_PART THE LAST._

'Do but grasp into the thick of human life! Every one _lives_
it--to not many is it _known_; and seize it where you will, it is
interesting.'--GOETHE.

'SUCCESSFUL.--Terminating in accomplishing what is wished
or intended.'--WEBSTER'S _Dictionary_.

CHAPTER I.

More than twenty-five years have elapsed since the events narrated in
the last chapter.

New York has become a great and magnificent metropolis. The avenues of
the city extend for miles beyond the old landmarks. The adjacent farms
have been converted into lots, and covered with handsome houses. The old
buildings are torn down, and new and elegant ones erected in their
place. The streets are thronged with a purely cosmopolitan class. You
behold specimens of every nation under the heavens jostling the citizens
on the sidewalk, or filling the omnibuses which choke the way. And from
the commingled sounds of the tramp of horses, the rolling of vehicles,
and the tread of human beings, there arises through the day and far into
the night a perpetual but muffled roar from this great thoroughfare.

* * * * *

It is a lovely October afternoon--one of those mellow days for which
this latitude is so remarkable--possessing the softness and genial
temperature of summer, without its scorching heat.

The world of fashion has returned from the Spas, the mountains, the
seaside. Elegant equipages pass up and down, or stop before the favorite
resorts for shopping. The streets and sidewalks are literally crowded,
as if it were some grand gala-time.

It is nearly four o'clock. Walking slowly up Broadway is a person
probably about fifty-five, of medium height, inclining to be stout, who
carries his hands behind him as he proceeds thoughtfully along. His
dress is particularly neat. His hat, while it conceals an excessive
baldness, permits the escape of a quantity of light hair, quite unmixed
with gray, which fringes the back of the head. At a distance, his
complexion looks soft and fair; but, on closer observation, it has the
appearance of smooth leather. Occasionally he raises his face to regard
a building, as if he had a special interest in so doing; then one may
see a light-blue eye, clear and icy as a fine December day, having an
expression like a flint.

He walks on. Two young men are just passing him. One says to his
companion:

'Do you know who that is?'

'Which?'

'That old fellow rig