one child.
The second Mrs. Carlyle died when her son was born--Archibald; and his
half-sister reared him, loved him and ruled him. She bore for him all
the authority of a mother; the boy had known no other, and, when a
little child he had called her Mamma Corny. Mamma Corny had done her
duty by him, that was undoubted; but Mamma Corny had never relaxed her
rule; with an iron hand she liked to rule him now, in great things as in
small, just as she had done in the days of his babyhood. And Archibald
generally submitted, for the force of habit is strong. She was a woman
of strong sense, but, in some things, weak of judgment; and the ruling
passions of her life were love of Archibald and love of saving money.
Mr. Davidson had died earlier than Mr. Carlyle, and his fortune--he had
never married--was left equally divided between Cornelia and Archibald.
Archibald was no blood relation to him, but he loved the open-hearted
boy better than his niece Cornelia. Of Mr. Carlyle's property, a small
portion only was bequeathed to his daughter, the rest to his son; and in
this, perhaps there was justice, since the 20,000 pounds brought to
Mr. Carlyle by his second wife had been chiefly instrumental in the
accumulation of his large fortune.

Miss Carlyle, or, as she was called in town, Miss Corny, had never
married; it was pretty certain she never would; people thought that her
intense love of her young brother kept her single, for it was not likely
that the daughter of the rich Mr. Carlyle had wanted for offers. Other
maidens confess to soft and tender impressions. Not so Miss Carlyle. All
who had approached her with the lovelorn tale, she sent quickly to the
right-about.

Mr. Carlyle was seated in his own private room in his office the morning
after his return from town. His confidential clerk and manager stood
near him. It was Mr. Dill, a little, meek-looking man with a bald head.
He was on the rolls, had been admitted years and years ago, but he had
never set up for himself; perhaps he deemed the post of head manager
in the office of Carlyle & Davidson, with its substantial salary,
sufficient for his ambition; and manager he had been to them when the
present Mr. Carlyle was in long petticoats. He was a single man, and
occupied handsome apartments near.

Between the room of Mr. Carlyle and that of the clerks, was a small
square space or hall, having ingress also from the house passage;
another room opened from it, a narrow one, w