Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

anoo of fifty pounds a year mado mo by my nnclo? The rest
board and
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of the hundred a ifl year supposed to pay for Peter, and placed in black and white before him.
my
'.is family. Of course 1 know that ho invests it, becau-oliosaidt.il
t it mny bny mo furniture tor a house in the
:; but still I have for myse'.f
for cl -thcs, pocketmoney,
iimm-.-inents, eTerything this paltry fifty pounds a deed.
it can't bo done."
Why,
" You don't subscribo to more amusements than I do : you
( dressed better; you have no more ready cash ;
I have
only fort pounds a year for all you reckon up. I am in as
"
:
good company I
"
O, stop. Yes; you are in as good company yes, a good
deal better company. You are steady, charitable, with a sovereign
for the priest, and more for education. O yes; don't get
so red. Don't I know ? And you build a greenhouse, and row
a boat, and study geology, and have a collection of fossils
'
I'll give you a thrashing if you don't stop, or kick you
down-stairs, which would be easier," said Peter quietly.
"Why, so you may, and so you could but don't ; you know
that it is bad company that spends your money? What 1 as a
" That was scarcely half of what I owed. He was so good
and forgiving about it, I had not the heart to tell him that he
had heard only the half of the folly I had committed. o /
had to get the rest."
" "
Get the rest ! exclaimed Peter.
"
Yes, of course. I was obliged to do it. There would be
a clamor if I had not paid the debts of which my uncle did not
know."
' '
Ar.d how did you get it ? " asked Peter, very quietly.
" Of course you know."
"I know that there are money-lenders, who would advance
you small sums for a larger sum to be received in three
year's time."
"
Just so," said Fred, no'dding his head.
" "
And which of them accommodated you ?
" James Gardener, of course."
Peter felt as though he had been stabbed ; but he hid the
pain by turning his head aside, and pretending to be attracted
by t e view that lay spread below the.n.
"Look out, Fred. See the shipping, tho wharves, the storehouses
; the masts are as thick as a forest ; well, not all the
wealth there represented cou d stand what you are doing, if
carried on perseveringly by lavish hands like yours. You are
not fond of work. You have not tho perseverance, perhaps not
the constitution, to make your fortune f,-r yourself. You have
had a sum of money secured to you, and you are spending it ;
that is, you are giving it away to mouey-leuders before you
have seen it yourself. How much do you think is gone ?"
your accounts to my room, and let me 1 ;ok them through with
you ? I have rather a head for that kind of thing, you know."
Peter spoke very quietly. He was afraid of vexing Fred,
and making him repent of having trusted him ; and he was
longing from the bottom of his heart to d j him good. He
would not wait for an answer. He took Fred with him to Miss
Lance's tea-table. He even stayed there while Fred sang songs
to M ss Lance's acco i.paniment. But at last, about nine
o'clock, he had Fred safe in his room, with all the sad truth
Bpr:::ul out before him.
A fur \v >r:;o story it was than even Fred himse'f seemed to
know ; and there wen: a few bursts of despera- iou from the
1 man
while the whola history was being revealed by
There must, however, bo just a word < f mercy tpoki
Fred's favi r. Until he entered his uncle's house, his bringing
up had been one continued act of indulgence. His own
desires had been his only law. The effects were now sad in-
CHAPTEE in.
In this way, and with this knowledge, closed the third
of Peter's life at Treddington.
year
Time went on ; a fourth and fifth year passed.
Peter had risen to a place of trust. All Mr. Breward's ac-
counts passed through his hands.
It was a great deal to do, and it required a steady head and
extraordinary accuracy.
Peter had invented an improvement to the ordinary machinery
used in Mr. Breward's works at Stonemoor, which resulted
in a great saving of labor and risk to the men, and of money to .
pack of card-sharpers find money-lenders got to do with good
company ? Was it good company that took a hundred pounds
out of my pocket at the last Treddington races?"
"
But that was all settled. Mr. Breward got to know, and
be spoke to you, and paid it."
"
It was I
paii that is, one hundred was paid out of that
store that he has laid by instead of taking it from my board
"
yes; but, Peter
" Well ?" It was quite a terrible moment to this youth, for
he felt that something bad was their employers. This thing had been the work of his leis re
hours. All his days
"
coming. Well ?"
were absorbed by the accounts, and his
daily labor was of an anxious sort. Peter, however, stood it
well. He liked Mr. Breward very much, and he would have
done anything for him.
Mr. Breward looked on Peter with gratitude as well as pleasure,
and the dear Miss Lances were prouder than ever of him.
In fact all Treddington by this time took an interest in Peter ;
and not only Father Joseph, but also the piiest of the Treddiugton
mission, Dr. Beauclerk, watched him with joy and
thankfu'ness.
When his invention was completed, and liked by masters and
men, Mrs. Penwarne was written to, and she sent Peter me -
sages through Father Joseph, and she asked him to come to
London and explain his work to her. With extreme pleasure
Peter went to London, and was taken by Dr. Beauclerk
Mrs. Penwarne. He was so happy, he cou'.d have knelt
t
t>
lhank her for all she had done lor him. So genuine, however
were his feelings that she felt all he wished o say ; she knew
him for what he was, and he had an inexpressibly pleasing
sensation of being understood as he answered her questions
and sto d happy beneath her smiles.
Peter and Dr. Beauclerk lunched With Mrs. Penwarne. She
sent her servants away, and Lady Edith, who was there, said,
" Yo i and I, Peter Sands, must wait on our elders to-day."
"A thousand pounds, " And this they did, as far as such attendauc was need d
then he returned to the station by himself, for Dr. Beauclerk
said Fred.
"It's tea-time," said
"
Peter. Will you gi home and bring
was going to spend a few days with a friend.
Before he lel't Mrs. Penwarne's presence she had said these
words to him: "When your salary was raised about two
years ago, you refused to take any longer the money I had
p. iid Miss Lance for your living there. I ought to say that
they refused to have a higher payment when I offered it to
them, as you grew i.. to manhood. I laid by the mou' y when
you no longer accepted it ; you will receive it next year with
the money left you by my husband. What L gave you only
represented in some degree the faithful interest with which he
would have regarded you had he lived. My young friend, I
ask your prayers."
Then he began to speak, or rather to try to speak, for his
heart was too full for him to say what he felt ; but she stopped
him.
"Lay up any gratitude you may feel for him and me in that
Sacred Heart where we shall be sure to find it. I am old,
Peter," she went on, with her calm eyes fixed smilingly on
the young man's face. "Death is near. Death, it i
may overtake the young, but th i old go forth to meet him.
Well, remember this, in the life :hat lies bi fore you, th:i
hi His might and mercy never deserts those who serve Him
never! Never leaves those to themselves whose faith and
devotion are known unto linn."
" That is how we pray," said Pdter.
" That ia what we experience," 8ai(\ Mrs. Penwarno. And