Henry Dunbar

al of the steamer. Everybody was respectful to him now, paying deference to

o arrive by the Electra, and the coming of the steamer was hailed by

n loose garments of grey and nankeen colour; several ladies, all more or less sunburnt; a couple of ayahs; three men-servants; and an aristocratic-looking man of ab

of the same fashion as those which

hested, with grey hair and moustache, and w

ittle crowd, motionless as a st

hen - proud, and selfish, and cruel now. He has grown older, and stouter, and greyer;

unbar landed, and appr

lieve?" he said,

am Mr.

ir," returned Joseph; "I have a letter for you from Mr. B

looked at h

the clerks in St. Gu

Mr. D

don't look like a clerk;

, who was taken ill upon the road. But there is no time to speak of t

be glad if y

rvant with you

ken ill at Malta, an

Joseph Wilmot; "th

ight sparkled in hi

e; be so good as to see that it is sent off immediately by the speediest route. There is a por

see to i

very good. At what h

only arrived this morning. The Elec

I shall be glad if you will follow me directly you have attende

t confidently believe in their own merits. The sin he had committed in his youth sat very lightly upon his conscience. If he

aced, high-spirited lad who had acted as his tool and accompl

Brussels carpet, with little islands of chairs and tables scattered here and there. He o

n impatiently, and took his w

ar opened this locket, which contained the miniature of a beautiful girl,

e me. She was a mere baby when she left India. It isn't likely she'll remembe

rom his breast-pocket. It was directed in a woman's hand,

l be glad to have me home at last," Henry Dunbar

passage soft

s cruel separation has been to me. It has seemed so hard that we who are so rich should have been parted as we have been, while poor children have their fathers with them. Money seems such a small thing when it c

Henry Dunbar was still reading it wh

the letter into his pocke

en to all th

; the luggage ha

nd down the room, stopping now and then, and then walking on again, in an unsettled way; like a man who has

nion, after that first brief question. He was accustomed to be waited upon, and to look upon the people who served him as bei

side of the table, near which Mr. Dunbar sat

ust now who I w

up at him with hau

d you told me you came from the

y I came from the office in St. Gundolph Lane. I told you, on the contrary, th

nd will, no doubt, be quite as useful as the original person could have been. It

cco cushion of the easy-chair, and he looked la

mot remove

ed at me very closely, hav

!" exclaimed the banker. "My

ar, and tell me if you see anything

unbar s

is own, and almost as aristocratic-looking. For Nature has odd caprices now and then, and had made very little d

before?" he sa

well as I do. Carry your mind farther back. Carr

t th

o served you, and who loved you, better perhaps than a brother would have loved you, though he was your inferior by birth and station, and the son of a poor, hard-working woman? Do you remember entreating this boy - who had a knack of counterfeiting other people's signatures, but who had never used h

d a strange expression in them, those eyes - a sort of hungry, eager look, as if the very sight

pale, and cold drops of sweat had broken out upon his forehead: he

r man repeated, with no change

but I really could scarcely act otherwise. I was so harassed and tormented by my own position, that I could not be expected to get myself deeper into

ght have held in this hard world but for you? Can you give me back the five-and-thirty blighted years of my life, and take the blight from them? Can you heal my mother's broken heart - broke

a passionate man. He was a gentlemanly creature, very seldom dem

ly overlooked such small failings as selfishness and want of heart, and wer

ng, you have no right to throw the blame of your wrong-doing upon me. Pray don't talk about broken hearts, and blighted lives, and all that sort of thing. I'm a man of the world, and I can appreciate the exact value of that kind of twaddle. I am sor

lmot, with a half-suppresse

grey moustaches with a reflective air. "Let me s

at for you

to buy you a small annuity, that would keep you straight with

conquered that fierceness of expression by this time, and

es

ovel or other; and will insure me bread every day. I have a daughter, a very beautiful girl, about the same age as your dau

en?" asked the East

shall have - thanks to your generosity, and as an atonement for all the shame and misery, the want, and peril, and disgrace, which I have suffered for five-and-thirty years - a pound a

er strangely, perhaps; but Mr. Dunbar did not trouble himself to n

oics," he said, "perhaps you'll be g