[figure description] Page 059.[end figure description]

For three weeks Ralph's wrath burned hotly against the
poor tutor, and then other reflections began to mingle with
his dreams of revenge. A public trial might lead to incidental
inquiries in relation to other things, which he feared
to have discussed, and there was danger that members of
his own family, perhaps even Sidney, might be called upon
the stand as witnesses. This he knew would lead to some
strange and startling disclosures, and although he was
guiltless of any legal crime towards his ward—for he had
always been shrewd enough to void that—yet he knew
there was such a thing possible as “taking away his stewardship”
and placing another guardian over the orphan.
He had indeed no serious fears on this point, for he knew
well the vast vantage ground which possession both of the
office and the estates gave him over any other claimants,
and, besides this, he chuckled over the thought that,
although his guardianship could be annulled, his relationship
could not be. He would be the legal heir of his
nephew, if the latter did not live to the age when he would
be legally empowered to dispose of his property by will,
and he made confident calculations that the disease which
was so evidently at work in poor Sidney's system would
prevent his ever attaining to manhood. Yet he feared exposure
and disgrace—he feared the loss of a trusteeship
which was rolling its yearly tens of thousands into his
pocket, never, probably, to be accounted for, or inquired

[figure description] Page 060.[end figure description]

after, and he feared, above all, the possibility (a mere possibility,
it seemed) that Sidney, under other care and in a
milder clime, with the best medical aid, might be restored
to health.

In such a contingency his dreams of wealth would be
over, the gorgeous visions which he had so long gloatingly
contemplated would dissolve like the mirage of the desert,
and he would be left by its departing splendors a beggar
and a debtor, unable to account for the half of his liabilities
to his ward. To what extreme measures he might not
resort to prevent such a result, it is difficult to say, but he
resolved at least to leave nothing undone now that could
strengthen his position or ward off impending danger.
His quarrel with young Jay became a trifling matter in
his estimation, and he began heartily to wish that his imprudent
suit had never been commenced. For a while
after Addison's release on bail he indulged the hope that
he would run away, and he paid frequent visits to the city
and to his lawyer, in expectation of this happy result; but
there were no indications of any such design on the part of
his adversary.

Growing more and more solicitous to prevent the further
agitation of so dangerous an affair, he resolved upon a new
plan of action, by which he hoped not only to end the litigation,
but to remove the young man to so great a distance
from Sidney that he could exercise no further influence
upon him.

In pursuance of this plan he called upon an old Spanish
merchant, whom he knew to be connected with an extensive
house at Barbadoes, and with whom his own acquaintance
had originated, many years previous, under the following
circumstances.

Both Ralph and his deceased brother were Scotchmen,
whose first quest after Fortune's smiles had led them to

[figure description] Page 061.[end figure description]

the West Indies, and who had resided several years at
Barbadoes, without any satisfactory success in the great
object of their pursuit. When Ralph had resolved to come
to America, he procured letters of introduction to Senor
Rizzio, who was then a junior member of a southern mercantile
firm, sent out to establish a branch of their house in
the American metropolis, but who had since become a
very wealthy man, and a permanent resident of New York.

Hugh Werter did not follow his brother to New York
until several years after the latter had become established
there, and had reported to him the favorable aspect of his
own fortunes, and when he did so, he also brought letters
to the same Senor Rizzio, who had kindly assisted both of
these young men in their first efforts to obtain employment,
and the acquaintance which he had thus begun
between Ralph and the Spaniard had been ever since kept
up, although with no particular intimacy, and certainly
with no extraordinary demonstration of gratitude from the
obliged party.

It was natural that, in seeking for a foreign situation to
which he might exile young Jay, Werter's thoughts should
turn directly to Rizzio, as the man most likely to advance
his project, especially as he knew that the Spaniard had
already forwarded several of his American clerks to the
southern house. To Ralph's inquiries whether he knew of
any profitable occupation for an intelligent young American
at Barbadoes, he promptly replied in the affirmative.

“Perhaps you have a vacancy in your own house?”

“Yes, ever since the last fever season,” said the
Spaniard, shrugging his shoulders. “He must have a
good constitution who goes—the last two poor fellows I
sent out—”

“Went further, I suppose,” said Ralph, interrupting

[figure description] Page 062.[end figure description]

him. “They must take their chance of that. People die
other places besides Barbadoes, I believe.”

The Spaniard bowed.

“You take these things into consideration in your salaries,
I presume?”

“We will pay reasonably for a clever, active young
American, who speaks Spanish a little and can learn it
readily. The truth is, we want several of this description,
and it is very difficult to get them.”

Rizzio spoke frankly, and not like a man who was disposed
to drive a hard bargain.

“Very well,” said Werter, “I think I can help you to
exactly such a one as you want; but there are some reasons
why I do not wish the applicant whom I shall send you to
know that I am befriending him. May I depend on your
secrecy?”

“Certainly; I will not mention your name, if you desire
it; but about the fever?”

“Leave it to me to have that sufficiently explained to
him, if you please; for, since fear kills more than fever, it
is better he should not know the precise fate of his predecessors.
He has a good constitution, and will run but
little risk.”

“Perhaps you are right; I leave it entirely to you.”

“Do you ever advertise for such clerks?”

“We did formerly, but our advertisements never brought
us the right sort of people, and we gave it up.”

“Have you any objection to putting a single advertisement
in a morning paper to this effect?”

“Not in the least—it shall be inserted to-morrow, if you
wish it.”

“There are some reasons why this is desirable, and I
will be much obliged to you if you will have it done.”

Rizzio named the newspaper in which the notice would

[figure description] Page 063.[end figure description]

appear, and Werter departed, leaving the merchant a little
puzzled at his singular mode of doing business, but really
suspecting nothing wrong.

Ralph next visited his lawyer, whom he now took fully
into his confidence, in relation to his anxiety to suppress
the suit and get the young defendant out of the country;
and having promised the attorney quite as liberal a fee for
success in this scheme, as he could obtain if the trial
were to take place, he found in him a ready and able
coadjutor.

It was no difficult matter for Mr. Attorney Boggs to
bring the morrow's advertisement to the notice of young
Jay, through the aid of a third party, nor to have a suggestion
made to him that it would be a most eligible post
for himself, if he were not under heavy bonds to remain in
the country. And when Addison, with a boy's love of adventure
and enterprize, sharpened by the very consciousness
of the legal restrictions imposed upon him, expressed
an earnest wish to go, it was an easy matter again for Mr.
Attorney Boggs' confidential friend to intimate that possibly
the plaintiff in the suit against him might be induced to
settle it on mere payment of the costs and an apology—or
something like that.

“I'll never apologize,” said Addison; “but if he really
thinks I knocked or pushed him down, I would assure him
I did not—I would explain—”

“And pay the costs?” said his questioner, quickly.

“I ought not to do that—but for the sake of this opportunity
to get into business, I would do so; that is, of
course, if my parents approved of my going.”

“I know Boggs very well, and will sound him on this
subject, if you wish.”

Addison was eager to assent, but he resolved to consult

[figure description] Page 064.[end figure description]

his parents first, and he accordingly put off his officious
friend for a day or two.

Captain Jay heard his son's scheme with incredulity,
believing neither in his ability to procure the situation,
nor in the placability of Ralph Werter, but expressing
his opinion that the opportunity was a golden one for
somebody to connect his fortunes with those of the rich
Rizzio.

Mr. Jay had been too much a traveller himself, and had
sojourned too much in all latitudes, to think seriously of
either distance or climate as an objection to his son's
accepting the place, if it should prove attainable; and
although Addison's mother heard of the project with great
alarm and grief, her anxiety for her son's welfare, and
especially for his extrication from his present troubles,
prevented her from opposing it.

Thus encouraged, and placing an increased value upon
the prize by reason of the doubts and difficulties which
lay in the path of attainment, Addison sought out the
friend of Mr. Boggs, and gladly accepted of his offered
mediation.

It resulted as might have been expected. Ralph proved
eminently placable, and everything was readily arranged,
contingent upon the success of the application to Mr.
Rizzio, which young Jay lost no time in making; and so
well had the way been smoothed before him, that even
there a first interview settled the engagement between the
parties.

Overflowing with delight, Addison returned home, carrying
both joy and grief into the family circle, but the first
great sensation was that of relief and pleasure at the release
from the impending prosecution, which had so long
threatened ruin to the impoverished family. A salary,
moderate at first, but to be increased each succeeding year,

[figure description] Page 065.[end figure description]

gave promise of enabling the young man not only to support
himself, but to contribute materially to the assistance
of his parents, which had long been an object of his earnest
desire. Although greatly grieved to leave his friends, he
maintained a show of cheerfulness, and partly sustained
the failing spirits of his mother and sister, by the seeming
exuberance of his own.

He took much pains before leaving to ascertain where
his cousin Sidney was, in order that he might open a correspondence
with him; but his evil genius, who, unknown
to himself, was so adroitly guiding all his movements, contrived
to have him supplied with information on this point,
which was near enough correct to prevent suspicion, yet
erroneous enough to mislead.

He wrote a long and affectionate letter to Sidney, and
if he did not direct it to Kamschatka, he might as well
have done so as to use the address furnished him by Mr.
Boggs' friend, which that gentleman had received from
Boggs, and which the attorney, of course, had procured
from Ralph. Not content with this step, Addison exacted
from his mother a promise that, when Sidney returned
home, which he supposed would be within a few months,
she should take pains to communicate with him in some
way, and renew if possible the acquaintance and intimacy
of former years, for his heart yearned with pity for the sad
orphan boy, whom he knew to be poor and friendless, in
the midst of all his great wealth.

Thus Addison Jay went from home in his seventeenth
year, doubly the victim of deceit, following the phantom
of Fortune to a land where it soon might be transformed
to the hideous spectre of disease and death. Little did he
dream that five long years would elapse before he again
should see his native land, that an equal period of absence
would be Sidney's lot, that in the mean time his parents

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would descend to a still lower depth of poverty, and Ralph
Werter, relieved from the presence of those he most
dreaded, would rise to a higher prosperity, in the plenitude
of another's wealth, which he enjoyed unquestioned,
and from which he resolved never to part.

p657-068

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