fancy-store, and who took in from the ladies a great deal of work,
some fine sewing; and with this she was busily occupied until his
return, which did not take place on the first night until near eleven
o'clock.

There was a slight drawback in the pleasure both felt in meeting
at this late hour--the drawback of weariness. Yet their hearts were
tranquil and elevated in the consciousness that they were denying self
for the good of another--and that one most tenderly beloved. Again the
way had become plain before them; and if strength only were given to
bear their increased burdens, they would move on with even lighter
footsteps than before.

And now, after having lingered thus long with the humble clerk, let
us turn to the rich merchant; for Jasper has become a man of
extensive possessions. Wealth flowed in upon him with extraordinary
rapidity--not in the regular course of trade, overreaching and
unscrupulous as he was in dealing, but through what are called
fortunate speculations. How he made his first hundred thousand
dollars--the basis of his present very large fortune--was not clearly
understood, though sundry vague rumours on the subject were afloat,
none of them, however, very near the truth, except in the admission
that a fraud on somebody had been committed. But let us introduce Mr.
Jasper.

On the night that Claire entered upon his duties as clerk in the
auction store, and about the same hour that his duties began, Mr.
Jasper, who was walking restlessly the floor of his richly furnished
parlours, his mind busy with some large money-making scheme, yet
fretted by a recent disappointment, found himself suddenly in the
presence of, to him, a well-known individual, whose ring at the door
he had not observed.

"Martin!" he exclaimed, in no affected surprise. "Is it possible?"

"Ah, Jasper! How are you? Right glad to get sight of your face again!"
said the other familiarly, as he grasped the merchant's passive hand,
and squeezed it until the joints cracked.

"When did you arrive in the city?" returned Jasper, as he reached his
visitor a chair. He did not speak with much warmth; and yet there was
an effort to be at ease and cordial.

"Some two hours ago," said Martin, in whose face was already beginning
to gather a few lines in token of the sober thoughts that lay beneath
his assumed smiling exterior.

"From which direction did you come?"

"West. I'm from the Upper Mississippi."

"Ah!"

"I went to Galena