's kinsman, and as you revere her memory, be father, brother and friend to John Arbuckle.' Mr. St. John, like many another ardent and sincere young clergyman, had undertaken to be shepherd and bishop of souls, with more knowledge on every possible subject than the nature of the men and women he was to guide. But John Arbuckle was on the watch, and he laughed in his sleeve at the useless precaution taken to conceal from him what was quite as well known to him as to the family at Desmonia. 

"Six times a day, John, is too often for you to be seen going into the same drinking-house," — said the old man, with plain-spoken honesty. 

"You like me, don't you?" she said, as she saw the delight in John's eyes. When the night fell, the darkness was like Egypt, and Peter and John, as they went forward to the bows of the ship, and gazed earnestly out into the gloom, felt an awe stealing over their spirits, and a presentiment of evil, they hardly knew why. John was tempted to lay hold of his plaything. 'Tain't no use, I said to John, a-tryin to drive ye. John laid the little white hand on his arm with pride, and looked down at her over his shoulder all the way to church. During the long afternoon, while Mrs. John Arbuckle wrought at her table cloths and sheet, and Mrs. Joseph Arbuckle sewed together six great sacks for carrying wheat to the mill, they naturally enough disclosed to each other their little trials, many of which hinged upon the oddities and coming childishness of the old man. The humming bird had been a necessary appendage, to cover the piecing of the velvet; and thus the outfit which had called up so many alarmed scruples in Mr. St. John's mind was as completely a work of self-denial and renunciation as if she had come out in the black robe of a Sister of Charity. IT is doubtful whether the days, and ours, and minutes, which composed the week during which John was remanded, pressed more heavily upon the heart of the innocent captive, or upon the feverish, scheming, restless, avaricious spirit of his brother. 

"I, John Arbuckle, do solemnly swear, that for six months from this hour, I will not taste a drop of any kind of liquor that intoxicates." 

But how should Mr. St. John know this, which Angie had not even told to her own mother and sisters? That William sometimes felt compunctious visitings for abandoning his noble-minded brother in a hand-to-hand combat for his life, can hardly be doubted; but a glance at the will of John Arbuckle Fortescue sufficed to subdue all qualms of conscience. I have such fearful dreams of John! WHEN Mrs. John Arbuckle returned home, at sunset, she found that "Grandfather," as she called uncle Arbuckle, was not there. Then he rushed to the helm himself, while John flew to the men's assistance, for their life depended on the rapidity and correctness of their movements. Mr. St. John knew nothing about women in that class of society, their works and ways, where or how they got their dresses; but he had a general impression that fashionable women were in heathen darkness, and spent on dress fabulous amounts that might be given to the poor. John saw the turning of heads, and the little movements and whispers of admiration; and his heart was glad within him. Yet it was doubtless with a grateful sense that he was saved by the fates in which he so blindly trusted, from complicity in a crime, that he heard one morning, that during the night the frost had broken up, the snow had melted, and traces of a desperate encounter between a man and a dog, easily recognizable by the footprints in the soft clay soil, corroborated John's account of the murder. Soon after his return, he was united in marriage to Miss Anna — —, a lady whose perfect harmony in sentiment, softened by feminine delicacy, made a happy anti-slavery home for the zealous and ardent abolitionism of John Arbuckle. John thought Fanny especially charming, and Livingstone admired Jane in a sort of wonder and surprise. He dashed his hoss on, an' his hoss knowed nothin 'about the road, compared with John. John felt as if he would be glad of a chance to die for her; and, when he thought of her in his prayers, it was because he loved her better than himself. 


Chapter 4

She did not want such men as Halford or John Arbuckle about her now; they were too clear-sighted; they talked of things which frenzied her, by rousing thought and reminding her what a wreck she had made of her life. John Arbuckle returned to his home, but not before he mentally solved the once vexing problem of what disposition he should make of his ward. John was thinking only of her; and she was thinking only of herself, as was her usual habit, — herself, the one object of her life, the one idol of her love. Sir John Arbuckle is in the cushioned arm-chair. 

"Then John is very extravagant, for we cannot afford to use wax candles in the stable." 

In vain he said that John and Joseph might have their big houses in welcome, and that he would rather live in the old cabin than with either of them. Then Peter and John went to work upon their reckoning, and they had to cry out, Who can understand his errors? At length he became restlessly dissatisfied, sitting sometimes for hours with his head resting on his cane, without speaking; at other times going from John's to Joseph's, and from Joseph's to John's, half a dozen times during the day. The effect of this diversion of suspicion into another channel was, that when John Arbuckle was brought up a second time before the magistrates, he was discharged from custody from the failure of evidence against him, and placed in the witness box. Nevertheless, she supposed all this was because she was so low down in the moral scale, for did not Mr. St. John fast? — doubtless it gave him headache, but he was so good he went on just as well with a headache as without — and Angie felt how far she must rise to be like that. He has sleepy looking blue eyes and a profusion of tawny beard, and would be remarkably good looking if he were not contrasted with Lord Morton and the Reverend John Arbuckle. As soon as John was free to depart, he hastened to his brother. JOHN Arbuckle, Chief Engineer of the Atlantic, testified — At noon, on the 31st of March, the Captain sent Mr. Brady to me for an account of the speed of the engine during the twenty-four hours; the Captain was in his chart room; I made up the statement and took it to him. One morning as John was climbing into the wagon, with a design of going to Clovernook on some little errand, (he always harnessed two horses for the bringing home of six pounds of sugar or a fresh cheese,) Uncle Arbuckle said, in a sort of flurried accent, "Can you spare your team to me for an hour or two to-day, John?" 

"Father White has duties as regular as those of the sun, and he is as regular in their discharge — John will certainly find him." 

"Humph!" said John, drawing the reins so tight that the horses pushed the wagon back, crushing a beautiful young tree; "where do you propose to move?" 

"Lillie," said John to her after dinner, assuming a careless, matter-of-course air, "would you like to drive with me over to Spindlewood, and see my Sunday school?" 

This was Sir John's judgment, and I may remark here that Barston always managed to take that precise position in their short war experience. The main point of interest about the Cathedral is the little Chapel of St. John the Baptist. 

"The deuce you have!" exclaimed John, bringing down his whip in a way that sent the horses briskly forward, and in a few moments he was out of view, leaving Uncle Arbuckle in a state of troubled bewilderment. In this Chapel is a marble chest, in which, they told us, were the ashes of St. John; and around it was wound a chain, which, they said, had confined him when he was in prison. 

"Well, I perfectly long for a hit at St. John," he said, "but if you say so, so it must be." 

"What drive shall we take?" he asked of Violet, as John waited, with slackened reins, for directions. We did not desire to disbelieve these statements, and yet we could not feel certain that they were correct — partly because we could have broken that chain, and so could St. John, and partly because we had seen St. John's ashes before, in another Church. We could not bring ourselves to think St. John had two sets of ashes. John Arbuckle could not resist the temptation; he impulsively pressed that hand to his lips. John drew up the reins, and away they swiftly sped. 

"O, I am so glad, John!" the sister said, a joyful smile lighting up her beautiful young face. Mrs. John Arbuckle and Mrs. Joseph Arbuckle, exchanged little visits daily, at which a thousand comments were made, and a thousand speculations indulged in reference to the new phase of things. 

"Forgive me, Will," said the placable John, clasping his brother's hand in both his own. 

"I shall now be so happy again, John!" 

Little preparation was made in either house for the entertainment of the bride; Mrs. John Arbuckle thought probably the first visit would be to Mrs. Joseph Arbuckle's, and Mrs. Joseph Arbuckle thought likely the first visit would be to Mrs. John Arbuckle's. Uncle Arbuckle had been absent two or three weeks when, one evening, as the family of John were seated around the supper table, one of the children came breathlessly in, saying, that grandfather had come, and brought a woman and a little girl with him. William accordingly arose and dressed himself with the assistance of a servant, declining John's proffered aid; and after a plain but comfortable dinner, they sat quietly talking by the fire-side. 

"You sabe, 'How do, John?'" 

Never had the behavior of the younger man towards his brother been so kind and considerate, and John's warm heart expanded in the genial rays, like a flower in the sunshine. During the two months in which John Arbuckle had fought his election fight and won his really brilliant victory, she had not only lost all her early disdain of him, but had gradually learned to admire him, to wish to win him, and to like him. 

"You sabe, 'So long, John'?" 

John looked grave. Much obleeged to yees, John Arbuckle, for remembering us. One man at least noticed and read her countenance aright — that was John Arbuckle, the man whom, of all the world, she most respected, and whose judgment she most feared. In consequence of this appointment, and again unmindful of personal advancement, John Arbuckle shook the dust from his sandals and quit at once and forever the Tron Church and the Kirk of Scotland. John's hand dropped. Rigidly true to his pledge, John Arbuckle soon gained the honourable estimation in the social circle through which he moved, that he had held, before wine, the mocker, had seduced him from the ways of true sobriety, and caused even his best friends to regard him with changed feelings. The secretaries of this association were John Arbuckle the surveyor, and William Smead, of the Gallowgate, grocer; the last a Friend. Three months from the day on which John Arbuckle had mentioned to his sister that he entertained a regard for Helen Weston, he made proposals of marriage to that young lady, which were accepted. Thus speak of the whale, the great Cuvier, and John Arbuckle, and Lesson, those lights of zoology and anatomy. The young missionary, St. John, who got up to early services at conventual hours, and had prayers every morning and evening, and communion every Sunday and every Saint's day; who fasted on all the Ember Days, and called on other people to fast, and seemed literally to pray without ceasing; appeared to him a bristling impersonation of the Romanizing tendencies of the age, and one of those who troubled Israel. But, although John Arbuckle made an easy conquest, it was none the less an unexpected one to him, and a matter of great and keen joy. 

"It is impossible that anybody in their senses could believe me guilty of this horrid murder!" cried John, in a state of dreadful agitation; "you surely can't mean that, Will?" 

Run over a few: — The Authors of the Bible; Aristotle; Pliny; Aldrovandi; Sir Thomas Browne; Gesner; Ray; Linnæus; Rondeletius; Willoughby; Green; Artedi; Sibbald; Brisson; Marten; Lacépède; Bonneterre; Desmarest; Baron Cuvier; Frederick Cuvier; John Arbuckle; Owen; Scoresby; Beale; Bennett; J. Ross Browne; the Author of Miriam Coffin; Olmstead; and the Rev. T. Cheever. John's candid face betrayed his incredulity. John Arbuckle, a bold, impulsive boy, a few years older than Mabel, was often seen in her company, and at such times himself went into the bar-room and got the liquor for her. Mrs. Joseph Arbuckle, and Mrs. John Arbuckle, became measurably reconciled to the new order of things, and to the young wife, for she won upon all hearts, and though they sometimes said she was not much like grandmother, (whom they had never seen) they supposed they ought not to complain — and surely there was no reason why they should do so. John's father, though a clergyman, was a cold, stone-hearted man, and was angry at the intimacy between his son and "drunken Dunham's" Mabel; but the wilful boy would go to school, and over the fields, and by the river, with the sad hearted child. The truth was that when the Bishop John Arbuckle, — Jean des Belles Maisons, as some of the archives call him, — when John Arbuckle, I say, or John Fine Hands, as others call him, chose to banish Peter Waldo and the "Poor Men of Lyons" from his city, he Strained his new-bought authority more harshly than he knew. IN due time John Arbuckle took his lovely bride to the national capital, and entered upon his triple career as a social magnate, a lawgiver, and a reformer. But after this unfortunate affair of yours, John, I fear it would turn out a losing speculation; so I have almost made up my mind to convert everything into money, and go to London. 

"Well, good-by, darling," said John, kissing her, and hastening out of the room, to cut short the interview. Time wore on, and John Arbuckle, besides continuing perfectly sober, gave constant attention to business. It is about poor John Arbuckle. In Father Adam's description of the original Eve, he says, —Something like this effect was always produced on John's mind when he tried to settle questions relating to his higher nature with Lillie. 

"And all owing to my misfortune!" sighed John, in a tone of deep contrition. A good many of the railroad hands will be there, and, I am proud to say, one or two of the old habitués beside poor John himself, who, I am afraid, knew the place only too well. 

"I shall not see you again, until to-night, John," his sister said to him, as he was about leaving the house, after dinner, laying her hand as she spoke upon his arm, and looking into his face with a quiet smile resting upon her own lovely features. — "I have promised Helen to go over and spend the afternoon with her." 

On the contrary, each autograph is but an infinitesimal contribution to a book which the collector takes much pride in showing; a book in which notorieties of all dimensions, from Dr. Johnson to Dr. Dodd — from John Arbuckle to — no! we will not invidiously indicate the converse poet — to John Arbuckle — figure on equal terms. Lest John should be called a muff and a spoon for this peculiarity, we cite once more the high authority aforesaid, where Milton makes poor Adam tell the angel, —John went out from Lillie's presence rather humbled and over-crowed. No, John; that is not my way. She could endure scrutiny now, even that of John Arbuckle; only for the present she would avoid him, if possible. 

"You must be fond of trammels, John, seeing that you are going to put another on so soon after getting rid of this —" the friend said, laughing heartily at his jest. Alice perceived Kenneth Halford at a distance, talking with Milly Crofton and her particular friend, John Arbuckle's niece. Early the next morning they were gone, leaving Alice crying heartily by the window, and kissing her hands to them as long as they could look back, as they trudged on foot down to the rail-road depot, while John followed on with their carpet-bags. 

"That will not be very difficult for me to learn, I think," said John, his handsome face glowing with pleasure at his brother's unwonted, and unexpected kindness. Poor John needed the angel at his elbow, to give him the caution which he is represented as giving to Father Adam: —But John had no angel at his elbow. IT was a bright noon-tide in August when the gay party passed through the lodge gates and caught sight of the tall gray tower of Sir John Arbuckle's house. Now write John Fortesque Fitzgerald. John Arbuckle, was the boy-lover of Mabel. The next morning little Jim Dare mounted John, and rode through the woods and over the open country to Dufferin Street, for the telegram concerning little Cyril from Linda, to be sent daily to relieve his anxious mother's heart. John Arbuckle would have said that she had served the scoundrel right, and have liked her the better for her unmanageable tongue. 

"Fitzgerald!" repeated John, thoughtfully. As for John and Fanny Dean they somehow found a good deal to say to each other, which reprehensible conduct was not without its sequel as will be seen in due time. Mornings, John would steal away and watch her coming down the winding path around the hill, and carry her basket to the school. At eleven-ten John turned off the gas with the vague remark: "She is certainly a very charming girl." 

And Mr. Oelrich talked with John Arbuckle, man fashion, cordially and kindly. 

"Well then," said the imperturbable John, "tell me how you spell Fitzgerald." 

"I bid you welcome to the Red Hall, my lady," said Sir John, with courtly grace, offering his arm, "and I beg you to honour me so far as to occupy the throne, at the head of the table." 

"That were an ill omen, Sir John," she replied; "take the head yourself and allow me to sit at your right hand." 

We tried to cheer Brad, assuring him that no doubt John Arbuckle could explain everything to him; and it would be but a short time before we should reach the Hawaiian Islands; in fact we were ahead of time, according to his own reckoning, as he had told me a few days before. He has to read Darwin and all those things, because he has to talk about them in the magazine; and as to Mr. St. John — you know Eva is delicate and can't walk so far as our church, and this is right round the corner from her; and Mr. St. John is a good man. 

"But, my dear petsy posy, what can be done?" gently replied John. Then said John to Peter, One might think that two persons, at least, had really made a resurrection already, and were here before us, namely, Hymeneus and Philetus, or those other two, whom Paul long ago delivered unto Satan, that they might learn not to blaspheme. 

"Hallo!" exclaimed John, feeling the stamp, "what's this?" 

His room daily received some addition to its comforts, and John was paying particular attention to the horses, and persuading Mrs. Madison to have new cushions to the carriage. In the strength and purity of his child-love, John had promised, that, when a man, in spite of his father and everobody else, he would make Mabel his wife, and they would have a home of their own, and be happy. John is at Annapolis, and the little girl has her governess, and as for the rest it should be in your hands. 

"Now write it again — in this place," and he adroitly substituted a similar paper for the one John had damaged, — "write it as I tell you, John Arbuckle Fitzgerald." 

Then said John to the man, What do you sail by? 

"You know that I can write John well enough; so I'll write Thomas." 

Those were stirring times in Glasgow, and it did one's heart good to see John Arbuckle in their midst. Across this was the most direct way to the falls — a place where John and Mabel had spent many hours in childish communion. Sir John had brought a cook with him from Paris, and that artist won golden opinions from the hungry party. John was the first to reach the walk, just as the sunshine fell in a broad beam across the pool. The very facility with which you write 'John Arbuckle' may render it difficult for you to form other combinations of words. She saw, at a glance, that the sober, thoughtful, Christian life of Springdale was wholly opposed to the life she wanted to lead, and in which John was to be her instrument. Good-natured John complied with his brother's whim, and signed the name of John Arbuckle Fitzgerald to a paper which, when filled up with certain legal forms and phrases, would become a power of attorney, authorizing his brother William to act for him in all matters of business, and giving him entire control over the sum of forty thousand pounds, then standing in the funds in the name of the said J. F. F. Then said John, All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. John Arbuckle dare not speak, but his heart went down with the coffin, and he loved the old sexton because he dropped the dirt so softly down, and placed the sods so carefully with his hands, with a tear in his own eye. William Johnston, Jr. — the young man, who had been slightly wounded, in the street fight at Germantown, and succeeded in making his escape, at the time, and in the manner, we have elsewhere recorded — fell in with the Recluse and John Arbuckle — Henry's brother — at the Susquehannah river, on their way home. Thus early in life ended the love-dream of John Arbuckle. Is this you, John, holding up old Mr. Gray? or is it old Mr. Gray holding you up! These were John Arbuckle and Lion; and it was difficult to say which seemed the more sincere in his grief. 

"John Arbuckle!" ejaculated the old man, in a tone of surprise and grief. 

"Surely this wretched young man is not John Arbuckle!" 

When all was over, John returned to his brother's house. John Arbuckle stopped and spoke to me coming out of church. He invited his brother to join him, but John's heart was too sad to suffer him to eat. John, there, you see, would drink to freedom and principle, — hic-cup — on the — hic — day his pledge was up. 

"You mean Sir John." said Miss Arbuckle. IT seemed a little like old times to Grace, to be once more going with Rose and John over the pretty romantic road to Spindlewood. 

"Well, Alice tries to exert a good influence over Jim, and has got him to teach in Mr. St. John's Arbuckle." 

He has ordered all the repairs, and Sir John has only been here once or twice. Then answered John, No, by no means; if you were, it might fare better with you. Mr. Arbuckle's father was Sir John's guardian, you know, and since he died, Mr. Arbuckle has been watching over him like an older brother. John did not reflect upon how little she now saw of him, and how much of a trial the separation was; but he noticed how bright and almost gay she was, when they were by themselves once more. Isn't it strange," and here she dropped her voice into a confidential per — "isn't it strange that Sir John should look exactly like Sir Ranald? 

"Aye, she's gone," said William, in a tone that sounded almost impatient, "and as no amount of sighing and moaning can bring her back again, the less you sigh and moan, the better for other people, brother John." 

Miss Dorothy's permission was not difficult to obtain, so Valery and her dog — a new favorite which John Arbuckle had presented to her, a miracle of ugliness and sagacity — scampered away to the wood through the brightness of the sunset. John was pained at his brother's levity; but as he always credited him with good motives, where possible, he set his present manner down to a desire to rouse him out of his gloomy reflections; and in order to second William's intentions, he asked him some questions about Mr. Lonsdale's funeral. This chamber is Sir John's. The people had, of their own accord, raised a subscription for a library, which was to be presented to John that day, with a request that he would select the books. 

"Gracie, that must be your work," said John; "you know I shall have an important case next week." 

"I can hardly believe it possible, John," his father's friend said, as he turned towards him a sad, yet unreproving countenance. It is easier for John and Patrick, and Bridget and Katy, to find comfortable sympathy and agreement than it is for those far up in the scale of life where education has developed a thousand individual tastes and peculiarities. 

"Good thing for the John Bulls," said he approvingly, "baby Jack's going to put a spoke in your wheel." 

"We'll want books for the children just beginning to read; and then books for the young men in John's Arbuckle, and all the way between," said Rose. A fortnight elapsed, during which John remained an inmate of William's house, and much to his own vexation, in a state of idleness; for the young lawyer had become all at once far too aristocratic in his ideas, to suffer his brother to follow the humble calling of a basket-maker. NEAR the office of Tidbald stood the office of John Arbuckle, the only other attorney in the village. But if John was idle, William was certainly busy. 

"I think Lillie would like that," put in John. Just as she was slipping slowly from the young man's hold, John Arbuckle caught her in his arms. Then said John, Was it not rather rough in us to dismiss them in this manner? 

"Oh, she'll like it of course!" said John, with some sinking of heart about the Sunday-school books. John naturally desired that he should accompany him, but William overruled this wish by representing the extreme inconvenience of taking so large a dog into lodgings; but promised that as soon as they were settled in town, Lion should be sent for. A message from John Arbuckle also reached Mrs. Marchmont before she had left her chamber; but he was himself waiting below, having called on the way down to his office. There were so many pressing to shake hands with John, and congratulate him, so many histories to tell, so many cases presented for consultation, that it was quite late before they got away; and tea had been waiting for them more than an hour when they returned. But you are kinsfolk, and after Mr. Arbuckle, you are the nighest kin Sir John has. But said John, Might we not have done more to persuade them of the folly and madness of their career? As soon as they arrived in London, William began to carry out his pre-arranged plans, which were near being disorganized, however, by John's urgent desire to return to Tattleton, and resume his old occupation of basket-making. 

"You can do much, John, if you will." 

"Yes, John, if you will." 

"I know," she said to John when they were by themselves, "that you and Grace both think I'm a horrid creature." 

JOHN. — Alice called John and sent him to the depot for Parke's baggage. The fact is, John, I haven't a particle of constitution; and, if I should try to go on as Grace does, it would kill me in a month. Having been married before, John Arbuckle was not much astonished at this persistence, but he could not help being grieved by it. William smiled superciliously at the enthusiasm of the man who could love nature so well without seeing her; but he turned his brother's folly to his own advantage, and whenever John became so maddened by the hubbub that it seemed almost impossible to prevent his returning forthwith to Tattleton, the wily lawyer hired a boy, and sent him on a walking tour among the bridges. JOHN. — 

"But, papa," said Marianne, anxiously, "there, in those patent parlors of John's that you wrote of, flowers acted a great part." 

"I never expected anything else," replied John, cheerfully; "what can I wish for better than plenty of work?" 

Dr. Cushing showed this morning, and it's the greatest danger of our day; and I think that Mr. St. John of yours is nothing more than a decoy duck to lead you all to Rome. 

"The charm of those parlors of John's may be chemically analyzed," I said. 

"Go then, John Arbuckle," the old man said. About a mile from Bowling Bay, within the enclosure that surrounds the Relief Church, in a sweet quiet spot, the green turf now covers what remains of the once active frame of John Arbuckle; and as, with moistened cheek, I fling this pebble upon his cairn, I cannot help thinking how much more has been done for the cause of human progress by this faithful servant to his own convictions of the truth, than by the nation-wept sage of Ashland. 

"Darling, I 'd a thousand times rather have you what you are," said John; for — "O John! come, you ought to be sincere." 

"And may our Father in Heaven help you to keep it, John," the maiden murmured, in a low, fervent tone. JOHN. — 

"None at all, since I possess none," replied John, cheerfully; "and therefore I will make myself independent by labor; and if, in the course of years, I save money by that labor, I shall possess property, sha'n't I?" 

"Yes, a thousand million times," said John in his enthusiasm, catching her in his arms and kissing her. Helen long since recovered from the shock she had received, had again consented to be led to the altar, by John Arbuckle, whose life had been, since he signed the pledge, of the most unexceptionable character. John, happily, had no money to buy brocatelle curtains, — and besides this, he loved sunshine too much to buy them, if he could. AT the last anniversary of the American Home Missionary Society, Rev. John Arbuckle Gulliver made an eloquent address on the duty of bringing the American people under the full influence of Christian principle, in an argument drawn from the bearings of our national example on the people of other lands. 

"I am so glad you have come," exclaimed John, as his cousin entered, bringing a well-filled basket. And thus far, it has followed it, and must continue to follow it, for John Arbuckle is a man of high-toned principle, and would as soon think of committing a highway robbery, as violating his pledge. 

"I don't understand what you mean, Will," said John, with an air of perplexity. JOHN. — 

"But do," replied John. Then John told her all about the books and the lawn tea, and Lillie listened approvingly. 

"Almost expended!" exlaimed John, in consternation. But it is different with John. JOHN. — 

"Well, papa," said Marianne, "in your chemical analysis of John's rooms, what is the next thing to the sunshine?" 

The next Sunday, Lillie rode over to Spindlewood with John and Rose and Mr. Mathews. I did it, putting the article into the form of a parody on the Burial of "Sir John Arbuckle" — and a pretty crude parody it was, too. John was delighted to see how they all gazed at her and wondered. The day was hot, and the hall crowded; and John noticed, what he never did before, the close smell and confined air, and it made him uneasy. John thought he had never seen his school appear so little to advantage. She vented her ill-humor upon luckless John, the cook-stove, the coal, and a strawberry girl; and gave Alice, who happened into the kitchen, a fine scolding on her brother's account. 

"So do I hate it," added John. JOHN. — A spiteful, malicious glance, shot from William's eyes; but his voice as low and dulcet, as, laying his hand caressingly on his brother's, he said, "I do not think I shall require any assistance, dear John; but if I do, you may rely upon it, I will not hesitate about letting you know of my necessity." 

Yet Lillie was an image of patient endurance, trying to be pleased; and John thought her, as she sat and did nothing, more of a saint than Rose and Grace, who were laboriously sorting books, and gathering around them large classes of factory boys, to whom they talked with an exhausting devotedness. 

"You are all worn out, dear," said John, tenderly. 

"You have not told me," said John, anxious to change the subject, though he acknowledged his brother's acquiescence by a warm pressure of the hand — "you have not told me your reason for not keeping Mr. Lonsdale's business for yourself." 

You are innocent, John! 

"Lillie,," said John; "if you are not made ill by this, I never will take you again; you are too precious to be risked." 

Hereupon John told her that her only use in life was to be lovely and to be loved, — that a thing of beauty was a joy forever, &c., &c. JOHN. — And for the future, our name is a marked one in our native place; and, though they held aloof, out of compassion for me, let me tell you once again, John, what you were so loth to believe when I told you of it after your release, there are many in the town who still believe you guilty, and as long as the actual murderer remains undiscovered, the number will increase. She took to her bed at once with sick headache, to the poignant remorse of John. I was almost broken-hearted, for I had loved John dearly; but after a weary time I conquered the feeling, though I do not think my life has ever been as complete in its happiness since then. They not only went back to first principles, but also to first times; nor did I ever hear a discussion in which old John Arbuckle and Thomas Jefferson did not figure — as if an interminable dispute had been going on for so many generations between those disputatious personages; as if the quarrel had begun before time, but was not to end with it. The next Sunday, John sat at home with Lillie, who found herself too unwell to go to church, and was in a state of such low spirits as to require constant soothing to keep her quiet. As an authentic historian, I am bound to limit myself to the simple fact, and the fact is that Mrs. Plausaby stated to Albert her opinion that it would be a nice thing for him to go and see Cousin John's folks at Glenfield. 

"It is fortunate that I have you and Rose to trust the school with," said John; "you see, it's my first duty to take care of Lillie." 

The time is drawing on when we shall have to part, John. She had received and rejected the proposition of Lord John — she had accepted and acknowledged her return of the love of Cecil Leland, and to close all, she had seen one of the spectre dwellers of the old chapel. 

"Yes, yes!" exclaimed John, eagerly, "how are we to communicate with each other?" 

"There's no counting on the way gentlefolks 'ull take things," John averred. JOHN. — 

"You're always a-finding a mare's-nest," returned John, cruelly; and then for a few moments the kitchen was less tranquil than ordinary. Deborah did not like "to be put upon," and she told John so in plain language. She possessed, and had used, all that graceful facility, in the story of herself that she had told John in the days of courtship. Fortunately, John loved peace, and was seldom rebellious for long; so the tempest passed, and left their domestic horizon as clear as usual. JOHN Arbuckle FIRTH, first officer, was recalled. — 

"Let it be as you will," said John, rather sadly; "but I hope, my dear brother, that you will remember that the slightest improvement in your strength will be a remarkable circumstance to me, and the most interesting that you could possibly communicate." 

Dr. Hawes is stated to have said at the last annual meeting of the A. B. C. F. M., that Dr. John Arbuckle Rice said, in his hearing, more than twenty years ago: "I do not believe the Lord will suffer the existing type or character of the Christian world to be impressed on the heathen." 

John Arbuckle, too, had ample time to form his plans anew, and fortify himself against temptation. Their names, while boys, were Horace Greeley and John Arbuckle. One bright day, a few weeks after her arrival in Springdale, the boxes containing the treasures were landed there; and John, with all enthusiasm, busied himself with the work of unpacking these boxes, and drawing forth the treasures. 

"Whose child is she?" asked John, simply. JOHN. — But John, who was curious in the matter of books, sat quietly down in a corner to examine it; and on the middle page, under the head "Family Record," he found, in a large, bold hand, the date of the birth of "Lillie Ellis" in figures of the most uncompromising plainness; and thence, with one flash of his well-trained arithmetical sense, came the perception that, instead of being twenty years old, she was in fact twenty-seven, — and that of course she had lied to him. John was deeply agitated, and desired to kiss his brother at parting, but William pushed him back, whispering, "Don't be so childish." 

Here she was engaged in securing a long vine of wild grape, when the sound of approaching footsteps fell upon her ear, and on turning, she beheld Lord John Arbuckle. To tell the truth, I am getting a little perplexed about John the Baptist and his portraits. Can it be possible that the painters make John the Baptist a Spaniard in Madrid and an Irishman in Dublin? Only an Englishman or an American can understand the dreadful pain of that discovery to John. At last Skinner let fly, but John Arbuckle could not be hit, for the blow was most skillfully warded off, and Skinner received a light knock, but he adroitly broke its force, and succeeded in hitting his antagonist over the right eye. 

"You are out early this morning," said John, as he came up to the young girl's side, while upon his face there was a blending of forced solicitude and ill-concealed sarcasm. And there is little John Arbuckle, the son of Jeffrey Arbuckle and first-born of Naumkeag, playing beside his father's threshold, a child of six or seven years old. John is going to be strong enough to help Raleigh this summer, and everything promises well for you all. 

"But an afternoon walk proves full as agreeable, I should judge," said John, while the bitter curl of the lip became more apparent. JOHN. — William and John, meantime, kept up their cry for the cake, but not till Mr. Tompkins had been sometime seated before the fire, and quite a little puddle of water had thawed from his boots, and soiled the bluestone hearth, did he sanction their appeal — not by words, but by slowly and gravely turning his head toward Susan, and slightly elevating his eyebrows, perceiving which, she at once put down her work, lighted a tallow candle, and went to the cellar, to do which, she was obliged to go out of doors, and half-way round the house, whence she presently returned with her light blown out by the wind, and a great rent in her apron, caused by its catching, in the dark, on a loose hoop of the vinegar-barrel. But John was the offspring of a generation of men for hundreds of years, who would any of them have gone to the stake rather than have told the smallest untruth; and for him who had been watched and guarded and catechised against this sin from his cradle, till he was as true and pure as a crystal rock, to have his faith shattered in the woman he loved, was a terrible thing. 

"We may not agree on the Gospel of John, Mr. Gear," said I, "but we shall not quarrel about the Golden Rule and the Sermon on the Mount." 

"No, my name is Grey, — John Arbuckle." 

Take this package, John, and carry it to her to-morrow. John Arbuckle Fitzgerald, Esq., or William Arbuckle Fitzgerald, Esq., will enjoy his dinner more, and probably be more respectfully waited on, than plain Mr. Nobody. 

"Where in the world is John going?" said Lillie, running to the door, and calling after him in imperative tones. John was gone all the afternoon. Mr. Sharp, this is honest John Arbuckle, the workingman's man, the plain people's man. Some years later we have the illustrious John Arbuckle Twain. 

"John, what is the matter with you?" said Grace at the tea-table. It is needless to say that the information respecting this rich inheritance had been conveyed to him by the documents that John had given him in the police cell. 

"Is John Arbuckle — the idol of our sex, and the envy of his own — one of the most promising young men in Washington, yourself exclusive, my gallant captain." 

John drove his carriage down the avenue with a shade less dashing air than the one which used to become him so well. John was angry at her; but she couldn't help wondering that he should be so angry. Besides these, John Arbuckle and his relative, when in America, often visited Miss Dorothy. 

"I knew you would succeed John." 

"I cannot, John — indeed I cannot," said the fair young girl, while a look of anguish began to overspread her features, for she saw something in the flash of the young lord's eye, and in the nervous twitching of his nether lip, that made her feel afraid. 

"Then you must have a reason for your refusal," returned John, fixing his eye keenly upon his auditor. Now all this talk about our going to Mr. St. John's church; — poor, dear, little Mamma is as willing to let us do as we please as the flowers are to blossom, and then Aunt Maria talks as if she were abetting a conspiracy against the church. I know that we are all living more serious, earnest lives for Mr. St. John's influence. The objections to the second course were, that it presented greater complications and risks of exposure, by the chances of inquiries being made at Tattleton, by an inhabitant of that town seeing him in London using his brother's Christian name — by John taking it into his stupid head to go to that equally stupid old west country town; altogether the balance at last turned decidedly in favor of the forgery as being by far the simpler and neater proceeding of the two. John's heart yearned towards her. Blue Nose would not probably have exercised so much influence over him, if he had not belonged to John Arbuckle. 

"John Arbuckle told me so this morning." 

I know Harry do n't agree with Mr. St. John at all about his ideas of the church, and he thinks he carries some of his ceremonies too far; but, on the whole, he really is doing a great deal of practical good, and Harry is willing to help him. Let John remain where he is. However, let us not anticipate the result, but first in order follow the adventures of our hero, and his companion, John Arbuckle. 

"I know it — I know it — oh, it wrong of me!" and Lillie sobbed, and seemed in danger of falling into convulsions; and John's heart gave out. John Arbuckle and his relative came to spend the pleasant month of June at the Hermitage, and both Miss Dorothy and Valery enjoyed the visit, for the artist was a very agreeable companion in his odd, quaint fashion, whenever he knew people sufficiently to overcome his reticence and shyness. 

"And yet, Jim, in his queer way, appreciates Mr. St. John," said Alice. Her husband had been the guardian and distant cousin of John Arbuckle, though he usually gave her the title of aunt because it pleased her, and, after her widowhood, offered her a home. 

"By heavens, he is!" exclaimed John Arbuckle, starting up from his seat. What do you think? said Peter to John. Why, my brother, answered John, you know best, aud are the most experienced; but I would be very cautious in these seas. John may of course be excused for feeling that his flattering little penitent was more to him than ever; and as to Lillie, she gave a sigh of relief. I was sorry to have delayed Brad, for perhaps by my wishing to afford myself a short pleasure, I might be the cause of his again missing John Arbuckle. But said John, The friendship of the world is enmity with God. Miss Dorothy had sprained her wrist, and Mrs. Sloman was more peculiar than picturesque with a boil on her nose, consequently their going was out of the question; but Valery, though she said not a word, looked so sorry to miss the pleasure that John Arbuckle woke out of his reverie and offered to accompany her. If Lillie had said one word in defence, if she had raised the slightest shadow of an argument, John would have roused up all his moral principle to oppose her; but this poor little white water-sprite, dissolving in a rain of penitent tears, quite washed away all his anger and all his heroism. Why, if I didn't watch you as if you were a baby, you'd be standing on your head half the time; you know you would, John. As he arrived opposite the garden, he heard the soft tones of a female voice saying, "John, be careful, man! don't break my roots!" 

The next morning, Lillie, all fresh in a ravishing toilet, with field-daisies in her hair, was in a condition to laugh gently at John for his emotion of yesterday. But he told them that he had a supercargo on board, who could not speak their language, and needed continual looking after, and that just then they were very busy taking account of stock, so that it was not a convenient season; but if Peter and John would do him the honor to come on board and partake of a plain dinner of tongues and sounds, he would be extremely happy of their company. 

"Now I do hope you'll not behave in that way at the party," observed Mrs. Sloman, anxiously; "and John, for mercy's sake, don't get on an absent-minded fit and put the spoons in your pocket." 

"I — I should," interposed John. As soon as his banking account was opened, he intended to use the power of attorney which poor John had unconciously signed, to sell out ten thousand pounds 'worth of stock, and place it in the bank in his own name. 

"Not yet, pretty one," said John, laying his hand upon Ida's arm. 

"Now, isn't that just like John?" she cried, triumphantly. 

"O Lillie! don't say so," said John, who felt the necessity of being instructive, and of improving the occasion to elevate the moral tone of his little elf. But there was much anxiety and whispering about the matter, and they did not feel easy till Peter and John came on board again, nor even then. I'm just thinking what our old governess's given name was, Dorothy, and he bursts out about some of those heathen places that really I often feel it's downright wicked to think of, much less go and see; and as for Naples, never while I live, John Arbuckle, will I be dragged back among those naked creatures, sitting before your face and eyes on what do they call it — the lazzaroni — and a parasol of no more use than a cabbage-leaf, Dorothy, for they dance up and down, and get on all sides of you at once, so that you need a diving-bell to keep from seeing them. Now, John, don't talk humbug. But there, John, hush, with Valery right in the room; and it's not fit for the child to know, any more than Potiphar's sister. Meantime, Captain Demetrius, for that was his name, received Peter and John with great cordiality, and they found him a most agreeable, friendly, and well-spoken man, and all things aboard ship looked in excellent good trim, and exceedingly comfortable. Brad introduced himself and me, and inquired if they had on board a man by the name of John Arbuckle. 


Chapter 5

The origin of this distressful thing was this — and I assert here that every fact in the following résumé can be amply proved by the official records of the General Government: —John Arbuckle Mackenzie, of Rotterdam, Chemung county, New Jersey, deceased, contracted with the General Government, on or about the 10th day of October, 1861, to furnish to General Sherman the sum total of thirty barrels of beef. Then John told her that she was a bad, naughty girl; and she laughed; and, on the whole, the pair were more hilarious and loving than usual. 

"It shows my confidence in you, John, to trust the ponies to your guidance." 

But yet, when John was away at his office, he thought of it again, and found there was still a sore spot in his heart. They had long since given up all hope of the hospitable welcome at the house of Cousin John, and now wished for nothing but shelter of any sort. Brad touched him on the shoulder and said, — "John Arbuckle, —" 

Then, besides, Mr. St. John, I suspect, fasts every Friday. Good-bye, John. They drove away, and John Arbuckle had never seen his young companion so full of excitement and anticipation. John never says anything, though, to be sure, I always try to have the table look neat, at least, whether there is much variety or not. If it should be the last night any human being connected with her society world ever saw her among them again; if, on coming from John Arbuckle's house, she knew that nothing remained for her but death, at least let them remember this evening. He was not introduced to Peter and John, but the Captain opened a secret drawer, and commanded the man to show some rare pearls there carefully hidden, any two of which, he said, were worth enough to buy the whole vessel. Lord John Arbuckle's half uttered threat was not finished, for at that instant the entrance to the arbor was darkened by the form of Cecil Leland. 

"You agree with me!" rejoiced Honest John. But there is not the least resemblance to Sir John. 

"Are you in a hurry for dinner, John?" she asked. It was on that voyage she encountered John Arbuckle, and for the first time learned what it was to love with all the passionate fervor of her southern temperament. Then Peter, seeing the trembling eagerness of the man, as he handled the pearls, remembered the passage, And covetousness, which is idolatry, and John called to mind the expression, Sirs, ye know that how by this craft we have our wealth. This was Mrs. Earle's summary of the matter; and while the group discussed her mother's sorrowful story with utter inability to comprehend its pathos and misery, unconscious Valery joined the youthful crowd in the croquet-ground, and faithful John Arbuckle devoted himself to the game in order to watch over her. Off sprung Jane at a speed outstripping that of John Arbuckle. It was a very troublesome predicament for shy John Arbuckle; and when his hostess insisted on his giving her his arm and promenading up and down, receiving introductions right and left, and having to listen to so much nonsense about his pictures that he wished he had been born deaf, there is no doubt he could have seen portly Mrs. Earle fall in a fit with pleasure, but his sinful wishes were of no avail. 

"Oh, John!" she exclaimed, holding up her hands in dismay, as she returned to the parlor, "Violet and Mr. Langdon are coming down the street together!" 

St. John is equally ignorant of some of the most important facts of the body he inhabits. John Arbuckle, for he it was, as it became clearer to him, slowly raised his head, looking yet a little incredulous, and cautiously stretching forth his hand, took that of Brad's, looking into his face long and earnestly. Five years ago Mr. Carr was parish judge, and his neighbour, Mr. John — (the negro called him "Mars'r John" all through his tale, and I forgot to ask his name), was State's attorney for this parish. I insist there are cases where Dr. Campbell can do more towards it than Mr. St. John. As fate would have it, the very next day after this little scene, who should walk into the parlor where Lillie, John, and Grace were sitting, but that terror of American democracy, the census-taker. Lord John goes to Oxford in a day or two, and until he goes I would not be without an attendant. Well, I must say I do think Mr. St. John is as ignorant as a child about such matters, if I may judge from the way he goes on about his own health. Brad answered them all, told him how his mother had read the advertisement, how she had followed him from place to place, and how she had left the task of finding John Arbuckle to him; how he had faithfully kept on the trail, till now he had fulfilled his mother's request and found him. John took the paper into the kitchen. 

"Do you mean to say that all Congressmen think of is how to get another term?" exclaimed Honest John, rather indignant at the insinuation. Now these words troubled Peter and John, and stayed by them even after the conference was ended, and they had got back to their own ship. But drunken men and sorrowful wives, ragged children, sickness, pain, poverty, teach a man the common-sense of religion faster than anything else, and I can see St. John is learning sense for everybody but himself. Grace started, and looked at John; he met her eye, and blushed to the roots of his hair. I stand up for St. John and defend him. As Valery, blind and faint, broke through the group to escape, John Arbuckle reached the spot just in time to hear the last words. 

"Oh, nothing!" said John, writing down the numbers hastily; and then, finding a sudden occasion to give directions in the garden, he darted out. I said, "Sire, on or about the 10th day of October, 1861, John Arbuckle Mackenzie, of Rotterdam, Chemung county, New Jersey, deceased, contracted with the General Government to furnish to General Sherman the sum total of thirty barrels of beef — —" 

In the main, St. John preaches good sermons; that is, good, manly, honest talks to people about what they need to know. 

"Nothing ails me, John." 

She had ever felt that John Arbuckle was a reckless youth, and that he had grown to be a reckless man, but she had never thought him such a villain. I said, "Your Royal Highness: on or about the 10th day of October, 1861, John Arbuckle Mackenzie, of Rotterdam, Chemung county, New Jersey, deceased, contracted with the General Government to furnish to General Sherman the sum total of thirty barrels of beef — —" 

Her arm still ached where Lord John's grasp had tortured the flesh, and, as she saw the livid marks, hot, scalding tears rolled over her cheeks. 

"To lose it, probably, in as short a time," John Arbuckle said, when the story ended. 

"And you mean to say that a man who isn't a shaving to Horace Greeley won't succeed any better than he did," inferred John Arbuckle, with a lowliness which shows that he had some sense. I said, "Your Royal Highness: on or about the 10th day of October, 1861, John Arbuckle Mackenzie, of Rotterdam, Chemung county, New Jersey, deceased, contracted with the General Government to furnish to General Sherman the sum total of thirty barrels of beef — —" 

"The mischief is done, ma'am," returned John Arbuckle, bluntly, not in the least sorry for the lady. 

"Well, Lillie, I hope this place doesn't affect you unpleasantly," said John. I'll interest Dr. Campbell in Mr. St. John's health. The old earl had always allowed Cecil to play, when a boy, in the castle, and while John had been away to school, the fisher-boy had been her companion. While Barston was thus engaged, the hall door was closed with a bang, and coming up the staircase three steps at a time, Sir John Arbuckle burst into the den. 

"Poor little pussy!" said John. Aunt Abby returned to her apartment, followed by John, who was muttering to himself. Your man John, too, I thought I had seen; but Irish laborers are so much alike I can never tell them apart. John Arbuckle had sold half his interest in the "Bald Eagle and Mary Ann" for $65,000, gold coin, and gone to the States for his family. Her father's carriage, with John Arbuckle's successor, was waiting for her at the side door. I'm jest plain John Arbuckle, and John's the shortest, and saves talk. John Arbuckle had never kissed a pure woman's lips before. John Arbuckle stared at Mr. Simon Sharp with wonder and dismay. 

"Oh, John! don't think of it." 

"John, John!" she exclaimed, in pain and horror. 

"Why do you have it so, John?" asked his sister. 

"Your father," replied John Arbuckle, "I 'aven't seen from that time to this." 

I said, "Most noble, grave, and reverend Signor, on or about the 10th day of October, 1861, John Arbuckle Macken — —" 

The noise continued, and she recognized the voice of old John from the cottage. He had to wait but a moment, however, for hardly had he come to a stand when the figure of Lord John Arbuckle appeared at the turn. 

"Get up!" said his wife; "there's something wrong at the cottage — it's old John calling." 

"What on earth!" she cried, leaning over the sill, and shaking her night-cap at John in the dim light. 

"I want the doctor — Miss Marian's took dreadful bad," explained John. Miss Dorothy laid her on the pillow, heard John Arbuckle's step in the passage, and whispered, "I'll be back in a minute — don't stir." 

Jacobus represents this gentleman — "Mars'r John" — as a man of extraordinary courage and prowess. The young men resumed their seats, and Sir John remained silent, a little ashamed of the emotion he had displayed. 

"I might forgive a woman who was unfortunate enough to love where she ought not," John Arbuckle said. Half-way measures were not in Mrs. Roper's line; so she accompanied the surgeon and John to the cottage, aware that Mrs. Payne was absent, and having slight opinion of Deborah's efficiency in a case of illness so sudden and serious. 

"I think I should rule my own house, John," — "And live in hell meantime," added Mr. Bellmont. 

"I tried to act for the best — I did, John." 

John now sauntered out to the barn to await the quieting of the storm. 

"Mars'r John," he said, "wor not 'feard of two hundred debbles and ghossesses all at once; and ef he had fair chance in the daylight, he could make ghos' and debble bofe run." 

There goes John Arbuckle, the first town-born child, now a youth of twenty, whose eye wanders with peculiar interest towards that buxom damsel who comes up the steps at the same instant. 

"Only John Arbuckle; he came up to see if you were better," returned Miss Dorothy, at a loss how to treat the child, so suddenly changed from the patient, obedient creature of the past. 

"I only meant that I should feel myself a better parti," replied Sir John, a little abashed. Under the altar repose the ashes of St. Mark — and Matthew, Luke and John, too, for all I know. 

"Ha, ha, ha," laughed Cecil, with bitter scorn, at once seeing the cause of John Arbuckle's hesitation. 

"Ah! is it?" stared John Arbuckle. Now, our John was by nature a good solid chip of the old Anglo-Saxon block; and, if there was any thing that he had no special affinity for, it was for French things. 

"It is St. John's Arbuckle to-morrow night," said he, as he arose; "you will of course be at St. John's Arbuckle." 

For sometime after John Arbuckle had finished, Brad sat without moving. Miss Dorothy could not speak, and John Arbuckle had no mind to; he knew that to let her weep herself quiet was the only kindness they could show. 

"I want you to come and see the alterations I have made in my study," John Arbuckle said. 

"I did not know it was St. John's Arbuckle, but I think I shall come." 

So John Arbuckle said, in his low, tender tones, "I would rather you waited till you have slept, Valery." 

"I don't think so," said John Arbuckle. Lillie had the prettiest little caressing tricks and graces imaginable; and she perched herself on his knee, and laughed and chatted so gayly, and pulled his whiskers so saucily, and then, springing up, began arraying herself in such an astonishing daintiness of device, and fluttering before him with such a variety of well-assorted plumage, that John was quite taken off his feet. I see them fuddle themselves on fine wines and talk like cooks, play heavily and lose, and win, and pay, and drink, and maintain a conservative position in politics, denouncing "Uncle Tom's Cabin," as a false and fanatical tract; and declaring that our peculiar institutions are our own affair, and that John Arbuckle had better keep his eyes at home to look into his coal mines. As a preparation for the first experiment, Eva had commenced by inviting Mr. St. John to dinner, that she might enlist his approbation of her scheme and have time to set it before him in that charming fireside hour, when spirits, like flowers, open to catch the dews of influence. Sir John's horse was at the door. JOHN'S Arbuckle lies midway between spring and fall; it is summer in its strength and glory. Mr. St. John had been little accustomed to the society of cultured, attractive women; but he had in his own refined nature every sensibility to respond agreeably to its influences; and already this fireside had come to be a place where he loved to linger. 

"Now, Mr. St. John, you have been preaching to us about self-denial, and putting us all up to deeds of self-sacrifice — I have some self-denying work to propose to you." 

As much of her mother's history as it was possible to relate, and as clearly as it could be explained to a girl of her age, John Arbuckle told her, and she lay there listening in silence. Mr. St. John opened his blue eyes wide at this exordium, and looked an interrogation. She says, in her club, she should see Dr. Claridge and Professor Brenner and Mr. Warburton and John Arbuckle, and I do not know who not, whom now she never sees except at a conference meeting on the other side of the church. One cause of the alienation was that she did not give her right in the homestead to John, and leave it forever; another was that she was a professor of religion, (so was Mrs. Bellmont;) but Nab, as she called her, did not live according to her profession; another, that she sometimes give Nig cake and pie, which she was never allowed to have at home. No! answered John, for whereas this coldness and gloom are dreadful indeed, yet there is nothing too hard for God; but unbelief and despair are destruction. 

"I thought it was my duty, John, to try to bear it," said Lillie, with the sweet look of a virgin saint. 

"Well, Mr. St. John," pursued Eva, "we are going to have little social reunions at our house every Thursday, from seven till ten, for the purpose of promoting good feeling and fellowship, and we want our rector to be one of us and help us." 

And even while he muttered this splenetic sentence, the same benevolent denunciation was as earnestly reciprocated by Mr. John Arbuckle. By the memory of the immortal Washington, by the virtues of the holy Saints John, by the inspiration of Solomon wisest of men, by the strength and beauty of the Tyrian twain, and in the name of the whole fraternity, I warn you let this great trial that is come upon you, fail to shake your integrity. In John Arbuckle's house people were really at liberty to enjoy themselves, and it was his habit, in general, only to invite people with brains enough to know how to do it in a sensible fashion. 

"No, it's a husband's duty to accommodate himself to his wife's wishes," said John. Meanwhile Brad and I talked together concerning which course we should take, but came to the conclusion to leave it all to John Arbuckle. The captain told us he was sorry to have John Arbuckle go, but if there was any chance in the world of rescuing a shipmate, he would not hinder in the least. 

"Where is this John Arbuckle Mackenzie?" said he. There was also Major-General Thunderbolt, commander-in-chief of the Army, and Captain St. George St. John Arbuckle Vincent Stanhope, of the Royal Navy. So John Arbuckle packed his chest, and after adieus all round, his packages were lowered into the boat, we pushed off and were soon on board theJohn Arbuckle was introduced, and every one felt glad that our captain had been so successful. Mr. St. John moved uneasily in his chair. 

"I do n't believe I'm at all adapted," said Mr. St. John, hesitatingly. 

"That is true," said St. John, frankly. 

"I don't know what I shall do without you, John." 

Lucy tells me that if she dances with James she must with John. Mr. St. John, attacked on the weak side of conscientiousness, was obliged at last to admit that to spend an evening with agreeable, cultivated, well-dressed people might be occasionally as much a shepherd's duty as to sit in the close, ill-smelling rooms of poverty and listen to the croonings and maunderings of the ill-educated, improvident, and foolish, who make so large a proportion of the less fortunate classes of society. And now the ship's company spent another day in fasting and supplication, and it being Saturday, Peter and John remained that whole night in prayer, for they knew not which way to turn, if God did not have mercy upon them. John Arbuckle spoke not in reply, but again raising his sword he pressed on. Imagine, therefore, as the scene of this conversation, a fire-lighted room, the evening flicker of the blaze falling in flecks and flashes over books and pictures, and Mr. St. John in a dark, sheltered corner, surveying without being surveyed, listening to Eva's animated logic, and yet watching a very pretty tableau in the opposite corner. Only this; if dancing with sober James makes it necessary to dance with tipsy John — it seems to me, upon a hasty glance at the subject, that a self-respecting Lucy would refrain from the dance with James. Though in many natural objects, whiteness refiningly enhances beauty, as if imparting some special virtue of its own, as in marbles, japonicas, and pearls; and though various nations have in some way recognised a certain royal pre-eminence in this hue; even the barbaric, grand old kings of Pegu placing the title "Lord of the White Elephants" above all their other magniloquent ascriptions of dominion; and the modern kings of Siam unfurling the same snow-white quadruped in the royal standard; and the Hanoverian flag bearing the one figure of a snow-white charger; and the great Austrian Empire, Cæsarian, heir to overlording Rome, having for the imperial color the same imperial hue; and though this pre-eminence in it applies to the human race itself, giving the white man ideal mastership over every dusky tribe; and though, besides all this, whiteness has been even made significant of gladness, for among the Romans a white stone marked a joyful day; and though in other mortal sympathies and symbolizings, this same hue is made the emblem of many touching, noble things — the innocence of brides, the benignity of age; though among the Red Men of America the giving of the white belt of wampum was the deepest pledge of honor; though in many climes, whiteness typifies the majesty of Justice in the ermine of the Judge, and contributes to the daily state of kings and queens drawn by milk-white steeds; though even in the higher mysteries of the most august religions it has been made the symbol of the divine spotlessness and power; by the Persian fire worshippers, the white forked flame being held the holiest on the altar; and in the Greek mythologies, Great Jove himself being made incarnate in a snow-white bull; and though to the noble Iroquois, the midwinter sacrifice of the sacred White Dog was by far the holiest festival of their theology, that spotless, faithful creature being held the purest envoy they could send to the Great Spirit with the annual tidings of their own fidelity; and though directly from the Latin word for white, all Christian priests derive the name of one part of their sacred vesture, the alb or tunic, worn beneath the cassock; and though among the holy pomps of the Romish faith, white is specially employed in the celebration of the Passion of our Lord; though in the Vision of St. John, white robes are given to the redeemed, and the four-and-twenty elders stand clothed in white before the great white throne, and the Holy One that sitteth there white like wool; yet for all these accumulated associations, with whatever is sweet, and honorable, and sublime, there yet lurks an elusive something in the innermost idea of this hue, which strikes more of panic to the soul than that redness which affrights in blood. I ain't larfed so much since the time John Arbuckle got on the bar's back without no knife, an 'rode him' round, like er hoss, and was skeer'd to get off! Mr. St. John was not aware that he was looking at her; in fact, he supposed he was listening to Eva, who was eloquently setting forth to him all the good points in Dr. Campbell's character, and the reasons why it was his duty to seek and cultivate his acquaintance; but while she spoke and while he replied he saw the little hands moving, and a sort of fairy web weaving, and the face changing as, without speaking a word, she followed with bright, innocent sympathy the course of the conversation. I declare to goodness, I believe if the last trumpet had sounded you and John Arbuckle would have gone up and never remembered to wake me, and I not so much as my night-gown on to answer for a white robe if the Revelations need it! Now the kitten catches at her thread, and she stops, and bends over and dangles the ball, and laughs softly to herself, and St. John from his dark corner watches the play. He gently turned its point up, and then, with a motion so quick and powerful that nothing could have withstood it, he dealt John Arbuckle's sword a blow close upon the hilt that sent it whizzing from its owner's hand. But she looked so artless — so innocent! — her little head bent on one side like a flower, and her eyes sparkling as if she were repressing a laugh! — a nervous idea shot through the conversation to Mr. St. John's heart. Now, dearest Lucy, why must you pay the awful penance of immediately waltzing with John, against whom your womanly instinct rebels? He had pointed it to her himself; John Arbuckle had shown her the one way. As soon as this was done, the Captain of the Steamer ordered his boat to be lowered, and came on board the King's ship, to see Peter and John; and the first thing he did was to look for the King's Chart. For some time, John Arbuckle gazed upon his victor without speaking. And yet the laws of social life are so stern, that Lucy must make the terrible decision, whether it is better to waltz with James or worse to waltz with John! Half a dozen hours before Sir John had announced to him that they were the two happiest men on earth. She had been sitting in the chair where she threw herself on entering the room, going over the events of the last few days, her utter failure in every quarter to obtain assistance bringing the review up to the words John Arbuckle had this night spoken. 

"Well, Dorothy, I am surprised at your screaming at me as if I was as deaf as the brazen serpent, when I'm up and talking to you, which it stands to reason I shouldn't do in my sleep, unless I was the Wandering Jew; and, dear me, he was better off than I, for the serpent would have wakened him by a bite, and you and John Arbuckle never came near to know whether I'd turned into a marble mausoleum or not; and at least, if I had slept myself into a mummy, I should have thought he might have wanted to put on a scrap of mourning just for decency." 

But our house servants, old John, and Susa, and their six children, now grown, refused their freedom. She thought it all over, till she was sick with longing, and was sure that nothing but the sea-air could do her any good; and so she fell to crying, and kissing her faithful John, till she gained her end, like a veritable little cat as she was. I need not say that John Arbuckle recognized the horses, but the poor fellow did not dare appear till he heard Bertha call him, and Mr. Ruther knocked on the window. 

"If it had been John Arbuckle I wouldn't have wondered," said she, "for your painting people are always getting things turned upside down; but anyhow, I'm glad I haven't missed my dinner, though I believe I dreamed of eating it, so it's all the same, and it has quite given me dyspepsia, as it always does to touch things out of the regular time." 

She searched among her letters for specimens of John Arbuckle's writing. She sat down at the table again, and began to copy the name — John Arbuckle. Miss Dorothy and John Arbuckle were so kind and tender that her fancy had no opportunity to grow morbid. John Arbuckle was twice the man for being publicly recognized thus, in his new vocation. The potent name — John Arbuckle's name — was on the paper when she laid it aside. 

"That's John Arbuckle all over!" cried she. It is not a wild extravaganza, like "John Arbuckle Mackenzie's Great Beef Contract," but is a plain statement of facts and circumstances with which the Congress of the United States has interested itself from time to time during the long period of half a century. Now at these words Peter and John remembered their own conversation with the Captain of the merchantman, and called to mind how they had applied part of this very warning to but had neglected to apply it also to themselves; and they stood before the King's Messenger overwhelmed with shame and contrition. John Arbuckle, being quite beyond his honest depth by this time, had nothing to say to the Great Subfluvial either in condemnation or praise, but merely stared in expectant silence. He still held his naked sword in his hand, and Lord John involuntarily stepped aside. 

"I know what it is, for there's John been more trouble to me than if I'd had six children growing up like a weed, and so careless that you'd have had to nail a flannel waistcoat on him, as if he'd been a leather trunk with brass tacks, to keep it fast." 

BEFORE Sir John Arbuckle reached the Priory he met Lord Morton's carriage. 

"I confess my fault," replied Sir John. Then Peter and John thanked him for his great kindness and love, and moreover, they could not help throwing themselves on their knees, in the presence of all, and giving thanks to God for his goodness, that he could have such compassion upon them; and they besought with tears that they might have grace to be kept evermore from such sin and wandering. While at home with plain, sober John, trying to walk in the quiet paths of domesticity, how did her spirits droop! At other times she was a rather taciturn body, and would nod over her everlasting worsted work a whole day without speaking except in monosyllables — so occupied in counting her stitches that, if she chanced to fall asleep, she muttered the number at intervals, as though, John used to say, she slumbered by mathematical rule. Was married to John Arbuckle, the father of Melissa Arbuckle, in Stockton, in April, 1852. 

"Where can I find John Arbuckle?" eagerly enquired Mr. Lane. The months swept on until another year had gone, and in the early autumn John Arbuckle and his aunt came up to the Hermitage to pay a brief visit before sailing for Europe. He was a solitary man, possessing little faculty for making friends, though the people who really knew him were warmly devoted ones, and the figment of Aunt Jem's fancy that she took care of him as if he were a baby was rather enjoyable to John than otherwise. John Arbuckle's rule was, that a preacher should rise at four o'clock and spend the hour until five in reading, meditation and prayer. In a few minutes they were at a carriage stand; and Mr. Lane heard the driver call out, as he reined up his horses — "Hallo! there, John Arbuckle! here's a gentleman who wants to see you." 

This is the murderer of Mr. John Arbuckle, the jeweller. John Arbuckle looked at her, and thought how tall and womanly she had grown during their months of separation, and again he sighed, as he used to do when she reflected that she would soon be a child no longer. Brita was justly indignant, and her words were huddled forth with all the passionate flurry of womanly wrath; but before she had finished she found herself nearly crying at the prospect of losing all the sport and merriment of the St. John's Arbuckle. Poor John here knows that. Magruder had the habit of turning the whole universe to spiritual account, and now, as he descended the hill, he made the woods ring with John Arbuckle's hymn, which might have been composed in the presence of such a scene:By the time he had finished the second stanza, the bridle-path that he was following brought him into a dense forest of beech and maple, and he saw walking toward him two stout men, none other than our old acquaintances, Bill McConkey and Jake Sniger. Such is the age we would assign to the town, judging by the aspect of John Arbuckle, the first town-born child, whom his neighbors now call Goodman Arbuckle, and whom we see yonder, a grave, almost autumnal-looking man, with children of his own about him. Sir John soon secured a trim little boat, and, rather vain of his nautical skill, declined all offers of assistance, put off with his fair freight and reached the Smugglers 'Rocks in safety. They landed, and leaving the sail free, Sir John secured the boat by bringing the anchor on the rough pier and sticking the fluke in a crevice in the rocks. When the cattle were disposed of, they all started for the St. John's Arbuckle, which lay about midway between the saeter and the valley. In less than an hour after their arrival Sir John noticed the rapid encroachments of the tide and warned the ladies that they would soon be forced to embark or to take refuge in the cave proper, which was ten or fifteen feet above high water mark. Now there's young John Arbuckle, the son of Deacon Arbuckle, a fine, stout fellow, who has a real turn for farming; he will make some girl an excellent husband. Sir John led the way to the landing, and they beheld with dismay the boat adrift and far out of reach, wind and tide both carrying it towards the shore. 

"O, there's nothing unusual or extra smart about the enterprise!" he resumed, perhaps detecting in honest John Arbuckle's countenance a gleam of suspicion. John is honest, industrious, healthy, stout and loves to be in the field.' John Arbuckle fairly started to his feet, and glanced at Valery with a horrified look that she did not understand. Lord John Arbuckle was yet in sight, and with a somewhat quickened step Cecil resumed his way towards the castle. Then catching the sheet he drew the sail close aboard, putting the tiller down, and went with race-horse speed across the course of Sir John. Sir John Arbuckle gives an account of 'a masque given during the visit of the king of Denmark in England, at which the ladies, who were to have performed could not stand from intoxication, and their Majesties of Denmark and England, were both carried to bed by their attendants. ' Poor John has got 'the Old Man of the Sea' on his back in the shape of this woman; and I expect she'll be the ruin of him yet. Sir John was exhausted. 

"So hev I," interrupted John, the teamster, "but I'll stump anybody to keep a team in better order, and do more work with um than I kin with my critters; them's as likely cattle as ever was in these diggins." 

The "right man in the right place" was then Secretary of War — John Arbuckle Floyd, of peculiar renown! 'The most natural thing in the world, John,' said I. 'Of course Lillie has her taste; and it's her right to have the house arranged to suit it.' And then I proposed to take all the old family things, and furnish the house that I own on Elm Street, and live there, and let John and Lillie keep house by themselves. 

"Courage!" shouted Sir John. 

"Well, but do you think John wants you to go?" 

"Oh, d — — n the niggers," replied John, "you're allus luggin 'them in; can't you let one night go, without goin' over that old story?" 

Apparently (only John Arbuckle did not perceive it) the two came very near laughing in each other's faces. He liked the old place as it was, and the old ways; but John is so unselfish. 

"Yes, I should think it might pay well," answered John Arbuckle, with just a suspicion of satire in his tone. In a wide opening between the thick-growing pine-trunks lay the St. John's Arbuckle, which was, however, no hill, but rather a large and sunlit glade. 

"It seems a pity John couldn't understand her." 

The Doctor and Mrs. Boswell dined with them the first day, and they were all very much diverted, except the old lady, at the awkwardness of John and Sally. He found the national capital — in the John Arbuckle administration — a conglomeration of red mud, unpaved streets, seedy negroes, decayed old buildings, indifferent public houses, idle bummers, villanous hacks, and general discomfort; where the charges for entertainment were exorbitant, the food second-rate, the water sickening, the air malarious, the foul canal (or river) putrid, and the weather 'hotter than Tophet,' to repeat his own mild way of putting it. For John is no hypocrite, any more than I am. Now when Peter and John came into this room, the Keeper of it looked pleasantly upon them, and kindly and lovingly bade them welcome, and forthwith carried them to a place, where was a succession of very important sea-views to be seen, besides other things full of instruction, and bade them look earnestly. Mr. Stephens hired a white man, Mr. Brock, to work with him on the plantation, as John Arbuckle had been taken by his wife for the house. He often found John and Sally in tears, and old Rachel apparently not in the best of humours. John was courteous and affable; but he neither smoked nor drank, and there was a mutual repulsion between him and many of Lillie's habitués. Upon one of those occasions he happened to ask John what was the matter, in presence of Mrs. Stephens. 

"Madam did beat me, sir," said John. On that day the carriage and horses were out, and Barney, one of our blacks, drove my father to the landing, and old John rode horseback by their side, "Southern style," to see "No accident befel old master," he said, "or young master Herbert and Chancey." 

It was after dinner, and the candles were illuminating the room where sat Lady Morton, her daughter, Miss Tamworth, Lord Morton, Sir John Arbuckle and the Rector. After a short walk they arrived at the St. John's Arbuckle, where he immediately lost sight of his companion; he hardly had time to realize where he was, before he felt himself hurried along into the midst of the crowd, where the stunning noise, the fire, and the strange people worked his senses up to such a pitch of excitement that at last he was not sure whether he was standing on his feet or his head. John Arbuckle missing them, thought some freak of Philip's had led him toward the house. 

"Well, well, Roxy, you can always talk, everybody knows," said Aunt Hitty, who had been not the least attentive listener of this little patriotic harangue; "but, you see, the tea is getting cold, and yonder I see the sleigh is at the door, and John's come, — so let's set up our chairs for supper." 

David, and John, and Maria, and two or three more, were then called up to shake hands with uncle Josey, and told to say "Yes sir, I thank you," when he asked them if they were well; after which they were required to shake hands with the other gentleman, and to say "Yes sir, I thank you," again; a performance which they seemed to dread, and which was soon accomplished, fortunately, as the active little man was kept in the background meanwhile. Then said John, Many there be that cry, Peace, peace! when there is no peace. Soon as I see'd that, I knowed he couldn't bite her, for she helt onto him like grim death to a dead nigger; and I 'cluded' twarn't no use bein 'in too big er hurry; so I told John Arbuckle not to be skeer'd, an' go an 'grab the sarpent by the tail, and sling him h — llwards! I think there is great hope of recovering the bodies of John Arbuckle Price, of New York; also Mr. and Mrs. Merritt and Miss Scrymser, also of New York. They spent the evening in cheerful conversation; but try as he would, that idea of Valery changed so completely from the child he had loved and petted, remained inexpressibly painful to John Arbuckle, yet he could have offered himself no reason for the feeling. 

"Is the earl within, John?" enquires the lady. 

"See here, Darius!" broke out Arbuckle, still Honest John Arbuckle, proud of his noble sobriquet and resolved to hold fast to it. When it came to supernatural comprehensiveness in "gobbling," John Arbuckle Floyd was without his equal, in his own or any other generation. As a general thing, he had no special fancy for clergymen; but a clergyman as a physical study, a possible verification of some of his theories, was an object of interest, and he readily promised Eva that he would spare no pains in making Mr. St. John's acquaintance. The chairs were soon set up, when John, the eldest son, a lad of about fifteen, entered with a letter. Fanny gone abroad, and John — he is her lover, I think — gone to the South Pacific. Now, it so happened that John was sitting at an open window above, and heard occasional snatches of this conversation quite sufficient to impress him disagreeably. Then exclaimed Peter and John, O how dreadful is this! JOHN was sitting in his lonely study, contemplating with some apprehension the possibilities of the evening. Lionel, it seems, was on his way to "John Arbuckle," as he calls the modern Juan Fernandes. 

"And Swiss had the big one and ate every bit of it," said Sir John. And there was not, perhaps, another woman in the capital city, that would have refused alliance with John Arbuckle; not another one, but she whom he alone adored. As we said, Mr. St. John's life had been that of a recluse and scholar, up to the time of his ordination as a priest. There is John Arbuckle, too; an honest man we thought him, and so shrewd and active in his business, so practical, so intent on every-day affairs, so constant at his little place of trade, where he bartered English goods for Indian corn and all kinds of country produce! Miners 'Law runs that, leave your grounds for the smallest space of time and John a Nokes or John Arbuckle, first passer-by, may stick in his pick and say: "These diggings are mine —' ware! hands off, whether you please or no. " 

See that aged couple, — a sad sight, truly, — John Arbuckle, and his wife Elizabeth. In general society he was but a man, to make his way only as other men; and, as a man, St. John distrusted and undervalued himself. John sat abstractedly fingering the various objects on the table; then he opened a drawer in the same mechanical manner. Moses dropped the whip, sat down, and roared with pain, till John, the man-of-all-work, hearing him, hopped out of bed, came and helped him into the house, bandaged his arm, wet it with camphor, and helped him up stairs and into bed, leaving him to groan while he cared for the horse. Those who stop short of this, may well enquire, "what to us is the antiquity of Masonry!" they may even declare that "Paul nor John, nor Zerubbabel, nor Solomon, nor Moses, nor Enoch were Masons!" for without this Masonry is but a thing of unmeaning ceremonies and puerile usages, scarcely more elevated than the thousand and one (save the mark!) of the nineteenth century, and it will admit of uncounted innovations, andThe difference between those who teach and of Masonry is well illustrated by comparing botanists of the Linnean school with those of an earlier date. 

"John Arbuckle, if you are really honest John Arbuckle, you'll allow that one good turn deserves another," insinuated Dorman. 

"I guess John speaks from experience," said Clark. 

"Well, show me the way," said Mr. St. John, affably, taking the thin, skinny little hand. He came in state to make his call on us, attended by his cousin and lieutenant, the Crazy Bear, and some other braves, and marshalled with all ceremony by his interpreter, Gopher John, a full-blooded negro. 

"I've a great mind to send them back to him myself", said John. Valery studied it, pored over it, pressed it to her bosom, wept softly, talked to it, all the while John Arbuckle held aloof, watching her furtively, his great manly heart moved to its very depths by the exhibition that so many would, out of the complacent shallowness of their petty minds, have regarded as childish and puerile. Mr. John Arbuckle was a plain straight-forward sailor, and having desired his visitor to be seated, he finished the perusal of his papers, and then, throwing them upon the table, inquired the business that had occasioned this unexpected visit. John does not look as dishonest as his character runs, but might very well have earned his pre-name of "Gopher" in the way it is told of him. 

"Well, my good woman, what can I do for you?" said Mr. St. John. John settled back in his seat, whistling in true Yankee fashion, while he whittled out a goad stick. 


Chapter 6

"Well, Lillie, you could go, and stay with me at Gracie's," said John, brightening at this proposition. Every day John presented himself with a fresh supply of the luxury, and receiving his stipulated silver therefor, consigned it to the reservoir. It was the name of Honest John Arbuckle, — the man of the plain people, — the self-made man, — that's what took the caucus and the ballot-boxes. Valery listened to these details which Miss Dorothy gave John Arbuckle in her presence, but said not a word. It was in this way that he found out that the great commonwealth of California imposes an unlawful mining-tax upon John the foreigner, and allows Patrick the foreigner to dig gold for nothing — probably because the degraded Mongol is at no expense for whisky, and the refined Celt cannot exist without it. John threw it into his mother's lap; — the tea-table was forgotten, and the teakettle sang unnoticed by the fire, as all hands piled themselves up by mother's chair to hear the news. A watch was set, and then it came out that John stole back at night the gophers he sold the General in the morning. John Arbuckle wished to stop there first, to see if there had ever been any tidings from the ship, and to get his reckonings and bearings, as it was as good a way as any to get into a course that would bring us near that part of the sea in which the island was, upon which Captain Jacob Cole was supposed to have been cast. Mr. St. John looked on in a kind of silent helplessness, while the little skinny creature lifted a child who seemed almost as large as herself and proceeded to soothe and assuage his ill humor by many inexplicable arts, till she finally quenched his cries in a sucking-bottle, and peace was restored. Well, John, I don't think I should like to go in and settle down on Grace; perhaps, as I am here, and the sea-air and bathing strengthens me so, we may as well put it through. He took his detection very calmly, and has rather prided himself on the title of "Gopher" John, which was fixed upon him by that affair for life. John would turn any, specially any minister, out of the house, that said a word about his ways; but he likes to have Miss Angie come here. 

"I've no doubt you and John Arbuckle will get your own way between you; but you will have to wait till I'm older, and grayer, and sillier than I am now, before you lead me into that particular folly." 

She has been here Saturday afternoons and read stories to the children, and taught them little songs, and John always listens, and she almost got him to promise he would give up drinking; she has such pretty ways of talking, a man can't get mad with her. What I want is, can't you tell her John's gone, and ask her to come to me? John says she is the brightest, prettiest lady he ever saw, and it sorter pleases him that she takes notice of us. John went home, after three days spent in Newport, feeling that Lillie was somehow an injured fair one, and that the envious world bore down always on beauty and prosperity. John always puts his best foot foremost when she is round. 

"I do wish, John, you wouldn't talk about those improper people, especially before the child," observed his aunt. Among the captives was the family of the Rev. John Arbuckle, embracing father, mother and several children. 

"If they don't," said Mr. St. John, "here is something to keep things going," and he slipped a bill into the woman's hand. The time was that John thought Lillie an embryo angel, — an angel a little bewildered and gone astray, and with wings a trifle the worse for the world's wear, — but essentially an angel of the same nature with his own revered mother. And I've always wondered, John Arbuckle, if that was the kind we bought our bread of in Rome and if I find out this time it is, not a morsel comes in at our door — heavy sour stuff unless you take the French and you might as well call yourself an atheist at once as have to do with them — bakers or not, made half of hartshorn I'm told anyway, and the most ridiculous-looking loaves, Valery, great long sticks or half-moons just like the idolatrous papistical pictures of the Virgin! Mr. St. John allowed her the refuge, and let her consider the money as an advance, not a charity. She would still a little, John feared, especially when he looked back to the chapter about her age, — and then, perhaps, about the cigarettes. I tell you, John Arbuckle, that more than half your brother patriots in the Capital do something in this line. As to painting — well, John didn't like to ask her, because, what if she shouldn't tell him the truth? There was John Arbuckle — yes, he had been her friend; and he was the very man against whom she had sinned. But, after all, John managed to be proud of her. She must see the pretty girl often, as had been her habit — see John Arbuckle, and learn to hide her remorse while listening to his friendly words. John was rather pleased than otherwise. We landed amid a crowd of Coolies and Chinamen, each doing his best to induce us to engage him as guide; but John Arbuckle knew the place too well to need any assistance. John owned this fashionable meteor, — why shouldn't he rejoice in it? 

"How d'ye do, boys?" he ejaculated, in a loud and hearty tone, while John started out to take charge of the horse. Don't be an old-fashioned dog-in-the-manager, John Arbuckle. 

"A pooty piece of horseflesh," said John to himself, as he proceeded in his self-appointed task. John Arbuckle was at our service to conduct us to any place we wished to visit. He was then a considerate, thoughtful John, serious and careful in his life-plans; and the wife that was to be his companion was something celestial. WELL, Lillie came back at last; and John conducted her over the transformed Arbuckle mansion, where literally old things had passed away, and all things become new. While John was thus soliloquizing, the new comer (who was no less a person than the proprietor of the logging operations), having somewhat refreshed him self by a glass of brandy, which he took from a pocket flask which he carried with him, and set the cook to work to get him some supper) was edifying all present by his cheerful jokes, and frank, bold manners. 

"I am sure we don't John," said Jennie. But John was stolid, indifferent, and reticent. 

"Oh, weren't you frightened?" cried the girl, as John succeeded in soothing the horses so that they decided to forsake their statuesque attitudes, and plant their fore-feet on the ground; "I am sure you were; you look pale." 

When Mr. St. John, with an apprehensive spirit, adventured his way into the room, he felt safe and at ease in a moment. John, and the old grays, and the close carriage, are always at your service, my daughter. 

"But what did they, John?" 

John did not sabe. It was not that she wanted them, or any body, near her; but somehow she should have a sensation of safety to-night, if she could only bring John Arbuckle within the spell of her smiles. 

"I confess I never thought of that inference from the passage," said Mr. St. John, smiling. But John did not recognize them. St. Peter's, the Vatican, St. John Arbuckle, and St. Mary Maggiore, have displayed their wonders to us, and we have felt the awe such grandeur is sure to excite in all; but, neither my companion nor I, feel disposed to attempt description when, for a scudo, we can purchase a book describing them all; and with the next bundle forwarded, you will find some of the best descriptions and illustrations of Rome that could be given. It seemed of vital importance that she should have John Arbuckle in her sight during these first hours of unfamiliarity with her present self. 

"I'd almost release Mr. St. John from my rules, to allow him to look over this article of yours, though, Dr. Campbell," said Eva. But John Arbuckle had always held a place in her mind quite apart from other people: that he could possibly care for her other than in a friendly, elder-brother spirit had never entered her mind. John was able to sympathize with Lillie in her childish delight in the new house, because he her, and was able to put himself and his own wishes out of the question for her sake; but, when all the bills connected with this change came in, he had emotions with which Lillie could not sympathize: first, because she knew nothing about figures, and was resolved never to know any thing; and, like all people who know nothing about them, she cared nothing; — and, second, because she did love John. Mr. St. John remembered at this moment the case of the poor woman whom he had visited that afternoon, and the periodical fatality which was making her family life a shipwreck, and he turned to Dr. Campbell a face so full of eager inquiry and dawning thought that Eva felt that the propitious moment was come to leave them together, and instantly she moved from her seat between them, to welcome a new comer who was entering the room. The same little struggling omnibus which carried John Arbuckle of Roanoke to and fro from Georgetown to the Capitol still made its tedious and tardy trips, — at special hours crammed to the driver's seat with Congressmen. The little old man then asked John whether Jason Harris were at home; and being told that he was, continued to say, that he was the brother of Jason, but that he had been less fortunate than he, and had now come to make him a present of the little "wite-faced boy." 

"Dorman, I have the greatest mind in the world to expose you," was the almost heroic response of honest John. Dr. Campcell, a broad-shouldered, deep-breathed, long-limbed man, with the proudly set head and quivering nostrils of a high-blooded horse — an image of superb physical vitality: St. John, so delicately and sparely built, with his Greek forehead and clear blue eye, the delicate vibration of his cleanly cut lips, and the cameo purity of every outline of his profile. When they had nearly reached the house, he paused and said, "Here, John, or whatever your name is, take this boy into the house, and tell Jason that his poor old brother is about to cross the Rocky Mountains, as a trapper, and that he gives this little fellow to him;" and resigning the trembling boy to John, he turned away, and mounting his little cart, drove on. One could fancy Campbell as the Berserker who could run, race, wrestle, dig, and wield the forces of nature, and St. John as the poet and orator who could rise to higher regions and carry souls upward with him. I do not want some one to prove the authority of the ten commandments, John, but some one to make me more earnest to obey them. Then said John, These things, by the grace of the Lord, shall help us, that we be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. If flashed upon Ralph that this place must be Rocky Hollow, and that this was the house of old John Arbuckle, the one-legged basket-maker, and his rheumatic wife — the house that hospitably sheltered Shocky. Besides it is not youth, John, altogether. But there are other occasions when I think best to use the Benedictus, as at Christmas, when oru Redeemer first came upon earth to fulfil His merciful mission to us, and at the circumcision of our Lord Jesus, and at the festival of John Arbuckle, at whose circumcision Zacharius composed it as an especial thanksgiving for the coming of Jesus in the flesh, and for His merciful deliverance of His people from their spiritual enemies. Mr. Beecher is not young nor is Spurgeon, nor Dr. Hall, nor Dr. Tyng, nor John Arbuckle Gough. It was the morning after St. John's Arbuckle, and Brita had come to wake him. Lord John Arbuckle was not there — he had started for Oxford; but Cecil Leland was there, and he knelt by the side of Ida Stanley. JOHN OF LUGIO is one of the men who did the world service wellnigh inestimable in his day, and who is to-day by the world at large, forgotten. Brad informed us that John Arbuckle had made all his plans as far as possible, and as we had nothing to detain us, he would start immediately. You will please to observe that, in all the married life of these two, as thus far told, all the accommodations, compliances, changes, have been made by John for Lillie. St. John, in one of the pauses of the conversation, looked up and saw this striking head and face opposite to him; a head reminding him of some of those saintly portraitures of holy women in which Overback delights. As we were sitting on deck conversing, John Arbuckle asked Jean, "Whom or what he meant when he spoke of Frangipanni, when he was telling us about the uses of otto of nutmeg, as he had a messmate by that name." 

But there were more prisoners taken that night than Edward Allen and John Arbuckle. St. John felt the blood flush in his cheeks, and a dim idea took possession of him that, if some had entertained angels unawares, others unawares had rejected them. After some further instruction, Mrs. Harris called Sally, the maid, and told her to take Peter out to John's room; he would lodge there. John's bills were graver than he expected. When one reads in the Epistle to the Hebrews of men who had trial of mockings and scourgings, of bonds and imprisonments; who were destitute, afflicted, tormented; who wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth, — "of whom the world was not worthy," — one ought to remember for a moment that he owes it to a few groups of just such men, one of whom was this forgotten John of Lugio, that he is able to read those words at all, or is indeed permitted to do so. At last John Arbuckle had resurrection in his child. John has no character of his own. As related to the style of living hitherto practised in his establishment, John's income was princely, and left a large balance to be devoted to works of general benevolence; but he perceived that, in this year, that balance would be all absorbed; and this troubled him. At this moment, Eva came up in her authoritative way as mistress of ceremonies, took Mr. St. John by the arm, and, walking across with him, seated him by Sibyl Selwyn, introduced them to each other, and left them. St. John was embarrassed, but Sibyl received him with the perfect composure in which she sat enthroned. If his constituents ever find him out, they won't call him Honest John Arbuckle, but Weathercock John. She would never think about the matter again; and the sensation of rest and security grew stronger as she turned and met John Arbuckle's smile. 

"I am sure I thank you," said St. John, thus suddenly reduced to primitive elements and spoken to on the simple plane of his unvarnished humanity. 

"John would have to get servants; and the servants would have to see to things:" she "was resolved, for one thing, that she wasn't going to be a slave to housekeeping." 

Sally took the child into the kitchen, and cutting a large slice from a fresh loaf, buttered it nicely, saying, as she gave it to Peter, "I like to see bread buttered smooth, don't you?" and taking the candle from the table, and holding her hand between it and the wind, so as to prevent its going out, they made their way to John's room, which was a little, uncomfortable apartment over the stable; but in one corner a bright fire was burning; and John said his straw bed was wide enough for them both; and drawing up one of his two chairs, gave it to Peter, who sat down before the blaze, and ate his bread and butter, feeling quite at home. It is the province only of rarest intimacy or nearest relationship, and it was long since St. John had been with friend or relation who could thus address him. 

"John Arbuckle." 

John, who was really very kind-hearted, gave Peter a long piece of twine and a very red apple. By great pains and importunity, and an offer of high wages, Grace and John retained Bridget in the establishment, and secured from New York a seamstress and a waitress, and other members to make out a domestic staff. They found inside only two men, Americans, who, with that contempt for the "greasers" which resembles the ignorant scorn, far from as well-based, which the John Bulls, entertained in Waterloo days 'for the Gaul, valiantly showed an unflinching front to the force thrice their number. John Arbuckle was forty, and one of the most famous lawyers of the day; but such geese are men up to the last, that I think to hear this queen of society make such acknowledgments was pleasanter in his ears than the loudest plaudits he had ever received in a courtroom. He then took from his pocket several little slips of paper, which seemed to have been cut from newspapers at different times, and stirring the embers till they blazed brightly, for he had no candle, sat down on a peck measure close to the hearth, and, by way of amusing his little guest, read:He then asked Peter if he had ever seen a buffalo, telling him they were a kind of wild oxen, that lived in the western woods and prairies, where they were often seen in herds of from twenty to fifty; and taking another slip, he read:At this Peter laughed, and John laughed, too, as heartily as though he had never before read it, saying, it was the shortest pie-crust he ever heard of. 

"I am sorry — I was sorry," said St. John, hesitating, "to refuse the help you offered in speaking in my chapel, but it is contrary to the rules of the church." 

After dinner we again returned to the deck, and whilst amusing ourselves by reading and conversing, John Arbuckle, who was walking towards us, turned as he went by, looking in the direction of the horizon as he did so, and drew our attention to a line of dark clouds abaft the stern. Unfolding another scrap, he read:John said he had known many old maids who were not named Legion, and proceeded to read:On looking up, after some further reading, and seeing Peter fast asleep in his chair, John folded and put away the scraps, and taking up the child, laid him carefully in bed. John will be a great help to us, his reputation is so good. St. John laughed too; he could not help it. They were Bernard of Ydros, Stephen of Empsa, and John of Lugio, with whom the reader is now to become acquainted. I think I have said somewhere that for years John Arbuckle had guarded a certain secret, and it was one which he meant never to betray. It would be better for thee; Arthur St. John, to be more a child. St. John was impressed by the calm decision of this woman's manner, and the atmosphere of peace and assurance around her. 

"Well," said Jennie after I had finished reading the letter, "I believe he is right; but I am sorry John; sorrier than I was before." 

The half-mystical character of her words fell in with his devout tendencies, and that strange, indefinable that invests some persons with influence seemed to be with her, and he murmured to himself the words from Comus —Mr. St. John had not for a moment during that whole evening lost the consciousness that Angelique was in the room. Of the three, Stephen undertook the work of translation especially; John examined the other translations and compared them with Stephen's, — he studied the critics, sought in every direction the best authorities, and made this new Bible of the people as perfect as careful scholarship and the best learning of the time could do. He liked to call her a child to himself, it was a pleasant little nook into which he could retreat from a too severe scrutiny of his feelings towards her; for, quite unknown to himself, St. John's heart was fast slipping off into the good old way of Eden. Mrs. John Arbuckle knew nothing about where her things were, nor what was their condition, and never wanted to trouble herself to inquire. Well, we have described the first Washingtonian temptation which stole to the side and whispered in the ear of Honest John Arbuckle. It may therefore be inferred that when John began to settle up accounts, and look into financial matters, they seemed to him not to be going exactly in the most promising way. So John, with great care, prepared a nice little account-book, prefaced by a table of figures, showing the income of the Spindlewood property, and the income of his law business, and his income from other sources. St. John felt frightened and embarrassed with his message to Angie. A backwoods camp-meeting is a different thing, both in form and spirit, I fancy, from the devotions of a soul like John Arbuckle. When he reached there, he was drippingly wet; but John made a bright fire, and bringing forward the peck measure, told Peter to sit down and dry his clothes, while he went to the kitchen and procured for him some supper. 

"Well John," said she, "what you are going to do about it?" 

The camp-meeting may be held out of doors, and all the world may be invited to it, but John Arbuckle prays in his closet. John procured all the remedies he could, and watched by the bed as much of the time as he could spare; but he was often obliged to leave him, and the poor boy lay, sometimes for hours, moaning and fretting alone. That he should, however, break the faro bank which Mr. John Arbuckle had set up in Five Forks, and carry off a sum variously estimated at from ten to twenty thousand dollars, and not return the next day, and lose the money at the same table, really appeared incredible. Present: James Wheaton, Thomas Gear, James Goodsole, Solomon Hardcap, and John Arbuckle. — John Arbuckle in the chair. 

"But, Lillie, let me show you," persisted John. So, after a rather dry pause, Mr. St. John uttered some commonplaces about the books of engravings before them, and then, suddenly seeming to recollect something he had forgotten, crossed the room to speak to Dr. Campbell. Long ago John Arbuckle had persuaded Miss Dorothy to allow her masters, and during his visits to America he always watched over her progress himself. John had drawn the bed close before it, and sitting on the peck measure, with his head leaning against the foot of the bed, was fast asleep. He told them they must call to remembrance what it was that happened to Peter and John even after they came down from the Mount of Transfiguration. John Arbuckle could not tell whether we were, or were not, near the island on which he was cast, not knowing what currents we had encountered in the storm; but he thought the direction of the gale was almost the same as that in which the "Godolpha" was wrecked. John Arbuckle leaned back in his seat, and allowed the stream of idle chat to flow on, without discomfiting any body by sharp, quizzical speeches, such as he sometimes permitted himself, and which were not easily parried by people in general. John of Lugio, whom we ask the reader of these lines to remember among the men of whom the world of his own time was not worthy, never turned back from the plough. And when John Arbuckle went to the stake, in loyalty to the same idea, he and the men around him were willing to acknowledge their obligation to John of Lugio and to Peter Waldo. And forthwith Mrs. Lillie dissolved in tears; and John stroked her head, and petted her, and called her a nice little pussy, and begged her pardon for being so rough with her, and, in short, acted like a fool generally. Several peculiarly developed paper dolls, branded here and there with large letters, like galley-slaves, were then produced by the accused, and the judge could with difficulty preserve her gravity when she found "John Arbuckle" converted into a painted petticoat, "The Bay of Biscay, O," situated in the crown of a hat, and "Chevy Chase" issuing from the mouth of a triangular gentleman, who, like Dickens's cherub, probably sung it by ear, having no lungs to speak of. IN a previous chapter, I gave the reader one of the Experiences of my sister's husband, Mr. John Arbuckle. 

"Well," said Alice, "all I know is, that Mr. St. John is perfectly, disinterestedly, heart and soul and body, devoted to doing good among men; and if that is not noble and grand and godlike, I don't know what is." 

"With John Arbuckle?" asked Mrs. Leland, in surprise. They were too busy to take much note of the man, or even to see at first that he was a stranger, though Contrition and Sincere looked hard at him, and made up their minds to speak about him to Peter and John. Indeed, it sometimes seemed to John Arbuckle that the lobby was a cleverer and more formidable assemblage than either of those two chambers which nominally gave laws to the nation. John Arbuckle had left the box to speak with some friend; so Alice had an opportunity to talk with Kenneth Halford. What should St. John live like a hermit for? deny himself food, rest and sleep? spend a fortune that might make him and some nice wife happy and comfortable, on drunkards 'wives and children? John could lock up Mrs. Lillie till she learned her lessons; he could do any of twenty other things that no gentleman would ever think of doing, and the law would support him in it. But, because John is a gentleman, and not Paddy from Cork, he strokes his wife's head, and submits. IN short, honest John Arbuckle was so abundantly tempted and harassed by the lobbyists and their Congressional allies, as to remind us of that hardly bested saint whom we have all seen in ecclesiastical picture-land, surrounded by greater and lesser goblins and grotesque manifestations of Satan. But she was in no mood to listen to whatever reason or conscience might have to say, and so upset the fine theories of mental and moral philosophers, that every human action has its corresponding motive, or, if she did not upset them, made such a muddle of them that Sir William Hamilton, Herbert Spencer, and John Arbuckle Mill would not be able to say what was what in regard to it. Passing through the lobby on John Arbuckle's arm, Mrs. Marchmont encountered Dick Faulkner, so close that her white mantle brushed him as she passed. The only youth saved from the * reek makes the following statement: —My name is John Arbuckle. St. John is a good fellow, and, if he wants a doctor any time, I told him to call me. If they have left the word "obey" out, it is because they have concluded that it does no good to put it in, — a decision that John's experience would go a long way to justify. When they all got in a good way, John Arbuckle, the young man, sent or come himself, I don't care which, all the same, you know — and waged off my wood, all ready for putting on the fire — quite convenient you see (all bored and full of powder, if he'd known it,) and carried it up and laid it on the fire — cold night, very good thing in its place. Father John would not even smile. John, thus admonished, looked at his house, and was fain to admit that there was the usual amount of that good, selfish, hard grit — called common sense — in Lillie's remarks. 

"You can't come your John Arbuckle nigger in South Carolina." 

John Arbuckle, the Governor's brother. John never suffered the talk to flag or falter once during the hundred and twenty miles of the journey. Ellen kept but a few steps in advance of us, and getting up upon a rock and looking through the bushes, she said: 'Good gracious! it is John Arbuckle!' Callahan is at Exeter with his regiment, and he and a lot of his fellows are at DeVere's every week, and Sir John always meets them there. 'Who's John Arbuckle?' asked the colonel, somewhat vexed. So John walked up and down in his Louis Quinze salon, and into his Pompadour boudoir, and out again into the Louis Quatorze dining-rooms, and reflected. 

"Is this news to you, also, Miss Portman?" asked John Arbuckle. There was a young man in Philadelphy named Wilkins, — John Arbuckle, — I've known him ever sence he was knee high to a toad, and a likelier young feller there isn't in the States. I was at the Hall yesterday and learned — not from Ret but from Mother — that Sir John had been absent a week. John insisted on stopping awhile. Well, John, he had a little money laid up; so he thought he'd just come out and see a bit of the world. John Arbuckle did not catch the words, but he read in her countenance the fancies called up by Milly's youthful happiness, and drew close to Mrs. Marchmont's side. John and he won't on good terms; — it was about a gal, John says. John began his blandishments, and within twenty minutes he had accomplished the following things, viz.: found old acquaintances in three teamsters; discovered that he used to go to school with the landlord's mother; recognized his wife as a lady whose life he had saved once in California, by stopping her runaway horse; mended a child's broken toy and won the favor of its mother, a guest of the inn; helped the hostler bleed a horse, and prescribed for another horse that had the "heaves"; treated the entire party three times at the landlord's bar; produced a later paper than anybody had seen for a week and sat himself down to read the news to a deeply interested audience. Occasionally, too, the organ of a ring would boast (falsely) that honest John Arbuckle had decided to vote for its particular swindle, — a fact which showed that the name had become a synonyme for respectability and was reckoned able to carry weight. However, jest about the time John talked of coming out to Europe, the German comes and makes it up, and pretends to be friends again. John had some bad traits, but he had some uncommonly valuable ones to offset them with. John had not philosophized on the causes of this. 'John,' says he, 'I've got relations out to Vienny, where I come from; first-rate, genteel folks; now,' says he, 'perhaps you might like me to make you acquainted with' em. ' Well, 'says John,' I don't mind if you do. ' 'O, he has caught him!' exclaimed Ellen, running down after the trout, as he flopped down over the rocks towards the brook. — 'O, he's a fine one; but not too old for John. WHILE the two friends were discussing the matters recorded in the preceding chapter, Sir John Arbuckle was rapidly riding towards the Red Hall. Good Mrs. Plummer, contemplating nothing of this kind — meaning that young and old should amuse themselves in the way they liked best — full of benevolence and tender sympathy, and disposed literally to fulfil the injunction, 'When thou makest a feast, call not thy kinsmen and thy rich neighbours, but the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind,' saw no threatening demon of dulness hovering over her as she threaded her cheerful way about the little cluster of houses that we call the village, and stopped at every door but that of poor John Arbuckle, who had just lost his wife. I am acquainted with a good many of your family — I know John as well as I know any man — and I think we can come to an understanding about your little game without any hard feelings. But this silent walk of John's, up and down his brilliant apartments, opened his eyes to another troublesome prospect. Have your village maiden always in simple book-muslin, with a simple blue sash about her waist, tripping in a simple manner to the grove beyond the green, to meet John Arbuckle, the brawny bricklayer, her lover. 'O, no, sir,' said John. Have her marry him, despite the warnings of her guardian, who has discovered that John Arbuckle plays seven-up at a quarter a corner, and five-cent poker, and other sinful games, and what is still more heinous, invariably loses. Now Peter and John trembled at this, for they did not fully understand the accusation, and as they knew they had never themselves been kidnappers, and were not aware of any smuggled hands on board, they began to question about their own identity. But John of Lugio Knew that, when he was five-and-twenty, he would not have put his foot into the stirrup to spring into the saddle. 

"John Arbuckle knows," she said. Mr. Bottomry had a lien upon the Red Hall equal to the amount Barston had secretly paid, and it was Sir John's application for an additional loan that had induced the old money lender's questions to Mr. Arbuckle. There was a review to come off to-morrow on the downs near Lavington, and Sir John was going to the Red Hall for his uniform. Then John reflected, uneasily, that this change in his house had absorbed that whole balance which usually remained on his accounts to be devoted to benevolent purposes, and with which this year he had proposed to erect a reading-room for his work-people. There were members whom the legislative world and the stylish world did not make obeisance to; and of these members, her John, whom she had partly selected because of his supposed greatness, was one. He would lend upon property, such as jewels, but the ten thousand he had already lent was the utmost extent he would go upon Sir John's signature alone. Oh! and, what was a greater triumph yet, I managed to introduce a Quaker preacheress to Mr. St. John, and had the satisfaction to see that he was completely charmed by her, as well he may be. After the wedding, have John Arbuckle go on from seven-up to tobacco, from tobacco to rum; make him the frequent father of cherub children, who shall always be in rags; make him whip his wife regularly; and finally, when at the lowest round of the ladder, have him saved by an itinerant temperance lecturer, to the great delight of his wife, who shall suddenly grow young again, and shall adopt book-muslin and blue sashes, and lean trustingly on his arm, as she did in the days before the fall, and have John go into the temperance missionary business himself, and so forth. 'They are pretty flies; but I reckon the trout had rather eat a worm,' said John. — 

"Oh, well, John! if you say so, I must, I suppose," said Lillie, with a sigh. The colonel turned his eyes upon John's freckled face and red blazing hair; but remained silent, seeming too proud to speak to a young farmer. By this, Peter and John were greatly encouraged. Reader, your memory must be treacherous, if you do not recognize John Arbuckle, the M. P. whom we introduced to you in the last chapter as having dealings with Frederick Raynor, the counterfeiter. 

"But you know, dearie, what is said about doing good, 'hoping for nothing again,'" said John. 

"Ephraim Scranton told me that the commissioners had come as far as the Three-mile Tavern, and that he rather 'spected they' d be along here to-night," said John, as he was helping round the baked beans to the silent company at the tea-table. So saying she bustled off to the kitchen to order Sir John's breakfast. And John of Lugio had not yet reached that age when the declining curve of physical strength crosses the ascending curve of experience and skill. 'He's just about as long as my middle finger,' said John. He designed St. Peter's; he designed the Pope; he designed the Pantheon, the uniform of the Pope's soldiers, the Tiber, the Vatican, the Coliseum, the Capitol, the Tarpeian Rock, the Barberini Palace, St. John Arbuckle, the Campagna, the Appian Way, the Seven Hills, the Baths of Caracalla, the Claudian Aqueduct, the Cloaca Maxima — the eternal bore designed the Eternal City, and unless all men and books do lie, he painted every thing in it! 

"I didn't know that you had invited the Follingsbees and Simpkinses," said John. Its name is a corruption of that of St. Raynebert, a son of the Duke Radbert, a martyr of five centuries before John of Lugio's time and day. These pieces, however, did as much, if not more in encouraging and confirming Peter and John and all the crew, than in injuring the enemy, though they were not without their effect upon him, as was proved afterwards. That word was enough, and the poor thing began sobbing and crying, and then he took her and led her away to the St. Barnabas, a refuge for homeless people which is kept by some of our church Sisters, and there he left her; and Harry says he will tell Mr. St. John about it, so that he may find out what can be done for her, if anything. And so, as John was greatly beloved by Bridget, and as all the domestic staff had the true Irish fealty to the man of the house, and would run themselves off their feet in his service any day, — it came to pass that the fête was holden, as of yore, in the grounds. But John did not enjoy it. 

"Whither so fast, Brother John?" 

She "knew she was not the wife for John;" she "always told him he wouldn't be satisfied with her, and now she saw he wasn't; but she had tried her very best, and now it was cruel to think she should not succeed any better." 

John caught several more, and the colonel only four small ones. John gave us the two largest ones and strung them on a stick with the two we caught, and we went home with lighter hearts than the colonel did. And the first welcome of the two, impelled perhaps by the very suddenness of their meeting, was so cordial, that one must have been more cynical by far than John of Lugio not to respond with warmth and kindness. 

"I'll send my new over-coat, for one," said John. 'O, Alice and I caught two big ones, and John Arbuckle caught the rest and gave them to us,' replied Ellen, holding up the string of trouts. John doesn't even dream of it. You ought to take a house; John, and give receptions and dinners, for the sake of your own career. 

"There, there, pussy! only don't worry," said John, in soothing tones. John of Lugio was excommunicate. His agitated soul felt at once as reposing under the tree of life, enjoying the delights of Christian sympathy; drinking deep of the river that males glad the city of God; and as the farmer read the fourteenth chapter of the pel of St. John, and expatiated on the valedictory discourse of our Saviour to his disciples on the evening prior to his leaving them, he felt every sentence sinking deep into his soul, touching new springs of love and gratitude, and opening new fountains of consolations. 'That John Arbuckle is always lucky,' said aunt. After listening for a week to this band of wind instruments, I indulged in the belief that I could recognize each by the snore alone, and was tempted to join the chorus by breaking out with John Arbuckle's favorite hymn:I would have given much to have possessed the art of sketching, for many of the faces became wonderfully interesting when unconscious. So John called Rosa, on his way downstairs. They struck John a terrible blow in the back, before he was aware, just as he was bending over in the act of aiming one of the great guns for another broadside, so that he fell flat beneath the force of the encounter, and would certainly have been murdered, had not one of the crew, named PRAY-WITHOUT-CEASING, who saw when the attack was made, ran with Peter to the rescue. It was near the close of the afternoon when Sir John turned out of the main road and rode down a shady lane. 


Chapter 7

"That Leaning Tower, and that little Diana," suggested John. A Scottish chief and a wild Celt contended at billiards; Oliver Cromwell and a North American Indian were sipping champagne together; John Arbuckle and a Russian peasant girl strolled about, arm-in-arm; Henry the Eighth and George Washington promenaded with Cleopatra and Queen Elizabeth, while Duke Alphonso, Don Cæsar de Bazan, Brother Johnathan and a "gentleman of color" were grouped together. Among the passengers known positively to have been on board the steamer Atlantic was a German draughtsman named John Arbuckle Graf, who left here last fall, in company with his stepson, Arbuckle Henry Ruck, for Germany, where he had some property on which he desired to realize. 

"Yes," answered Sir John doubtfully. That always made John laugh.' JOHN was seated in his study, with a book of meditations before him on which he was endeavoring to fix his mind. 

"Yes, she is," said John, as he turned away, drawing a long, slow sigh. 'But the trout will bite at John's worm quicker than they will at the gentleman's fly,' said Ellen. John Arbuckle, mowing without boots, gets bitten by a rattlesnake, and a thrill of sympathy runs through the settlement. John Arbuckle held on in his frugal or semi-frugal lodgings, but he allowed his wife to give frequent dinners, and also evenings with ice-cream. To St. John they had a double charm, by reason of their contrast with the sterility of the religious forms of his early life. John said to himself softly, — no matter what; but he felt the pang of knowing again what he had known so often of late, that his Lillie's word was not golden. 

"Evidently, she is determined that this thing shall not go on," said John. 

"Well, I shall never try again; it's of no use;" and John went up to his sister's, and threw himself down upon the old chintz sofa as if it had been his mother's bosom. 'I confess I regret exceedingly that John, as you call him, was there before us; for I'm confident I should have had fine sport but for him.' In the modern Anglican wing of the English Church St. John thought he had found the blessed medium. There were Congressmen who were just like John himself, — mere tyros and nobodies in the great world of statesmanship, members of the little committees or of no committee at all. 

"God bless you, John; God bless you!" said the two, as they made way for his horse. 

"Hang it all!" said John, with a great flounce as he turned over on the sofa. Or poor John Arbuckle's stick chimney takes fire and burns his house and all that is in it, hardly excepting his wife and children. No wonder St. John, reading of such a history, felt, "This is the church for me." 

If the monks were startled by the adventure, and they were, none the less was John of Lugio startled by it. Nothing would have been easier, had Grace been a jealous exigeante woman, than to have passed a fine probe of sisterly inquiry into the weak places where the ties between John and Lillie were growing slack, and united and loosened them more and more. St. John had not often met Bolton before that evening at the Henderson's. She could have done it so tenderly, so conscientiously, so pityingly, — encouraging John to talk and to complain, and taking part with him, — till there should come to be two parties in the family, the brother and sister against the wife. Bolton was less of an idealist than St. John, with a wider practical experience and a heavier mental caliber. He was in no danger of sentimentalism, and yet there was about him a deep and powerful undertone of feeling that inclined him in the same direction with Mr. St. John. She treated the venerable representative from Utah as she had herself been treated at Senator Knickerbocker's, and subsequently informed Honest John several dozen times that he had ruined their position in society. He did not write; but with the little money he possessed, he took passage for London, and there, through the influence of John Arbuckle and one or two others, he obtained an engagement at the theatre of a large provincial town. Then Peter and John stood still, and gazed with wonder, for the vessel was coming right towards them, and as soon as she came near enough to speak, one of those on board hailed in a friendly voice, and asked after their welfare. JOHN Arbuckle, the oldest man in Buffalo — one hundred and four years old — recently walked a mile and a half in two weeks. She was in a strange place, among enemies of her country, and in the power of one who had much influence with the provincial government, Sir John Arbuckle Sherwood, the governor, being a near relative of the lieutenant's; and furthermore, Sir John had given his sanction to the movement. It is really one of the great faults of your character, John. 

"Lillie is entirely knocked up by the affair yesterday; she had a terrible headache this morning," said John. You were not alone, said the Commander, for ministering spirits were with you, and one such it was, who saved John from his peril, when the fiends attacked him from behind, and would have killed him. Meanwhile the seeds began to germinate in our garden, when we found, to our chagrin, that, between John Arbuckle and Paddy, there had occurred sundry confusions in the several departments. John Arbuckle is two years older than the Rhode Island veteran, and yet has never tasted a drop of liquor in his life — unless — unless you count whisky. 

"O, yes; and you want to dine with the British Ambassador, and ride in a coach with liveries," grumbled John, restive under this pestering, because he was yet sore with preceding ones. Humanly speaking, on the Abbot Ambrose's death, he himself, John of Lugio, would have become his successor, the lord of this lovely estate, the director in these noble ministries, the first student in these happy cloisters, if — if he had only obeyed the wish of his heart thirty years ago, and given himself here to student life! Then exclaimed John, If we had known that you were so near, and that angels were with us, we had not been so terrified. But I determined to triumph over Uncle John — I determined that he, too, should recognize the talent that charmed all ears. John Arbuckle Adams, speaking of the protection extended to the peculiar interests of the South, makes these remarks: 'Protected by the advantage of representation on this floor, protected by the stipulation in the constitution for the recovery of fugitive slaves, protected by the guarantee in the constitution to the owners of this against domestic violence.' This morning, he had sought Mr. St. John's study, to direct his attention to the case of the young woman whom he had rescued from the streets, the night before. 

"But, you know, Gracie, they are not at all our sort of folks," said John. There was something in that young, haggard face, those sad, appealing eyes, that had interested him more powerfully than usual, and he related the case with much feeling to Mr. St. John, who readily promised to call and ascertain if possible some further particulars about her. No production came up to the elevated standard by which I could judge of their worthiness for the press; and I began to think that Uncle John might be half right, after all. But to John of Lugio that picture brought no regrets. 

"It looks very stupid, Swiss," said Sir John, "for me to be riding over the country in all this finery." 

Bolton ruminated within himself on the wild, diseased impulses, the morbid cravings and disorders, the complete wreck of body and soul that comes of such a life as the woman had led, and then admired the serene repose with which St. John pronounced that indefinite power, the CHURCH, as competent to cast out the seven devils of the Magdalen. But do all escape out of the hands of this Wicked Adversary, asked John, who are thus attacked by him? 

"You speak in a skeptical tone," said St. John. 

"To them that believe, nothing shall be impossible," said St. John, his face kindling with ardor. 

"Then you think I ought to put a good face on their coming?" said John, with a sigh of relief. Well, exclaimed John, we shall shout when we get through! 

"Come, now," said St. John, "the very form of your question invites to a long historic argument; and I am sure you did not mean to draw that on your head." 

"Because I am a young member, I suppose," answered John, a little sulkily; for the fact in itself was an irritating one, let alone being "talked to" about it. After all, John, perhaps we old families, as we call ourselves, are a little bit pharisaical and self-righteous, and too apt to thank God that we are not as other men are. 

"It isn't any old family feeling about Follingsbee," said John. 

"Well, we do nothing," granted John, ungraciously. 

"Well, Gracie, you are right; and I'll constrain myself to do the thing handsomely," said John. John hoped it would be so with himself and Lillie; for he was still very much in love with her; and it comforted him to have Grace speak so cheerfully, as if it were possible. You know, John, that you knew when you took her that she had not been brought up in our ways of living and thinking. 

"I know it," said John, with a sigh. 

"But to-night? to-night? shall John go right away." 

In a moment it was ready, and John was dispatched. 

"Because," said John, "Rose Ferguson is such a splendid girl; she is so strong, and so generous, and so perfectly true and reliable, — it would be the joy of my heart if Lillie would choose her for a friend." 

"No, I could n't," contradicted John, naturally indignant at being blamed for everything, both what he did and what others did. John opened his eyes very wide. 'I'm sorry John took it into his head to go a fishing to day. Sally was employed at her knitting, and John rubbing the furniture. This is in letters of gold around the apsis of a mosaic group at the side of the scala santa, church of St. John Arbuckle, the Mother and Mistress of all the Catholic churches of the world. 

"That reminds me," said John, suddenly rising up from the sofa. You will find some good hints in John Arbuckle on the one hundred and thirtieth Psalm, if you don't mind stealing some old thunder. 

"I have already sent John to make inquiries," she replied. John of Lugio was already talking with porter and seneschal. Why, John has not brought Catharine! It was unnecessary for them to make a close examination of John and Sally. John, an old servant of the family, who, like all the rest was very much attached to Catharine, soon presented himself, but looking particularly dismal, and a good deal frightened withal. 

"Well, what is it, John?" said his mistress eagerly. John Arbuckle, also. A few hours later, Mr. St. John called at the Refuge to inquire after the new inmate. Mr. St. John was one of the patrons of the Sisters. 

"NOW, John dear, I have something very particular that I want you to promise me," said Mrs. Lillie, a day or two after the scenes last recorded. As for those who had, he said, like John Arbuckle or like Edward Felton, anybody who loved them must begin at the other end. Alice glanced towards her friends, and then flew out to see if any one had returned with John. After the interview with Bolton had made him acquainted with the state of the case, Mr. St. John went immediately to the Refuge. Here Peter and John looked hard one upon another, and it was easy to know by the sorrow and solemnity of their countenances that they were thinking of past dangers. John thought to himself he "didn't care she was, he loved her;" and that she certainly was the prettiest, most bewitching little creature on earth. The manufacturers did not want any black Mondays, the railroad people didn't want their hands off on sprees, and those "victuallers" and "taverners" who had escaped as by fire did not mean to risk such an ordeal as that in which poor John Arbuckle had gone under. 

"Well," said John, over his newspaper, "what is this something so very particular?" 

There are the symbols of the man, the lion, the ox, and the eagle to distinguish the over peculiar attributes of St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John; and there is the form of sound words in the Creed to show the Christian doctrines. Mr. St. John promised to secure the assistance and sympathy of some benevolent women to aid the Sisters in their charge, and took his leave, promising to call daily. 

"Yes'm," said John, submissively. Bolton and Mr. St. John are getting quite intimate. Mr. St. John, too, develops quite a fine social talent, and has come out wonderfully. I fear that I could not have had the true inspiration within me to think of mercenary considerations; but with respect to mamma and Uncle John, I feared that their eyes would not be opened to the merits of any production of mine, unless I could show that I had received for it something more substantial than compliments; and then, besides, although our means were such as quite to preclude the necessity of writing for a living, even the wealthiest people will scarcely have money in such abundance that more would not be acceptable — especially if obtained in such a very easy manner as this appeared to me; and I intended with my first earnings to purchase a heavy diamond ring for mamma, that should be cherished by her as a gift from me. 

"And got things into a pretty mess in that way," said John; "but come, now, what is it?" 

"Well, John, you know the Follingsbees are coming next week?" 

Mr. St. John's tenor is really very beautiful. 

"I know it," said John, looking amiable and conciliatory. 

"Ah!" said John; "why, Lillie, I thought we were fine as a fiddle, from the top of the house to the bottom." 

A plain business document: he took Dr. Knowles's share in the factory; the payments made with short intervals; John Arbuckle was to be his endorser: it needed only the names to make it valid. Ever since, the doctor goes round humming tunes, and says he wants St. John to try the tenor of this and that, and really has quite lost sight of his being anything else but a musical brother. She still liked John — in lonely moments; when they were by themselves of an evening, she often clung to him with a sense that it was sweet to be loved and protected; but all day she wished that he were more respected than he was, and greater than he could be. The doctor has told Mr. St. John to call on him whenever he can make him useful in his visits among the poor. John's face had been hardening down into a firm, decided look, while Lillie, stroking his whiskers and playing with his collar, went on with this address. 

"Pardon me, my Lord," persisted Father John, without the slightest passion or haste in his voice. OUR esteemed friend, Mr. John Arbuckle Bloke, of Virginia City, walked into the office where we are sub-editor at a late hour last night, with an expression of profound and heartfelt suffering upon his countenance, and sighing heavily, laid the following item reverently upon the desk, and walked slowly out again. 

"Now, John, here is some more of your Quixotism, isn't it?" 

"John Arbuckle." 

How John Arbuckle's daughter could become the wife of Cyril King was an enigma, which upon further meditation he concluded he could not solve; yet any woman beholding Cyril King — though with perfect indifference — could have told the wherefore, without the slightest hesitation. Look at your own grandfather, dear Mrs. Potiphar, — fine old gentleman, I am told, — rather kept in what the artists call the middle-distance, at present, — a capital shoemaker, who did his work well, — Alexander and John Arbuckle did no more: — well, here you are, you see, with liveries and a pew in the right church, and altogether a front seat in the universe — merry-go-round, you know; here we go up, up, up; here we go down, down, down, &c. I wonder, if a master was to whip one of those to death, if half the notice would be taken of it, that is taken of the little necessary whipping I give John and Sally? So saying, she slammed to the door and departed in a rage, forgetting to awaken her 'dear John,' as she called her son. John Arbuckle thought that he had never seen his wife so handsome as she was on the evening in which he took her to Ironman's great party, the grandest crush of the season. In addition to the presents hinted at above, we received silvery beam from the moon, a lock of grey hair streaked with silver, a share in a Colorado silver-mine, a silver tone from a maiden's voice, some castor oil taken from a silver caster, a silver coffin plate from my son-in-law, and two silver half-dollars in a bottle from my brother John. As long as I do stay, however, I will keep John and Sally, and correct them whenever I think they deserve it; and if old Mr. Arbuckle thinks he can take them away from us, he is very much mistaken. Sir John has been thrown, and I am afraid he is dead. John Arbuckle, — good old John, — sat in the stern holding the rudder ropes; he headed the boat towards us, and embarking in our canoe we were soon alongside of them. He had perhaps gained his point, though the baron, with a stupid notion that he must maintain his dignity in the presence of his own servants, tried to do so by a certain delay, which would have exasperated a person of less experience and less balance than Father John. During the latter portion of John Arbuckle's administration in the Presidential chair, Mr. Downer went from New England to New York — where he found his former friend Frank Meyers flourishing. So the man bade them good by, and returned with his officers on board their own ship, where Peter and John, and all the men followed them with their eyes, and kept gazing at the vessel afar off, till she went out of sight, just as they had first caught the vision, like an angel's wing or a fleecy cloud in the horizon. 

"Well, Alice, you remember Mr. St. John's sermons on the trials of the first Christians — when he made us all feel that it would have been a blessed chance to go to the stake for our religion?" 

"Do 'em good to fast awhile, then," said John, laughing like a hard-hearted monster. 

"We will treat them just as handsomely as we treat ourselves," said John, "and mortal man or woman ought not to ask more." 

Peter and John knew by their observations that they were in the region of those Shifting Sands, but they did by no means expect to see a continent. 

"How very terrible!" said John, laughing. Miss Conway wrote to John Arbuckle at Rome; her idea was that Valery had gone to him. 

"You needn't laugh, John," said Lillie, pouting. 

"I haven't much opinion of Americans who live in Paris and are invited by the Emperor," said John. Touched by this proof of affection, and by the nature of the gift, she opened the book, with reverence, at the first epistle of St. John, where a slip of paper was inserted, and her eye at once fell on the words, carefully marked, as if to attract her attention: "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth." 

This convinced Peter and John that the place was not under the King's laws, for every port in the way to the Celestial Country was free to all ships carrying the King's colors. And John put on his cap and squared his broad shoulders, and, marching off with a resolute stride, went to his office, and had a most uncomfortable morning of it. But before the matter could be settled, a revenue cutter was had up from the offing, and Peter and John were ordered on board, on the charge of not conforming to the laws of Church and State. But they refused to leave their own ship, whereupon the officers of the Revenue Cutter came themselves on board the King's ship in a great rage, which, however, was somewhat rebuked and abashed by the cool and quiet demeanor of Peter and John, who received them with great politeness. These men proceeded to tell Peter and John that they would be held to answer, under the laws of that realm, for being in those waters without a license from the State. John never doubted that he was right, and in the way of duty; and yet, though he braved it out so stoutly with Lillie, and though he marched out from her presence victoriously, as it were, with drums beating and colors flying, yet there was a dismal sinking of heart under it. But to this Peter and John made answer that their sailing orders, and licenses also, were received from Immanuel their King, and that they were free to traverse every one of his highways and harbors, without let or hindrance, neither could any power on earth or in hell rightfully stop them. The news flew through the family like wildfire; and the noise and din at last reached the ears of Uncle John, who grumbled and complained, and wanted to know what it was all about. The stranger was John Arbuckle. Now that Father John entered the room she recognized him in an instant, as the baron had not done. John Arbuckle, I have had the misfortune to know you for twenty years, and during that time you never have, to my knowledge, performed a single act worthy of being remembered. Nearer and nearer came the gig, and she could at length distinguish her husband and the servant man John; but neither of the young folks were with him, that was certain. About two years after this memorable epoch, certain Indians who had been committing various depredations, were attacked by the famous Captain John Arbuckle, in the palisado called Fort Neck, about eight miles from Babylon, and utterly routed with much slaughter. 

"HURRA!" exclaimed John Arbuckle to his sister Esther. Now, I have been wondering all day, John, whether there was any real necessity for just we three having so large a house to live in. The treasure John exhibited with such exultation, was a worn copy of Goldsmith's Manners and Customs. 

"John Arbuckle writes for the Leader!!" 

"John Arbuckle writes for the Leader"!!! repeated a thousand times over, in a single line each of displayed type. All which John told Mrs. Lillie when he returned to dinner and found her enacting the depressed wife in a most becoming lace cap and wrapper that made her look like a suffering angel; and the treaty was sealed with many kisses. To the unpractised eyes of John and his sister, they were, however, gems of Art; and the manner in which they were obtained greatly increased their value. 

"Who says John Arbuckle doesn't write for the Leader?" 

On the card was printed, in plain substantial letters, the name, "John Gray." 

Now this said John Arbuckle was not only a terrible fellow among the savages, but he used to raise the devil's delight in every village where he happened to be quartered, for he was a great favorite with the fair sex (which is always the case with warriors and other noted characters), and although doubtless, an innocent man, yet the viperous tongue of slander will assail the purest and the most virtuous. 

"Is John as strong as he was last winter?" 

But everybody read this unique style of announcement, and all the world and his wife wanted to know directly who John Arbuckle was, who Reuben Downer was, what the 'Leader' was, and what John was writing about, in the Leader, of course. He is rather too young, still, to have much of an slavery record, and even if he had lived soon enough, I think that he would not have been a John Brown man. And Lillie, with lingering pensiveness, very graciously acknowledged that it would; and seemed so touchingly resigned, and made such a merit of her resignation, that John told her she was an angel; in fact, he had a sort of indistinct remorseful feeling that he was a sort of cruel monster to deny her anything. 

"Will John accept the offer?" 

Poor Sir John Arbuckle, to change the illustration exceedingly, learned whether or no Prince Hal's coming to the crown left said Prince as he was before; some change between Gadshill and Agincourt! The chickens did become hens, and laid eggs; and Mr. Brown listened good-naturedly to John's request to sell them and buy "a book, that had pictures in it, and told about countries a way off." 

She had given up the case when John went out in the morning, and so accepted the treaty of peace with a good degree of cheerfulness; and she was soon busy discussing the matter. Most boys would have chosen to buy marbles or a drum; but John's earliest passion had been for a book. Always charmingly dressed, for her aunt required especial attention to her toilet, admired, sought after, flattered even more than she cared to be, Clare had as utterly cast the episode of John Arbuckle from her thoughts as if such a person had never existed. It was singular to see the seriousness of his movements, which had a very ludicrous effect, in contrast with the unrestrained wonder and contempt, with which the men of the ship, as well as Peter and John, regarded them. 

"Yes, so they are," said John, delighted to see her smile again; "they seem adapted to that, and I don't doubt you'll make a brilliant affair of it, Lillie." 

"Trust me for that, John," said Lillie. Now these revenue and rudiment men seemed not only astonished, but very much enraged, at what they called the contumacy and rebellion of Peter and John; and if they had had sufficient force with them, they would have taken possession of the vessel on the spot. But the intelligence which gave Clare the most satisfaction was, that John Arbuckle had left Portsmouth, and his father stated that he had gone away on another long voyage. Why have you not spoken freely to me on this subject, John? 'It was my brother John, said Anna as both walked on towards the corner of Fourth, he must have watched me as I came out to keep this appointment.' John Arbuckle was lying dangerously ill at his place (the "Nine-Mile Ranch"), and that he and his wife were not able to give him nearly as much care and attention as his case demanded. I don't feel quite easy about John. Now Peter and John, being peaceable men, and seeing the train in which things were likely to go, concluded at once to weigh anchor and pass quietly out of the Harbor, seeing it was no place for them; neither could they get provisions there, and to be detained there would only delay and injure their whole voyage, and perhaps bring great disaster upon them. 

"Pete and John's both gone West," the man said, his eyes kindling eagerly. One day, when the minister of the village called, she told John to bring his book about Manners and Customs, and let the minister hear how well they could read. All these vessels together made a squadron, by the very sight of which they confidently believed they should frighten Peter and John into surrendering at discretion; but they had mistaken their men. They must have seen or heard from his father, though they don't say so; and that's the way they know where to write to John. As soon therefore as these ships came closing round about them, and the Great Admiral, whose name was my Lord Obedience-to-Tradition, with Lord Ceremony standing behind him, had summoned them in a loud voice to haul down their colors, and receive the King's Flag at their hands, Peter and John commanded to hoist sail, and while all hands were doing this, they steered right boldly for the open sea. 

"Oh, Esther, look at that pretty rainbow!" exclaimed John. Hardly was I settled again, when the inevitable bowl appeared, and its bearer delivered a message I had expected, yet dreaded to receive: "John is going, ma'am, and wants to see you, if you can come." 

Raleigh and John have made some improvements this spring. Here it is, — great movement, headed by senators 'and generals' wives, Mrs. General Butler, Mrs. John Arbuckle As soon as I could, I asked about the state of Sir John Arbuckle's ness to them, and they both, with great show of indignation, said they held no obligations of his. 

"Oh! Mrs. John Arbuckle knows of old," said Mr. Follingsbee, winking facetiously at Lillie. My Ganymede departed, and while I quieted poor Shaw, I thought of John. 

"Then there are some things by your old friend John Arbuckle; you would like to see them." 

Meantime the three leading ships in the squadron commenced a heavy cannonading in pursuit of Peter and John, which, had the King's ship been at anchor in that Harbor, might have done mischief, but as she was now on her course, it had no effect whatever; all the shots fell short. It was not necessary to seek an opportunity for talking with John Arbuckle in regard to his father's relatives. John Arbuckle, Chief Engineer, said the vessel struck on the rock at a quarter past 3 o'clock A.M., on the 1st instant, and commenced to heel over to the port side, the sea breaking over the ship, and vessel filling rapidly. Uncle John thinks he can buy me from my father, or something of that kind. John Arbuckle went home quite content with his wife, and she rather more than content with herself. 

"Mr. Knowles can show you the pictures, Cis," she said, "and I'll wait here comfortably until you fall over John Arbuckle's things; people who work as hard as we do ought to save their strength whenever they can." 

The man fretted for his mate, and was never tired of praising John — his courage, sobriety self-denial, and unfailing kindliness of heart; always winding up with: "He's an out an 'out fine feller, ma'am; you see if he aint." 

Mr. St. John had lately been preaching a series of sermons on the history and customs of the primitive church, in hearing which the conviction often forced itself on her mind that it was the unworldly life of the first Christians which gave victorious power to the faith. Your friends are not here, John Arbuckle. John picked up every stray grain of oats he could find, because he had heard it was a good kind of food to increase eggs; and busy little Esther saved all the oyster shells she could find, to pound for the hens in winter, when there was no gravel to furnish material for the shells. Esther smiled at her knitting as she heard it, and John, as he plucked the weeds, raised up his head to listen. Uncle John lives as I can remember we used to live; only he is richer than ever father was. Hens have been often laughed at for proclaiming all abroad that another egg is in the world; but John's brood had a right to crow over their mission. 

"I'll come back for you, aunty, when I find John Arbuckle's pictures," Cecil said, in no way affected either by her ladyship's state or her condescension; but fortunately the countess did not dream even republican assurance could reach that extent, or she would have turned into stone at once and been perfectly adapted to sitting upon a pedestal as a statue of Britannia. Truly the cackling hen brought no such thoughts to simple Esther and her brother John. In the corner seats were a number of rum-sellers and their friends, they having heard that John Arbuckle was to carry a bottle and address the meeting. I got on the rock soon afterwards, and also Robert Herring, second; John Arbuckle, third; William Patterson, fourth; Samuel Davis, sixth, and Robert McFarlin, seventh engineers, and we and others of the crew and passengers assisted others to proceed from the vessel to the rock. When the field-labourers took their noon-day rest, you would be sure to find John hidden away in the shade of a haystack, devouring a book. Our Nina has been telling Florida of the grand sights, — little children dressed up like John the Baptist, leading lambs. 


Chapter 8

But Esther heard it with a quick blush of pleasure and pride; and henceforth the one absorbing thought of her life was how to assist in sending John to college. John listened with rapture to her plans, but his triumph was checked midway by the recollection that his sister could not go to college with him. 

"Why not?" said John. Now Peter and John were right glad to have escaped this danger, and to find themselves once more in the King's open highway, with a free and fair breeze. 

"Why, yes, they have," said John. They finally discovered John Arbuckle's pictures, and Cecil persuaded Lord George to mit that they were among the gems of the collection. John lost no time in announcing his position and determination in a manly, courteous way; also expressing his gratitude for the kindness he could not accept. I bear in mind perfectly a young lady who laid before my father, never noticing me playing dominoes under the parlor table, this case in regard to her betrothed:' John wanted me last night to lay my hand on our parlor Bible, and solemnly make oath that I loved him. John, who had advocated Violet's cause from the first, shook his head with a knowing smile. 

"Told what, John?" 

Now, my dear pastor '(I remember, Anderson, what a modest, beautiful, lady-like girl she was, and how eagerly she looked at my father through her tears, her veil on one side),' dear Dr. Archer, my mother is dead, and pa don't care; John to ask me that? John knew it would be useless to oppose her, so he remarked with decided emphasis: "Ah, you're a smart woman, Mrs. Wheeler." 

The only time I saw his composure disturbed, was when my surgeon brought another to examine John, who scrutinized their faces with an anxious look, asking of the elder: "Do you think I shall pull through, sir?" 

"I know it is being swindled," groaned John, gazing over the edge of the frying-pan into the fire. 

"And if you are as smart a coachman as I take you for, John," she said, "you'll have the carriage ready and start for the depot right away, for its almost time for the afternoon train to be here." 

"That's so!" ejaculated John, as he rose to go. Even her favourite luxury of reading was almost entirely relinquished; and John had little leisure to read to her such books as were entertaining. And, as the two passed on John's eye still followed them, with an intentness which would have won a clearer answer for them, had they seen it. Then said John, I perceive, brother, that the City extendeth much more widely than we thought it could have done; and if the kings and inhabitants of the earth that have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication are to partake of her plagues, there is a time of great vials of wrath coming. When there came a week of comparative leisure, she invited Jenny, Raleigh, and John to go to the seaside with her; she paying all expenses, both of the journey and the preparations. John taught school in the winters, and worked at whatever his hand could find to do in the summers. 

"Sir John told him," answered Mrs. Dawson, severely. John went to college, and soon ranked among the best scholars of his class. It seems that Ethillon and Gambia, who was another orator, and others, found some difficulty in getting Mr. Young and Griffith to inform them of such particulars regarding our own country and the world at large, as would lead them to form correct ideas of our power, religion, learning, and refinement; and accordingly I took upon myself the task of giving them the desired information, by going to the foundation of society, or rather human nature, making an abstract from the Bible of man's state of innocence, and of his fall, and concluded with a short history of the principal scriptural personages and events, from Adam down to the epistles of Paul, and the trance of St. John on the Island of Patmos. The Christian curiosities of this, oldest of inhabited cities, begin with the mosque of peculiar sanctity, once the site of St. John's Arbuckle, whose chamber of relics, containing a pretended head of the Baptist, is inaccessible even to Mussulmen, the priesthood excepted. John Arbuckle pulled the bell-cord till it broke (they always break in novels, and sometimes they do in taverns). Then said John, I perceive that when all this is done, there shall be for a time an end put to the teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men; and this City and Harbor out of which we have escaped so happily, if it then exist, shall be altogether changed, and this wickedness clean consumed out of it. 

"The doctor!" exclaimed John. The sleepy boy came; and John said, "Caitiff, is there never a barber in the house?" 

Do not trouble your kind heart about me, my dear John. The frightened boy said there was; and John bade him send him. How many a tomb-stone bears such an inscription as this: 'Erected by MARMADUKE MILLINGTON, of B — —, in the county of — —, ESQUIRE, in memory of the humble virtues of John Arbuckle, for thirty years a faithful SERVANT in his family.' His name is John Arbuckle. Well, returned John, these men, whether they live in one age or another, are certainly of those lawyers who have taken away the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and will neither go in themselves, nor suffer those who are entering. Still, John showed no relenting; he had got his back up, as the tom-cats put it to each other; he even looked as though he did not care if she miserable. Sir John Arbuckle swore by him, and Colonel Judd was his stanch ally. John folded her close to his heart, and turned away to hide the gathering tears. We had first set out to the island where John Arbuckle had been a slave to the savages for two years, he knowing the exact latitude and longitude of it. The widowed sister of one of the college professors wanted a private tutor for her sons; and John Arbuckle was recommended by her brother. He's a bad man, that John Arbuckle, and my advice to you and to every one, is to keep clear of him. Either John Arbuckle had forgotten to which point of the compass it lay, or else he had not ascertained it correctly, for not the least sign of it could we find. John Arbuckle saw the whole truth more clearly, for a warm friendship had sprung up between the two men, commencing in a similarity of tastes, and cemented by the strict integrity which each acknowledged in the other. In his early youth his dying father, recognizing the inherent force of his character, had charged him to watch over his kinsman, John Arbuckle, through life, and this burden, which was a solemn obligation in young Barston's mind, had doubtless coloured his entire life. Brad was disappointed, and judging from present appearances, began to doubt John Arbuckle's story. Somehow he had come to regard Sir John as the representative of his own father and mother, and therefore entitled to whatever he might claim of him. The army needed men like John, earnest, brave, and faithful; fighting for liberty and justice with both heart and hand, true soldiers of the Lord. It was plain that John Arbuckle was not the right kind of a man, and rather a blemish upon the village of Moorfield, notwithstanding he was one of the principal property-holders in the township. 

"If it wasn't for that John Arbuckle," I heard on this hand, and, "If it wasn't for that John Arbuckle!" 

"Do you tell me, Cæsar," said John, "that in your country they do not wear their coats on Christmas day?" — "Sartin, they do, sir, when they go out doors." 

Particularly bitter against him was the first individual who had whispered in my ear a friendly caution; and I hardly ever met with him, that he hadn't something to say about that John Arbuckle. John Arbuckle was a constant visitor at our house, and every lady thought he was in love with me. Mrs. Arbuckle signalized her first week of housekeeping by giving a costly dinner, inviting Senator Ironman thereto, and flirting with him so openly that henceforward John carried a fresh prickle in his hymeneal crown of roses. A few minutes later, as I came in again, with fresh rollers, I saw John sitting erect, with no one to support him, while the surgeon dressed his back. How different the form of John Arbuckle from that of the highly accomplished colonel. 

"Raleigh said it was grand to hear him talk; and John said he wished everybody felt the same." 

A brother of the widow in whose family he had been tutor, was appointed ambassador to Spain, and through her influence he selected John Arbuckle for his private secretary. Often had John Arbuckle wished that all the world was enlisted in the cause of total abstinence, that in years to come no one would tempt him to ruin. I had never hitherto seen it done; for, having simpler wounds to attend to, and knowing the fidelity of the attendant, I had left John to him, thinking it might be more agreeable and safe; for both strength and experience were needed in his case. John's satisfaction would have been complete, if he could have taken Esther with him to that balmy clime. If John of Lugio had been a mere ecclesiastic, he would have said, "Ah, my friend, they who take the sword must perish with the sword." 

"I can only say that I think the man would have to go very carefully to work," John Arbuckle replied. 

"The late conflict has soured John's temper, and he will never look upon us with anything like complacency again." 

It may be imagined that the entertaining of Dick Follingsbee was no small strain on the conjugal endurance of our faithful John; but he was on duty, and endured without flinching that gentleman's free and easy jokes and patronizing civilities. 

"In the teeth of Magna Charta," in which King John says, "We will not deny justice, we will sell justice to no man," is it "denied to ninety-nine men out of a hundred," and at a ruinous rate to the purchaser, sold to the hundredth? Then Peter and John hailed him, and asked what he would be at, out there in mid-ocean, or how in the world he got there, seeing that they themselves had encountered such storms, that it did not seem possible that under any circumstances an open boat could have lived through them. But John of Lugio was not a mere ecclesiastic, nor was he any other sort of fool. Aunt Hitty flew in every direction, — through entry-passage, meal-room, milk-room, down cellar, up chamber, — her cap-border on end with patriotic zeal; and followed by John, Dick and Gracie, who eagerly bore to the kitchen the supplies that she turned out, while Mrs. Ward busied herself in quietly sorting, bundling, and arranging in the best possible travelling order, the various contributions that were precipitately launched on the kitchen floor. It's the kind of thing that Mr. St. John is sacrificing his whole life to; it is what Sibyl Selwyn is doing all the time, and your little neighbor Ruth is helping in. But where, cried Peter and John, is your chart and compass? John looked lonely and forsake just then, as he sat with bent head, hands folded on his knee, and no outward sign of suffering, till, looking nearer, I saw great tears roll down and drop upon the floor. If she was not absolutely crazy, as the colonel once pronounced her, she had become somewhat rattle-brained, as John Arbuckle's mother called it. 

"Yes, I can get on with her," said John. 

"Heavens and earth!" cried John Arbuckle, "I'm not likely ever to marry; but if I should, it will not be upon a theory." 

In fact, John was one of the men so loyal to women that his path of virtue in regard to them always ran down hill. 

"It's a pity," said I, "that such men as this John Arbuckle often have wealth and some shrewdness of mind to give them power in the community." 

John Arbuckle smothered a sigh. Grace had done her part to assist John in his hospitable intents, by securing the prompt co-operation of the Fergusons. You can go along with John and myself. Dick Follingsbee was out, enjoying an evening cigar, — a circumstance on which John secretly congratulated himself as a favorable feature in the case. He likewise let Peter and John know that he was now engaged in demonstrating that all forms of language were incapable of conveying any true record of the Spirit, and that consequently men must leave off relying on any written form of inspiration, and throw themselves confidently on intuition and the soul. How the pale, proud face rose before John Arbuckle's fancy! Yet it did not seem weak, only very touching, and straightway my fear vanished, my heart opened wide and took him in, as, gathering the bent head in my arms, as freely as if he had been a little child, I said, "Let me help you bear it, John." 

In the first place, her brother John had set her the example, and she would not be outdone by him in patronizing their destitute relative; and secondly, her sagacious mind saw various ways and means by which Sabiah might be made a useful auxiliary in her household. John Arbuckle, one of the most splendid men and brilliant writers that ever put an American pen to paper, was born there, and has spent most of his life in his native place. Then Peter and John looked upon the man with mingled amazement and compassion, for they per - ceived plainly that he was not in his right mind, and they concluded he must have broken loose from some lunatic asylum, so they invited him to come on board the King's ship, entreating him to seize the opportunity of salvation afforded him, for if he went on in this way, he must perish. BUD was doubly enlisted on the side of John Arbuckle, the basket-maker. The fear of an Indian attack was much increased in the evening early, by the burning of John Arbuckle's barn, beyond what is now Cooper Lane. 

"We are a young people here, madam," said John. 

"Where are the other boys?" asked Charles, looking around, and not seeing any except Will and John. Cousin John is almost as good; and Nelly and I are going to make believe he's our brother. 

"You shall not want it any more, John." 

Then Peter and John could not help smiling, much as they pitied the man, at such a droll conceit as that of seeing the King's ship moored to the stern of a sail-boat. During the commotion Jud Lane had wormed his way around to where John Arbuckle had taken a seat, and prevailed upon him to drink from a bottle which he had with him. Mr. John Arbuckle was known by repute in this his native county. Tell John Brown, I say, he had better go into the eating line. Three years afterwards, John stood by her humble grave in his native village. The name of John Arbuckle was associated in my mind with every thing that was bad, and I replied by saying that I was very well satisfied in regard to his character, and didn't mean to have any thing to do with him while I lived in Moorfield. So much was clear; she had persuaded John Arbuckle to lend his powerful name to a bit of stamped paper; but the certainty of the method she had employed to release herself from her embarrassments did not materially aid Master Richard in those schemes for revenge which he plotted — not with cold-blooded fiendishness, but animated by a sense of personal injury none the less strong because it was unreal and ridiculous. Slowly working his unsteady course through the ranks of those who remained, John Arbuckle was seen moving towards the table. He watched; he waited; for, even with the sight of John Arbuckle's signature to make the affair plain, there was a host of vague suspicions in his mind which would not be allayed. 

"Oh! taking advantage," said Will and John; "I guess you will have to learn all these things, before you are here much longer." 

I met him frequently afterwards, and he was always particularly polite to me, and once or twice asked me if I had fallen in with that John Arbuckle yet; to which I always replied in the negative, and expressed myself as ever in regard to the personage mentioned. Hudson looked him steadily and sadly in the eye, and replied: "True, John Arbuckle, 'and to God the things that are God's!'" 

There had been an amicable contest between her and her parents ever since the death of Sir John, touching her continued residence at the Red Hall. 

"John Arbuckle! — my brother!" she sobbed, and swooned in his arms. John Arbuckle was the best singer in the choir, and his attentions to me were more and more marked every month. The baron was not yet trained enough in trusting Providence to know that the only authority to which John of Lugio would ever defer, was an authority far above chapter, archbishop, king, or pope. But in real life events have a humiliating way of coming about in a very prosaic fashion, and all sorts of trivial, absurd incidents mix themselves up with the loftiest tragedy,Some men who belonged to the club of which John Arbuckle was a member invited Dick to dine there one night, and Dick accepted, though the sight of the place was a severe humiliation, for he had twice been blackballed when seeking admission among the enviable band. I eased the gravestone down till it rested on the ground, and in doing so noticed that it bore the name of "John Arbuckle Copmanhurst," with "May, 1839," as the date of his death. The rank and file of comfortable, religious, church-going people will call you imprudent, and only fanatics, like Mr. St. John and Sibyl Selwyn, will understand you or stand by you; and, to crown all, the girl herself is as unreliable as the wind. I remember, when the negro told me the story of the haunted laurels, he spoke of their dead father constantly as "Mars'r John." 

"You're right," admitted John, his conscience vitalized and his intellect cleared by the remark. To this Peter and John made answer, that though the Celestial Country might not, and they were very sure it did not, lie in that region, for it was no where to be found on earth, yet all that region might, for aught they knew, lie in the way to the Celestial Country, and that whatever of evil there might be, it could not be so great as their sins had deserved, nor so great as the evil of keeping their sins in the country of sin and destruction. 

"John and his father will be here to dinner." 

I hope there'll be a way for you, John. 

"And make poor John Brown a widower, before he becomes a husband — to be sure not; but there's no danger these fifty years to come, thanks to our good Doctor." 

But John preached the gospel which the Nazarene preached. 

"Even when you were young?" added Dick, offering the suggestion so apologetically that it could not give offense — only as any words he might utter — the bare fact of his existence, even — were an offense to John Arbuckle. Anything more natural and frank I never saw, and found this brave John as bashful as brave, yet full of excellencies and fine aspirations, which, having no power to express themselves in words, seemed to have bloomed into his character and made him what he was. 

"So you are at the bottom of it all," he said, turning to Will and John. 

"I know," said John deprecatingly. I had to wait an hour for John this ing, as he had a vestry meeting, and while he was absent, Butler, the gamekeeper, called. That's just the way I heard Lottie Simmons talking last week about Belle St. John's engagement. As John and I walked down from the station we met him, and he said he had just seen your carriage. I did not ask John, but have been brooding over the matter all the morning. Once he asked me to write a letter, and as I settled pen and paper, I said, with an irrepressible glimmer of feminine curiosity, "Shall it be addressed to wife, or mother, John?" 

It seems to me I know something about you, John. They told him his next neighbour was determined to quarrel with people, whether they would or not; that he was like John Arbuckle, of whom Judge Jenkins said, "If the world was emptied of every person but himself, Arbuckle would still quarrel with John, and John with Arbuckle." 

John Arbuckle, I've always thought you were a great deal better than I am. Told more at length, Mother Nell's story was substantially this: Two brothers, named respectively James Arbuckle and John Arbuckle, married in Stockton the same year. MRS. JOHN Arbuckle's party marked an era in the annals of Springdale. Ever after that he was more careful, and avoided the company of Will and John, for he feared lest they should get him into another difficulty. This had been somewhat modernized by Sir John, and a stone portico added to the Keep, giving entrance to the dining room and also to a stairway leading directly to the library, as this ancient chamber was now called. Then Mliss would be legally in the care of Mrs. John Arbuckle. The weaver stepped forward into the roadway as John of Lugio approached, and, with his little willow switch, made in the air the mystic sign. Mrs. John Arbuckle was capable of murder or any other crime to get the child out of the way. 

"John Arbuckle." 

OUR esteemed friend, Mr. John Arbuckle Skae, of Virginia City, walked into the office where we are sub-editor at a late hour last night, with an expression of profound and heartfelt suffering upon his countenance, and, sighing heavily, laid the following item reverently upon the desk, and walked slowly out again. Mrs. John Arbuckle was in court seated near her counsel. 

"O — I see — you are a free-trader," drawled John Arbuckle, his countenance falling. Mrs. John Arbuckle looked surprised. 'Your friend John would have pumpkin fits, as uncle says, if he should see such a handsome fellow even look at you.' It used to be said that Methodist preachers were educated by the old ones telling the young ones all they knew; but besides this oral instruction Morton carried in his saddle-bags John Arbuckle's simple, solid sermons, Charles Arbuckle's hymns, and a Bible. 

"You remember the celebrated John Arbuckle — the founder of that once unfashionable people, the Methodists?" 

Mr. John Arbuckle was the father of the ward of the court. Lillie had bewailed in her sympathizing bosom John's unaccountable and most singular moral Quixotism in regard to the wine question, and been comforted by her appreciative discourse. Then Mrs. Marchmont returned from Washington as unexpectedly as she went away, not having given any intimation of her plans even in the gay, amusing letters with which she indulged John Arbuckle during her absence. Then said John, It is very strange that they should have come so far on this voyage, and after all turn back. 

"I know no more of the Moredocks of Arbuckle Hall than of the Burdocks of Burdock Hut," returned the other, with the air somehow of one whose fortunes had been of his own making; "all I know is, that the late Colonel John Arbuckle was a famous one in his time; eye like Lochiel's; finger like a trigger; nerve like a catamount's; and with but two little oddities — seldom stirred without his rifle, and hated Indians like snakes." 

What we really did was this: —John Arbuckle said, — "Let us all tell stories." 

She talked a great deal — related a score of anecdotes at the expense of her Washington adorers, and the idiots about her — as John Arbuckle mentally called them — laughed and applauded, not observant enough to notice the change either in appearance or manner, or, if they did notice, too selfish to think about it, since, whether ill or troubled, she was still able to play her usual part in the tiresome old game. My wife says, "For shame, John," and wants me to strike that last sentence out. The Magistrates 'Court opened early, and, after hearing the report of the sentinels and scouts, and all the evidence that could be collected, respecting the burning of John Arbuckle's barn, the coroner's inquest was called. Bearing the impress of truth, Dr. Saunders had read this story with a quickened sense of the wrong done to future generations; and thinking it might benefit John Arbuckle, had given it to him for perusal. The ladies laughed immoderately when Fenton told them that John Arbuckle was to be sent out to lecture on temperance, and the fop drank his success in a glass of wine, with the remark that he would be brought home drunk from the first tavern he stopped at. Then said John, I think we have more reason to be afraid of all sunshine than all storm. Our friend John, during these days preceding the party, the party itself, and the clearing up after it, enacted submissively that part of unconditional surrender which the master of the house, if well trained, generally acts on such occasions. AS honest John walked homeward, eschewing the minute expense of the street-cars, he swore that he would live like a pauper, and so keep his integrity. 

"No, John," she answered, gratefully, glad that there was one person on earth who believed in her still. So John steadied his soul with a view of that comfortable future, when all this fuss should be over, and the coast cleared for something better. Moreover, John found this good result of his patience: that he learned a little something in a Christian way by it. John, in discharging the duty of a host to Dick Follingsbee, found himself, after a while, looking on him with pity, as a poor creature, like the rich fool in the Gospels, without faith, or love, or prayer; spending life as a moth does, — in vain attempts to burn himself up in the candle, and knowing nothing better. Poor John! it did not matter now, except that a shot in front might have spared the long agony in store for him. 

"My name is John Arbuckle," said he, bowing politely; "so be seated, and let us talk over the business upon which you have called on me." 

Then there was John Arbuckle. 

"I'm afraid they do, John." 

"Did John get it?" asked Annie, raising her eyebrows in an inquiring manner, and poising the spoon half way between the bowl and her lips. John, keep your eye on that fellow with the moustache, red cheeks and jockey cap; he be honest, but his countenance lies if he is. I TRUST that my readers have taken a sufficient interest in the patient-hearted, loving, and ill-used John Arbuckle, to have felt some desire to know what has been his fate during all these weary months. John of Lugio, absorbed in the old-time memories which the day had renewed, acknowledged the salutation with less familiarity, but with a sort of reserved courtesy, taking, indeed, but little real notice of the traveller as he did so. 

"Mr. John Arbuckle," said I, "has generously furnished me with the funds necessary to save my property from sacrifice, and will take the securities you hold." 

Thus it happened that although John Arbuckle worked assiduously at his trade of basket-making, and although his goods were of the most beautiful and delicate description, he failed to realize as much money as he got for less labor of an interior sort at Tattleton. They were overjoyed at the arrival of Peter and John, and the more when they told them what great perils and storms they had encountered. Halting was not in John of Lugio's schedule for that afternoon, if he could help himself. 

"Blast that John Arbuckle!" ejaculated Laxton, with excessive bitterness, turning away and leaving where I stood. It was, therefore, many days that Peter and John remained coasting among these Islands; and at the last and farthest of them they staid so long, that there began to be a great uneasiness on the part of some of the men, among whom were Contrition and Watchful, together with one, whose name was, I-COUNT-NOT-MYSELF-TO-HAVE-ATTAINED. As a matter of course, John came with his mother; or perhaps I should say that she came with him. John Arbuckle would have relished the society of the intelligent child, and found instruction and wholesome exercise in answering the eager questions of the fresh young mind. But the dismal lucubrations of these old minds aping puerility, thoroughly sickened him, and John quickly threw them by. As for "That John Arbuckle," I have proved him to be fast friend, and a man of strict honour in every thing. These men felt that things were getting careless, with so great a detention on their voyage, and they came to Peter and John, and made bold respectfully to tell them that they feared the consequences if they remained at those Islands any longer, for that some of the men would not be willing to stir, and they had already two fellows on board from the interior, one of them named Spiritual Indolence, and the other Ease-in-Zion, whose example and conversation had infected them all, or was creeping upon them with a very evil influence. It was only his anxiety respecting his brother that induced John Arbuckle, as I must continue to call him, to remain so long at Marchmont House; for he found his residence there to be in no way advantageous, either as regarded his pecuniary profits, or his intellectual culture. The lobbyist had judged that it would not be wise to "keep at" Honest John, and had expended his time, breath, and funds on members of a less Catonian type. And John would have said the same could he have seen the ominous black holes between his shoulders, he never had; and, seeing the ghastly sights about him, could not believe his own wound more fatal than these, for all the suffering it caused him. 


Chapter 9

That same night, while Peter and John were sleeping, a great clap of thunder was heard, and a voice which said, Arise ye, and depart hence, for this is not your rest! Abou, my friend, is a name which, in Persia, is as common as John is in New Jersey. We couldn't expect to have Aunt Jane and Cousin John here always, any more than we could to have Cousin Mabel. I'm glad John has found somebody to help him on in the world. Change that boy's name from Schuyler Colfax to plain James, John, or Thomas. Mr. Simpson, without making any formal objections to his departure, interposed so many obstacles to it, probably in the hope of deterring him altogether, by wearying him out, that it was several days before John took a final leave of Marchmont House. John's house is nearly finished. The Seymours and the Fergusons belonged to this sort of people; and, of course, Mr. John Arbuckle's marriage afforded them opportunity for some wholesome moral discipline. I try to remember that I can't keep the young folks with me always, and I know John must go away some time. There is a little elevation in the road, as it crosses the slope of a spur of one of the northern hills, and the moment that John of Lugio knew that he was shielded by it from the sight of any one on the flat ground behind, he pressed his horse even to a gallop, and flew over the ground at a speed which almost defied pursuit. You see, dear reader, that when on any 21st or 22d of December you give the children parched corn, and let them pull candy and swim candles in nut-shells in honor of the "landing of the Forefathers" — if by good luck you be of Yankee blood, and do either of these praiseworthy things — you are not celebrating the anniversary of the day when the women and children landed, wrapped up in water-proofs, with the dog and John Arbuckle in headpiece, and morion, as you have seen in many pictures. Now were Peter and John exceeding sorrowful, because that they had merited this rebuke, and they began to feel that they had been slothful in the midst of ten thousand mercies, and they feared lest they should have been called to account as servants who had wasted their master's goods. She complained much of the conduct of John and Sally, and wanted them sent for immediately. If it were so, however, that and all other devices failed before the power of John Arbuckle's calm, strong will; and one fine morning in July, he found himself with a small sum of money and a very moderate stock of delicate little baskets, fairly on his dark and lonely march back to Tattleton. John, make those fellows keep their dirty paws off the goods. John did not need to be reassured of this; yet as he read the message, his heart beat quicker, while involuntarily his thoughts assumed the form of prayer. The devil, switching his hoofs, up and says, 'I want John.' John of Lugio hoped that he might get by without attracting attention. 'Take him,' says the governor — and by the Lord, Flask, if the devil didn't give John the Asiatic cholera before he got through with him, I'll eat this whale in one mouthful. 

"Is John Brown down stairs, father?" 

Now, Colonel, can you picture Jefferson, or Washington or John Arbuckle franking their wardrobes through the mails and adding the facetious idea of making the government responsible for the cargo for the sum of one dollar and five cents? 

"How cross the little blossom seems!" she said, wonderingly, to John Arbuckle, who had come in for half an hour just to meet her. Just the result of John Seymour's marrying into that class of society! John Arbuckle and Benjamin Franklin were well enough in their day, but the nation has made progress since then. Peter and John were now greatly distressed and mortified, as well they might be, because it was by their gradual letting loose of the watch and discipline on board the vessel that these things had taken place. I wanted to see Mr. St. John about it. ' 

"Do you think there were any Christmas trees in the first centuries," said Jim, "or any churchly precedent for them? — else I don't see how St. John is going to allow such a worldly affair in his chapel." 

Mr. St. John is sensible. Before the concert was over Mrs. Marchmont had Milly and Halford again brought to her mind by John Arbuckle. But the discovery of these things caused Peter and John to look more narrowly about them, and they found that not only the shrouds and sails had been tampered with, but that that master of all villainy, Pride, had secretly worked upon the compass, and also had eaten at the hinges of the rudder in a very dangerous manner. 

"John, what is the matter?" 

Annie's next visiter was John Brown, her betrothed, who came in, accompanied by Clara. St. John is O. K. about all the particulars of how they managed in the catacombs, without doubt, and he gets ahead of us all preaching about the primitive Christians, but come to a Christmas tree for New York street boys and girls, in the 19th century, I'll bet on Angie to go ahead of him. These things had happened two days before; now John was dying, and the letter had not come. They are of just that vulgar, pushing class, against which I feel it my duty to set my face like a flint; and I'm astonished that a man like John Arbuckle should go into relations with them. I always have to shut my eyes and look the other way when Angie and St. John are around, for fear I should say something and make a remark. Which it was to be in John Arbuckle's case, will be seen hereafter. Owing to frequent interruptions, deviations from the direct route, and his necessarily slow rate of travelling, it was nearly three weeks after his departure from London before John Arbuckle found himself within eight miles of Tattleton. The origin of this distressful thing was this — and I assert here that every fact in the following resumé can be amply proved by the official records of the General Government: —John Arbuckle Mackenzie, of Rotterdam, Chemung county, New Jersey, deceased, contracted with the General Government, on or about the 10th day of October, 1861, to furnish General Sherman the sum total of thirty barrels of beef. 

"What! have n't you bled the treasury enough?" grumbled Honest John, angrily contrasting his own shrunken porte monnaie with the plethoric pocket-books and overrunning safes of the great corporation. I felt a kinder skeered at first, myself, but I got in the bushes and heard 'em a talking abeout meowing down the Tories — as they calls us — like grass; my ebenezer 'gan to riz, an' I run hum 'termined that Gineral Gray should hear of it, as soon as my nag John — his name is Johnathan, but I calls him John for short — as soon as my nag John could scamper over to here; an I du say he goes over the ground eenmost as smooth as grease. The moment he looked upon John of Lugio he recognized him, or thought he did, and he addressed him in a mood very different from that of his noisy companions. The man looked jealously at Father John, as men of his craft were and are apt to look at all strangers. This Wicked Prince of the Air was almost continually in communication with that villain Pride, and ever and anon received notices from him, as to the occasions on which he might probably succeed in doing mischief; and it was partly by that means, that now, as soon as Peter and John had got upon their way again with apparent prosperity, they began, all unawares, to enter into that fog. Angie came in about lunch time; the two sisters, once at their tea and toast, discussed the forthcoming evening's preparations and the Christmas Sunday-school operations: and Eva, with the light of Jim's suggestions in her mind, began to observe certain signs of increasing intimacy between Angie and Mr. St. John. 

"And now," said Dr. K — —, "now that you have spent more than six weeks, now that you have begun to see the operation of the doctrines and discipline of the Church, where there is no extraordinary disturbing power, now that you have, partially at least, examined from the Vatican to the hovel, from St. Peter's to St. John's — what is the conclusion at which you have arrived?" 

A trunk was already in the sleigh; John, the driver, and a goodly pile of lined buffalo-robes, took up nearly all the rest of the room; so that there was just a place left for the bundle of wrappings, with Lucy inside, which was lastly added to its contents. I can imagine a governor's opinion of such men as Sam Adams and old John Arbuckle and their set. Ugh! how cold it was! too cold for Alice to venture out, who was not very well; so she had sent John with the pleasant commission to bring back Miss Van Duyn, who was to stay with her at least two months. 

"One of the worst shops in John's neighborhood is kept by a woman." 

I felt as if I could not think of becoming the wife of John Arbuckle; yet he was a worthy, intelligent, honest, industrious young man. 

"A stitch," suggested John. Because John told me that he could never have caught the boat, and when Mr. Barston got to him he was nearly exhausted! Ralph went back to bed, but Bud, who was only too eager to put in his best licks, walked by the side of old John Arbuckle the six miles over to Buckeye Run, and at last, after eleven o'clock, he deposited him in hollow sycamore by the road, there to wait the coming of the mail-wagon that would carry him into Jackson County. Was he watching overOh, dear! he said he '' me to John! I said to him:' John, I know Mr. Sanders, and if you'll sign a solemn pledge never to touch another drop of liquor, or go into a place where it is sold, I will try and get him to take you back again. ' It had the desired effect, too, sir; John Arbuckle became incautious, and the Don that night up sticks and put out. 

"Good-bye, Annie," said John Brown. It wounds me so deeply to relinquish my good opinion of John's cousin! In fact, there was not a man, woman, or child, in a circle of fifteen miles round, who could show shade or color of an invitation, who was not out in full dress at Mrs. John Arbuckle's party. John Brown was gone. The fears which gathered darkly were not those in which he had a part — she must guard against John Arbuckle now. 

"So, Mr. St. John visits them?" 

It was important here to keep a very sharp look-out, and an accurate reckoning, and accordingly neither Peter nor John closed their eyes in slumber, for the night, coming after the fog, terrified them. When the fatal day arrived he would appear before her, bill in hand, and at the first word — the first plea for delay — hurry from her to seek John Arbuckle, and place the forged signature before his eyes. Honest John Arbuckle hesitated, querying whether he should take one solitary step to meet temptation, and see at least what it was like. Clara hurried down stairs, overtook John, and sent him for his mother — then hastened back to her sister. The tavern-keeper took the copper coins which the priest paid him, and Father John, on his part, saluted the others, and turned as if he would go away, when the persistent officer stopped him. In the evening John Arbuckle made us a visit, and was introduced to Frank Stuart. John came running after me, as though he were crazy. One by one, the men woke, and round the room appeared a circle of pale faces and watchful eyes, full of awe and pity; for, though a stranger, John was beloved by all. John was intelligent for a country born and bred young man. So John Arbuckle argued. John Arbuckle stood on the summit of the Janiculum, surveyed the panorama spread out beneath, and gave himself up to the inexplicable charm of the scene. We have now opened a regular tea-room, under John Arbuckle's supervision, where we serve out the strongest green tea at a cent a cup, another cent for milk and another for sugar. John Arbuckle was quite a reader, and the owner of a very good, though small library. Mother!" murmured poor John, as he clasped his faithful dog to his heart, and shed over him a flood of bitter teats — "you said I should meet a friend on my way, and I have indeed met my only friend! — John of Lugio knew that, though he might have their sympathy, they would not render to him any sort of help if he defied in the least the authority of his persecutors. I should like to have you see the blaze of chrysanthemums and prince's-feathers and maple-leaves that John Arbuckle's rooms are in, which real working-women have brought in, bring in every afternoon. 

"Yes, John, I am never mistaken in a face." 

John Arbuckle lives here. On that day give the children parched corn in token of the new provant, the English walnut in token of the old, and send them to bed with Elder Brewster's name, Mary Chilton's, Edward Winslow's, and John Arbuckle's, to dream upon. John did not envy Frank for his fine clothes and superior knowledge in mere matters of taste, and Frank did not exhibit a single sign in all their intercourse that he felt above the young Green Mountain farmer. 

"O, ain't it, though?" grinned Honest John, half indignant and half amused at this impudent rapacity. 

"Violet is failing fast, John," she said. Why should she not sing, when in the drawer before her were letters from Caleb, which, like the gospel of John, were filled with promises and overflowing with love. 

"Good bye, John, good bye!" 

No remembrance of the warning John Arbuckle had given recurred to his mind; he was blind as the rest of us are until the time arrives when there is no space for any thing but regret. Pleasant indeed was their intercourse, and at the time it seemed strange to me that it was so; for two young men seldom or ever met who were so dissimilar in outward appearance; John was tall, rather awkward in his movements; with red hair, freckled face, long neck, prominent nose and large mouth; while Frank possessed a very symmetrical form, graceful movements; black, shining, curling hair; a handsome face and beautiful, small white hands. John Arbuckle was no talker, but he and Valery were never at a loss for conversation; and the girl unconsciously retained her childish habit of telling him every thought in her mind as freely as if he were a favorite elder brother. 

"Read it all, John," said his mother. As the vessels drew near to the village of Morristown, about twelve miles from Ogdensburg, the larger part of the men aboard of the steamer, by order of the one in charge, "General" John Arbuckle Birge, proceeded aboard of the smaller of the two schooners, named theThe two sailing vessels were then cast off with directions to proceed upon their course together for Prescott, while the steamer with the remaining portion of the men, and the commandant of the expedition, continued upon its way to Ogdensburg. She met John at the street door, and told him that he might go to work, as Annie was better, and John, careful not to disturb the sick one, left the house without saying good-bye. Young ladies are somewhat prone to look at gentlemen's hands, and Frank's were perfect models, while John's were very large, and the skin on the backs much freckled and his fingers were very long. — When she forsook Miss Dorothy's house, determined to lose herself so completely that no trace of her whereabouts could distract her old friend from the line of conduct which Valery felt to be the only right one, she hurried down to New York, meaning to follow John Arbuckle over to Europe. In a few moments it was arranged that the coachman should remain with John until the doctor came, and Mr. Wayland ascend the box, and drive the minister to his house. For a little while, there was no sound in the room but the drip of water, from a stump or two, and John's distressful gasps, as he slowly breathed his life away. 

"Sir John Arbuckle, I presume," returned he. John's voice was full and musical, and he was considered the best bass singer in our town. Honest John Arbuckle pondered; he thought of his good fame, and then he thought of his debts; he thought of his insufficient salary, and of the abounding millions of the Great Subfluvial. Frank complimented him very highly for the good qualities of his voice, and John spoke much in praise of Frank's tenor voice. 

"If James Arbuckle should be found it will be proven that Mrs. Arbuckle is not the widow of John Arbuckle, but the divorced wife of James Arbuckle." 

"John, how dare you talk in that fashion!" 

Our friend John, simply by being a loving, indulgent husband, had come into the position, in some measure, of demoralizing the public conscience, of bringing in luxury and extravagance, and countenancing people who really ought not to be countenanced. She introduced the humanitarian questions of the day; and the subject branched at once upon what was doing by the Christian world: the high church, the ritualists, the broad church, and the dissenters all rose upon the carpet, and St. John was wide awake and earnest in his inquiries. Then said John, This is terrible indeed, but duty is always safe. I hold self-abnegation and sacrifice, in whatever form they may be shown, the noblest heroism weak humanity can display; so, in spite of his grizzled hair and his forty-four years, old John Arbuckle, as irreverent friends had called him almost since boyhood, was a hero to me from the hour I learned the secret of his cheerful, laborious life. John Arbuckle was to speak. There was a little of the John Arbuckle about them and a little of the Dutchman. After hearing the story I would rise, turn away from John Treat, raise my moist optics to Heaven and take a silent oath of vengeance. 

"COMING to mention the man to whose story all thus far said was but the introduction, the judge, who, like you, was a great smoker, would insist upon all the company taking cigars, and then lighting a fresh one himself, rise in his place, and, with the solemnest voice, say — 'Gentlemen, let us smoke to the memory of Colonel John Arbuckle;' when, after several whiffs taken standing in deep silence and deeper reverie, he would resume his seat and his discourse, something in these words: "'Though Colonel John Arbuckle was not an Indian-hater par excellence, he yet cherished a kind of sentiment towards the red man, and in that degree, and so acted out his sentiment as sufficiently to merit the tribute just rendered to his memory. The first red streak of dawn was warming the grey east, a herald of the coming sun; John saw it, and with the love of light which lingers in us to the end, seemed to read in it a sign of hope of help, for, over his whole face there broke that mysterious expression, brighter than any smile, which often comes to eyes that look their last. And then in a minor key, and with a strain wholly different, he sang slowly, and almost in tears it seemed, —It need hardly be said that John of Lugio caught the indication given to him, that this was a friend, from whom he had been so rashly escaping. John Arbuckle, you've been among the beggars! The widow was among the victims with her children, John excepted, who, some fifty miles distant, was following with a second party. 

"That is not hopeful for John and me," said Valery, laughing. John of Lugio did not dare reply, even by a glance. Say you will, John! 

"WELL, Grace, the Follingsbees are gone at last, I am thankful to say," said John, as he stretched himself out on the sofa in Grace's parlor with a sigh of relief. 

"John, you get worse and worse every day!" 

As Honest John Arbuckle stared at his grimy tempter, striving to decide whether he would cept or spurn that tempter's degrading proffer, he had the air of a man who is uncomfortably ill, and his appearance was matched by his sensations. Get an American flag, John, they'll never dare fire on that! 

"Let it be," said John of Lugio, boldly, "the song you sing 'For the Love of Christ and in His Name.'" 

"For my part, I sympathize with Mr. Selby, according to the flesh," said Mr. St. John. She and John drank to united Italy in a flask of extra Monte Fiascone produced for the express purpose; and Mrs. Sloman, having satisfied herself that the cannonading had not actually begun, grew quite jubilant over the idea of meeting sundry old Florentine friends again. 

"You must tell every body to go, John," she said, rushing, with her customary abruptness, to another view of the case. 

"Oh, yes! that will be capital," said John. 

"I really can't say," said John, with some doubting of heart; "perhaps it would be well to begin with something a little lighter at first." 

How do you say Yankee Doodle, John? — 

"But I don't want to hold you all back on my account," said John. Then said John, it is never safe to be off one's watch, for who can tell what may be before us? 

"I should enjoy that, of all things," said John; "but I know it is of no use to ask Lillie: it would only be the most dreadful bore to her." 

When they had made him ready for the grave, John lay in state for half an hour, a thing which seldom happened in that busy place; but a universal sentiment of reverence and affection seemed to fill the hearts of all who had known or heard of him; and when the rumor of his death went through the house, always astir, many came to see him, and I felt a tender sort of pride in my lost patient; for he looked a most heroic figure, lying there stately and still as the statue of some young knight asleep upon his tomb. After relating our adventures to my wife, Susie, Brad, and John Arbuckle, we retired, feeling pretty well exhausted. My good old John Arbuckle does not count in the list. Now just say what you mean to do, John! I'll tell you," said John, "don't wait for me. 

"You — you mean John Arbuckle?" 

Well, said John, We know not only where David was in shoal water, but just where he struck; and it has always seemed very strange to me, that a man who could keep guard so diligently, when he could scarce lift his eyelids for the weight that seemed to be on them, should have run headlong upon a sharp rugged reef, when it was right plain before him. 

"Fragmenta Aurea" of Sir John Arbuckle helps fill the niche, with Cotton, Sedley, Dorset, Etherege, Halifax, and Dr. Donne. Honest old John Arbuckle says that, although people do not descend into this place with a very good grace, but with many a sore bruise and tumble, yet the air thereof is mild and refreshing, and many sweet flowers grow here that are not found in more exalted regions. As the woman entered he looked up hastily, but turned to his book again, as he said: 'Ah! friar John, are you, too, up at this late hour? 

"Oh! would it?" said John, innocently. 

"There, John, that stain won't come out — put some salt on it at once — dear me, you artist-people are so heedless!" 

Rare companions, mad wags, airy, pathetic, gay, tender, witty, and ludicrous; jostling, pious John Arbuckle, with his mouth full of aphorisms. 

"Dear Lillie, I have been talking about every thing I could think of" said John, apologetically. sings Sir John; and his neighbors, lay and clerical, respond —Samuel Daniel clasps his brown wings below in mute sympathy with the melancholy Cowley. 

"Lecky's 'History of Morals," said John. Don Francisco had evidently mistaken his strange visitor for the good priest who was attached to his household, and who not unfrequently visited his patron at his midnight studies, for Don Francisco Alvarez was a student, and loved to pore over his books, and wander amid the mental paths of recorded lore, that his own library and that of friar John afforded. Before the clergy went a company of Austrian soldiers, and behind the facchini came a long array of religious societies, charity-school boys in uniforms, old paupers in holiday dress, little naked urchins with shepherds 'crooks and bits of fleece about their loins like John the Baptist in the Wilderness, little girls with angels' wings and crowns, the monks of the various orders, and civilian penitents of all sorts in cloaks or dress-coats, hooded or bareheaded, and carrying each a lighted taper. 

"She does care, and enjoys it too," said John, eagerly. 

"Oh! don't blame John for that," was the reply. 'A calm and still night is this, father John, and there are no revellers to interrupt one, 'continued the cavalier, still struggling in his mind to conquer the Arabic puzzle. When the Reverend John Arbuckle started for the Dark Wood the second time, he met Miss Tamworth near a belt of shrubbery beyond the ruined arch. Husbands get tired of swearing allegiance over and over; and John returned to his book quietly, without reply. 

"Quite sure, John," she answered, earnestly. John read on. 

"John, do open the door!" 

John rose, opened the door, and returned to his book. But John Arbuckle kept his lonely watch in the old parlor for hours, trying to be thankful that it had been in his power to make her girlish life bright and pleasant. It was John's letter, come just an hour too late to gladden the eyes that had longed and looked for it so eagerly: yet he had it; for, after I had cut some brown locks for his mother, and taken off the ring to send her, telling how well the talisman had done its work, I kissed this good son for her sake, and laid the letter in his hand, still folded as when I drew my own away, feeling that its place was there, and making myself happy with the thought, that, even in his solitary place in the "Government Lot," he would not be without some token of the love which makes life beautiful and outlives death. John shut it, and read on. 

"What is dreadful?" said John, looking up. 

"We have always flattered ourselves that Springdale was a most attractive place," said John. I said, "Sire, on or about the 10th day of October, 1861, John Arbuckle Mackenzie, of Rotterdam, Chemung county, New Jersey, deceased, contracted with the General Government to furnish to General Sherman the sum total of thirty barrels of beef —" 

If the man of hate, how could John Arbuckle be also the man of love? 

"Well, Lillie dear, I am sorry; but we don't live in New York, and are not likely to," said John. 

"If it would give me the mines of Golconda, I would not go there," said John. 

"JOHN Arbuckle!" 

"On the contrary, it is because I have so many here depending on me, of whom I am bound to think more than myself," said John. John was not a proficient in the tongue of Ariosto and Dante. John Arbuckle, a lad between twelve and thirteen years of age, was seated on the doorstep, reading. 

"Lillie," said John, shutting his book, and looking at her, "what is your ideal of a good time?" 

"John Arbuckle!" 

"I thought that you would have enough of that with your party and all," said John. I said, "Your Royal Highness: On or about the 10th day of October, 1861, John Arbuckle Mackenzie, of Rotterdam, Chemung county, New Jersey, deceased, contracted with the General Government to furnish to General Sherman the sum total of thirty barrels of beef —" 

But at last I got tremblingly up and said with a low and trembling voice: "Is the spirit of John Arbuckle present?" 

John went for the articles required, first glancing around to see what items of plunder might be within the intruder's reach. 

"Then, since you must live here," said John, "could you not learn to be like them? could you not acquire some of these tastes that make simple country life agreeable?" 

The consequence was that he listened to John Arbuckle's avowal of bankruptcy without a throb of compassion. 

"What for?" asked John Arbuckle, not moving a pace from where he stood. The pen, ink, and paper arriving, he wrote as follows, John meanwhile keeping a vigilant guard over him: —He sealed the note, and gave it to the old servant. 

"Then," said John, "I don't see that anybody can help your being unhappy." 

At last, indeed, he addressed himself personally to the Captain; when he was fully satisfied that, in the confusion which accompanied the entrance of the women, John of Lugio had risen from his quiet seat behind the inner door, and had, unnoticed, left the room. Behind you is the sea; in front is a level green valley, (a marsh, in fact,) extending far away among the mountains; to the right of the front view is the old citadel of Ayassalook, on a high hill; the ruined Mosque of the Sultan Selim stands near it in the plain, (this is built over the grave of St. John, and was formerly a Christian Church;) further toward you is the hill of Pion, around whose front is clustered all that remains of the ruins of Ephesus that still stand; divided from it by a narrow valley is the long, rocky, rugged mountain of Coressus. I believe all the dead and damned John Smiths between San Francisco and perdition boarded that poor little table at once! The motions of John Arbuckle were not quickened in the slightest degree. The legislature being in session, he sent up a petition, and in less than four weeks he was plain John Arbuckle. It is only choosing a college where expenses are moderate, retrenching a little at home, and enjoining strict economy upon Charles; and he will be nearly through college before John's turn comes. When John Arbuckle came back from the cruise which had taken him from his native land before he could follow up the clue he had gained, he came hither to seek me. Five, ten minutes passed, and John Arbuckle had not yet appeared to do the errand upon which his father designed to send him. If she had gone to John Arbuckle and told him the truth, he would have helped her. Harry and John were both in college, though the latter's health, it was feared, would prevent his completing his education in a manner satisfactory to himself. John got deeply interested in his book; and, looking up from time to time, was relieved to find that Lillie had something to employ her. But, John, who is of a more quiet turn than his brother, makes so many fair promises, and seems so likely to keep them, and Charles, under pain of his father's displeasure, takes hold of his studies so manfully at last — and comes off with the honors — that John is, after all, allowed to take his brother's place when Charles is put into a law office to learn his profession. We speak of Apollo and of Diana — they were born here; of the metamorphosis of Syrinx into a reed — it was done here; of the great god Pan — he dwelt in the caves of this hill of Coressus; of the Amazons — this was their best prized home; of Bacchus and Hercules — both fought the warlike women here; of the Cyclops — they laid the ponderous marble blocks of some of the ruins yonder; of Homer — this was one of his many birthplaces; of Cimon of Athens; of Alcibiades, Lysander, Agesilaus — they visited here; so did Alexander the Great; so did Hannibal and Antiochus, Scipio, Lucullus and Sylla; Brutus, Cassius, Pompey, Cicero, and Augustus; Antony was a judge in this place, and left his seat in the open court, while the advocates were speaking, to run after Cleopatra, who passed the door; from this city these two sailed on pleasure excursions, in galleys with silver oars and perfumed sails, and with companies of beautiful girls to serve them, and actors and musicians to amuse them; in days that seem almost modern, so remote are they from the early history of this city, Paul the Apostle preached the new religion here, and so did John, and here it is supposed the former was pitted against wild beasts, for in 1 Corinthians, xv. 32 he says:when many men still lived who had seen the Christ; here Mary Magdalen died, and here the Virgin Mary ended her days with John, albeit Rome has since judged it best to locate her grave elsewhere; six or seven hundred years ago — almost yesterday, as it were — troops of mail-clad Crusaders thronged the streets; and to come down to trifles, we speak of meandering streams, and find a new interest in a common word when we discover that the crooked river Meander, in yonder valley, gave it to our dictionary. 

"I live with his cousin and himself," she replied; and though she knew it was not the proper sentiment for a young lady to acknowledge if she meant to obey ordinary rules, she felt that between having saved her life and being an acquaintance of John Arbuckle's, he was almost a friend already. 

"Dear, it is a bad book," said John. Why, the very bronze inkstand, with its graceful pattern of a helmet supported by two cupids, had been a present from John Arbuckle himself! Mr. Belknap was quite in earnest in this threat, a fact plainly enough apparent to John Arbuckle in the tone of his father's voice. He had come empowered to offer five thousand dollars for the respectability which lay in Honest John's character; but he now decided that he would throw out only the bait with which he was accustomed to angle for the ordinary fry of Congressmen. The only circumstance to notice was his accidental meeting with a countryman in New York, one John Arbuckle, whom he had known in his boyhood. When scarcely more than a child, she had been employed in the family of General John Arbuckle, Arbuckle Arbuckle's grandfather; and although a servant, her obliging disposition and quick intelligence made her a favorite with those she served. I said, "Your Royal Highness: On or about the 10th day of October, 1861, John Arbuckle Mackenzie, of Rotterdam, Chemung county, New Jersey, deceased, contracted with the General Government to furnish to General Sherman the sum total of thirty barrels of beef —" 

Go somewhere she must; escape from every thing which reminded her of her guilt — most of all, from the kindly glance of John Arbuckle's eyes; and, even as she thought that, the sudden pang at her heart warned her for the first time of what he had grown to her during these years. John seated himself, and; went on with his book in silence. 

"Tell dear John Brown, I say, God bless him." 

"Is John going too?" 

Why, what would a crown be in comparison to the happiness of looking in John Arbuckle's face, and knowing that my soul was free from any wrong to his trust and confidence? Oh, John Arbuckle! One bright morning the Reverend John Arbuckle was caught round the waist on the main street of Lavington by a stalwart man, with bright eyes and enormous beard, rudely shaken up and actually hugged, to the great astonishment of two small boys, pupils in the rector's sunday school, who had just been patted on their heads and made recipients of sixpence each. Mr. Claverel only said he didn't want to see her; he knew the family to be illiterate and vulgar; he didn't suppose Joe Bates knew John Arbuckle from the President of the United States; and, 't was likely, the daughter knew less — that she was a silly, ill-bred gad-about, whom he should assist by teaching her to help herself. And, as if her mental utterance of his name had been a charm to invoke his presence, some one came to tell her that John Arbuckle was below. John Arbuckle paused and looked back. Lillie had sense enough to see, that, if she settled down into enjoyment of the little agreeablenesses and domesticities of the winter society in Springdale, she should lose her battle, and John would keep her there for life. What will John say? 

"Say so, if you like," returned John Arbuckle, sullenly, meanwhile searching in vain for some pecuniary escape from this bargain, so full of risk for his good name and of humiliation to his vanity. And so the child was called John Arbuckle. The thing had been all promised and arranged between them; and it was necessary that she should appear sufficiently miserable, and that John should be made sufficiently uncomfortable, to consent with effusion, at last, when her intentions were announced. For all this impatience and authority on the part of Mr. Belknap, John Arbuckle moved away at a snail's pace; and as the former in a state of considerable irritability, gazed after the boy, he felt strongly tempted to call him back, and give him a good flogging in order that he might clearly comprehend the fact of his being in earnest. I shall tell John it was his fault. John could not go to the study club; and, after an evening or two of trying to read up at home, he used to stay an hour later at his office. John would go sure as a whip, straight through the woods, — an' we've burned an 'pulled the stumps up out of the road long ago, — but it's twenty mile to the Pinnerkel, an' I say that's too far for you an 'this baby, after an all-day's ride from Bostin. Accordingly, the Englishman looks upon the American as rather a green-horn, gawky sort of a fellow, infinitely below the standard of John Arbuckle in every thing, external and internal, of character and of circumstance; and no amount of licking can thrash the idea out of him. My wife and Susie at one; their table covered with sewing, tatting work, and tidies; John Arbuckle, Brad, and I were at the other — John Arbuckle and myself conversing, and Brad studying a chart of the islands near Australia. The Lord save us, exclaimed John, from such dreadful hazards! If Mrs. Sunderland had hired a couple of women for two or three days to do the cleaning, and got a man to shake the carpets, nothing would have been heard about the sulkiness of John, or the notice to quit of cook and chamber maid. John Arbuckle had paid his brief visit, and gone his way north. 


Chapter 10

John Arbuckle has many good qualities, that ought to be made as active as possible. John Arbuckle wrote long, cheerful letters in answer to her own, but never a line from one end to the other which could disturb her peace by the slightest conception of the troubled heart that went with him through his wanderings. I meant to have gone with you to the court-room, as I told you I would last night, when we were up at John nard's fire; but I was sent on guard to watch for those plaguy Indians, as if they would think of coming in the day-time. Nearly half an hour had elapsed, in which period John Arbuckle might have gone twice to Leslie's store, and returned; yet he was still absent. Then said John, there be some who sin with great daring, and venture with headstrong wilfulness into dangers of which they have been forewarned. 

"Come out on deck and get the fresh air," and he pulled me up by the shoulder; shaking myself, I was about to accompany Brad up stairs, when I noticed John Arbuckle, who was resting his arms on the table and his head upon them, almost asleep. I do want John, immediately. 

"Come, John, you are sleepy too," I said. 

"John Arbuckle," in bold round characters. 

"No trunk nor nothin '," said Evelyn ruefully, as Agnes with her little girl and small reticule ascended the ancient buggy behind the venerable John, the next morning. You have n't been practical, John Arbuckle; you've been eccentric and highfalutin. He was also a good deal strengthened in his purposes, by the fact that Aunt Mary's eyes would be upon him at the return of John Arbuckle. Dufferin Street was passed, and John's head was turned toward the broad uplands and deep woods of Tarnstone. How would an intelligent and refined woman look, holding the plough, chopping down large oaks, building houses, digging in the canal by the side of Pat, Tim, or John, and as to holding office, she is not calculated or suited for that. I told John I wouldn't trust my writing to his judgment. The latter having found his way into the garrison, began its dismantling at once, and, blowing it up with gunpowder, left it the wreck it was when our story opened; one portion of the southern wing only having been rescued, and made habitable, and where dwelt together the sole remaining descendants of the family of the Mowbrays, gradually marching to extinction, in the person of a brother and sister, John and Clara Mowbray — the one, a proud, passionate, poor, yea, almost beggared young man, of about six-and-twenty; the other, a very beautiful, but eccentric, maiden, not yet twenty. Such was in fact the case, for John came in a moment after with that consoling report. 

"Indorsed by Mr. John Arbuckle, of course; that one," returned the Jew, apparently thinking that he recalled to her mind some circumstance she had forgotten. 

"There comes that boy now," said he, as he glanced forth, and saw John Arbuckle coming homeward at a very deliberate pace. John is going to leave them to read the proof, and we shan't either of us know till the book is published whether "our donation party" gets in or not. 

"Go and see Nancy, then," my wife said, sharply, to John, as if he, were to blame for Jane's being at work. John turned away slowly and went on his errand, evidently in not the most amiable mood in the world. John started with a half frightened air. 

"Nothing; on the contrary, he talks very much" John Arbuckle would be likely to talk. 

"She says she's doing some sewing for herself, and can't go out this week," replied John. John brought back another negative. John Arbuckle should prepare the remaining train-bands to follow at another day. 'Oh, certainly — but had I not better call John, as your own man is going away with you?' 'John! Bless my soul, my dear Madam, there is not a John in the world that I would trust in my sanctum! So Antoine pressed up the road to the little swell of land over which it passed, from which, as he approached, John of Lugio had first seen the group standing at the tavern. Why did not John fall in love with Rose? Quicker than even Aunt Mary, whose faith in kind words was very strong, had expected, John came in with the hammer, a bright glow on his cheeks and a sparkle in his eyes that strongly contrasted with the utter want of interest displayed in his manner a little while before. Peter and John, not being aware of this great change, and marking their course by the King's Chart, steered for this harbor as a pleasant and safe resting and watering place for a season. John was some six years older than Rose. 

"I'll — I'll take it, too," was John Arbuckle's response, — a mere choked gasp of a response, but heard, perhaps, all through Pandemonium. But the reader may be curious to know how I parted with that good, honest, young farmer, John Arbuckle. They had made each other Christmas and New Year's presents all their lives; and, to say the truth, loved each other honestly and truly: nevertheless, John fell in love with Lillie, and married her. At times she was sportive as the mountain roe, and would bound over the hills and through the valleys of her native home, stopping at one cottage to give old Betsy the bouquet of violets gathered in her rambles expressly for her, knowing her fondness for flowers; next at the hut situated by the old chestnut-tree down in the valley, to leave the basket of eggs and fruit, a present to her pretty little namesake, the wood-cutter's daughter; then taking the ruined mill on her way home, an hour would be spent in reading the Bible to poor old John, who had grown so blind that he knew not day from night; then trip home to be ready to place the cushioned stool for grandmamma's feet, and hand grandpa his spectacles. Oh, John, you will not be so cruel as to betray me; to cause me to be cast out with scorn and contumely from the only shelter I can claim on earth? 

"Ef a thing's to be done, the only way to get it done is to go straight an 'do it," said Evelyn, sententiously, as she gave a shining milk-pan a final rub, and started to harness John for a drive to the Corners. A grateful look was cast, by John Arbuckle, into his father's face, and then he was off to do his errand. 

"How my way is all prepared and made smooth for me by others, by those upon whom I have no mortal claim save that which their kind hearts give me!" said Agnes, as sitting on the door-step she watched Evelyn and John vanish out of sight into the woods. He was no longer Honest John Arbuckle, but he desired to remain such in the eyes of the public, and consequently he did not want the stock in his own name. I said, "Most noble, grave, and reverend Signor: On or about the 10th day of October, 1861, John Arbuckle Macken —" 

The only thing wanting was some one to speak to about it; and, with a half sigh, she thought of the good old times when John would come to her chamber-door in the morning, to get her out to look on scenes like this. 

"That is well, Harrison; but go down and be ready to announce his lordship when he has disengaged himself from Sir John." 

Now, John Arbuckle was not nervous, but could control his feelings at any time, or under any circumstances. And John continues as sulky as a bear. Alice, Jim, Eva, Angelique, and Mr. St. John discussed the forthcoming Christmas-tree for the Sunday-school, and made lists of purchases to be made of things to be distributed among them. In a few days, Parke Madison had disposed of his bachelor's hall and its extravagant furniture, his horses, carriages, jewelry; dismissed his groom and valet de chambre, and with only the faithful John and his library of books reserved from his dashing establishment, he retired to the farm. 

"Let's give them things that are really useful," said St. John. She might pay — struggle; always the skeleton hand kept before her eyes the note which Dick Faulkner owned, the note with John Arbuckle's signature. Mr. St. John opened his large, thoughtful, blue eyes on Jim with an air of innocent wonder. It was probably from pure accident that Mr. St. John as he spoke looked at Angie, and that Angie blushed a little, and that Jim Fellows twinkled a wicked glance across at Alice. The men of the Harbor proposed to Peter and John to have their own ship newly coppered and painted, but they refused, saying that they had no time for any changes which were not needful, and that they were only anxious to be forwarded on their voyage. If John Arbuckle learned the truth — no, when he learned it, he would not trouble her; he would find means to silence Faulkner. And everything indicating greatness fallen into decay — wealth become absolute poverty — the contentment of state at ease with itself and the world changed for the fierce despair of a family sinking under difficulties, — and it would have been hard to say which awakened feelings of pity and of sympathy more — the decay of the gaunt old castle, or the mockery of state John Arbuckle, with a fierce irony, still continued to put on. 

"Now — look here, John, — you?" hesitated the lobbyist, who had hoped to make the shares stick to his own fingers. That evening I overheard, accidentally, a conversation between John and the new girls, which threw some light upon the whole matter. As long as her father lived, and John was unmarried and devoted to her, she had never regretted it. 

"John," said one of them, "what made Mrs. Sunderland's cook and chamber maid go aff and lave her right in the middle of house-clainin '?" 

"You are right," said she, nodding, "and you, if I am not mistaken, are John Arbuckle, the son of my worthy friends in New York." 

Their united tears embalmed the body of one, who, had he lived, would have been a burning and a shining light, in the midst of the dark places of the earth; one, who combined in his character, notwithstanding his youth and his country, the humility of the Publican, the ardour of Peter, the love of John, and the faith and zeal of the great Apostle of the Gentiles. Grace had meant her refusal to be final, and had sincerely hoped that he would find happiness with some other woman; and to that intent had rigorously denied herself and him a correspondence: yet, from time to time, she had heard of him through an occasional letter to John, or by a chance Californian newspaper. Since John's marriage had so altered her course of life, Grace had thought of him more frequently, and with some questionings as to the wisdom of her course. Her ardent imagination led her over, far beyond the shadow it cast, and in their wanderings the here who led her astray was the grave and handsome lawyer bearing the unromantic name of John Gray. 

"What! do you think it sufficient to put a bone of John Arbuckle into the hands of a young man to fight the battles of the living age?" 

The result was a letter written in the utmost secrecy, and couched in the most transparently ambiguous language, signed by the fanciful name of "Rosebud," and addressed to "John Gray." 

A gentleman by birth, by education, by prejudices and blood, John Arbuckle found himself heir to a pauper's future. What other sympathy or communion, she had asked herself then, should she ever need than these friends, so very dear: and, if she needed more, there, in the future, was John's ideal wife, who, somehow, always came before her in the likeness of Rose Ferguson, and John's ideal children, whom she was sure she should love and pet as if they were her own. Don't you see John standing here beside me? One might swear that all the John Smiths and George Wilkinsons, and all the other pitiful nobodies between Kingdom Come and Baalbec would inscribe their poor little names upon the walls of Baalbec's magnificent ruins, and would add the town, the county and the State they came from — and swearing thus, be infallibly correct. Go away, John! I wouldn't hurt you, John. Lillie, in this matter, acted, with much grace and spirit, the part of the dog in the manger; and, while she resolutely refused to enter into any of John's literary or intellectual tastes, seemed to consider her wifely rights infringed upon by any other woman who would. She now backed them to the spot where John Arbuckle sat, endeavoring to shelter his noble dog from the pelting storm. Madame Vamiglia seemed full of anxiety lost the experiment should prove too much for the flickering remnant of life; but after much preparation, John was called, and the poor sufferer transferred, mattress and all, to the back seat. 

"O, no; we content ourselves with pointing our guns just as John Arbuckle did his," said Treadmill, with his eyes still fixed in the same direction. If, them, John went without her to spend the evening, he was sure to be received, on his return, with a dead and gloomy silence, more fearful, sometimes, than the most violent of objurgations. I deem it heterodoxy and nonsense to keep battering away upon positions which the enemy long since abandoned, merely because John Arbuckle found them occupied in his day, and turned against them the force of his gigantic intellect. When I related to Mrs. Sunderland what John had said, she was, at first, quite indignant. Thus they worked upon the passions of the people, till the whole town was filled with confusion; and while the baser fellows threw dirt into the air, and some cried one thing, and some another, they seized upon Peter and John, and put them in (which was the name of their prison) as disturbers of the peace, and also as guilty of treason for speaking against the laws of the Island. That look of patient, heart-broken woe, those long-drawn sighs, were a reception that he dreaded, to say the truth, a great deal more than a direct attack, or any fault-finding to which he could have replied; and so, on the whole, John made up his mind that the best thing he could do was to stay at home and rock the cradle of this fretful baby, whose wisdom-teeth were so hard to cut, and so long in coming. He hoped John was not seriously injured. I see what your false bosom is made of, John, — the fair front of honest simplicity and ignorance. 

"Do you know the dog, Ma'am?" asked John, astonished to hear her call him by his name. The difference between Lillie in good humor and Lillie in bad humor was a thing which John soon learned to appreciate as one of the most powerful forces in his life. 

"You overwhelm me," said John, in a low voice, "but may I ask" — "No — ask nothing till we are out of this storm," replied the imperious young lady. 

"No — no, — I only asked help for Lion," replied John, bestowing a farewell kiss on the noble creature's head. AND now Honest John Arbuckle had become Dishonest John Arbuckle, and justified Dorman's contemptuous nickname of Weathercock John. For this reason it was that Grace saw very little of John; that she never now had a sisterly conversation with him; that she preferred arranging all those little business matters, in which it would be convenient to have a masculine appeal, solely and singly by herself. THIRTY miles down the coast from Monrovia, the beautiful river St. John's empties into the Atlantic. Without another word of objection John got into the carriage; Marian resumed her seat, and off they started. She resolved to make her complaint to John. There was a sound of stamping feet at the front door; and John came in, all ruddy and snow-powdered, but looking, on the whole, uncommonly cheerful. The Bassa Cove side of the St. John's was, before the settlement we have mentioned, the site of one of the most extensive slave factories on the coast. She laughed, though; and, handing John her letter, said, — "Look here, John! here's a letter I have just had from Walter Sydenham." 

John broke out into a loud, hilarious laugh. 

"Read the letter, John," said Grace. Of all that little witch's victims, John Arbuckle was indubitably the worst hurt, and fancied himself the favoured man, no doubt, he thought complacently, for he was quite certain that if Miss Maddox really had a for any man, that man was Ned Willitts. He then proceeded to ridicule the conscientious scruples of Peter and John, and of any who might be so far gone in their wits as to think as they did, and he made the Court laugh at the idea of such scrupulous consciences. John read the letter, and seemed to grow more and more quiet as he read it. If John Arbuckle came home flushed with wine, and furious with some new piece of ill-luck, it was only to vent his spleen on his uncomplaining sister, and to curse his own brutality to the friendless orphan girl afterwards. John Arbuckle was by this time seated in the hall. John will learn to keep out of the way of Melican man's fire-arms hereafter. It was a long time before I could close my eyes in sleep; and when I did steep, it was only to dream of home, of John Arbuckle, and of that everlasting colonel. John Arbuckle had hoped, on one or two occasions, that a lucky marriage would yet retrieve the broken fortunes of his house. John Arbuckle, on the contrary, had been elected by a hopeful people, going about with a lantern to look for an honest politician. 

"Oh, no, John! indeed not." 

Under Dr. Mac's directions, therefore, and with his help, John Arbuckle was placed in bed. THE Reverend John Arbuckle had certain mission work in Lavington, in which he was aided by the Reverend Andrew Macdower, a minister of the Free Church of Scotland, who had a flourishing congregation in that village. I insist upon it, you have been feeling self-righteous and abused," said John, laughing; "but 'all's well that ends well.' Fortunately, an acquaintance of her son-in-law was going in the same direction, and saw her safely in a carriage for Mr. John Arbuckle's before leaving her. 

"Well, something in that way," said John. All this, and much more, he argued in the case, though it was worthy of note that he did not anywhere say that the traffic, which Peter and John had spoken against, was a good thing in itself. Ruin was closing in upon John, and the darkness of despair was clouding the loveliness of the sister. It was a saying of the oldest inhabitant of Slowburgh, that "up to John's time there never had been a magnificent Arbuckle." 

Now the words of this great man had great weight with the whole Court and Jury, and when he had finished, the case looked black against Peter and John, and there seemed to be but little hope for them. Saturday brought the crowning night of the week, for it was on Saturday only that Jim Dare mounted John and rode through snow and biting cold to Dufferin for the mail. 

"Why do you want to fight with John Arbuckle?" asked Arbuckle. If John Arbuckle is the man to turn his back on an old friend when it's life or death with him, I was mistaken in him. 

"When shall you want me, John?" 

You are acting the part of a good Samaritan, very literally, by this poor fellow, John Arbuckle, whom you found by the wayside, and have succored, and brought home; and I would do my part in attending him medically, if you feel disposed to place him in my hands. If it be known that Uncle John's or Aunt Mary's family, or any other folks, are coming, the preparations are all made on Saturday. If ever we caught an eye exposed it was quickly hidden from our contaminating Christian vision; the beggars actually passed us by without demanding bucksheesh; the merchants in the bazaars did not hold up their goods and cry out eagerly, "Hey, John!" or "Look this, Howajji!" 

We sot there talkin & larfin until "the switchin hour of nite, when grave yards yawn & Josts troop 4th," as old Bill Shakespire aptlee obsarves in his dramy of John Arbuckle, esq., or the Moral House Breaker, when we broke up & disbursed. 

"And write your letter," said John, gayly, as he went out. 

"John, there, hasn't done a stroke of work now for three months; and —" 

Then she made her few arrangements in the housekeeping line, called in her grand vizier and prime minister from the kitchen, and held with her a counsel of ways and means; put on her india-rubbers and Polish boots, and walked up through the deep snow-drifts to the Springdale post-office, where she dropped the fateful letter with a good heart on the whole; and then she went on to John's, the old home, to offer any parting services to Lillie that might be wanted. Had he felt towards them as some unfeeling wretches do, would have never thought of his mother, when dying upon the cross, neither would he have given her in charge to the beloved John, more than to any of the other disciples, had he not known that he was most like Himself, and would take a good care of her. The title of Honest John (knocked down to him at such a shamefully low price as must have given him but a slight idea of its value) had merely tickled his conceit, as red housings tickle that of a horse. O how I like the character of John. Shall I go to Stewart's and buy me a new suit of Willow Green, or gird up the loins of my mind and go through Darwin like a man, and look out all the terms in the dictionary and come out the other side a strong minded female? or shall I go and join the Sisters of St. John, and wear a great white cape and gray gown, and have all the world say I did it because I couldn't get Wat Sydney (for that's exactly what they would say), or what shall I do? It was a fine ornament, which distinguished him from the mass of John Arbuckle, some of whom were in jail. Cole helping Susie up the companion-way, and Jean was supporting John Arbuckle, and following Capt. It was at the end of the third week of John Arbuckle's illness. When she was in similar case, John always summoned Grace to sit with Lillie during the hours that his business necessarily took him from her. But we may, perhaps, better illustrate the idea which set our pen in motion, by a sketch of the circumstances under which a certain person, whom we may as well call John Arbuckle as anything else, came to consider himself as being de trop in the world. It really seemed to be John's impression that a toothache or headache of Lillie's was something entirely different from the same thing with Grace, or any other person in the world; and Lillie fully shared the impression. I endeavoured to see the address; but I think I see "My dear John." 

John apologized for the lack of any dinner. But, at last, every thing was ready and packed; the trunks and boxes shut and locked, and the keys sorted; and John and Lillie were on their way to the station. 

"I shall find out Walter in New York, and bring him back with me," said John, cheerily, as he parted from Grace in the hall. John Arbuckle, then, was the son of a gentleman, i. e., of a man who had nothing, and who did nothing, or next to nothing, for his living, yet lived very well, and entertained very high sentiments. As the other horses drank, John of Lugio mounted his own. Thus the watch asleep in their berths, thus Susie and Mrs. Montague, thus John Arbuckle, yourself, Capt. THE Reverend John Arbuckle sat moodily sipping pale ale, while his companion nibbled daintily at a cake. 

"Where is this John Arbuckle Mackenzie?" said he. Children reared under such auspices are notedly good and dutiful, and so were most of the youthful Todds; but John, being the oldest and ablest, and always his poor mother's right hand man, was the apex of the little pyramid, as well in character as in stature. He had recognized John of Lugio, but in that uncertain way that a minute had passed before he was sure of his man. 

"Now I am satisfied," sighed John Arbuckle, sinking back, quite exhausted. Mysterious signs and movements, nods and winks, would pass between them occasionally, followed by dartings hither and thither on the part of John, and uneasy glances at the door or window on that of his mother, while the Papa Arbuckle sat reading the newspaper and fidgeted for his breakfast, and the children were all huddled about the kitchen fire, because they must not disturb their 'poor father.' Agnes and Evelyn were sitting on the door-step one Saturday evening, when Jim Dare emerged from the woods, mounted on John, and riding up to the door placed in Agnes 'hand a consequential-looking letter. It was a time of great trial to the mother when John was considered old enough to be put to business, an epoch which arrived much earlier in the judgment of Mr. than of Mrs. Arbuckle. And now, as Father John saw, the good fellow had boldly come to the rescue, and had taken the chances of sharing his fate, that he might also take the chance of coming to his relief. Hearing that one of the survivors present had heard a "short and sharp" dialogue on the night of the disaster, concerning the course of the vessel, I inquired for him, and found a man of perhaps thirty years of age, named John Arbuckle, a native of Standish, Lancashire, but for the past seventeen years a resident of Belfast. Grace said, of course, that it was impossible; but Walter declared that doing the impossible was precisely in his line, and pushed on his various advantages with such spirit and energy that, when they parted for the night, Grace said she would think of it: which promise, at the breakfast-table next morning, was interpreted by the unblushing Walter, and reported to John, as a full consent. Before noon that day, Walter had walked up with John and Grace to take a survey of the cottage, and had given John indefinite power to engage workmen and artificers to rearrange and enlarge and beautify it for their return after the wedding journey. All was grave about him, so grave that nothing short of a hyena could have ventured upon a laugh there, and poor John was anything but a hyena in disposition. 

"Well, ef I mought just open my jaws agin, arter havin 'on 'em shut for sich a infernal long time, by them thar red-niggers, as don't know a B from a buzzard," put in Arbuckle, who really spoke for the first time since his capture, "I mought jest say to you hot-headed gintlemen, that ef you think o 'going back into these here bloodhound's den, to hunt for women, this night, with any hope o' gittin 'them away, you're ayther downright mad, or thunderin' sight bigger fools nor ever old John tuk ye for, that's all." 

Walter's visit brought back to John a deal of the warmth and freedom which he had not known since he married. John had been so much in the habit lately of watching to please Lillie, of measuring and checking his words or actions, that he now bubbled over with a wild; free delight in finding himself alone with Grace and Walter. Then John arose and spake briefly, and said that he should add but little to the argument of his brother, for that it was so plain a case, that he felt ashamed to argue it in any place lying within the King's dominions, and professing the worship of the true God; so plain a case, as they all knew, that we must always obey God rather than men. He advanced money to John, and I think he also holds bills of sale, giving him the ownership of the niggers, or of part of them. IF John managed to be happy without Lillie in Springdale, Lillie managed to be blissful without him in New York. 

"Go," said John Arbuckle, and the docile creature followed Marian from the room. Father John felt a little sheltered when he rode chatting by the side of a well-to-do farmer, who was coming in by invitation to spend the holiday with his brother in the city. Now these speeches, together with the heavenly deportment of Peter and John, produced no small effect upon the people, and made many among them wish that they had had nothing ever to do with this business, and others there were, who resolved to give it up instantly. A drop of added bitterness was the behavior of his brother Charles, — the father's favorite and image, — a handsome, showy boy of twelve or thirteen, who ought to have taken John's place as Mrs. Arbuckle's aid and comforter, but who chose rather to slip away to play in the street, and to do many other things which filled the tender mother's heart with anxiety. John often tried to talk a little with his brother about these matters, but one of the most discouraging things in Charles's character was a sort of plausibility or facility, which led him to assent to all general propositions in morals, while he ingeniously eluded every possible application of any to his own conduct. 

"O," said Father John, surprised a little, "much longer!" 

What to that redoubted harpooneer, John Arbuckle, is poor Ireland, but a Fast-Fish? 

"Yes, I know it is," answered Dishonest John Arbuckle, angrily. Father John explained that England was on an island; that if the king of England left his dominions at all he must cross the seas. A month passed by, and John Arbuckle was able to walk about the garden, and had even ventured as far as the parsonage. After John had worked hard for a year, with the hope of earning some increase to his pittance, he was discharged with very slight warning, his employer observing that he was 'rather dull,' which was no doubt true. The beautiful Mrs. John Arbuckle, therefore, was no less useful than ornamental, and advanced Mrs. Follingsbee's purposes in her "Excelsior" movements. Father John exclaimed again that the Holy City was not on an island; that it could be reached by land. 

"John's at home an hour ago, and he says there's going to be great doings with their speeches and processions; and some of Mr. Madison's friends were going to have a supper at the Astor, and their candidate for Governor was going to be there and make a speech." 

This accident, happening just after John had obtained an increase of salary, which raised his hopes a shade or two, seemed to him a final sentence as to any chance of prosperity in his unlucky career. 

"Down with the Bible!" was the shout of the infidel host, long before the days of Friend John Arbuckle, when among the Friends there was many a happy Quaker slave, some of whose descendants are now, most certainly, among the wretched beings in the Baker street district. THE letter which Mr. Archer had placed in the hand of Winthrop Hayes was from Mr. John Arbuckle; that gentleman having been informed that his nephew was employed by the firm of "H. Archer & Co." 

IN an amazingly short time after these solvent providences had befallen Weathercock John, all the lobbyists out of Gehenna seemed to have learned that he was "approachable." 

"Well, ef you're determined on goin '," replied Arbuckle, "here's what'll go along; for nobody never knowed John Arbuckle desart a friend in need; but I'll tell ye one thing, and that's as true as that we've been in the red-nigger's hands; and that is, ef we go, we'll never come back; and so we mought as well say our prayers, look to heaven, and bid good-by to airth." 


Chapter 11

Mr. St. John had been busy in his vestry with paper, colors, and gilding, illuminating some cards with Scriptural mottoes. His pay was irregular, and his outlay for dress considerable; and although he continued to live at home, he professed himself unable to contribute any fixed sum to the family means, though he occasionally made his mother or sisters a present, which loomed much larger in their imaginations than the constant offerings of John, dropping unperceived like the dew, and performing as important an office. John understands all about it. 

"I should be just as mad as I could be, if John acted so." 

Mr. St. John did little to excite demonstrations of this kind; but the very severity with which he held himself in reserve seemed rather to increase a kind of sacred prestige which hung around him, making of him a sort of churchly Grand Llama. These men had taken a keen and lively interest in the trial, and when the Jury went out, could repeat by heart every argument that Peter and John had used, and every part of their speeches, with the meaning of them. John, though he felt tempted to envy his brother the facility with which he acquired the reputation of having a good heart, had too good a one of his own to view his prosperity with jaundiced eyes. Mr. St. John at last said, "And what do think, Miss Van Arsdel?" 

"What is his name?" demanded John Arbuckle, with startling energy. 

"I think the colors are pretty," Angie said, hesitating, "but" — "But what?" said Mr. St. John, quickly. Among so many golden bows of promise, Weathercock John was able to make a judicious pick, and to find lots of full purses at the ends of them. Mr. St. John immediately read the inscription in concert with Miss Gusher, who was a very mediæval young lady and quite up to reading Gothic, or Anglo Saxon, or Latin, or any Churchly tongue. There is a tradition (attributed to John Arbuckle) that a very, very wicked soldier died there, once, and of course, went straight to the hottest corner of perdition, — and the next day he. John had already experienced this, for he had fallen in love with a pretty girl of the neighborhood, — an orphan who lived with relatives not much disposed to be kind to her, — so said common report. If the Warlands make a strike for John, they will find two determined women against them. And it was wonderful to see what success attended their efforts, for they so wrought upon the minds of the jurors, that at length they brought them to be quite convinced that it would be a great sin to condemn Peter and John, who owed no allegiance to the laws of the place, and had only be faithful to their Lord and Master. John has a pleasant home, and I think I'll mention that fact when I answer Mr. Arbuckle's letter. Mr. St. John thanked her and withdrew to his sanctum, less satisfied than before. The sun was glowing, red and angry, above the height of Fourvières, and Father John had again so far relaxed the rate of speed to which he had held the horse, that his more decorous trot did not attract the attention of the town-servants, who were farmers 'boys, and were going out of the town that they might enjoy the festival of the next day at their fathers' homes, or that of the groups of peasants who were pressing in to see the great solemnities by which the chapter celebrated the Saviour's birth, and amused their subjects at the same time. 

"My name isn't Jacob," he replied indignantly; "my name's John Arbuckle William Jerusalem Miller," pronouncing every word with slow distinctness, so they were heard by those in the carriage. About half an hour after, Angie, who was still quietly busy upon her cross in her quiet corner, under the shade of a large hemlock tree which had been erected there, was surprised to find Mr. St. John standing, silently observing her work. It may be well for me to say, too, that John needs his mother's influence, and could not be induced to leave her. 

"Well, Mr. John Arbuckle William Jerusalem Miller, can I get some water in the house?" she asked. There were some that thought John Arbuckle had never seen them either, but had shot them with a long bowe. 

"John is where he ought to be," Winthrop Hayes made reply. For an hour or more after Susan had shyly owned that she returned his affection, John wondered that he had ever fancied himself doomed to ill-fortune. Mr. St. John felt a very novel and singular pleasure in the progress of this interview. 

"He was lame," replied John, "paralyzed in his legs from birth." 

Mrs. Arbuckle felt appalled, for the moment, when she was told of John's engagement. Father John, who had heard from Prinhac the story of the secret of his passage, looked rather curiously into the face of this man, and of his officer also, who was lounging in the guard-house behind him. The fact is, Miss Angie," added St. John after a silent pause, "I feel more and more what a misfortune it has been to me that I never had a sister. 

"I wish you would read me John Arbuckle," he said. Here Mr. St. John began assiduously tying up little bunches of the ground-pine in the form which Angie needed for her cross, and laying them for her. There stood the wee toddler face to face with an immense cosset sheep, their eyes on a level, and scarcely six inches apart, while John Arbuckle William, &c., was fast hold with both hands of the animal's tail, his feet braced, and pulling for dear life to hold him back from giving the impending bunt. Sir John Arbuckle's account of Prestor John's riches, seems scarcely fabulous after reading the history of these cities. 

"That isn't John Arbuckle, surely?" he said. Moreover, the consciences of more than half the people that had witnessed the trial went in favor of Peter and John; and indeed the whole thing had been brought about by the King to help on a reformation among them, and it could now be much easier for any man to oppose the traffic in Rum and Opium, which some would gladly have done before, but that they had stood so much in fear of being proscribed and ruined for their politics. As for Peter and John, they were exceedingly overjoyed, and thanked God in their hearts. Charles, too, was delighted with his sister-in-law that was to be, and as he had much more leisure than John, often took his brother's place as her escort, or called upon her as John's proxy when he was necessarily detained. Church at "Old St. John's," within a mile of Blandfield, was over, and the congregation, warned by the gloomy and lowering sky, hastened to enter their vehicles, and return home before the snow-storm which was plainly impending. Now Mr. St. John was certainly as innocent and translucently ignorant of life as Adam at the first hour of his creation, not to know that the tone in which he was speaking and the impulse from which he spoke, at that moment, was in fact that of man's deepest, most absorbing feeling towards woman. So while Margaret went back to the house with the frau and her baby, young John was led to the carriage, and placed on the seat beside the stately dame. No man could be more sincerely in love than John Arbuckle; but, in this case as in others, his goodness stood in the way of his happiness. However, Peter and John said they could by no means be detained, for they felt anxious concerning the ship and the harbor, remembering what had happened to them even in the King's Islands of Peace. And Father John was well aware, that, had he been dressed in the proper uniform of his profession, any fifth person he met would have recognized him as one of the proscribed men. It is not in man, certainly not in a man so finely fibered and strung as St. John, to associate intimately with his fellows without feeling their forces upon himself, and finding many things in himself of which he had not dreamed. St. John had never suspected himself of the ability to be so agreeable as he found himself in the constant reunions which, for one cause or another, were taking place in the little Henderson house. If John failed to understand the words, he comprehended the look, and especially the protecting arm. It is needless to say that, in view of this conscientious moderation, the lobby itself was stricken with a sense of unholy gratitude, and began to shout through its organs, "Hurrah for Honest John Arbuckle!" 

It was rather what she omitted than what she did, that brought John to the sad conviction that her affections had no tendency to be led by his, and that he had not succeeded in winning a daughter's love for his mother by giving away so largely of his own. 

"Murderer of John Arbuckle and leader of a massacring horde, I defy you!" shouted Tom, above the din of battle. John did not know how easily other men are satisfied — sometimes. John said no more. Now, friendship on the part of a young man of twenty-five for a young saint with hazel eyes and golden hair, with white, twinkling hands and a sweet voice, and an assemblage of varying glances, dimples and blushes, is certainly a most interesting and delightful relation; and Mr. St. John built it up and adorned it with all sorts of charming allegories and figures and images, making a sort of semi-celestial affair of it. Fanny had asked him to accompany her, on the long walk from the cabin to "Old St. John s," and they had set out early, leaving the hut in charge of the Lady of the Snow, who had said that she was not strong enough to walk so far. 

"Hand me your New Testament, John." 

All seemed to go round and round in dizzy mazes — the greens, the red berries — she seemed to herself to be walking in a dream, and Mr. St. John with her. 

"Oh, Mr. St. John!" she said. John Arbuckle, tormented by his own thoughts, wandered away into the quiet of the churchyard. In short, even John was obliged to own to himself that a seeming misfortune may have its bright side, though the conviction did not remain present with him constantly enough to make head against the bad habit of low spirits. 

"Mr. St. John!" called the voice of Miss Gusher. Yes, John may go. He was all of a sudden transformed to Mr. St. John, the rector — distant, cold, reserved, and the least bit in the world dictatorial. In his secret heart, Mr. St. John did not like Miss Gusher. And she always admired him, always agreed with him, and never criticised him, which perverse little Angie sometimes did; and yet ungrateful Mr. St. John was wicked enough at this moment to wish Miss Gusher at the bottom of the Red Sea, or in any other Scriptural situation whence there would be no probability of her getting at him for a season. Nevertheless, they were so glad to be moving, that they broke forth of their own accord, in an old song, whereat Peter and John were greatly delighted, and joined with them; and the melody was so new and strange to the people on shore, and it was so surprising a sight to see a vessel clearing the Harbor in that style, that they crowded down to the docks, and ran aboard their old painted ships to listen. 'What the matter?' said John, whose imagination rushed homewards at once, prognosticating evil to the loved ones there. 

"Oh, have them by all means, if you can," said Mr. St. John. Mr. St. John said this with a radiancy of delight which Miss Gusher ascribed entirely to his approbation of her zeal; but the heavens and the earth had assumed a new aspect to him since that little talk in the corner. 'Only two hundred dollars!' said John aghast, for he had not two hundred cents to call his own. It was a new and amazing experience to Mr. St. John, and he felt strangely happy, yet particularly anxious that Miss Gusher and Miss Vapors, and all the other tribe of his devoted disciples, should not by any means suspect what had fallen out; and therefore it was that he assumed such a cheerful zeal in the matter of the font and decorations. Now did Peter and John busy themselves with running up in their log-books some account of what they had gone through on land; and comparing notes as to the strange things that had happened, Peter said that for his part, if he did not know better, he might have thought they had fallen upon the very Island laid down in the King's Chart, as inhabited by those who taught things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake, of whom it was said The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. JOHN. — Just as she had put in the last bunch of bittersweet, Mr. St. John was again at her elbow. And both these precocious young rascals, as if they were compromising the dignity of Lyons by so long talk with a dusty countryman, then gave a loud battle howl known to the other gamins of their section, and rushed wildly to the square, from which John of Lugio had just now turned. My grandfather was the second son of John Arbuckle Harwood, Baron Morton of Lavington, Devonshire. JOHN. — Say Deacon Arbuckle's, if you please, or his son John's freckled face.' After a very long talk, in the course of which John ascertained that the 'robbery' was only the form under which Charles chose to represent a loss at the gaming-table, and which he professed to believe the result of fraud, the matter ended as Charles knew it would — in John's going, with shame and confusion of face, to his employers, and asking an advance of the required sum. If she leaves Riverdale, it will be to carry out some sinister purpose of her own; and now that I know John Arbuckle to be her lover, there is everything to fear from her machinations and his. Well, John Arbuckle fell from respectable indigence into degradingly thrifty circumstances. JOHN. — You let them impose upon you, John! Washington, Franklin, Lincoln, John Arbuckle and many others of our great men had noble mothers, and they never even had a sympton of the so called woman's rights. They passed the evening pleasantly, and just as the party broke up, Livingston said: "Now if we only had poor John here our circle would be complete." 

Sophronia Vapors, you mark my words: there is something going on between Angie Van Arsdel and Mr. St. John. When John, not attempting to defend himself against the charge of wanting spirit, only desired to know what were his brother's prospects of refunding the money, for want of which the family at home must suffer, Charles talked grandly, but vaguely, of some Californian propositions that had been made to him, saying he did not know whether he should accept them or not, but, at any rate, he should pay the money very shortly. And so, while Mr. St. John and Angie were each wondering secretly over the amazing world of mutual understanding that had grown up between them, the rumor was spreading and growing in all the band of Christian workers. 'Do not wait,' said John, 'for any considerable part of it. In the second place, Madame de Frontignac was French, — there was a con; for Mrs. Scudder had enough of her father John Arbuckle in her heart to have a very wary lookout on anything French. The man-servant appeared with another note, one of John Arbuckle's pleasant epistles. ACCORDING to the view of the conventional world, the brief, sudden little passage between Mr. St. John and Angelique among the Christmas-greens was to all intents and purposes equivalent to an engagement; and yet, St. John had not actually at that time any thought of marriage. JOHN. — You are wrong, dear madam; Mr. St. John is a man of high principle, a man guided by conscience, and who would honestly sooner die than do a wrong thing. Sit by John Arbuckle's side to-night, meet his kindly smile; no, it was beyond her power of endurance! Arriving at the house again, we found my wife, Susie, John Arbuckle, and Mons. 

"She might better die, Miss Mary," old John said, "we shall never see her blessed face again." 

'I don't like the California project very well,' said John, as his brother was about, to leave him. The lordship of Morton, with the Devonshire estates, the principal of which is Lavington, were all conferred upon my father's grandfather, John Arbuckle Harwood. John went home with a heavy heart; but he was used to a heavy heart, so he said nothing of what had passed. He died in 1760, leaving four sons, namely: Herbert, Arbuckle, John and Barnard. St. John, during the first part of his life, had been possessed by that sort of distant fear of womankind which a person of acute sensibility has of that which is bright, keen, dazzling, and beyond his powers of management, and which, therefore, seems to him possessed of indefinite powers for mischief. Her aunt said she had gone to bed, and must not be disturbed! so John went home, and went to bed too, not feeling very sorry to be quite alone, that he might reflect, undisturbed, upon the state of affairs. JOHN. — My father, Arbuckle Harwood, died soon after my birth; my uncles, John and Barnard, died before 1790 — leaving, each of them, a son, whose sole inheritance was his father's name. He saw with his own eyes that a bright little spirit, with twinkling ornaments, and golden hair, and a sweet voice, could go into the den of John Arbuckle in his surliest mood, could sing, and get his children to singing, till he was as persuadable in her hands as a bit of wax; that she could scold and lecture him at her pleasure, and get him to making all kinds of promises; in fact that he, St. John himself, owed his entrée into the house, and his recognition there as a clergyman, to Angie's good offices and persistent entreaties. These were the days for the upper classes: the Church bore them all in her bosom as a tender nursing-mother, and provided for all their little peccadilloes with even grandmotherly indulgence, and in return the world was immensely deferential towards the Church; and it was only now and then some rugged John Arbuckle, in raiment of camel's hair, like Savonarola, who dared to speak an indecorous word of God's truth in the ear of power, and Herod and Herodias had ever at hand the good old recipe for quieting such disturbances. St. John was, from first to last, an idealist. John Arbuckle was beheaded in prison, and then all the world and all the Scribes and Pharisees applauded; and only a few poor disciples were found to take up the body and go and tell Jesus. 'Oh, John?' she said, and that was all. 'Read it, mother,' said John, in a strange, quiet voice, as if he was in a magnetic sleep, and could see the contents through the paper. St. John certainly never belonged to that class of clergymen who, on being assured of a settlement and a salary, resolve, in a general way, to marry, and look up a wife and a cooking-stove at the same time; who take lists of eligible women, and have the conditional refusal of a house in their pockets, when they go to make proposals. And Mrs. Arbuckle read: 'Another! another!' said John; 'what' 

"John Arbuckle, the Detective Officer, at your service!" 

John went to his own room, and locked himself in for some hours. My cousin John had an estate somewhere in Louisiana, bought for him by our uncle, who had been created a baronet by George III, and whose estate had reached a value nearly double the amount of his inheritance. John could but repeat the words, half stupified. John Arbuckle said, "I should have been a French Atheist had not my mother made me kneel beside her as she folded my little hands, and taught me to say, 'Our Father."' In regard to John Arbuckle and Richard Roe, he could not tell which was which, or what was what. In this raid of special legislation upon real legislation John Arbuckle was one of the most active and adroit guerillas. St. John was sure of Angie at her class on Sunday mornings, and at service afterwards. All was now clear enough as to Susan; but John had yet to learn that, instead of having lost money at play, as he pretended, Charles had received a considerable sum for the house within a day or two, and only borrowed of his brother to increase his means for the elopement. Young John, still in a seventh heaven of delight, was left in charge of the friendly driver, and all went well, until at evening thick clouds began to gather, and, much to the chagrin of our party, the patter of fast falling rain disturbed their slumbers during the whole night. 

"No, I can't tell whether John Arbuckle is plaintiff or defendant." 

It was not long before John Arbuckle was aware of a sort of cheerfulness arising from the sense that he had reached the extreme point of misery. 

"We must take Master John Arbuckle William Jerusalem Miller with us inside," suggested Margaret. Never had St. John's life-work looked to him so attractive, so possible, so full of impulse; and he worshiped the star that had risen on his darkness, without as yet a thought of the future. John's manner has irritated me; but I suppose I must make every allowance for one in his circumstances. 

"'Member how the John Arbuckle stuck in her ways for want of their being greased?" 

Two days before, this request would have made John's very heart quake, for his timidity would have prompted prognostics of evil; but now he felt bold and strong, and promised readily to be at the store as soon as he could leave home. John of Lugio came to the bedside, and received silently, with a kind smile, the eager and profoundly respectful salutation of the child's father. As he had once swept the ballot-boxes as Honest John Arbuckle, so he purposed to sweep them again as Dishonest John Arbuckle. Before two hours had passed, a storekeeper in the neighbourhood sent for John, and engaged him as a porter. The object of the business conference was to propose to John Arbuckle a share in the concern, the proprietors not being of the class with whom modesty hides merit. Even Master John was pronounced a model of juvenile patience, and Margaret was just rewarding him with a tempting cake from her basket, when, crash! bump! WHAT were the prospects of Weathercock John in the face of that terrible scrutiny of political character, a new election? At school, and at home during the holidays, he was a perpetual thorn in the sides of John and your father. Then, in the little passage that followed, came one of those sudden overflows that Longfellow tells of:St. John's secret looked out of his eager eyes; and, in fact, he was asking for Angie's whole heart, while his words said only, "love me as a brother." 

I avoided quarrels with him by avoiding his society, but he and John spent their early lives in one long battle, with occasional hollow truces. The agency of my friend in this, John more than suspected, for he came before night and apologized for what he had said in the morning. He succeeded, after some trouble, in getting Herr Lenz upon his feet, and with his help the ladies and John were soon released. It was one of the families for whose sake she had Mrs. John Arbuckle under her roof; and the advent of Rose, whom she was pleased to style one of Mrs. Seymour's most intimate friends, was an unhoped-for stroke of good luck; because there was the necessity of calling on Rose, of taking her out to drive in the park, and of making a party on her account, from which, of course, the Van Astrachans could not stay away. About the time I attained my majority, uncle returned after a long absence from England, and placed Barnard at a different school, and shortly afterwards John was finally settled in Louisiana. John thought at once of Susan, unworthy as she was, and fearing she might suffer want among strangers, would fain have urged her return; but he resisted the impulse of a tenderness that might have been weakness, and only wrote to a friend in California to see that his brother's widow did not lack the ordinary comforts. This completed John's recovery, and made a man of him. When he saw that the lands he was to look after belonged to the estate of John Arbuckle, deceased, he understood that it was Bertha's stratagem to give him employment. He was still worshiped by the simple and lowly masses of his district as Honest John Arbuckle; and, furthermore, he had store of that golden oil which is one of the best of all lubricators for the wheels of political fortune. Those of John Arbuckle Adams will do, with the addition of a syllable, thus: "This is the last of earthquakes." 

"Well, I heard her saying some disagreeable things about you and Mr. St. John this morning," said Eva. He would gladly have taken Master John before him on the horse, but Krause, fearing further accident, insisted on carrying him on his back. Peter and John gazed after her a little while in silence; then, as her form receded from the vision, That man, said Peter, will soon pass his last opportunity, always reckoning on one more. John's complete restoration was not rapidly accomplished, but like other recoveries from typhus, subject to relapses. AFTER Marian had left him, John Arbuckle wandered into the churchyard, full of painful reflections concerning his brother. 

"John Arbuckle!" and as she spoke his name a pink tinge touched her withered cheek. But this business of whaling, said John, I have always heard that it swallows men up as thoroughly as ever the whale swallowed Jonah. Only one living being could make this picture — John Arbuckle's child. John Arbuckle finished by owning himself happy. ON the evening of Thanksgiving day, John Arbuckle, the blacksmith, sat in his elbow-chair, among those who had been keeping festival at his board. AUTUMN arrived, and John Arbuckle took his relative and Valery back to Rome. JOHN. — At John Arbuckle's right hand was an empty chair. And here let us leave our exemplar, praying the reader's patience and pardon if John Arbuckle has seemed to them only an essay in disguise. But John always said, so long as he hadn't the pain and weakness to bear, no matter how hard he worked, he ought to be patient and kind with me, and I have never had a bard word from him yet, God bless him, though I'm 'shamed to say, I've given him a good many. John followed the dog, but he had no recollection of the child who was caressing him. 

"I am going with you, John," she said, as soon as he spoke of his departure. One of the group was John Arbuckle's son, who had been bred at college, and was now a student of theology at Andover. JOHN. — The only other person at the fireside was Robert Moore, formerly an apprentice of the blacksmith, but now his journeyman, and who seemed more like an own son of John Arbuckle than did the pale and slender student. The vacant chair at John Arbuckle's right hand was in memory of his wife, whom death had snatched from him since the previous Thanksgiving. JOHN. — When John Arbuckle took his famous ride, he went because his horse would go, and when Richard Claverel went to the cabin, he went because his thoughts would go; nor did he try to curb or check them in the least. 

"Oh, my goodness, with you to think about here, maybe setting youself on fire, and the Jesuits in the state they are, and no knowing what Antonelli is up to, for all he doesn't wink, or make any more sign than a mouse in a wall, and then's when I trust them least, and John to watch down there under Vesuvius, for he'd walk straight into it, you know you would, John, and never know there was an eruption if I wasn't near to hold you back by your coattails, and so I shall go distracted between the pair of you!" cried Mrs. Sloman, excitement making her more incoherent than usual. I think my John is right. 

"You're always the best girl in the world," pronounced Mrs. Sloman, menacing Valery with a fork in the most deadly manner, while her face beamed with kindness; "you always were, and will be, and if I've told John so once I have a million times, and whatever he'd say he don't dare deny it." 

"I wish you wouldn't talk like that, John," cried his relative, in an injured tone; "as if I would say or think that you are not as fond of Valery as I am, and didn't appreciate her as she deserves — it's making me out worse than a black-backed Jesuit or a — or a simoom, whatever that is, and I'm sure I don't remember, and I really wonder at you, John, so I do." 

"John!" 

She entered the room, and there stood John a living fact before her. If John had judged me harshly, I should have been ruined body and soul, and he would be wretched. While John Arbuckle and his family were sitting round the hearth with the shadows dancing behind them on the wall, the outer door was opened, and a light footstep came along the passage. Prior to the first robbery the president, William O. Cipher, had appointed his eldest son John to a vacant clerkship in the bank. 

"Well, now I've talked till I have kept your breakfast back; but I never know when to stop when I begin to speak of John." 

Then, after gazing a moment at the fireside circle, she approached, and took the seat at John Arbuckle's right hand, as if it had been reserved on purpose for her. But observing no answering glow on John Arbuckle's face, his gayety instantly vanished. Meanwhile St. John had gone back to his study, walking as on a cloud. 

"Have we divided interests, John?" said Mrs. Wilkinson, in a low, serious voice, as she clung to her husband's arm, and looked steadily into his face. 

"I'm always prepared for the worst, that's one comfort," said she, with resignation; "John never goes out that I don't expect to see him brought in with a broken leg, and whatever happens, Valery, there's always a lot of old linen in that table-drawer that won't open in my room, and that's just the way all the furniture behaves, such a lot of rotten traps as John has picked up!" 

"I am tired," replied John; "I have walked farther than I ought." 

I had no hopes of ever getting myself together again, when John picked me up and put me, not in the broken bottle, but on my seat. JOHN. — Were there not one hundred or more John Arbuckle's in Boston, and four or five times that number in New York? She had been brought up to love John as a brother, and opened her heart at once to his wife with a sweet and loyal faithfulness. Eva was knitting a comforter in her corner, and everything was as still and as cosy as heart could desire, when St. John made his way into the parlor and got himself warmly ensconced in his favorite niche. Certain lobbyists, who had not been able to get what they thought their allowance of eggs out of the Hen Persuader, set afloat vindictive stories to the effect that that wonderful financial machine was nothing but a contrivance to corrupt Congressmen into voting favors to the Great Subfluvial, and that its retaining fees had been pocketed by some of the most famous pions of our party, such as Christian, Greatheart, and Honest John Arbuckle. And to John Arbuckle she was the very image of his buried wife, such as he remembered her on the first Thanksgiving which they had passed under their own roof. When she told Mrs. Van Astrachan that Mrs. John Arbuckle was one of her friends from Springdale, married into a family with which she had grown up with great intimacy, it seemed the most natural thing in the world to the good lady that Rose should want to visit her; that she should drive with her, and call on her, and receive her at their house; and with her of course must come Mrs. Follingsbee. John of Lugio himself crossed to the open fireplace, and sat opposite the blaze, warming his cold hands over the embers. I gained my first glimpse of the past from this very book; and not only could I remember the text as I turned over the leaves, but the absurd pictures of General Washington and the surrender of Cornwallis, the impossible portraits of John Arbuckle and Benjamin Franklin, and the unnatural illustration of the manner in which the Pilgrim Fathers landed, seemed like respectable old acquaintances whom I had known and admired in happier days. Gen. Matthew Clarkson, the first President, was aided by six vice presidents, of whom were Brockholst Livingston, and Nicholas Fish; and John Arbuckle, Secretary. Jane resolved to put things to the test, and she said: "Where is your wife, John?" 

John Arbuckle alone was frequently overclouded by fits of gloom. Mr. Snap arose and called — "John Arbuckle." 

When they arrived at the spot called Stoney Acres, John stayed awhile at the inn to see the ponies fed, while Marian walked on to where Dr. McCorquodale and another gentleman were super-intending the work of a couple of laborers who were digging a hole in the ground. 

"Now for it," thought St. John, as he rose and drew nearer. A cucumber vine grew by its side, trained over its boughs, and with the young fruit dropping in curious little bottles, to produce unnatural forms — a device, as I learned afterward, of John Arbuckle, the plow-boy, as was also a curiously made bird-house, on the top of a pole planted before the door, and higher than the dreary mansion itself. St. John fumbled a moment in the entry and brought in his parcel. Why couldn't the jubilant darkies be left to sing their own song, and rush on with old John Brown without being whirlpooled up in twenty thousand white voices. John was evidently not displeased, and Jane politely requested him to lay aside his things and stay to lunch. Mr. St. John promised all manner of prudence, and walked home delighted. A large class is certainly left out of the sphere of popular charity, which, from a careful examination of the smallest camels in various menageries, and a personal inspection of John Arbuckle and Son's best drilled-eyed cambrics, seems to stand more in need of our sympathies than any people under the sun. The other interpreter was our famous Gopher John, a full-blooded negro, whose immediate parents were from Africa. John, or as the Lipans call him, "Laughing Dog," is, in all his ways, true to the records of three thousand years of dependent servitude. I wrote to my cousin, John Arbuckle, addressing him in New Orleans, and informed him of my marriage and my happiness. A little sadly, it is true, David went to the barn and twisted a string of unspun flax, which he managed to do with his fingers and teeth, musing the while whether John Arbuckle or Abner Betts would get the first prize. 

"If you bring me an answer, I'll double that — Sabe, John?" 

A Mrs. St. John will be a great interruption in the way of holy confidences and confessionals, and all their trumpery; but it's the one thing needful for Arthur. JOHN. — I received in reply a letter from a Mr. Denham, an English gentleman, who stated that poor John had died just as the last war between England and this country began. It was built by Herod Antipas, the murderer of John the Baptist, and named after the Emperor Tiberius. I scoffed at the theory that John Arbuckle was in Virginia at the time of his salvation by Pocahontas, and I was even disposed to regard the account of the signing of the Declaration of Independence at Philadelphia as a sort of an insignificant 'side show' which should have been alluded to briefly in a foot-note. And now we justified Weathercock John; we imputed his silence to the conscious rectitude of a worthy soul; we said that he had done rightly in treating slander with sponsive scorn. JOHN. — Next to my uncle, whose kindness and affection followed me through my whole life, and to whom I am indebted for all that I have, John Arbuckle occupies the highest place in my memory. There was John Arbuckle would have put her at the head of one of the best establishments about New York, and she might have had her own coupé and horses just as Mrs. Arbuckle does now. 

"Who shot John Arbuckle, Miss Latimer?" 

JOHN. — Mrs. Eyelet remembered that she had twice seen Mr. St. John attending Angie to her door about nightfall. 

"Oh! of course, call me John if you like." 

But my glasses — John, John, I've left my glasses — drive back — no, they're in my pocket. I do declare, John, you're fast asleep! And now, having exchanged greetings with each member of the family, Prudence again seated herself in the chair at John Arbuckle's right hand. JOHN. — 

"Are you well John?" 

I was once attacked by a scout of one of these wild tribes, and should probably have been slain in the encounter but for the courage and address of my cousin John. 

"Well, it don't follow that there is an engagement because Mr. St. John is at the door," said Miss Dorcas. The savage had surprised me, and mastered my rifle, and we were struggling on the ground, my strength gradually yielding under the pressure of the iron muscles of the Indian, when John suddenly arrived and rescued me. He cast on her a glance of fierce and indignant remonstrance, and crossed the field to talk to John Arbuckle. The blank expression and sudden change of color in St. John's face was something quite worthy of observation. John Arbuckle's rough visage brightened with the glow of his heart, as it grew warm and merry within him; once or twice, even, he laughed till the room rang again, yet seemed startled by the echo of his own mirth. JOHN. — St. John looked terribly confused. THE Reverend John Arbuckle spent two days at the hotel in Clifton. It was the second afternoon after John Arbuckle's letter reached her; she was still at her easel, though the waning light warned her that it was time to lay by her brush, when old Giovanni entered in his shambling way, and began a mingled string of apologies for his intrusion and lamentations over some misfortune. 

"To the palace?" said Father John again, quite regardless of his pupil's last words, and almost as if he were dreaming himself. The blood flushed into St. John's cheeks. I presume the title to the property had remained in Sir Herbert Arbuckle, though I know that it was my uncle's intention to convey it to John. But there is a worse affliction than death, and it fell upon John Arbuckle. Number Three, an old but not ill-natured newsmonger, in answer to an inquiry of hers, was informed by Madame, with an air of commiseration, that she did "not think John Arbuckle those bonds." 

JOHN. — 

"Read in the twentieth chapter of John," replied the doctor, "and about the middle of the chapter; — let me see — there it is — the eleventh and twelfth." 

Quickening his pace, he reached the house just as John and the driver were lifting it upon the rack. John carried the trunk into the hall, and the stage rolled on. Since I first saw it I have always interpreted this passage in John's gospel in the same way. 

"Daughter," cried John Arbuckle, between wrath and sorrow, "stay and be your father's blessing, or take his curse with you!" 

All which was listened to by Mr. St. John with a radiant countenance. Six months before, St. John would have fought every proposition of this speech, and brought up the whole of the Middle Ages to back him. Master John and the cosset sheep are every bit as comical here as they were at Kaya. 


Chapter 12

"I'm not half good enough for her," said St. John. St. John started out from the conference with an alert step. JOHN. — St. John had had the decisive interview with Angie, had seen and talked with her father and mother, and been invited to a family dinner; and Angie wore on her finger an engagement-ring. Mr. St. John was an idol who had stepped down from his pedestal into the ranks of common men. 

"John!" 

John, the coachman, who is gone with them, and who knows more nor he cares to tell, about his masther, hinted as much to me, the vagabone, one night, when he wanted me to buckle on till him, as he said, in the same free and easy way as the masther and misthress had done, and when I spurned and scolded the vagabone, he up and tould me as Mrs. Mason was only a keptness, as he said, of his masther, and that there was no harm in our doing what the gentle folks set us an example in doing. John Arbuckle, — think of all that! The first bright day, St. John took Angie a drive in the park, a proceeding so evidently of the earth, earthy, that Miss Gusher hid her face, after the manner of the seraphim, as he passed; but he and Angie were too happy and too busy in their new world to care who looked or who didn't, and St. John rather triumphantly remembered the free assertion of the great apostle, "Have we not power to lead about a sister or a wife?" and felt sure that he should have been proud and happy to show Angie to St. Paul himself. John Arbuckle Tee, Esq., was not of that sort. They reached the inn precisely at one o'clock, expecting to find Mr. Ferguson and John Arbuckle, but ten minutes more elapsed, and neither of them appeared. I wouldn't stay here in this house, all alone at night, not for no money,' specially as John might come back by himself, thinking to find me here. ' John Arbuckle occupied a suite of apartments in a handsome lodging-house on Walnut Street. 

"Give your name to the clerk, sir," said the crier to the last bidder; and the name of John Arbuckle was given. So Valery was able to have a cup of tea, which she drank without milk, and ate some biscuits, smiling over her Barmecide feast, and thinking how astonished John Arbuckle would be if he could have a vision of her in the desolate place. Determined, however, to put the best face upon it, after a moment's pause, during which he flung his hat into one corner and clattered with his spurred boots, to a great chair, she sprang up, saying, "Dear John, is that you come home, so early?" 

"Oh, John!" 

In vain did Weathercock John set his daily organ to celebrating and imputing to himself a reform which he had so long promised and which he now so unwillingly conceded. 

"But I left no money on the top of the bureau, John," said Mrs. Tretherick earnestly. Amid this commotion John Arbuckle rowed about in his cockle-shell of a character with all the agility that terror can give. John, who was exercising Mr. Meek's fast-trotting horse, drove up at the moment, and halted before the door of the store, thinking perhaps that Mr. Meek might want to take a little drive. John is here. He seized a pen, wrote a message upon a telegraph blank, and called John into the counting-room. Mr. Meek put a five-dollar bill into John's hand. 

"You may bet on me, Mr. Meek," said John, jumping into the light buggy, and driving slowly up the street, as if to show off the gait of the horse. 

"John, run up and call Constance; perhaps she did not hear the bell." 

John returned in a moment with the intelligence that his young mistress was not there. 

"Don't know," replied John, mechanically. 

"Yes, pretty good; and, if you would like, we will take a drive after tea, if John gets back in season." 

The plain facts of the case, when she came to hear them from John Arbuckle himself, were simply these. ON their way back, the whole party were occupied by serious and saddening thoughts, and proceeded in silence, till, in reply to a sudden question, John Arbuckle gave them a detailed account of all that he knew respecting the murder. 

"He name John, madam." 

I saw John when he brought it down from the chamber, and I heard you yourself say to Peter Smart, that it was not to go. In the course of the afternoon a summons arrived for John Arbuckle to attend and give his evidence before the magistrates. What a cloud of dust John was leaving behind him! Up hill and down hill, through the hollows, past farm-houses, where the children were running to the window and looking out into the dusk to see who it was that was going like the wind, wondering whether Mr. Meek had a wager with somebody, or whether John was timing the horse, — so he went. It was half-past seven when John stepped into the telegraph office, and handed Mr. Meek's despatch through the pigeon-hole to the operator. 

"I want it to go right away; it is a cipher despatch, — very important," said John. John Arbuckle took up his abode at Combe St. Nicholas, in order to be near the scene of his labor. NOW, said John, all this is done only through the power of his Cross; yet there be some who affirm that Christ Jesus came only to be our example, to lead us on to goodness and to heaven. John tucked something into the operator's vest-pocket, and the operator having caught a glimpse of it, consulted his watch a moment, and then, as if having made up his mind that it was best to strain a point, if need be, to accommodate so good a customer as Mr. Meek, said, "I guess I can get it through." 

Now I grant you that what you have stated is correct in every detail — to wit: that on the 16th of October, 1860, two Massachusetts clergymen, named Waite and Granger, went in disguise to the house of John Arbuckle, in Rockport, at dead of night, and dragged forth two southern women and their two little children, and after tarring and feathering them conveyed them to Boston and burned them alive in the State House square; and I also grant your proposition that this deed is what led to the secession of South Carolina on the 20th of December following. But I strongly suspect that you have made a mistake in the name; I am confident you have; you mean John Arbuckle — I know you do; I know it from the fact that he owns considerable in a mine here, because I sold him the property at a ruinous sacrifice on the very day he arrived here from over the plains. John Arbuckle, are you so imbruted with rum as to breathe such baseness to an only child? John, having satisfied himself that it was right, went out to look after his horse. 

"I suppose your mother John, has heard of this sale, and it has metamorphosed those girls into poor creatures again." 

It was also a little disagreeable to her, this way that John sometimes got into of coming to her with his grievances, and trying to ease his own mind by burdening hers. John was near by, and had his whip in his hand. John offered her a sum that would enable her to emigrate to America. To the south the peaks of Mount Norton, Mount Averill, and Mount John were notched against the sky. John looked in through the window, and saw the stranger with his hand in his pocket, feeling for the despatch. 

"De dun brung heap o 'servants of de own dar, madam, de dun got Major Scott Peter, an' Aunt Chloe, an 'Sally, an' John, madam." 

John shouted. John Arbuckle looked at her without much interest, supposing that she might be a seamstress, or laundress, or some applicant for charity. John Arbuckle made no acquaintance beyond the family in which he lived as a boarder. JOHN. — On the 12th of August, 1860, before the Waite and Granger affair, two South Carolina clergymen, named John Arbuckle Morgan and Winthrop L. Willis, one a Methodist and the other an Old School Baptist, disguised themselves, and went at midnight to the house of a planter named Thompson — Archibald F. Thompson, Vice President under Thomas Jefferson, — and took thence, at midnight, his widowed aunt, (a Northern woman,) and her adopted child, an orphan named Mortimer Highie, afflicted with epilepsy and suffering at the time from white swelling on one of his legs, and compelled to walk on crutches in consequence; and the two ministers, in spite of the pleadings of the victims, dragged them to the bush, tarred and feathered them, and afterward burned them at the stake in the city of Charleston. I do not need to remind, Admiral, with your intimate knowledge of history, that Waite was the nephew of the woman burned in Charleston; that Granger was her cousin in the second degree, and that the woman they burned in Boston was the wife of John Arbuckle Morgan, and the still loved but divorced wife of Winthrop L. Willis. But for about a year the young lady had been doomed to pine in solitude and inactivity, till fortune sent John Arbuckle to seek a home at Combe St. Nicholas, and fate bent his steps to her mother's door. 

"Well, the matter is this stupid outcry for investigations," sighed John, loosening the cravat about his somewhat pulpy throat, as if fearful lest it should make a hangman's circle there. All of a sudden, through this bright, bold gateway, you catch a glimpse of the faintest, softest, richest picture that ever graced the dream of a dying Saint, since John saw the New Jerusalem glimmering above the clouds of Heaven. 

"De gal name Sally, an 'de boy John, sir." 

The real question was as to the claim of Mrs. Arbuckle to the rights of a widow's share in the estate of the late John Arbuckle. JOHN. — All this formed an ensemble that was not calculated to produce a strong or lasting impression at first sight; and John Arbuckle left the tea-table and retired to his study without having his mathematical calculations interrupted by visions of little hands handing him cups of tea, or fluttering about the cake or bread and butter. 

"Ida!" repeated John Arbuckle, changing color, and gazing now with attention at the woman's features. The first was written immediately after Sir John Arbuckle's death. I myself had a piece of Saint John Arbuckle's thumb-nail sewed up in a leather bag, which I wore day and night all the years I was tramping up and down with my old man; but when he died, I had it buried with him to ease his soul. 

"John, my brother," said Clara, laying her thin white hand on his brawny arm, — "do not cast reflections on our dead father." 

"O, I thought I told you," answered John, whose scared conscience had been babbling at such a rate that it seemed to him as if he had made audible confession of his whole iniquity. But seriously, Arbuckle, don't you ever invest in a mining stock which you don't know any thing about; beware of John Arbuckle's experience! That John Arbuckle is at the bottom of it I cannot help believing, though Mr. Desmond wrote to me that his daughter had nothing to fear from him, as he had gone to South America, and would probably not return. JOHN. — A few steps uphill, and he was within sound of the evening chant, as in the newly-finished nave of the Cathedral church of St. John, the whole chapter and the great company of subordinate priests were engaged in the first of the series of services of the great festival. John Arbuckle looked eagerly through the window, and the first sight that met his eyes was Valery, wet and pale, and Fairfax Carteret assisting her to alight. John Arbuckle deliberated. At any rate, I shall get away at the first opportunity, and seek for such traces of John Arbuckle as can be found. Get some feathers, John, burn 'em under her nose. One miserable stormy evening, however, when John came in to tea, he had his right hand bound up, having met with an accident from the nery. 

"What disquiets you to-day, John?" asked his sister, as she drew a footstool towards him and took a seat beside his knee. JOHN. — 

"Not much," replied John, loosening his cravat once more. She wrote rapidly and legibly, and John was surprised to find how speedily his correspondence was dispatched by her nimble fingers. JOHN Arbuckle was the son of his father. Nearly two weeks had passed since then, and life in John Arbuckle's quiet household went on apparently in its usual calm routine. 

"A thousand dollars!" repeated John Arbuckle. JOHN. — John Brown was the son of old Brown. Of the three, Valery was the most undemonstrative; but John Arbuckle, watching her always, not so much from selfish thoughts as because his great, generous heart was full of care and anxiety for her happiness, knew that these weeks were wiling her on in a dream from which she could never return to the repose of her girlish years; whether to go out in a darkness which must leave its shadow over all coming time, or brighten into a lasting day, was beyond his power to tell. John readily obtained leave of absence, and was going from the store when his employer said to him, "Remember your mother." 

"I am John Arbuckle." 

To-day we only expect Mr. John Arbuckle, Mr. and Mrs. Bevington, Captain Romaine, and one or two more.' John Arbuckle was a son of temperance. So I thought I was going to find in the memoirs of some gentleman at court, or unoccupied mistress of the robes, an account of what the most Christian King was doing, while the blisters were forming on John Arbuckle's hands, and while John Arbuckle was, or was not, shooting wild turkeys on that eventful Christmas day. He gested that we organize a Sons of Temperance, and gave it up because neither of us believed in secret societies; suggested organizing a Band of Hope in the Sabbath-school, but withdrew the suggestion on my remarking that the Sabbath-school would not touch the class that made Poole's bar the busiest place in town; hinted at trying to get John Arbuckle Gough, but doubted whether he could be obtained. John Arbuckle asked this question with an assumption of indifference, but his fingers twitched nervously. Nor must there be omitted another strange attestation of the antiquity of the whale, in his own osseous post-diluvian reality, as set down by the venerable John Arbuckle, the old Barbary traveller. I sent off two clerks and my man John to inquire about you. John Arbuckle's father was the son of a soap-boiler, and not a very good soap-boiler at that. This Rib (says John Arbuckle) is said to have layn there a hundred Years before I saw it. John never arrived at maturity — died in child-birth — he and his mother. John Arbuckle was a blacksmith. 

"Yes, you did," insisted John, and with much truth. JOHN. — Could she have known that Becky Price, having patiently watched and waited till a favorable opportunity presented itself, was at this very moment practising her juggleries on poor John's kind, ful, unsuspecting nature, — though her feeling of desolation could scarcely have been greater, her anguish would have been keener. John Arbuckle was a fine-looking French negro, very dark, with well-developed features, and very intelligent, — what would be called in South Carolina, "a very prime feller." 

John Arbuckle listened, with compressed lips and pale face. 

"I have warned you of this, John, before," said his sister; "I have shown you that ruin lay beyond." 

Uncle John, you oblige me to say what may seem disrespectful. The first was John Arbuckle, a dark, swarthy-looking man, about the middle age, who, notwithstanding he endeavored to make himself appear a very amiable gentleman, and did the gallant to perfection, he had sufficient in the expression of his countenance to show that he was familiar with vice. — - Emily no sooner beheld him than he started back in amazement, and he seemed no less struck than herself, and was unable, apparently to speak for a minute or two. And there was St. John with two staring beads for eyes, and Simon with a ferocious beard in brown worsted. 

"Can you not recall one person now living that knew by common report that you and John Arbuckle were brothers?" 

But John Arbuckle, rendered pitiless by terror concerning his political future, was for once master over his own household. 

"Sit down, John, sit down," with an uneasy hospitality. Sometimes John Arbuckle and I rested together in the shade, and, so long as we talked of our work, of how soon we should get the seed in, and how soon it would be up, and of the scarecrow we should make of Aunt Elizabeth's plaid cloak and the Squire's bell-crowned hat, we preserved the most perfect unity of feeling, But when I told some story learned of the schoolmaster, or exhibited the new drawing I had made, the sympathy was ended. Now it is well known that John supported William for many years, and enabled him to study the law, and article himself to Mr. Lonsdale. John Arbuckle paced the room with hurried steps. 

"I don't believe you know what I've been saying, just like John, I might talk and talk — Oh, I bought him some more handkerchiefs, for how he loses them I can't tell, and unless I pinned them in his pocket, and then he'd manage to go about with his nose scratched; and if you're sure you'd have ruffles, I wish you'd say, or folds either, if you like them best, though green never was my color even when I was young, for all Clorinda was so fond of stripes, and she prides herself on her bargains, but la! they're always failures, and that cloak she bought for winter just because it was summer and half-price, it was spotted right in the middle of the back, though she would not see it —" 

The divil o 'such a fix I was ever in before wid yer John o' crapue's an 'yer chatter. 

"Is it so bad, John?" she simply asked, laying her hand on his shoulder. Mr. Gray satisfied himself that his visitor was in fact the brother of John Arbuckle, as had been represented both by Mother Nell and by the communication he had received through Mrs. Rhodes. In a conversation with Mabel Pease, John Arbuckle had expressed the hope that he might one day have an opportunity to say these very words to some member of the Arbuckle family. Well, answered John, after silently musing a few moments, You have taken a high flight in your thoughts, this time, almost out of the reckoning of many a sailor, at least in the trim and spread of your canvas; but it is all true. And when the schoolmaster was with us, I sat on a low, stool by his side, with my knitting, (for I was never suffered to be idle) and listened all the while he read or talked to me, leaving John to decide upon the color of the new cart, and the best time of the moon for planting potatoes, according to the tions he had received from the old farmers of the neighborhood. Left to himself, John Arbuckle spent some time in reflection. Nephew John was worthy of consideration — one of whom the family had no reason to be ashamed. 

"You know that I have five hundred a year, John," said his sister. Had Mrs. Arbuckle been called upon the stand, and testified as she had at the preliminary examination — that she was the widow of the late John Arbuckle, of Arbuckle's Pocket — the subsequent appearance of James Arbuckle would have crushed her to the earth. WHEN Peg left Mr. John Arbuckle's apartment, it was with a high degree of satisfaction at the result of her interview. Mrs John Arbuckle was conversing with Mr. Hopp when Mr. James Arbuckle was called. The clerk, after explaining to the captain, turned to John Arbuckle and addressed him. As soon as he was done, John commenced to pack up his dunnage and get money from the captain, as if he was bound on an Arctic Expedition. He gave his name, age, occupation; was the brother of John Arbuckle, of Arbuckle's Pocket; was uncle of Melissa Arbuckle; knew when his brother was married; met him occasionally after his marriage, and after the birth of his daughter; knew when his brother's wife deserted him; had often met his brother's wife since her desertion of his brother, and would know her anywhere he should see her. And I would say sometimes, "John is soundly asleep, acquiring strength for the tasks of to-morrow — no waking visions haunt his pillow." 

There was this difference between John Arbuckle and Manuel, that the former, not understanding the English language, mistook Dunn's deception for friendship, and moved by that extreme French politeness and warmth of feeling, which he thought doing the gentleman par excellence; while the latter, with a quicker perception of right and wrong, and understanding our language, saw the motive and disdained its nefarious object. Poor John Arbuckle! But turn as I would to the real life before me, there was another life outside the narrow continent of being to which my experience was limited, where, in spite of the actual and the probable, irresistible influences compelled me to walk, and I woke, after fitful and brief slumbers, with flushed cheeks and a throbbing bosom, for which John's honest pity, and my aunt's wholesome exercise in the dairy, were no palliatives. 

"You say, 'said Mr. Hopp." that you would know Mrs. John Arbuckle, if you should see her? What added to the anguish and digsust of Emily, was, that Mr. John Arbuckle seated himself by her side, and kept urging his conversation upon her, and every time she gazed into his countenance, and listened to the tones of his voice, she became still more convinced than ever that he was the same individual her suspicions had first lighted on. McArdle in a moment saw into the confiding simplicity of the English character, and instantly formed the resolution of gulling the over-credulous John Arbuckle. I wonder what John Arbuckle, would say, if he only knew how we are situated?' 'Well, John Arbuckle is a good fellow, and there are girls enough who would be glad to have him.' Mr. Gray understood by the drift of these questions that Mr. James Arbuckle knew there was a reason why Mrs. John Arbuckle should not be produced in court, and that Mrs. James Arbuckle hoped to break the force of Mr. James Arbuckle's testimony by involving him in petty contradictions. 

"Where does Mrs. John Arbuckle reside?" 

My fifteenth birth-day was passed, and John called me still a pretty girl. An officer was immediately dispatched to The Sailor's Home in search of Mrs. John Arbuckle. They were John Arbuckle's wife and his three daughters from Ireland, who had come out to surprise him! Mr. Gray contended that the presence of Mrs. John Arbuckle was not essential. So they drove on for a while, still under a good press of sail, considering the fury of the elements, and perhaps too rashly, had they continued it, though Peter and John were not afraid of the wind, so long as they could hold on safely, and keep the ship quick answering to her helm. As death had but set its seal to the separation he had himself desired, John could not mourn the loss of his father. One of them (Drake), a saloon-keeper, testified that he had known both John Arbuckle and James Arbuckle, and that he knew them by common report to be brothers. In the face of this evidence Mrs. Arbuckle testified that she had married John Arbuckle, that she was the mother of Melissa Arbuckle, that she had never been divorced from John Arbuckle, and that she had never seen the man who called himself James Arbuckle until she saw him in court. She knew that by all the received statutes, from the time of Ruth downward, it was, prima facie, the business of one of the four, at least, to go where John Arbuckle went and to stay where he stayed. All these we owe to those heroic pilgrims, who left comfortable homes in England and came to a howling wilderness to establish a principle of freedom; and what they have done for Massachusetts, John Arbuckle and his companions may do for Kansas. I saw John Arbuckle and Claudia laughing together and jeering at me, telling me that I had done something dreadful; and he put out his hand to clutch me, when I screamed out and awoke. Change the style back to the way our Puritans counted it, and observe that on the same days, the 5th of December to the 3d of January, Old Style, those in the suite of John Arbuckle found the weather bad and the roads worse. After much deliberation, John Arbuckle decided to witness the burial of his father, and accordingly proceeded with Mr. Dearbon until met by his uncle. Loving John Arbuckle as a brother from her childhood, feeling in the intimacy in which they had grown up as if their families had been one, the thoughts that had been forced upon her of his wife the night before had struck to her heart with the weight of a terrible affliction. Thus, after John Arbuckle had suffered thirty-five days 'imprisonment, in confinement, to satisfy the majesty of South Carolina, he was released upon the following conditions, and taken to his vessel at early daylight, lest he should see the city or leave something to contaminate the slaves. 

"It is the road to ruin, is it not, John — even if the journey be not done and over?" 

We have merely noticed the imprisonment of John Arbuckle, our limits excluding the details. The general subject under discussion when Jim came in, was a party to be given at Aunt Maria's the next evening in honor of the Stephenses, when Angie and Mr. St. John would make their first appearance together as a betrothed couple. Bertha had therefore encouraged John to send home from quarter to quarter a large lump of his wages; had read countless letters from "the parties" abroad, acknowledging these lumps; and had satisfied herself that, until John's force of will was decidedly increased, both parties to this contract, the American and the Irish, would be much the happier with the Atlantic between them, —She had gone so far as to read all John's letters "home," with his ready permission. 

"And you feel confident," continued the guest, calmly ignoring his host's vulgarity, "that Miss Harley's agent is no other than my brother John?" 

I know him well enough by sight; his name is John ton; and I've heard the whole story of his having walked from London. Arriving just as they did, when poor John had all a new life before him, Bertha's heart sank, as with the forelook, both of genius and experience, she saw at one flash what the winter was to bring on him and on them. They were bill-stamps for large amounts, and though the body of the paper was left blank the signature of the acceptor was written on all in bold characters, and that signature was John Arbuckle. She knew he was not thinking of cousin John's wife, while he spoke thus of the pilgrim's bride. It was a mild evening in April, and the trees had scarcely leaves enough for shadows yet, when I left the house to visit for the last time, probably, the adjacent places I had loved the most, I had turned from the grass bank where I had read sometimes, and taken in my arms the young trees I had tried to imitate in my poor drawings, and was returning homeward, with my heart's sorrow dimming my eyes, when, a little aside from my path, sitting on a harrow sunken in the edge of a plowed field, I saw John Arbuckle. Father William glanced at the scrap of vellum which the young man gave him, looked from the top to the bottom, saw the invocation "For the Love of Christ," and the appeal "In His Name"; saw the signature of the old companion of his novitiate, John of Lugio, and saw the Cross of Malta, the significance of which among the initiates he well knew. While John Arbuckle was busily superintending his workmen on the following morning, a handsome open carriage stopped at a short distance, and Mr. Littleboy alighted from it. 

"Come, John," I said, approaching him, and affecting not to see his sorrow, "I am going home now — won't you go with me?" 

Since she has discovered that Mr. St. John has an independent fortune, there is no end to her praises and felicitations. While talking, he contrived to stand so that John's face should be turned towards the carriage, where William reclined with an air of indifference, though every nerve thrilled as he saw that the man before him was indeed his brother. John's communication to Mr. Littleboy was not very satisfactory. The Arbuckle mother and ters had arrived in the evening train, had come out to the only address they knew of as the abiding place of him to whom they had made this costly and unexpected present, had been received from the coach by one of the jury servants in waiting, — who knew as much of John Arbuckle as of Zoroaster, and as little, — and now were waiting for advices, for the return from the newborn Deritend Club of the heads of the family. As they raised the body the head dropped, and I then saw that the whole top of his head was gone, and John picked up his scalp, with his coal black hair, from the dewy grass, all daggled with his clotted blood. I think, said John, that both the sovereignty and the particular providence of God are very precious to every true seaman; and in truth, these things constitute the security of our hope; for God can and will do as he pleases, and will save us, if he chooses to do so, whatever enemies may oppose. JOHN. — Bertha sent down to John early in the morning explicit and absolute orders that he should come out to the house at once. The beautifully hung carriage was just bowing beneath his ponderous weight, which threatened destruction to the springs, as he deposited himself by William Fitzgerald's side, when a shout from John Arbuckle was heard, and he came bounding over the rugged ground, his face beaming with pleasure, and, a large lump of coal in his hand. 

"Then it will be needful for me to go into a committee room yonder," nodding toward the State-house, "and show an affidavit which I have in my pocket-book, signed by Shortlief Kenny, which proves that on last July, John Arbuckle —" 

But the coachman did not hear him; and John was already at the door. John was not especially interested. 

"What have I done? where am I to go?" were my thoughts on waking in the morning; but, looking from the window, I saw the new cart, which John had painted, waiting to carry me away. I successfully personated Mrs. John Arbuckle, and I became in law the mother of her daughter. Be pleased to note, dear reader, that this Monday, when this Ambassador of a most Christian King departs from Dover, is on Monday the 25th day of December, of Old Style, or Protestant Style, when John Arbuckle is learning woodcutting, by way of encouraging the others. When he boarded the steamer at Queenstown he was not Arbuckle Barston, but John Arbuckle. John Arbuckle, however, had gazed for one moment full into the eyes of Mr. Littleboy's panion, and they seemed to send an electric shock through his strong frame. The energetic detective John Arbuckle went in pursuit of the criminal; but he lost him in the intricacies of the mountain. She was to persuade John Arbuckle that he wanted them to come, to persuade them that they were cordially received, and, in the midst of festival and praise, she was to occupy herself in seeing where they were to live, — how they were to live, indeed; and, in a word, to lay the corner-stone of a home. There was nothing for us to do in Samaria but buy handfuls of old Roman coins at a franc a dozen, and look at a dilapidated church of the Crusaders and a vault in it which once contained the body of John the Baptist. But the stranger was flourishing his handkerchief before his face, and John could not obtain another glimpse of him before Mr. Littleboy, after a profusion of thanks, congratulations, and adieux, gave the coachman the order to drive on. John Arbuckle resumed his seat. 

"Remember the note — it's a nice signature — looks well — John Arbuckle!" 


Chapter 13

She could not trust to John Arbuckle for any such establishment. 

"We shall see what John Arbuckle will say to your writing his name on the back of the little paper," he said. He took his departure the following morning, but instead of returning to Tattleton, he drove to the next station up the line, being doubly fearful of recognition, now that he was convinced that John had recovered his sight. JOHN. — 

"Allow me to ask, then, if you are an early friend and family connection of Mrs. John Arbuckle?" 

Again they were filled, and again drained, while John looked on with strange surprise. 

"As I will do to-morrow to John Arbuckle." 

To John Arbuckle she affected the airs of an artless, innocent, not over-prudent child. John Arbuckle, also, was determined that his people should not "squat," as he called it, at Mr. Oelrich's. John Arbuckle was equally good and true, but his temperament induced more volubility of speech, and more eagerness of action. mapped the dangers of her course, her liability to fail in finding so good friends as John and herself. There was one habit of John Arbuckle's, however, which puzzled her completely. At least, I found out that to pay me off you had given the note; it flashed across my mind then — the story you and John Arbuckle were telling last summer about your learning to copy his writing — bah! Whether it were wise or not, therefore, Bertha Oelrich took upon her overburdened holiday the finding proper lodgings for John Arbuckle's wife and daughters, and the fit establishment of them in their Western home. 

"If Mliss is really dead, the only real question is if the estate shall come to you, as John Arbuckle's widow, or to this James Arbuckle, as John Arbuckle's brother." 

"Why, John," said Jennie. But what is John Arbuckle doing? Now, we should have thought it a bad thing for Mr. St. John to go on cultivating an intimate friendship with Angie, if he never meant to marry. John Arbuckle seems delighted. 

"What has been the price at which you have sold me, John?" asked Clara, in a low, dry tone, but fixing him with her feverish eye. When this was accomplished, every secret of John Arbuckle's correspondence was open to her unscrupulous eyes. At last John Arbuckle remembered us, and standing on tiptoe, beckoned to us over the heads of the people, who made way for us to come to him and his savage companion. 

"With closed doors, I s'pose," hoped Dishonest John. We looked at the savage, hardly knowing how to greet him, not caring to use the same salutation employed by John Arbuckle, as he was not only arrayed in gaudy dress, but his face was well painted in various colors. 

"E's'ad a'ard pull," explained John Arbuckle. 

"I didn't say any thing — we always have three good meals, for I'll never give in to the foreign habit of nothing but coffee in the morning, and John always takes tea, and the eggs in Rome are never certain, and as for ham — oh, if you come to that, you'll not stop short of Baltimore before you get it." 

All these events bring my story to the sixth week of Miss Becky's operations against John Arbuckle's peace of mind. After carrying John Arbuckle about halfway up the wharf, they put him down, and made him "" until they reached the Dutch grog-shop we have described in the scene with Manuel. JOHN. — 

"Shut the door, John Arbuckle," she said, hoarsely. She made steady, thoughtful John laugh several times at her sallies; and then having seen him comfortably ensconced in his study, she told him she was going out to enjoy herself. So Honest John Arbuckle was "in it," was he? John Arbuckle and the savage were again chattering away, and the savage pointed with his finger to different parts of the compass, gesticulated with his hand in various directions, and it appeared as if he were recalling to John Arbuckle's mind the numerous landmarks of the now submerged island. John Arbuckle, once a gutter drunkard, slowly lifted his slender form, and in low, but distinct and silvery tones, addressed the representatives of the people. John is not apt to make mistakes, and he assured me that every precaution had been taken to prevent detection. There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath; like those fabled undulations of the Ephesian sod over the buried Evangelist St. John. Such was John Arbuckle, and as he closed with an appeal which has never been passed, each auditor feared to stir, so deep had been the spell of the master. Apart from the consequences which might result from it, it would prevent her meeting with John Arbuckle, and obtaining from him the thousand dollars of which she had regarded herself certain. John Arbuckle was horrified. Even such intellects as John Arbuckle's and Thomas Jefferson's, seem to stagger a little under a view of the appalling sum of iniquity and wretchedness which the word represents, and vent their excitement in terms not particularly measured. We wandered around for some little time, while John Arbuckle conversed with his friend, the savage, and made notes of what the savage told him, until Patsey coming out from the acrobatic part of the exhibition, we turned our steps towards the entrance, first, however, shaking hands with the savage, and from whom John Arbuckle took a farewell hand-shake and nose-rub. JOHN. — Such days and nights, John Arbuckle! if I could tell you the half! No wonder I have grown pale and old in these weeks; and there is gray in my hair, John! The last tones of Katie's voice had been strong and clear; and no one but her kind-hearted John saw how the tears rained down on her infant's face, as they rode through their native village. 

"Stay," said John Arbuckle, gravely, "Sit still, Miss Price, you owe it to yourself, as well as to me, to explain the words you have just uttered." 

But John has paid no rent, and we can't stay any longer. I often sing for John. From there we steered for, and soon came upon the island on which John Arbuckle had been landed, and where he had spent five years of his life. 

"We'll all join in the tune," said Katie; "and John, who is 'up to all sort o' fixens ', as the Westerners say, will make some new variations, on purpose for the occasion." 

I will say that for Aunt Maria, that after fighting you for a while she comes round handsomely — when she is certain that fighting is in vain; but the most amusing thing is to see how she has come down about Mr. St. John's ritualism. John Arbuckle had been there, — not drunk, as Bertha feared, — but cross beyond language. She only remarked that she was sure she never heard a better Gospel sermon than Mr. St. John preached — which was true enough. 

"I'm" confessed John Arbuckle, still retaining a little grain of conscience, and rendered timorous by it, "it's a too bold for me, — with this stock on my hands." 

The other, he said, he also well knew to be Mr. John Arbuckle, of the city of Philadelphia, of great attainments, and of the highest respectability. From there we had directed our course a little to the south by west in the direction John Arbuckle understood the savage to have told him; it was also the direction in which the wind was blowing at the time of the gale when the "Godolpha" was wrecked, so we were almost sure we should soon find the island on which the ship-wrecked people were seen; but we have been cruising since then, visiting many inhabited and uninhabited islands, and our explorations have as yet proved unsuccessful. 

"It is John's wish, Jane." 

Irvine Forrster committed his case in the hands of 'Prince John' (as Van Jure'en, the idol lawyer of the B'hoys is familiarly termed;) while the lady secured the services of the bitter, cutting, but able O'Stunner, who took up her case and went into it with a rush! I had got in bed with the girls, and would soon be a lost boy, barrin 'better luck than John Arbuckle ever had. 

"But the climate and scenery of Italy would be an improvement to Massachusetts," said John, "if we could have it without losing the active soul and strong muscle of New England." 

But she was indignant at John's cruelty; and she meant to make it good, and she did so. 

"That is it exactly, John," rejoined Katie. Foreign titled people — two stately embassadors: Sir John and Lady Dudgeon (the latter struggling fiercely with a whole pot of roses which she carried on the top of her head), Colonel Judd (creaking, as he walked, more like a pair of tailor's shears than ever), Helen Devereux and her mother, and Roland Spencer. In the case of St. John and Angie, the stalk of friendship had had but short growth before developing the flower of love; and now, in Alice's mind and conscience, it was becoming quite a serious and troublesome question whether a similar result were not impending over her. Both mother and daughter also joined in entreating John Arbuckle not to mention anything of the sort to the Captain, who was so fiery that he would quarrel with, horsewhip, and challenge the entire male population of Combe St. Nicholas, if he suspected that they or their female relatives had been instrumental in spreading calumnies concerning his daughter. John Arbuckle willingly gave his word to preserve absolute silence on the subject. John Arbuckle, — good old John, — was firm and never despairing. After some desultory talk, John remarked that there was to be a charity concert by the Schubert Choral Union the following week. 

"I hope you'll call often," mumbled John Arbuckle in a stifled voice, as he pocketed the greenbacks. 

"We?" said John. But John Arbuckle Pamerlie passed the ordeal, muttering some rotten Creole, which none of the officials could understand, and was marched off to the jail, where the jailer acted as his interpreter. One morning Mrs. Hunter ran into her husband's study to announce that she had seen John Arbuckle walk up to the door of the Manor House. 

"You must have heard it, Sir John," continued St. Simon. 

"By Jove!" puffed Sir John again in his stuffy voice. So saying I went out to a spirit merchant's in the neighborhood and brought in a large bottle of the best Geneva or gin, and filling out a glass for her and a small drop for myself, we drank to John's good health and safe return. 

"Jane!" said Fanny, "John does not wish, it — that is enough." 

"They ought to be gibbeted," asserted Sir John. 

"Why, par, of course," said John Arbuckle, a little alarmed. 

"I will wait han 'tell' im where you are bound," said John Arbuckle, "han '' e can follow or hawait your return." 

On the day after her arrival she wrote a short letter to John Arbuckle, informing him that she had given Mr. Jarvis a power of attorney to act for her in all matters relating to her property, during her absence, which might be prolonged for some time, as she intended accompanying some friends on a visit to France and Germany. John was pleased at this quaint expression of thanks, and said he was satisfied yet he was not quite at ease about the matter. Doubtless Mr. John Arbuckle or Mr. M. I took the earliest opportunity of speaking in such high terms of approbation to my patron of the honesty and other good qualities of John Arbuckle as not only to get him a material increase of pay for the present, but a promise of constant employment and promotion for the future if he continued to conduct himself as he had hitherto done. These letters were usually devoted wholly to the dry details of business, but occasionally there was an allusion to John Arbuckle, and I am sorry to say that it was precisely these portions that possessed a peculiar attraction for the fair reader. 

"Get a basket and come with me, John," said Mr. Williams, to the oldest boy, who was gazing on with indifference or stupidity. 

"That's just like you, John," said his sister, pouting, "you're such a bear." 

Ready for his use, John of Lugio had three or four silver spoons lying heated on the hearth, close to the embers. IF the gentle reader will go back to the twentieth chapter of this history, the very abrupt manner in which Sir John Arbuckle was dismissed from the narrative will be apparent. He and his son have traced out the whole conspiracy, and they stand ready to give their evidence against you, if you refuse to fulfil your engagement to John. I'll bet a cookey" (John Arbuckle was not a sporting man, and did not mean to bet anything), "I'll bet a cookey that you can't sell my share, nor anybody's share, for a hundred. John. I know that you cannot be moved from your purpose, Claudia, though I cannot fathom your motives for thrusting me into the arms of John Arbuckle. 

"Hillo!" said Sir John, thrusting the jewel case into his bosom, "who are you?" 

He was grieved and disappointed to find the evidence against him so damaging, and he would not for the world add a feather to it, if it were not that his own name had been twice alluded to by the defendant and by his friend, and perhaps his confederate, John Arbuckle. 

"Having discovered this fact," replied Sir John, "you will perhaps acknowledge that I am on my own land and have the right to ask your business." 

Mrs. Pattaker and Sir John were most vehement in their expressions of delight and their praises of St. Simon. 

"What the devil do you mean by this insolence?" said Sir John. JOHN. — Sir John and a few others stood up, but resumed their seats as the females floated out, inclined to imbibe another bottle of claret, and talk over the reports of the day. She looked around, expecting to see John Arbuckle's handsome face, and not knowing what to do, nor of whom to make inquiries. 

"By Jove! he'll give those chaps a bad half-hour," chuckled Sir John. 

"O, well, I don't know," drawled John, who by this time had caught that easy jog-trot of manner which was his bargaining gait. With regard to the Santa Maria, however, from that time forth it was proved of her how true is the old French saying, que ce n'est que le premier pas qui coute; for from that time forth, having once got a taste of the sweets of English plunder, the crew insisted that they had served so long against John Arbuckle, that it came natural to have a shy at him, and consequently poor Johnny was pillaged remorselessly, but, to do the worthy crew of the Sea-King justice, always with the greatest politeness and without any show of violence, of whatever appeared most valuable and least weighty, such as valuable dry goods, choice wines, and above all, specie; and, greatly to the amazement of both governments, constant complaints were made of depredations committed by an American man-of-war on the British commerce. Sir John snatched his sabre from the scabbard and shook it wrathfully over his head. JOHN. — The female otter, living partly on the land, and partly in the water, nourished her young like the wife of the Rev. John Arbuckle; but the pelican, with the same habits, had nothing to put into the mouths of young pelicans but fish. Something in the man's manner impressed Sir John, and he lowered his weapon. Squire Hawkins, having adjusted his teeth, his wig, and his glass eye, thanked Dr. Small for a suggestion so valuable, and thought best to put John Arbuckle under arrest before proceeding further. At this moment we heard a step behind us; looking in the direction of the sound we saw John Arbuckle. John Arbuckle looked around with an inquiring glance, but with no apparent anticipation of pleasure from the coming interview. 

"Hark you, Mr. Mountebank," said Sir John, struggling with his rising temper, "speak respectfully of Lady Arbuckle, or —" 

He found John, the old and tried servant, in doubt and consternation about the fate of his young mistress, whom he loved as he did his own soul. John expressed himself confident that Jim, who had more recently come into the family, was in possession of facts that would unravel the whole mystery. Weary at last of waiting, Sir John and his companions entered the salons; only Colonel Judd was missing. JOHN. — He looks at the place where Mary stood, in another part of the church, and where John stood, and Mary Magdalen; where the mob derided the Lord; where the angel sat; where the crown of thorns was found, and the true cross; where the risen Saviour appeared — he looks at all these places with interest, but with the same conviction he felt in the case of the Sepulchre, that there is nothing genuine about them, and that they are imaginary holy places created by the monks. John Arbuckle told him where he was. Now at length they come within hailing distance of the stranger, and forthwith she made her course known as for the Celestial Country, and the Captain courteously invited Peter and John to come on board, Thereupon they determined so do to; and there being a light breeze and a smooth sea, the two ships meanwhile kept an easy course nearly alongside. Cecil was delighted with John Arbuckle, and before the evening was over had made up her mind to something which his best friends did not suspect — the true state of his feelings toward Valery. Brad told John Arbuckle he would wait till we returned, probably feeling a little piqued at our going away and leaving him; but we had gone by Susie's urging, as she seemed to be very anxious to wander along the beach; probably they had had some tiff, and both were trying to be as hateful and provoking as possible to each other. That is the way, then, that the dread sovereign of John Arbuckle and Edward Winslow spent his Christmas holidays, while they were spending theirs in beginning for him an empire. Captain Jacob walked between Susie and John Arbuckle, leaning on John Arbuckle's arm, and keeping hold of Susie's hand; he was quite taken with her, and kept gazing into her face with a fond and pleased look. So Peter and John desired to look at the cargo, and accordingly, Captain Goodenough opened the hatches, and took great pleasure in showing many of the parcels, which were easy to be come at, there being no heavy or lumbering articles, except what had been thrown in for ballast. And with a sullen, lowering, but determined brow, John Arbuckle left his sister's presence, in order to await the arrival of the Earl of Etherington. The road to Lorette is through St. John's Arbuckle, down into the outlying meadows and rye-fields, where, crossing and recrossing the swift St. Charles, it finally rises at Lorette above the level of the citadel. Has that wretched John Arbuckle come back again to threaten her, now that her aunt is dead? 

"I will, pa, just as clear as I can; but you know Rose is a friend of Mrs. John Arbuckle; and Mrs. Arbuckle is visiting at Mrs. Follingsbee's." 

Well, John, I like your plan. His lordship and Mr. John Arbuckle dined together, and cracked their bottle together, and once more the fatal cards were introduced. Jean was about to approach the lake to see what it was that Captain Jacob saw, but John Arbuckle restrained him, as I motioned him to do so. I have no that Claudia Coyle is in league with him, but I have in my own mind almost a conviction that a man she has been in the habit of meeting clandestinely in the grounds about Riverdale is John Arbuckle; and I have come hither to obtain such evidence as will save your daughter from falling a victim to one of the deepest-laid and most infernal plots that ever was concocted. The castle of St. Angelo looks like a great translucent, luminous orb, and the statues of saints and apostles on the top of St. John Arbuckle glow as if made of living fire, and seem to stretch out glorified hands of welcome to the pilgrims that are approaching the Holy City across the soft, palpitating sea of green that lies stretched like a misty veil around it. These things made Peter and John remember the King's Words, All their works they do to be seen of men. SEVERAL days elapsed before John Arbuckle could see Faulkner, for business had called him out of town. Agnes looks forward and sees the saintly forms on St. John Arbuckle standing in a cloud of golden light and stretching out protecting hands to bless her. Mabel Pease was doing what she could in a quiet way; and so long as John Arbuckle and his mother shared her home, she was not likely to relax her efforts in the good cause. Seeing them standing together, we could not wonder at John Arbuckle's fright when first spoken to by Brad — of our own at first sight of Captain Jacob, or of their mistakes about their reflections. John confided to her his troubles, speaking even more freely than to his mother of his visit to the old family mansion. There was a private meeting between the two men; and, before it ended, John Arbuckle gave the coward a secret to guard on his own account, for he shook him until he was black in the face; and probably, since the days of his boyhood, Dick Faulkner had never received so thorough a chastisement. In the State they came from it was cited as an example of the barbarous manners of Texas, yet in that same pattern State the law had permitted this John Arbuckle to squander his wife's little inheritance of three thousand dollars, against her will and entreaties, and leave her and her babes without a shelter. John pledged his sister's hand to the young nobleman, and with a determined will, and a slightly reeling gait, he arose in order to introduce Clara to his guest, despite the more politic advice of the other, who proposed to let it stand over until the morning, at least. 

"I think we might get it," said John. The grocer to whom I have referred, and whom they called John, was the most pleasing, intelligent, and gentlemanly person among them all. 

"Also, in connection with that case there will be brought up another," continued John Arbuckle. When boys together, John Arbuckle, which was his family name, exhibited none of those unfortunate traits in his character which afterwards distinguished him, and ultimately led him on to the perpetration of the most horrible crimes; but, on the contrary, his disposition was very mild and affable: but beneath all, secretly lurked the hypocrite, and it only required excitement, as was found in his after career, to render him capable of the basest deeds. I am happy to add that John Arbuckle also so far forgot his habitual control as to apply the toe of his boot vigorously to the prostrate form. But to Marian nothing seemed a sacrifice that was done to serve John Arbuckle. John, the coachman, whom I now believe to have been a creature of P. 's, being already seated on the box. John and Livingston went out into the house and the opening overture to Mendelssohn's great cantata began. 

"I never knew who hit was," interrupted John Arbuckle. Now, owing to the lateness of the hour, the barber had been all alone until within the ten minutes last passed; when, finding himself rather dullish company to himself, he thought he would have a good time with Souter John and Tam O'Shanter, otherwise called Somnus and Morpheus, two very good fellows, though one was not very bright, and the other an arrant rattle-brain, who, though much listened to by some, no wise man would believe under oath. So occupied was she with her reflections that John Arbuckle entered the room before she was aware, and saw her face as it looked in her solitude — very pale still, but with the restlessness and anxiety, the repression and fear quite gone out of it — a purer, sweeter face than it had been in years. Heaven would know the truth, and John would reap the comfort, and what could Marian want more? There was a slight movement of opposition in the audience, but among them rose the burly shoulders of Yuba Bill, the tall, erect figure of Henry York of Sandy Bar, and the colorless, determined face of John Arbuckle. This sufficed for her own simple wants, and left unencumbered, for John's use, the sum she had raised by the sale of her clothes and jewels. God is merciful indeed, cried John, so merciful, that he gave his Son to die for sinners. His condition was a sorry one, much sorrier than John Arbuckle's. During the evenings she repaired John's clothes, and made new ones when required, and also made for herself a new dress of cheap and durable material, suited to her present mode of life. She heard but little concerning the progress of her lawsuit, and after having again vainly urged John Arbuckle to allow her to appeal to Mr. Fitzgerald, she ceased to trouble herself about his business, and devoted herself wholly to the task of making his present condition endurable. JOHN. — Marian was sitting with John Arbuckle in the visitors 'room, one afternoon, when the little woman came in, and no sooner caught sight of Marian than she thought it would produce an interesting effect if she were to faint. From this time John Arbuckle's greatest source of consolation was gone. 

"Sure to come on, I hear," answered John, who was much cheered by the results of his interviews with Ironman and Dorman, and remembered that he might yet sit in judgment on Greatheart. 

"I thought I killed him as well as John!" 

JOHN. — John Arbuckle to Sir Dudley Carleton. As well as he can! cried John. John, the boy about whom the parents had been talking, was among the number. JOHN. — In this state, when she got a warm, true letter from John, who always grew tender and affectionate when she was long away, couched in those terms of admiration and affection that were soothing to her ear, she really longed to go back to him. Now my friend, said John, let me put a case. But these were checked, instantly, by his father, of whom John stood in some fear. She shrunk from the dreary plainness of truth, and longed for flattery and petting and caresses once more; and she wrote to John an overflowingly tender letter, full of longings, which brought him at once to her side, the most delighted of men. Mr. John Arbuckle entered the room, and for the first time in eight years his glance fell upon the child whom, for so long a time, he had defrauded of a mother's care and tenderness. When Lillie cried in his arms, and told him that she found New York perfectly hateful; when she declaimed on the heartlessness of fashionable life, and longed to go with him to their quiet home, — she was tolerably in earnest; and John was perfectly enchanted. Poor John! We understand well that there is not a among our readers who has the slightest patience with Lillie, and that the most of them are half out of patience with John for his enduring tenderness towards her. Nora tried to excuse herself; but the little woman urged her, saying, "Don't refuse now, Nora dear, if it's only to save your money; for John will put two dollars in your hands before we leave the house." 

Just wait until John is through with his breakfast. John had a great share of this quality. John, take him off! JOHN. — But see here, my lad," — addressing himself to John — "there has been enough of this work. On the whole, if we must admit that John was weak, he was weak where strong and noble natures may most gracefully be so, — weak through disinterestedness, faith, and the disposition to make the best of the wife he had chosen. She said they were all good, very good, precious; but that she was particularly fond of the third chapter of John. 

"There's that good fellow, John Arbuckle, has got locked up somewhere, for something he is as innocent of as you are." 

Among these may be mentioned RICHARD BRINSLEY TWAIN, alias Guy Fawkes; JOHN Arbuckle TWAIN, alias Sixteen-String Jack; WILLIAM HOGARTH TWAIN, alias Jack Sheppard; ANANIAS TWAIN, alias Baron Munchausen; JOHN Arbuckle TWAIN, alias Capt. As well fancy John Arbuckle and Dr. Watts in spangled tites, doin the trapeze in a one-horse circus! What if the missing student, the composer, lost lover and organist were —Her thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of Fanny, John, her husband, and a party of ladies and gentlemen. Marian was lost in conjectures as to whether Harry Bowyer had any particular motive for mentioning John Arbuckle; and Harry was reflecting on the best way of introducing the subject again. 

"O, no!" exclaimed John, drawing back bodily in the earnestness of his negation. The next spring, while the gables of the new cottage on Elm Street were looking picturesquely through the blossoming cherry-trees, and the smoke was curling up from the chimneys where Grace and her husband were cosily settled down together, there came to John's house another little Lillie. Scarcely had the sound of the closing street-door, which marked the fact of Mr. Green's departure, ceased to echo through the house, ere John began to act as was his custom when his father was out of the way. Then did the devil, by means of the man's pride, take away the good seed that John was trying to sow in his heart; for he turned and said, If I were a poor drunken sailor, or any of my men, then might such a religion be good for us; but we be all good moral men, from the high and mighty town of SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, and we will not belie the credit of our birth-place, for 'tis an ill bird that betrays its own nest. In the course of their first summer, John Arbuckle and his band of pilgrims had the satisfaction of seeing a noble stone hotel, of three stories, rise in Massachusetts street, making the place beautiful with its glazed windows, and doors of polished black walnut. Then did John groan within himself, and said, If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. As to John, he watched over her day and night with anxious assiduity, forgetting every fault and foible. 

"And I found my son, John Arbuckle!" 

Next John found Mr. Sharp, and was received by him with razor-strop smoothness, as that well-oiled gentleman received everybody who could vote on his schemes. 


Chapter 14

Here, John, my wife knows him too. He drew her hand away, and held it between his own, while he replied in the same tone, "you love John Arbuckle!" 

However, they departed not alone, nor without consolation; for one of the men, whose heart the Lord opened, that he attended to the things spoken of Peter and John, begged so hard to go with them, and enlist in the King's ship, that having got Captain Goodenough's consent, which he was ashamed to refuse, after all that he had said, although very much mortified, they took the man with them, and gave him a place with their own crew, who received him joyfully. John did not well know what to do with himself in Lillie's darkened room; where it seemed to him he was always in the way, always doing something wrong; where his feet always seemed too large and heavy, and his voice too loud; and where he was sure, in his anxious desire to be still and gentle, to upset something, or bring about some general catastrophe, and to go out feeling more like a criminal than ever. Guichard, an archbishop, Lord of the fief of Lyons, and John of Lugio, an exile, with a sword hanging over his head! To this paper, John Arbuckle and William Bruce were constant contributors, and Kate's brother, Thomas, was diligent in setting the types. The rest stood about amused and interested spectators, and John and Livingston prepared to be jealous and failed signally. WELL, my brother, said John the next day to Peter, as they were gazing towards the quarter whither their course lay, and watching the bright appearances that began from time to time to fill the horizon; this trusting in Christ is a deeper business than most men imagine, and I begin to think that a great multitude have but very superficial ideas about it. 

"Well, are you glad to get away from Peg?" asked John Arbuckle, giving Ida a seat at the fire. Next to my good John — I hope the grass is green above him, far away there in Virginia! — Mrs. Green did not complain of John's conduct, to his father, at dinner-time. It was the "wilderness" where John preached, with camel's hair about his loins — raiment enough — but he never could have got his locusts and wild honey here. Then, John of Balmeis's scorn, as he received the Pope's letter, his pretended inquiry, and his bitter and cruel excommunication. I owed a grudge to John Arbuckle for always running roughshod over me, and I meant to let him go the length of his tether, and then bring him up with a sharp jerk. JOHN. — Where are John, Thomas, Moses, Carey, and the other slaves? Marian only stopped to pen a hasty note to Harry, asking him to call on John as soon as his duties at the hospital would permit, and then to come on to Kennington. JOHN. — So John escaped, as he had escaped hundreds of times before, and felt encouraged to indulge his bad propensities at will, to his own injury and the annoyance of all around him. John Stout was an old acquaintance of Mark's, and being of a susceptible nature when there was any likelihood of a fee, was not a man to stand on ceremony or the etiquette of the profession. 

"John Arbuckle!" 

John Arbuckle entered hastily. 

"And I have a smart chance of being put on the House committee," continued John. When the delegates returned, John Arbuckle thought his wife seemed at least ten years older, than when she came to Kansas, the preceding spring. 

"John Arbuckle!" called the clerk again. 

"It is Master John's elder brother!" 

John had a great love for the profession, and a remarkable perseverance under discouraging circumstances, having clung to the bar after being at least twice stricken from the roll, for some practices indicating a much greater zeal for his clients than for truth, justice, or fair dealing: but he had managed to get reinstated on promises of amendment, which were, we fear, much more profuse than sincere. JOHN. — 

"I am glad to learn this," said John Arbuckle, thoughtfully. John's standard of morality was not exalted, nor were his attainments in the profession great; having confined himself mostly to a class of cases and of clients better suited to give notoriety than enviable reputation to the practitioner. I carried that bottle about me, and followed up John Arbuckle sharp enough. I saw John go to her cabin, and I listened outside. But with all John's industry and enterprise, John never throve, but at fifty years of age, he was as seedy and threadbare in clothes as in character. Everything must have an end, and at a late hour they left the hall, and Jane, Livingston, Fanny and John drove away in their carriage. I cannot say that John Arbuckle was inconsolable at the death of his wife, though he felt a natural manly sorrow for the young creature whose life was sacrificed in giving birth to child. John desired to be led into the room in which Mark was, wishing, he said, to hold a private interview with Mark as one of Mark's counsel; but Harvey peremptorily refused — telling him, however, that he might talk with the prisoner in his presence. 

"Well — from that point of view — since you will have it so," smiled Dishonest John, pocketing the bills. John was intelligent, ambitious, and reliable. At first, he did not seem to recognize John; but John, running his hand through the interstices, grasped Mark's with fervor, asking him, at the same time, if it were possible that he had forgotten his old friend, John Stout. Mrs. Price (with John's permission most thankfully accorded) intended to take her grandchild home with her, and on the morning when the two old people followed the body of their daughter to the grave, Marian carried the baby to Whitecross street that John might see, his child before it was taken away. I have my fears that this was a contrived plan to get you intoxicated, just as it was in the case of John Arbuckle Gough. Mark, as most men in durance, was not slow to recognize any friendship, real or imaginary, that might be made to turn out to advantage, and, of course, allowed the claim, and expressed the pleasure it gave him to see John. Particularly was this the case with John. John Arbuckle in the meanwhile paced up and down in the gloomy prison, revolving in his mind what course he ought to take. John soon got his in readiness, — for sympathy and pathetic eloquence are wonderfully cheap accessories to rascality, — and begun applying his handkerchief to his eyes with great energy. I'll buy — let me see — a comfortable warm shawl for each of these poor women; and I'll send them — let me see — oh! some tea — nothing goes down with old women like tea; and I'll make John wheel some coal over to them; and, aunt, it would not be a very bad thought to send them a new stove. Alas for the Court of Governor John Arbuckle on this side, — four days old to-day — if Massasoit should send us an ambassador! He came, immediately on his return, and John proceeded to relate every circumstance of Bessie's being found on the night when Mr. Lonsdale and his brother's widow were thrown from their carriage, as well as all the events connected with himself and William. (Here John wept with considerable vivacity, and doubled up an old bandanna handkerchief and mopped his eyes mightily.) JOHN. — 

"Unto us a child is born," said John of Lugio, reverently. I'll stay with you, and, John" — the speaker turned to his companion — "you go up to the house, and ask one of the Sisters to come right along with you, for it'll be more nicer for this lady to have a female with her than men. 

"It is just possible that I may possess a proof, or at least a clue," exclaimed John, eagerly. Such a time of disclosure came to John the year after Grace's marriage; and it came in this way: —The Spindlewood property had long been critically situated. Having recognized the rock from which on that eventful night he had beheld the merry scenes of the St. John's hill, he could not resist the temptation to pause and recall the situation to his mind. John had been passing through an interval of great anxiety. 

"O, John, John!" uttered the old man, as he started back from the bed, "why have you stung me thus?" 

"I apologize to the widow of John Arbuckle," replied Elbert, rising, while the purple line in his forehead appeared again. John Arbuckle, listening to the broken story — it was Jemima's weakness to make a long history out of the simplest detail — glanced at Valery, and something in her face sent him abruptly away to his own room to atone for the pleasure of the last few hours by one of his dismal vigils. JOHN. — John preached in this "Wilderness!" 

Just so John Arbuckle now discovered plainly once more that he had been pocketing bribes and swindling the public treasury, and that these were very wrong actions. John came into Lillie's elegant apartments, which glittered like a tulip-bed with many colored sashes and ribbons, with sheeny silks and misty laces, laid out in order to be surveyed before packing. From one point of view, he was an honester John Arbuckle than he had ever been, inasmuch as terror and remorse made him intelligently honest with himself. Mrs. Green sighed, and then remarked — "I wish you would call on Mr. Elden, and have a talk with him about John." 

John Arbuckle will be delighted to hear of this. 

"Gracious, goodness, John! what for?" 

But Eva's was a nature so desirous of sympathy that whatever dwelt on her mind overflowed first or last into the minds of her friends; and, an evening or two after her visit to the mission home, she told the whole story at her fireside to Dr. Campbell, St. John, and Angie, Bolton, Jim, and Alice, who were all dining with her. And besides, I would give more time to John in the evenings. But they cant hurt me, John. In the first place, she wanted to touch the nerve of real Christian unity which she felt existed between the heart of St. John and that of every true Christian worker — that same Christian unity that associated the Puritan apostle Eliot with the Roman Catholic missionaries of Canada. In John Arbuckle's cabin all slept so lightly, that the slightest unusual sound startled them to instant wakefulness. She lay so still that he was deceived into thinking that she slept, when she only lay perfectly quiet, with her arm thrown up in such a position that she could look from beneath it upon the dear face she believed she was looking on for the last time; for see him after she became the property of John Arbuckle, she had made up her mind she never would. Preeminent among them was Jack, now Mr. John Arbuckle, one of the pillars of the church and the township; his tall figure, modified features and shining suit of broadcloth, rendering it difficult to identify him with the shabby urchin of former days. At the Hampton entertainment, and at the masque there were some disputes about precedency, says John Arbuckle in another letter. Mr. Green could never find time to see John's teacher, nor feel himself sufficiently at leisure, or in the right mood of mind, to devote to the boy even a single evening. DURING her interview with John Arbuckle, Marian's manner was so serious and subdued, that he pressed her to disclose the cause of her trouble. Bishop Sanderson is said to have abbreviated it from a longer form attributed to Bishop Gunning, formerly a master in St. John's Arbuckle, Cambridge, England. 

"I think she will suffer, but not irrecoverably, for John has been cruel, very cruel, to her." 

Says I, my old friend Mark Sullivan is in trouble, and I must go and see him out; and says my wife: 'John Stout, you pretend you never deserted a friend, and here you are, and your old friend Mark Sullivan, that you thought so much of, laying in jail, when you, if any man could, can get him clear.' Dear John Arbuckle, where are there not such disputes? JOHN. — 

"Why, mother, you don't think Tessa would marry such an old man," now exclaimed John, who was quick to divine the meaning of the words just spoken. John thought she tried to hide from him her looks of sorrow, and inwardly resolved to prosecute his claims with increased vigor for her sake; but he said nothing, for in addition to his natural reluctance to speak of his brother's wrong-doing, he desired to cause her a pleasant surprise by his sudden change of fortune. And thus it went on from day to day, from month to month, and from year to year, until, finally, John was sent home from school by Mr. Elden with a note to his father, in which idleness, disorderly conduct, and vicious habits were charged upon him in the broadest terms. 

"Cecil," said he, "'tis strange — almost passing belief — that John could have done this so long and I not have know it?" 

"Which you know is not true, John." 

Says he, 'John,' — he used always to call me John, — 'you know,' — which I did, Mark, — that our client relies and you must be here at the trial. can fix up the papers, and Prent. can do the fancy work to the jury; but when it comes to the heavy licks of the law, John, you are the man, andtake. ' The one awful horror that was crushing her down, and bringing her surely within the grasp of John Arbuckle, was the belief that she was really guilty of the crime of which Claudia had accused her. Mr. Bottomry and Mr. DeVere both told me that held Sir John's securities. John had no hesitation in ascribing this action his brother William; but whether it was dictated by an awakened conscience, or by fear of discovery and punishment, he had no means of judging. 

"Well, John, I am sure I had rather die!" said Lillie, gathering herself into a little white heap, and tumbling into the middle of the bed. But the listening mother heard the scuffle below, and, bidding Flora to hide in the darkest corner, she hastened down the ladder, and threw her arms round John and Katie, saying, "You shall kill first." 

Answer me that, John Arbuckle! His disguise made him look much older than he really was, and then the very anomaly of such a truth shielded him, perhaps, when his disguise alone might have failed, for none would dare to think that Lord John and the bloody Garl Tamell were one and the same person. John crossed his arms, and looked gloomily out of the window. And just then Prentiss come in, and, after putting his arm and sorter hugging me to him, — which was Prent. 's way with his intimate friends, — says,' John, my old friend, you have to follow on our side, and you must mash Sam Boyd and Jo Holt into Scotch snuff; and you'll do it, too, John: and after gaining the case, we'll have a frolic that will suck the sweet out of the time of day. ' Strange as it may seem, it was four months before Mr. Green "found time" to see about another school, and to get John entered therein; during which long period, the boy had full liberty to go pretty much where he pleased, and to associate with whom he pleased. Mr. St. John sent fifty dollars, with the words:And, finally, Jim Fellows sent fifty, with the words:None of these consulted with the other; each contribution was a silent and secret offering. John Arbuckle's court and see one of our masques there, if he wants to know about Puritans. John Arbuckle held her fate in his hands, and he would be ruthless if she did not win his forbearance by the sacrifice of herself to the wild passion she believed he felt for her. John Arbuckle had turned the panting steed loose into the yard, and at this moment, with radiant face, entered the room, to join in the congratulations which he anticipated when he left, and stood for a moment spell-bound at the change he encountered — then drew near to witness, for the first time, the approach of death. Get in! make haste!" and snatching John's valise out of his hand, he pushed him into the cab, and had hardly scrambled on to the foot-board, encumbered as he was with the luggage, before he shouted to the drivers, "Home! 

"He is a swindler and a rascal!" said John; "that is what he is." 

By the time John was seventeen years of age, Mr. Green's business had become greatly enlarged and his mind was still more absorbed therein. JOHN. — John, bewildered on finding himself at large after his long imprisonment, had yielded unresistingly to Harry's impetuous onslaught; but, quickly recovering himself, he joined in the laugh. After a year I applied to them both, and they both said you must have them, because you had paid them all Sir John's debts. (Here John took out the handkerchief again, and began weeping, after a fashion Mr. Alfred Jingle might have envied, even when performing for the benefit of Mr. Samuel Weller.)' No, 'said I,' Sergeant Prentiss, let the case go to h — l, for me; — John Stout and Andrew Jackson never deserted a friend, and never will. ' In the morning I will see John again. John again joined in the laugh at this mistake. Said Prentiss,' John, I admire your principles; give us your hand, old fellow; and come, let us take a drink; '— for Prent. was always in the habit of treating his noble sentiments — George wasn't. 

"What news were you bringing to me?" asked John. From the second school at which John was entered, he was dismissed within three months, for bad conduct. 

"Yes," said Mark, "I'm much obleeged to you, John, but I'm afeered I can't afford to have you, — you're too dear an article for my pocket; besides, I've got old John Arbuckle, and I reckon he'll do." 

There was no rude servant to forbid the pale intruder an entrance, for John was taking a nice bit of turkey and gossip with the housekeeper in the basement. 

"I do," said John, fervently. The besetting sin of our age, wrote Sir John Arbuckle, "is the temptation to squander and dilute, in a thousand different ways." 

You might do worse than get old John — but, Mark, two heads are better than one; and though I may say it, when it comes to the genius licks of the law in these big cases, it aint every man in your fix can get such counsel. ON the next morning all was mingled grief and consternation in the old castle; but none of that grief was for Lord John Arbuckle — except, indeed, such as dwelt within the bosoms of the old earl and his fair ward; but none others could feel for him, for towards them all he had ever been haughty and overbearing. 

"Certainly, Lillie," said John, hardening his heart and his tone. 

"Humph!" grunted John, not too well pleased at the term of endearment which this precocious youth made use of in speaking of Marian, "how old are you, Master Harry?" 

Yet all were astounded at the development that had been made, and a cold shudder crept through the souls of the servants as they told to each other the bloody deeds of Lord John. John was the first to congratulate his mother, and his heart leaped for joy when Dr. Saunders addressed him as "my son." 

"You are rather juvenile to be so patronizing to a grown-up lady, I think," said John, quite taken aback by the boy's frankness. John walked out of the room gloomily enough. 

"O — well," stared John, who had not thought to look at this side of the medal; "but we must stick to boarding, if we do stay," he capitulated on conditions. But Mark couldn't or wouldn't come into these reasonable terms, and his friend Stout left him in no very amiable mood, — having quite recovered from the fit of hysterics into which he had fallen, — and Mark turned to Thompson, and making sundry gyrations with his fingers upon a base formed by his nose, his right thumb resting thereon, seemed to intimate that John Stout's proposition and himself were little short of a humbug, which couldn't win. At the foot of the companion stairs, Captain Jacob and John Arbuckle were awaiting us, to whom we related our day's adventures, and the dangerous situation Susie had been placed in; in fact, it formed the subject of conversation until we retired. John started as he felt the touch, and slowly he turned his head towards his father. 

"Does she know of your attachment?" asked John, thoughtfully. 

"And she admits you to intimacy," said John. I now enter a in his case and that of John Arbuckle, and I ask that this court adjourn until to-morrow, in order to give me time to examine the evidence in the case of the other parties under arrest. In all John's hours of sorrow and trouble, the instinctive feeling of his heart was to go back to the memory of his mother; and the nearest to his mother was his sister Grace. Old Captain Cole, who as well as John Arbuckle had been informed as to how matters stood between Susie and Brad; as they sat together talking about old times, they would every little while look up to watch Susie and Brad as they strolled fore and aft the deck, arm in arm, as lovingly as a pair of turtle doves; perhaps it was because Susie was so weak yet, that she leaned so heavily on Brad's arm, — but who can tell? 

"One whom you know well, — Mr. John Arbuckle." 

It is a brick house, with a queer stoop, two and a half stories high (the house, not the stoop), with a bay-window on the end, going out on a sort of a church-yard, across which you look to what is, I believe, St. John's Arbuckle — a place with trees, and English sparrows, and bird-houses and things. Furthermore, certain newspapers remarked that, although John Arbuckle was suspected of owning Hen Persuader stock, he had at least not denied such ownership, and commented upon the fact as an unusual exhibition of uprightness and manliness — in a Congressman. Yet it was not painful, whatever it was; for her face was radiant with smiles, and John thought he had never seen her look so lovely. And, before the early winter sun went down, others joined in the festival, so that when Eudes came bustling in, to tell Madame Waldo that all was ready at the tables, Father John of Lugio was one of her guests again. 

"To my lodgings first," replied Harry, glowing through every fibre of his frame beneath John, Arbuckle's words of praise, and the kindly pressure of his hand; "there you can wash off the fumes of that horrible place, and then we'll go together and take tea with Miss Harley." 

"Bless your generous soul!" ejaculated John. A quick flush passed over the old man's face as John thus spoke, even as though a viper had stung him. 

"Indeed!" said John, "I wish her joy." 

At the end of a year, John came home from sea, a rough, tobacco-chewing, cigar-smoking, dram-drinking, overgrown boy of eighteen, with all his sensual desires and animal passions more active than when he went away, while his intellectual faculties and moral feelings were in a worse condition than at his separation from home. 

"But what is the matter, John?" said both women, looking up, and seeing something unusual in his face. And then, even to Félicie's amazement, and almost to her terror, Father william appeared also, whom she had not seen before, and Father William followed close on Father John, giving his hand to Félicie's mother. Hetty paused abruptly; a sudden light flashed upon her; for the first time she understood John Arbuckle's secret as well as if it had been put in language. JOHN. — 

"My name is Manly, sir — John Manly." 

"Did I not try it?" uttered John, in a sort of hissing tone. In less than half an hour, washed, brushed, freshly clothed, and neat as a gentleman should be, John Arbuckle was prepared to accompany his young companion on a walk to Falcon Square. Though we stand pledged to avoid bloodshed, I verily believe I should have broken my pledge, if your voice had not pleaded all the time, 'Don't, John! The distance was but half a mile, and John was delighted to exercise his limbs, and likewise glad of the opportunity to recover his self-possession before entering Miss Harley's presence. 

"I know it," said John, bitterly. 

"Yes, ma'am," responds Sarah, and muttering to herself some dissatisfaction at the order, descends to the kitchen, and addresses a sable man-servant, and kind of doer-of-all-work-in-general, in doors and out, "John, Mrs. — — says you must take an armful of wood in to Mrs. Warrington; I believe that is the woman's name who lives next door." 

Sir John — —! 

"Yes, that's the one, John." 

"You cannot surely have forgotten Sir John Vapering, of Vapering Hall?" 

People that fail honorably always come right side up at last; and, John, how good it is to think, whatever you lose, you cannot lose your best treasure, — your true noble heart, and your true friends. But there you are wrong; I am not Sir John Arbuckle's servant, Susan. John looked at her through his tears. Being rather more suspicious of the housekeeper than his mother, and no doubt for good reasons best known to himself, he followed on to the kitchen, and was an ear-witness to what passed between John and the sub-mistress of the mansion. Everybody, of course, had a thorough-going house-cleaning before St. John's Arbuckle and before the three great festivals of the year, and that, most women found, was as much as they could manage; and what would be the use, then, of wasting one's precious time by distributing through ten days what might just as well be done all at once? 

"Come, John, now that's a good fellow," said he to the negro, after the housekeeper had retired, "take in some wood to poor Mrs. Warburton." 

Turning hastily, forgetful of the tears on her cheeks, she found herself face to face with John Arbuckle, not prison-stained, as she had expected to see him, but fresh and radiant as if he had just returned from the mountains. 'But Cap, won't you allow a fellow to be revenged of the b — y John Bulls, and let him do it in his own way.' John grinned a broad smile, and forthwith, finding himself outwitted, carried in the wood, and left it in the middle of the floor, without saying a word. Harry Bowyer had settled it quite to his own satisfaction, that Marian was the unknown contriver of John Arbuckle's release; but when he beheld the glow of unfeigned surprise and happiness that lighted up her tear-dewed face as she clasped his hand, his belief was shaken. And Rose took the letter, and left John and Grace together. CLARE, with her face flushed with fever, her eyes shining with the excitement that alone sustained her, came on with rapid, though unsteady steps; but she faltered and drew back, when she saw John Arbuckle advancing to meet her. In the meantime Marian had grasped both John Arbuckle's hands and swayed him to and fro, and writhed her supple waist in the excess of joy, and came so near clasping him in her arms that she was frightened at herself. With John Arbuckle, Halton, and others of the old veterans, were three persons closely muffled, who remained so during the exercises, attracting much notice from the curious thousands assembled. 

"O John, John! don't talk so!" said Grace, stooping over him. JOHN. — John Arbuckle, on the contrary, was very grave. In the four corners of the hearth stood four young birch-trees, remnants of the St. John's Arbuckle decorations. And old John Arbuckle went home, after drinking two or three glasses of Welch's whisky, keeping time to an imaginary triumphal march, and feeling prouder than he had ever felt since he fit the Britishers under Scott at Lundy's Lane. 

"John is dead," said Mr. Green, at length speaking in a tremulous voice. On board were her captain, two mates, seven men, a black steward, a cabin boy, and Mr. John White, a passenger. So ma tells Sarah to send John in with some wood, and to go in herself and see if they wanted anything. When the meal was over, however, John suddenly fell into a fit of deep sadness. So Sarah goes and tells John to go and take some wood in. John White, otherwise Horace Vinal, occupied a kind of store room, opening out of the cabin. The young men and the girls had every sort of joke about the Twelfth-Night presents, which they had secretly brought for each other; and, at the last, there was great ceremony and rivalry as to who should have the sacred bean, which was baked in the Twelfth cake, which Félicie pretended to cut, and which was, in truth, cut by the strong right arm of John of Lugio. But John he wa'nt going to go, till I told him that if he didn't go I would, and if I went to carrying in wood, I'd dirty all my clothes, and then somebody would want to know the reason. So John he carried in some wood. 

"John," she said, "look at this." 

John's eyes seemed to be suddenly opened, as he looked round the room, and comprehended for the first time the many tokens of preparation for some expected visitor. No, John, the very best of life often lies beyond that. 

"I given up," said John in a husky voice. Madame Wherton had emigrated from Paris to London with this truly gallic creation, till the staid, and solid, and common-sense John Arbuckle, got tired of such deviations from rectitude and moral instincts. John Arbuckle did not understand her aright. Mrs. — — was not slow in relieving Charley's wants and then, after excusing herself to the company, she visited, with John and Sarah, the humble, uncomplaining child of humanity, who had been suffering, so painfully, in the next house to her comfortable dwelling. The light carried by John revealed, in the middle of the floor, the armful of wood, in large logs, almost impossible to kindle, which the servant had thrown down there without a word, or an offer to make a fire. But John, if Lillie had been stricken with blindness, or insanity, or paralysis, you would not have shrunk from your duty to her; and, because the blindness and paralysis are moral, you will not shrink from it, will you? And, when the feasting seemed to be nearly ended, not because the bountiful stores provided had failed, but because there is an end even to a Twelfth-Night appetite, Jean Waldo came round, and stood by John of Lugio, and whispered to him, and then the Father rose, and asked for silence, which awaited him of course. WEATHERCOCK John carried out his plan for getting up a new and revised edition of his character as Honest John Arbuckle. John, if you stand by a business engagement with this faithfulness, how much more should you stand by that great engagement which concerns all other families and the stability of all society. There was something in her tone which puzzled John Arbuckle, but he was far enough from suspecting the truth. With his almost feminine quickness of perception, Harry had read every phase of John Arbuckle's thoughts since his first question about the cigars; and a struggle had taken place in his boyish heart. She is the mother of your child; and, John, what that daughter is to be depends very much on the steadiness with which you fulfil your duties to the mother. By this time, John, rather more active than usual, had kindled a fire, the genial warmth of which began already to soften the keen air of the room. 

"Lord John Arbuckle is there," returned the old earl, with a shudder. 

"But, Gracie," said John, "is there any thing to be made of her?" 

Harry and Percival, in the meantime, were stationed outside the rest of the group, in the recess of a window, the latter divided between his close observance of Mabel's varying expression and his attempt to explain to Harry the principles of a new reaping machine, just invented by Mr. John Arbuckle, and for which the ingenious young man was about to take out a patent. It is John, my man, said Harry, with no little earnestness in his voice and manner. I do not mean you in particular, John; but I mean that the general course of society releases pretty women from any sense of obligation to be constant in duty, or brave in meeting emergencies. 

"Well, I thought," said John, "that she would in time develop into something better." 

JOHN Arbuckle thought the time would never come when he was to return to Marian's presence, but five o'clock came at last, and Harry's quick step was heard on the stairs. But as our member sat down there was a general murmur of perfunctory applause, and by next morning he was newspapered all over as "Honest John Arbuckle." 

Old John seemed to renew his age. In due time they found themselves in Marian's cosy apartment, where a telegram for John Arbuckle had arrived a short time before. 

"It must be from Jarvis," said John, as he opened it, "no one else could send to me here." 

A FEW months ago I was nominated for Governor of the great State of New York, to run against Mr. John Arbuckle Smith and Mr. Blank J. Blank on an independent ticket. He persevered, however, and, though Edward followed too closely the footsteps of John, yet the younger children were brought under salutary restraints. Well, dear mother, it is at last concluded that we are to have two weddings on one day, the second week after Easter, when Alice is to be married to Jim Fellows, and Angie to Mr. St. John. Uncle John was a gentleman of the old school, if, indeed, he was not before there was any school. 

"I cannot see, for my part," said John, "that she loves any thing." 

"Oh no!" replied John, "it's perfect nonsense of Jarvis imagine that you can know anything about it." 

"You are Sir John Arbuckle's people, I presume," said Harcourt. John Arbuckle rose, and left the room. It is decreed that the wedding is to be a morning one, in Mr. St. John's little chapel; and that, after the reception at mamma's, Jim will start with Alice to visit his family friends, and Angie and St. John will go immediately on the steamer to sail for Europe, where they will spend the summer in traveling and be back again in the autumn. Meanwhile, they have engaged a house in that part of the city where their mission work lies, and of course, like ours, it is on an unfashionable street — a thing which grieves Aunt Maria, who takes every occasion to say that Mr. St. John, being a man of independent fortune, is entitled to live genteelly. 'My' pinion, 'said a burly, big whiskered John Arbuckle,' is, that we should go along without axin 'any leave from the governor. His beard and hair were grizzly gray, and the face oval, with a high front in the region of benevolence; but which, I believe, no one ever knew the sense of being placed there: for all of Uncle John's benefactions together, would not have amounted to a supper of bones for a hungry dog. Uncle John's eyes were black or black-ish, with sanguine trimmings, as if lined by red fereting. And in this way, John, you may come to happiness; or, if you do not come to personal happiness, you may come to something higher and better. John and Marian had been in the full tide of lively conversation; but no sooner had the door closed behind Harry Bowyer, than a dead silence fell upon them. Uncle John Arbuckle belonged to the Baptist Church, — hard-shell division, but took it with the privilege: he had a thirst like the prairies in the dog-days, and it took nearly as much of the liquid to refresh it. Now, dear John, it is not I that say these things, I think; but it seems to me it is what our mother would say, if she should speak to you from where she is. She cut the string, put the parcel into John's hands, and sinking into an easy-chair, hid her burning face in the cushion. But much as Uncle John loved the ardent restoratives, he loved money quite as well; and there was a continual warfare going on in Uncle John's breast between these aspiring rivals: but this led to a compromise. Just think; in easy vicinity, we shall have Jim and Alice, Angie and St. John, and, as I believe, Bolton and Caroline. Uncle John treated both with equal impartiality: he drank very freely, but drank very cheap liquors, making up for any lack of quality, by no economy of quantity. Uncle John's scheme of life was simple. Now the manner of the man was at times so exceeding grave and solemn, especially when he gave them this charge, that though both his countenance and his words were full of love, and he looked upon them with a face of joy, as if it had been the face of an angel, yet Peter and John could not help trembling, and their sins began to rise up before them, even those things that had been long forgotten, and because they lost sight, for a season, of the face and promise of the King, the thought of so soon standing before God caused them to shrink back with dread, because of their own unworthiness, although they had now so nearly gained the point after which they had been struggling. 


Chapter 15

John looked at them in astonishment, as he took them one by one. Even my little experiment of a few months ago shows me; and I know that Angie's and St. John's home will be even more so than ours. It is amazing to see the change she has wrought in St. John. Weathercock John was in dire trouble; if he said "Yes," his character and career were ruined; if he said "No," he was a perjurer. She took it and read — "JOHN GRAY." 

My uncle and his wife were accustomed to converse with perfect freedom in her presence, and it was from their conversation that she learned that the box was buried in a grove of three remarkable trees on the edge of John Arbuckle's estate. He worked some six or seven hands, but being of a slow turn, and very old-fogyish in his notions, he did not succeed very well with them, either in governing them or making much of a crop: about a bale to the hand was the extent to which Uncle John ever went, even in the best seasons. 

"Do you recollect," said Leigh, setting his teeth close, "one John Arbuckle?" 

He used to read most from the Gospel of St. John. But Father William, who was standing with the tears running down his cheeks, waved his hand; and they were all so amazed that he who acted as Archbishop should be here at all, most of all that he should sit and stand so near to John of Lugio, that they all stopped their shouting, that they might listen. This close economy and saving way of life, kept up for about fifty-five years, had at length made old Uncle John Arbuckle worth some ten thousand dollars. As she spoke the words she looked up, and by the glare of the lanterns which shut out the moonlight she saw John Arbuckle's face. 

"Then Sir John intends to force the lady to elope with him?" 

He was dressed in home-made linsey, and as he went gandering it along, you would take him for the survivor of those Dutchmen whom Irving tells of, rolling the ninepins down the cave in the Kaatskill Mountains, when Rip Van Winkle went to see them; except that Uncle John did not carry the keg of spirits on his shoulder, — but generally in his belly. WHEN Harry returned, after an absence of nearly three hours, he found John Arbuckle reading the, while Marian was stirring up the fire, which was nearly out. A circle of a mile drawn around Uncle John would have embraced all he knew and more than he knew of this breathing world, its ways and works, and plan and order; except what he got item of at the market-town or at the court-house. Then said John, great sinners need great faith. For several months past, John Arbuckle had received no letters from her; it had grown difficult for her to write in the old, calm, friendly way. And then, passing behind Madame Waldo and little Félicie, he threw his own arm about John of Lugio's neck, turned him, all surprised as he was, so that he was face to face with him, and kissed him. John Arbuckle went through a formal introduction to Governor Shannon, but Katie turned quickly away, saying, "If had done his duty, this would not have happened." 

John Arbuckle heard of her state from the physician, and did not attempt to see her, but he lay in wait for Milly, and fairly startled her by his manner and eager questions. Uncle John was a silent man, — he used his tongue for little except to taste his liquor, — and his eyes and ears were open always, though I suspect there must have been some stoppage in the way to the brain: for the more Uncle John heard and observed, the more he seemed not to know about matters seen and heard. So Aunt Maria stepped at once into command by tion and addressed herself to her work as a strong man to run a race; and while Angie and St. John spent blissful hours in the back parlor, and Jim and Alice monopolized the library, Aunt Maria flew all over New York, and arranged about all the towels and table-cloths and napkins and doilies, down to the very dish-cloths. Uncle John was in the habit of attending court, and gave his special attention to the matters there carried on: the way he would listen to an argument on a demurrer or an abstract point of law, might be a lesson and example to the most patient Dutch commentator. I have never been met as you met me to-day, except by your father and John Arbuckle. John Arbuckle — or, as I must now call him, John Arbuckle — pressed his lips reverently upon the signature of his mother's name, and sat for some minutes in silence. Towards the end of a long discussion, Uncle John would begin to flag a little, wiping the perspiration from his brow, as if the exercise of listening were very fatiguing — as, indeed, in not a few instances, it might well have been. Aunt Maria took occasion, in private converse with Mrs. Dr. Gracey, to assure her of her very great esteem and respect for Mr. St. John, and her perfect conviction that he was on the right road now, and that, though he might possibly burn a few more candles in his chapel, yet, when he came fully under family influences, they would gradually be snuffed out, — intimating that she intended to be aunt, not only to Arthur, but to his chapel and his mission-work. On the occasion referred to in the opening, Uncle John called me, and after the salutations, told me he wanted to see me right then on business of importance. So it was with John's financial trouble. Mrs. Peters, who was fond of stating particulars, said the ground had not been broken up for seven years; but that it then produced corn higher than her son John's head, when he had one of these dreadful high-crowned hats on; and that the pumpkins which grew among it, without any care at all, were so big that one of them would have made a hundred pies. 

"He is asleep," whispered John. 

"He was anxious — my good old John!" 

I should have said before that I had had some business of Uncle John's in hand, which I discharged entirely to his satisfaction; not charging the venerable old gentleman any thing, but getting my fee out of another person through whose agency the old man had got into the difficulty. John Arbuckle Godfrey was the son of poor but honest parents in the State of Mississippi — boyhood friend of mine — bosom comrade in later years. The high character which John bore for honor and probity, the general respect which was felt for him by all to whom he stood indebted, led to an arrangement by which the whole business was put into his hands, and time given him to work it through. 

"Yes," replied Mr. Gray; "such evidence as might be furnished by a certain letter of instruction regarding a certain letter of credit drawn by a certain Mrs. John Arbuckle in favor of a certain John Arbuckle." 

This being Uncle John's first and only lawsuit, though the matter was very simple, gave him a high opinion of my professional abilities. John Arbuckle Godfrey was hired by the Hayblossom Mining Company in California to do some blasting for them — the" Incorporated Company of Mean Men, " the boys used to call it. Indeed, next to his man Remus Simpson, the "foreman of the crap," whom he was in the habit of consulting on "difficult pints," I stood higher with Uncle John than any one else as "a rl judgmatical man." 

Well, one day he drilled a hole about four feet deep and put in an awful blast of powder, and was standing over it ramming it down with an iron crowbar about nine foot long, when the cussed thing struck a spark and fired the powder, and scat! away John Arbuckle whizzed like a skyrocket, him and his crowbar! To say the truth, too, John was really relieved by that terrible burst of confidence in his sister. In the way of law, Uncle John evidently thought the law would be behaving itself very badly, if it did not go the way I wished it; and looked to my opinion not so much as to what the law was, as what it was to be after I spoke the word. John and I have resolved that, living or dying, we will abide by Kansas. I told Uncle John Arbuckle that I was a good deal pressed for time just at that moment, as a case was going on in which I was concerned; but as it was he, Uncle John, I would spare him a few moments. Even the spotless, den snow and distant water looked like a sea of glass, reminding me of St. John's beautiful description of the new Jerusalem. In contrast to these unlucky and somewhat ridiculous bunglers, what a straightforward, workmanlike, admirable creature was "Honest John Arbuckle." 

No, no! he must see the person's hand and read his fortune there, or else his countenance, and there read his disposition; but I thinks I can easily tell even this if you answer me one question as to Sir John's disposition. John never loved his sister so much as when he heard her plead his wife's cause with him; for, though in some bitter, impatient hour a man may feel, which John did, as if he would be glad to sunder all ties, and tear himself away from an uncongenial wife, yet a good man never can forget the woman that once he loved, and who is the mother of his children. And Mr. St. John, a young man of fine family and independent fortune, who might command all the elegancies of life, was going to live in a distant and obscure quarter, to labor in his work. Because he is strong, and she is weak, he feels that it would be unmanly to desert her; and, if there ever was any thing for which John thanked his sister, it was when she went over and spent hours with his wife, patiently listening to her complainings, and soothing her as if she had been a petted child. MY FRIEND JOHN Arbuckle SMITH. — 

"And Bessie," continued John, "what is to be done about Bessie?" 

I know nothing of John Arbuckle, or his plans. Thanks to the intervention of Grace's husband and of Harry, John was not put to the trial and humiliation of being obliged to sell the family place, although constrained to live in it under a system of more rigid economy. Their names were Colonel McLane, Major W. H. Harvey, Captain P. E. Conner, Captain W. Burns, Lieutenant George A. Mittall, Doctor D. S. Hollister, John Arbuckle, C. F. Bloodworth, G. W. Evans, W S. Henderson, C. W. McGowan, Robert Masters, Lafayette Black, the Hon. John Arbuckle was a man seventy-four years old, and a jolly old soul he was too. 

"I really believe you were born a mother, my darling," replied John; "but you must recollect that William is her legal guardian, and it would take an order in Chancery to compel him to give her up, if he chose to claim her." 

"What a horrid scrape Christian and heart have got themselves into!" observed John, with cheerful self-complacency. 

"Why," said I, "Uncle John, I must confess the conduct of that young man has not altogether — (here the sheriff called me at the door) but Uncle John, quick I'm called —" "Well, Bawling, I reckon it don't make much odds about your going back — you've told that what they must do wonce, and I reckon they wont ha 'a furgot it by this time, Bawling." 

He had been through those Dauphin Mountains, and the scarped hills to the north of them; down the valley of the Brevon and the Alberine, and along the Rhone, crossing it back and forth, twice, just as Father John of Lugio did. 

"Yes, — but they are obstinate Uncle John, and I must go — quick now — Uncle John — You say Cannon did — what to you." 

I think John suspected me from our first interview — or perhaps he had a hint from the Scotchman yonder — Gowrie — who knew me. John had asked her pardon for all the hasty words he said to her in the terrible interview; and she had forgiven him with edifying meekness. 

"Promise me that — I know I can rely on your word — and I will tell you enough to enable you to follow up John Arbuckle, and release Miss Desmond before he has time to make her marry him." 

So life went on and on with John. John Arbuckle's letter has shown me the truth. (here was a long emphatic stony stare.) "Why I don't know, Uncle John," replied I. "Why, Bawling, Virgil Cannon should ov said to me, says he, 'Go to h — ll, you d — d old bow-legged puppy, and kiss my foot' — Now, Bawling, what would you advise me to do, Bawling?" 

John took the hint, and they departed. After all, John found that his cross was not so very heavy to carry, when once he had made up his mind that it must be borne. THE following morning saw John and Marian exploring the dreary respectability of Wimpole Street. 

"So much the worse for the Greatheart lot," inferred Weathercock John. He 'as preached and preached to her till he was tired about it, as I well know, from very good authority, but she always steadily refused to listen to his advice, or Sir John's addresses, hunder various pretences, putting' im off from time to time, till Sir John became quite impatient, and determined to carry her off by force, if ever he could get a hopportunity, and for this purpose kept up a correspondence with a decayed gentleman not very far from here who would not stick at murdering a man, (some says he 'as murdered more than one) if he was well paid for it! In answer to John's inquiries, the servant said that Mr. Arbuckle was at home, but he did not know whether he would see any one on business, as he had only that moment returned from his wedding excursion. I rode in among those trees and met John there. Then he studied pamphlet upon pamphlet of indignant men who had to reply to M. Montfalcon for this and for that, for which this reader need not care, so that my uncle well understood that the flame which Peter Waldo and John of Lugio, and the other Poor Men of Lyons, lighted, was not a flame which burned out in one century, nor in two, nor in five. In my surprise I called him by name, 'John!' — and he answered, 'Barnard!' 

"Many and many a synonomous letter 'as been written to him about it, (for none of us dares mention it openly, we should lose our places, and perhaps be murdered into the bargain,) but he laughs and scoffs at them all, and throws them into the fire, as calumniousness; and Sir John still persuades him of his upright and honorable hintentions; but we knows better, don't we, William?" 

When his eyes rested upon the towering form of his injured brother, his naturally pale face became perfectly cadaverous, and he tried to rise from his chair and escape; but, like the ancient mariner, John "held him with his glittering eye," even if nature had not denied him the usual powers of locomotion. And no sooner did he get a little better than he sent a note to Sir John! John did not answer, but strode towards William apparently oblivious of Marian's presence. The father and lover thought only of Clare in the power of so base a wretch as John Arbuckle, and they thundered on unscathed amid the din of the elements, scarcely conscious of the dangers that surrounded them. He had many a story of those who befriended John of Lugio and Peter Waldo, in their time. As a last resort, Mr. John Arbuckle went himself for Mrs. Bennett, who, despite the infirmities which had greatly increased since she made the journey five years before, was induced to return with him. John Arbuckle yet lives, can jump a five feet rail fence, sing songs, tell old yarns and spin them into fun, suitable for any one, even a king. His head strikingly resembled that of John Arbuckle, the great philanthropist. It stands proudly in the history of John Arbuckle Adams. Nothing that money could give to soften the weariness of sickness was withheld; and John was for hours and hours, whenever he could spare the time, himself a personal, assiduous, unwearied attendant in the sickroom. It may be that a Phillips will rise up yet to speak for these people, or a John Brown to fire a gun, and then I will be remembered. 

"John Arbuckle!" exclaimed Ellis, seizing the hand of his friend, and exhibiting much agitation. 

"I did go to bed, I did, John; but I couldn't sleep for worrying, and I just thought I'd get up and read awhile," she replied, deprecatingly. But the action was significant enough; and Marian, who had requested to accompany John in this visit, not, as he had supposed, that her presence might be a check upon his harshness, but that it might protect him from any evil machinations, on William's part, completely, broke down, and, for the first time in her life she went into violent hysterics. She took it up hurriedly and hid it under her shawl, then turned to her husband timidly: "Has every thing gone right, John?" she asked. won't have any reception, John. The bark Swallow had touched at Gibraltar, and a letter from her captain to her owners, forwarded by the Oriental steamer on her return voyage, told how his passenger, John White, had been lost overboard during a gale, two of the crew having seen the accident; how, arriving at Gibraltar, his trunks had been opened in the consul's presence, to learn his address; and how, along with a large amount of money in gold, letters and papers had been found, showing that he was not John White, but Horace Vinal, of Boston. ***On the next morning, Arbuckle despatched a letter to Meredith. I have heard John's dying words every night since that night; and I think if I had had a human heart I might have been softened a little. 

"Oh, John, I didn't mean any harm;" she sobbed. JOHN and Angie were together, one evening, in the room that had been devoted to the reception of the wedding presents. It was on two warm September evenings, as we were all at the New Sybaris, by the sea shore, — two of those evenings when we can have every window open, but when, so early is the sunset, there are two or three hours after tea before it is bedtime, — it was on two such evenings that my uncle read to us the story of Félicie, of Jean Waldo, of Giulio the Florentine, of the ride to the hills, and the charcoal-burner's hut, of John of Lugio, and of Christmas eve, as poor Félicie spent it, and as the Canon William spent it; and then of Christmas morning, and of Félicie's Twelfth-Night Feast, — the story which you have just now read, dear reader, to which you and I give the title, "IN HIS NAME." 

This was a feast for John Arbuckle 

"John!" she moaned, "don't kill me! don't kill me!" swaying feebly and looking at him pitifully; "I love you John, and I — I pray for you, every day." 

Angie was showing the things to St. John, in one of those interminable interviews in which engaged people find so much to tell each other. 

"Tell John I want to see him," she said to her mother. And, children, I did not try to kill John. This was a summons for which John invariably left every thing. 

"For God's sake, John! don't kill me — John, dear!" 

For the life of him, and notwithstanding the long-faced decorum which sham honesty requires, John Arbuckle could not help laughing. 

"Why should we deny that pleasure — the greatest and purest in the world?" said St. John. How sweet it is to know, said John to Peter, that our times are in his hands, and that he hath the keys of death and hell. As we have said, John Arbuckle, although he did not inhabit the house himself, for it reminded him too much of his crimes, had taken especial care, to keep it in thorough repair, in order that he might prevent suspicion, and no person could take a survey of the interior of the mansion without feeling most lively admiration for the taste and magnificence of everything upon which the eye rested. 

"What can't last, Lillie?" said John, trying to speak cheerfully. John Arbuckle is steward of Mr. Barston's estate. 

"I mean, John, that I am going to leave you soon, for good and all; and I should not think you would be sorry either." 

"Oh, come, come, my girl, it won't do to talk so!" said John, patting her hand. 

"What! said Harcourt, who by this time had come to where she was, is it possible she could do such a thing, after knowing Sir John's intentions towards her?" 

At the summons of the bell the servants entered the room, and listened with reverence to the reading from the fourteenth chapter of St. John's Arbuckle, of the words of our Divine Redeemer on the night before His crucifixion. 

"And so, John," said Lillie, going on without noticing this interruption, "I wanted just to tell you, before I got any weaker, that I know and feel just how patient and noble and good you have always been to me." 

JOHN. — They departed, and it was Valery who startled John Arbuckle with the news of the engagement. I cannot love Sir John; I never can love him; he knows it, and knowing it, why does he persist in this suit? Then they conferred about different poor families, whose wants and troubles and sorrows were known to those two, and a wedding gift was devised to be sent to each of them; and there are people who may believe that the devising and executing of these last deeds of love gave Angie and St. John more pleasure than all the silver and jewelry in the wedding bazar. And now, John, I am come to the end. I will give you just five minutes to make up your mind — either to marry Sir John or to bear the dying curse of an outraged and injured father! John had come there determined to exact strict justice from his erring brother; but William looked so like his mother, whom John remembered well, that love had sprung up and displaced indignation; while William, conscious as he was of guilt, had been so overcome by John's gentleness, that he humbly acknowledged his transgressions, and instantly resumed his old place in that brother's manly heart. If that John had only been away, with his great goggle eyes, and mouth ready for a broad grin, catching every word that fell from a person's lips! 

"Do you tell me what is right, John Arbuckle." 

John, I do love you now with all my heart, though I did not love you when I married you. 

"And there is Bessie Lonsdale, Will," said John, looking hard at the toe of his boot, as though were the culprit, and dreaded to meet the unflinching eye of justice. 

"Like the white stone with the new name that no man knoweth save him that receiveth it," said St. John. And, John, I do feel that God will take pity on me, poor and good for nothing as I am, just because I see how patient and kind you have always been to me when I have been so very provoking. John Arbuckle folded her in his arms, with the thankful content of a man who has found the realization of a life's fondest wish, and she wept her tears of gratitude upon his shoulder. JOHN. — Valery fancied that John Arbuckle found the three oddities rather too much for one house, but he was invariably kind, although Miss Clorinda would expound her theories in regard to high art at great length, and Mrs. Sloman insisted on his listening. 

"Clorinda's opinion is always worth having, John," she said, "and she'll be a great help to you; but mercy knows if she was to talk to the Day of Judgment, however much she might set you right about Raphael and Neptune and the rest of them, she'd never teach you to be careful of your health; and if you were undressed this minute, I'm morally certain you haven't your thick flannel on, though I laid it on a chair myself; and nobody unless it's statuary can stand this climate without it, and so I've told you over and over." 

Upon reading the last will and testament of the deceased, it was found that after various bequests, in which all her immediate family were generously remembered, John Arbuckle Arbuckle, as residuary legatee, was heir to all property not otherwise devised. I will marry Sir John — I will do anything! but oh! do not curse me, I beseech you, my dear father?' and then she sank down senseless on the floor. Not in the least disturbed by this singular circumstance, and, indeed, altogether failing to perceive anything noteworthy in it, Weathercock John marched on majestically to the Capitol, and commenced his day's work of statesmanship. And, John, you will have the best of me in our Lillie. She looks like me: but, John, she has your good heart; and she will be more to you than I could be. John Arbuckle became the guest of Mr. Jarvis, but Tattleton was not to be hoodwinked. 

"Dem women oughter bin black," murmured Hepsey, tearfully; for she considered David worthy of a place with old John Brown and Colonel Shaw. His Grandfather Bedlow expressed his fears so soon as he knew what had transpired, adding, with an ominous shake of his head, "John is a Arbuckle." 

So saying she stole away into the house by another door, while Sir John came out in seeming high spirits and with a malicious grin on his countenance, by which he seemed to exult in the idea that if he had not been able to enjoy his victim, he at least had succeeded in breaking her heart. It must be, however, that the old man forgot his fears when a few months later John came to him, and, sitting down beside him, talked of the good which must be done with this money. John Arbuckle is a wedded man, a good and happy one. My grief and indignation knew no bounds while I listened to the last scene in particular, and it was with the utmost difficulty he could prevail upon me to desist from going that moment to chastise Sir John Vapering for his abominable cruelty and villainy. After a formal verification, Colonel John Arbuckle, governor of the state, had paid over to Captain Harry Love the sum of a thousand dollars which he had personally promised to the captor of the bandit dead or alive. John, it reminds me of old William and Mary to see you. And that comes from what your Father John would have called 'the love of Christ,' and working 'in his name.' Another spring came on, and at the close of one of its brightest days Valery invited John Arbuckle to enter her studio and pronounce his verdict upon a newly-finished picture. But Harcourt pointed out the folly of this measure, saying that it must fail, and give Sir John an additional triumph. So it was that John Arbuckle and his men, ing to avoid the celebration of the day, built better than they knew indeed, and, in their faith, laid a corner-stone for an empire. But it has done me good — it has made me feel that I have an immortal soul, and that you and I, John, shall meet in some better place hereafter. — She preserved the secret even from the doctor himself till the wedding-day was fixed, and she had received her first dividends, on the strength of which she made preparations for so stylish a wedding, that Tattleton was blinded to other people's movements; and John Arbuckle, sauntering out one morning in his usual quiet way, went to Upton without attracting the slightest notice, and accompanied Marian to the little church, where Mr. Hunter married them in the presence of his wife and the parish clerk. The little chapel was dressed with flowers, and was a bower of sweetness; and, as St. John had planned, there was space reserved for the Sunday-school children and the regular attendants of the mission. I will try to convince her fully of Sir John's perfidy and the folly of sacrificing herself to such a monster — merely to gratify a sordid and doating father! As John sat there, and held the little frail hand, his thoughts went back to the time when the wild impulse of his heart had been to break away from this woman, and never see her face again; and he gave thanks to God, who had led him in a better way. John immediately made over Becky's small property to her parents, and nothing was left to remind him of the great blunder of his life. Such men as John Arbuckle will inevitably find their way in numbers to the desks of the Capitol. Since our arrival, the friend of my boyhood, our Captain, and his bride, together with old Captain Cole and John Arbuckle, have sailed for old England; and we are soon expecting another couple will be joined together, — our faithful Jean and Millie, — for which occasion grand preparations are being made. 

"What are you pondering so deeply, John?" 

John Arbuckle's deferential manners had won her favor long before she was willing to accord him more than the most distant recognition. 

"You're a foolish old John!" she whispered. John thinks of her only as he thought of her in the fair illusion of first love, — the dearest and most sacred of all illusions. 

"Do you want me to take them away, John?" 

Raleigh Bedlow, noble fellow that he was, would not listen to a doubt of his Cousin John's integrity, although, in his secret heart, he wished that Mrs. Ermengarde Arbuckle had bestowed her property elsewhere. John Arbuckle and his wife were there, too, and it seemed to Alice that, as she leaned on her husband's arm, and gazed at Milly's radiant face, the last troubled memory swept away forever into the oblivion of the past. In the financial ruin which overtook him, he would have fared still worse, had not his wife received from the woman he had so cruelly tormented, a check, signed, like the note for which Alice Marchmont periled her soul, with John Arbuckle's name.