Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
"Its Precepts Are Eternal;" Or , The Practice Of A Freemason's Daughter.
"But your speculations are carried out as boldly , firmly , and widely as ever ?" " Yes , " exclaimed the elder gentleman , with a laugh , in which there was nothing of merriment , but much of scorn — " yes ! our credit is untainted . We stand high in the commercial world ; are believed—ha ! ha ! ha !—are believed to
have ample resources . Wondrous the power of manner ! marvellous the gulls a man may gather round him who gives out that secret and substantial means are his , and spurns his fellow-worm accordingly !—ha ! ha ! ha ! " The agony endured by the younger man during his father ' s recital was painfully apparent ; but no syllable escaped him .
" You are silent , Mamice : if I construe your look aright , you discredit my statement ? " " Were you not my father , " gasped the young man , with tremulous articulation , and a countenance pallid as that of a corpse , " I could not—I would not believe it . " " Hush ! not another word ! " cried the other , " we are
observed — no scene — we are men of business , not actors , remember . " The door opened ; a mining-broker made his appearance ; Heathfield talked of "The Great Devon Consols ; " "Polgooth ; " " Great Sheba ; " " Herodsfoot ; " the " adventurers who without a shilling of capital infested the mining market ;"
the " exposure such parties merited ; " discussed the offer made to him ; declined it ; and bore throughout his part in the negotiation as bravely and decidedly as though there was not a single care on his mind , or a passing cloud on his prospects . Ah ! who shall limit his triumphs , — who shall say IIOAV potent he may become for good or evil who can chain down all the softer passions of his nature , and can subject every feeling , and every sympathy , and every emotion to the mastery of his own iron ancl inexorable mil !
II . THOSE were three wretched days , —the longest , the dreariest , the most trying that Maurice had ever known , —which intervened between his father ' s partial disclosure of the perils of the firm , and his reluctant recurrence to the subject .
" Foolish boy ! " he commenced abruptly , — " I see by your abstracted air ancl wearied eye , that you are feverishly awaiting further insight into matters which can but grieve you , —
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
"Its Precepts Are Eternal;" Or , The Practice Of A Freemason's Daughter.
"But your speculations are carried out as boldly , firmly , and widely as ever ?" " Yes , " exclaimed the elder gentleman , with a laugh , in which there was nothing of merriment , but much of scorn — " yes ! our credit is untainted . We stand high in the commercial world ; are believed—ha ! ha ! ha !—are believed to
have ample resources . Wondrous the power of manner ! marvellous the gulls a man may gather round him who gives out that secret and substantial means are his , and spurns his fellow-worm accordingly !—ha ! ha ! ha ! " The agony endured by the younger man during his father ' s recital was painfully apparent ; but no syllable escaped him .
" You are silent , Mamice : if I construe your look aright , you discredit my statement ? " " Were you not my father , " gasped the young man , with tremulous articulation , and a countenance pallid as that of a corpse , " I could not—I would not believe it . " " Hush ! not another word ! " cried the other , " we are
observed — no scene — we are men of business , not actors , remember . " The door opened ; a mining-broker made his appearance ; Heathfield talked of "The Great Devon Consols ; " "Polgooth ; " " Great Sheba ; " " Herodsfoot ; " the " adventurers who without a shilling of capital infested the mining market ;"
the " exposure such parties merited ; " discussed the offer made to him ; declined it ; and bore throughout his part in the negotiation as bravely and decidedly as though there was not a single care on his mind , or a passing cloud on his prospects . Ah ! who shall limit his triumphs , — who shall say IIOAV potent he may become for good or evil who can chain down all the softer passions of his nature , and can subject every feeling , and every sympathy , and every emotion to the mastery of his own iron ancl inexorable mil !
II . THOSE were three wretched days , —the longest , the dreariest , the most trying that Maurice had ever known , —which intervened between his father ' s partial disclosure of the perils of the firm , and his reluctant recurrence to the subject .
" Foolish boy ! " he commenced abruptly , — " I see by your abstracted air ancl wearied eye , that you are feverishly awaiting further insight into matters which can but grieve you , —