  Three weeks after the date of Joseph's last letter Philip met him at the railroad station in the city. Brown, bearded, fresh, and full of joyous life after his seven days' journey across the continent, he sprang down from the platform to be caught in his friend's arms. The next morning they went together to Mr. Blessing's residence. That gentleman still wore a crimson velvet dressing-gown, and the odor of the cigar, which he puffed in a rear room, called the library (the books were mostly Patent Office and Agricultural Reports, with Faublas and the Decamerone), breathed plainly of the Vuelte Abajo. "My dear boy!" he cried, jumping up and extending his arms, "Asten of Asten Hall! After all your moving accidents by flood and field; back again! This is—is—what shall I say? compensation for many a blow of fate! And my brave Knight with the Iron Hand, sit down, though it be in Carthage, and let me refresh my eyes with your faces!" "Not Carthage yet, I hope," said Joseph. "Not quite, if I adhere strictly to facts," Mr. Blessing replied; "although it threatens to be my Third Punic War. "There is even a slight upward tendency in the Amaranth shares, and if the company were in my hands, we should soon float upon the topmost wave. But what can I do? The Honorable Whaley and the Reverend Dr. Lellifant were retained on account of their names; Whaley made president, and I—being absent at the time developing the enterprise, not only pars magna but totus teres atque rotundus, ha! ha!—I was put off with a director's place. Now I must stand by, and see the work of my hands overthrown. But 'tis ever thus!" He heaved a deep sigh. Philip, most heroically repressing a tendency to shriek with laughter, drew him on to state the particulars, and soon discovered, as he had already suspected, that Mr. Blessing's sanguine temperament was the real difficulty; it was still possible for him to withdraw, and secure a moderate success. When this had been made clear, Joseph interposed. "Mr. Blessing," said he, "I cannot forget how recklessly, in my disappointment, I charged you with dishonesty. I know also that you have not forgotten it. Will you give me an opportunity of atoning for my injustice?—not that you require it, but that I may, henceforth, have less cause for self-reproach." "Your words are enough!" Mr. Blessing exclaimed. "I excused you long ago. You, in your pastoral seclusion—" "But I have not been secluded for eighteen months past," said Joseph, smiling. "It is the better knowledge of men which has opened my eyes. Besides, you have no right to refuse me; it is Mrs. Blessing whom I shall have to consult." He laid the papers on the table, explaining that half the amount realized from his shares of the Amaranth had been invested, on trust, for the benefit of Mrs. Eliza Blessing. "You have conquered—vincisti!" cried Mr. Blessing, shedding tears. "What can I do? Generosity is so rare a virtue in the world, that it would be a crime to suppress it!" Philip took advantage of the milder mood, and plied his arguments so skilfully that at last the exuberant pride of the De Belsain blood gave way. "What shall I do, without an object,—a hope, a faith in possibilities?" Mr. Blessing cried. "The amount you have estimated, with Joseph's princely provision, is a competence for my old days; but how shall I fill out those days? The sword that is never drawn from the scabbard rusts." "But," said Philip, gravely, "you forget the field for which you were destined by nature. These operations in stocks require only a low order of intellect; you were meant to lead and control multitudes of men. With your fluency of speech, your happy faculty of illustration, your power of presenting facts and probabilities, you should confine yourself exclusively to the higher arena of politics. Begin as an Alderman; then, a Member of the Assembly; then, the State Senate; then—" "Member of Congress!" cried Mr. Blessing, rising, with flushed face and flashing eyes. "You are right! I have allowed the necessity of the moment to pull me down from my proper destiny! You are doubly right! My creature comforts once secured, I can give my time, my abilities, my power of swaying the minds of men,—come, let us withdraw, realize, consolidate, invest, at once!" They took him at his word, and before night a future, free from want, was secured to him. While Philip and Joseph were on their way to the country by a late train, Mr. Blessing was making a speech of an hour and a half at one of the primary political meetings. There was welcome through the valley when Joseph's arrival was known. For two or three days the neighbors flocked to the farm to see the man whose adventures, in a very marvellous form, had been circulating among them for a year past. Even Mr. Chaffinch called, and was so conciliated by his friendly reception, that he, thenceforth, placed Joseph in the ranks of those "impracticable" men, who might be nearer the truth than they seemed: it was not for us to judge. Every evening, however, Joseph took his saddle-horse and rode up the valley to Philip's Forge. It was not only the inexpressible charm of the verdure to which he had so long been a stranger,—not only the richness of the sunset on the hills, the exquisite fragrance of the meadow-grasses in the cool air,—nay, not entirely the dear companionship of Philip which drew him thither. A sentiment so deep and powerful that it was yet unrecognized,—a hope so faint that it had not yet taken form,—was already in his heart. Philip saw, and was silent. But, one night, when the moon hung over the landscape, edging with sparkling silver the summits of the trees below them, when the air was still and sweet and warm, and filled with the diffused murmurs of the stream, and Joseph and Madeline stood side by side, on the curving shoulder of the knoll, Philip, watching them from the open window, said to himself: "They are swiftly coming to the knowledge of each other; will it take Joseph further from my heart, or bring him nearer? It ought to fill me with perfect joy, yet there is a little sting of pain somewhere. My life had settled down so peacefully into what seemed a permanent form; with Madeline to make a home and brighten it for me, and Joseph to give me the precious intimacy of a man's love, so different from woman's, yet so pure and perfect! They have destroyed my life, although they do not guess it. Well, I must be vicariously happy, warmed in my lonely sphere by the far radiation of their nuptial bliss, seeing a faint reflection of some parts of myself in their children, nay, claiming and making them mine as well, if it is meant that my own blood should not beat in other hearts. But will this be sufficient? No! either sex is incomplete alone, and a man's full life shall be mine! Ah, you unconscious lovers, you simple-souled children, that know not what you are doing, I shall be even with you in the end! The world is a failure, God's wonderful system is imperfect, if there is not now living a noble woman to bless me with her love, strengthen me with her self-sacrifice, purify me with her sweeter and clearer faith! I will wait: but I shall find her!" THE END. THE NEW "HOUSEHOLD EDITION" To be issued in MONTHLY VOLUMES for subscribers to the set, at the low price of $1.50 per volume, neatly bound in cloth. The first two Volumes will be: VIEWS AFOOT; or, Europe Seen with Knapsack and Staff. 12mo. 506 pp. March 20th. ? Of this volume about 40,000 copies have been sold. CENTRAL AFRICA; or, Life and Landscape from Egypt to the Negro Kingdoms of the White Nile. 12mo. pp. 521. The other volumes will follow in due course, viz.:
THE STORY OF KENNETT. ? In announcing a new impression of the WORKS OF BAYARD TAYLOR in a popular and cheaper form, the publishers do not think it needful to quote the opinions of the critics as to their interest and literary character. They would merely refer to what may be called the "business standing" of these works—which is indicated by the fact that though the earliest volume, "Views Afoot," was published twenty-four years ago, and most of the others are now fifteen years old, they are still called for, both separately and in sets, as among the indispensables in American libraries and on the bookshelves of the family. Very few books, either of Travel or Fiction, thus retain their place and continue so long in demand, amidst all the active competition of modern book-publishing, and the inference is not unreasonable that these volumes of Adventure in almost every corner of the earth, possess some lasting interest and vitality which makes them worthy of a permanent place in our literature. Mr. Taylor's Novels were welcomed even more largely than the Travels, and we need only quote the competent and impartial estimate of the best English critics in regard to them, viz.: "We have now to welcome 'Hannah Thurston,' as an excellent addition to the list of such American tales as Hawthorne's, Longfellow's, and Mrs. Stowe's."—London Review. "If Bayard Taylor has not placed himself, as we are half inclined to suspect, in the front rank of novelists, he has produced a very remarkable book—a really original story admirably told, crowded with life-like characters, full of delicate and subtle sympathies, with ideas the most opposite to his own, and lighted up throughout with that playful humor which suggests always wisdom rather than mere fun."—London Spectator. "'The Story of Kennett' is delightful and refreshing reading, and a great rest after the crowded artistic effects and the conventional interests of even the better kinds of English novels."—London Spectator. N. B.—All our Agents for the Knickerbocker Edition of Irving's Works, will receive subscriptions for the "Household Edition" of Bayard Taylor's Complete Prose works, at the low price of $1.50 per volume. The Regular Library Edition of Bayard Taylor's Works may still be had. Price $2.25 per vol.; or in 13 vols. 12mo., $29; or in half-calf, $48. G. P. PUTNAM & SONS, Y. M. C. A. BUILDING, 4th Av. and 23d Street, N. Y. G. P. Putnam & Son. CAVÉ. THE CAVÉ METHOD OF LEARNING TO DRAW FROM MEMORY. By Madame E. CavÉ. From 4th Parisian edition. 12mo, cloth, $1. ? This is the only method of drawing which really teaches anything. In publishing the remarkable treatise, in which she unfolds, with surpassing interest, the results of her observations upon the teaching of drawing, and the ingenious methods she applies, Madame CavÉ ... renders invaluable service to all who have marked out for themselves a career of Art."—Extract from a long review in the Revue des Deux Mondes, written by Delacroix. "It is interesting and valuable."—D. Huntington, Prest. Nat. Acad. "Should be used by every teacher of Drawing in America."—City Item, Phila. "We wish that Madame CavÉ had published this work half a century ago, that we might have been instructed in this enviable accomplishment."—Harper's Mag. CAVÉ. THE CAVÉ METHOD OF TEACHING COLOR. 12mo, cloth, $1. ? This work was referred by the French Minister of Public Instruction, to a commission of ten eminent artists and officials, whose report, written by M. Delacroix, was unanimously adopted, endorsing and approving the work. The Minister, thereupon, by a decree, authorized the use of it in the French Normal schools. G. P. Putnam & Son have also just received from Paris specimens of the MATERIALS used in this method, which they can supply to order. I. The Gauzes (framed) are now ready. Price $1 each. With discount to teachers. II. The Stand for the gauze. Price $1.50. III. MÉthode CavÉ, pour apprendre À dessiner juste et de mÉmoire d'aprÈs les principes d'Albert Durer et de Leonardo da Vinci. Approved by the Minister of Public Instruction, and by Messrs. Delacroix, H. Vernet, etc. In 8 series, folio, paper covers. Price $2.25 each. N.B.—The Crayons, Paper, and other articles mentioned in the CavÉ Method may be obtained of any dealer in Artist's Materials. Samples of the French Articles may be seen at 661 Broadway. CHADBOURNE. NATURAL THEOLOGY; or, Nature and the Bible from the same Author. Lectures delivered before the Lowell Institute, Boston. By P. A. Chadbourne, A.M., M.D., President of University of Wisconsin, 12mo, cloth, $2. Student's edition, $1.75. "This is a valuable contribution to current literature, and will be found adapted to the use of the class-room in college, and to the investigations of private students."—Richmond Christian Adv. "The warm, fresh breath of pure and fervent religion pervades these eloquent pages."—Am. Baptist. "Prof. Chadbourne's book is among the few metaphysical ones now published, which, once taken up, cannot be laid aside unread. It is written in a perspicuous, animated style, combining depth of thought and grace of diction, with a total absence of ambitious display."—Washington National Republic. "In diction, method, and spirit, the volume is attractive and distinctive to a rare degree."—Boston Traveller.
|
|
