well with Ezekiel. The man who could in those days visit
London in his own carriage and four was not without a large circle of
flatterers. The lawyer who had struggled hard, in the outset of life, to
secure wealth, and who did not always employ the most honest means for
doing so, now found himself the centre of a circle to whom he could
preach honesty, and receive from them expressions of the admiration in
which the world holds the possessor of gold. His old tricks were
forgotten, and he was put in places of honour. This state of things
continued for some time; indeed, Grosse's entertainments became more and
more splendid, and his revels more and more seductive to those he
admitted to share them with him. The Lord of Rosewarne was the Lord of
the West. To him everyone bowed the knee: he walked the earth as the
proud possessor of a large share of the planet.

It was Christmas Eve, and a large gathering there was at Rosewarne. In
the hall the ladies and gentlemen were in the full enjoyment of the
dance, and in the kitchen all the tenantry and the servants were
emulating their superiors. Everything went joyously; but when the mirth
was in full swing, and Ezekiel felt to the full the influence of wealth,
it appeared as if all in a moment the chill of death had fallen over
everyone. The dancers paused, and looked one at another, each one struck
with the other's paleness; and there, in the middle of the hall,
everyone saw a strange old man looking angrily, but in silence, at
Ezekiel Grosse, who was fixed in terror, blank as a statue.

No one had seen this old man enter the hall, yet there he was in the
midst of them. It was but for a minute, and he was gone. Ezekiel, as if
a frozen torrent of water had thawed in an instant, recovered himself,
and roared at them.

"What do you think of that for a Christmas play? Ha, ha, ha! How
frightened you all look! Butler, hand round the spiced wines! On with
the dancing, my friends! It was only a trick, ay, and a clever one,
which I have put upon you. On with your dancing, my friends!"

But with all his boisterous attempts to restore the spirit of the
evening, Ezekiel could not succeed. There was an influence stronger than
any he could command; and one by one, framing sundry excuses, his guests
took their departure, every one of them satisfied that all was not right
at Rosewarne.

From that Christmas Eve Grosse was a changed man. He tried to be his
former self; but it was in vain. Ag