Lethbridge

“ He shrugged his shoulders, and brushed an imaginary crumb from the table.
"Yes, François," said Lethbridge, slowly, "otherwise——"
"They hurt their mouths, M'sieur; and that hurts those who love them. And sometimes it's not the youngster's fault."
The next moment he was bowing some new arrivals to a table, while Hugh Lethbridge stared thoughtfully across the crowded room to where the orchestra was preparing to give their next selection.
"Sometimes it's not the youngster's fault." ”

“ God and immortality are not matters of faith to me now, Mr. Lethbridge; they are matters of consciousness; that is why I am so certain about Hugh. He is not dead. A lad who could do what he did had Eternal Life in him. God is here all the while; it is only our blindness that keeps us from seeing Him. Hugh is still your son. There are only two eternal things, Mr. Lethbridge. ”

“ As far as I could judge, I suffered no evil results from the excitement through which I had passed. Whatever had caused me unnatural strength, its influence had not yet departed.
"Simpson," I said, "whom have you got there?"
"I beg your pardon, sir, but I have just told Mr. Lethbridge that he could not see you. I did not think you looked well, sir."
"Show Mr. Lethbridge in. I am perfectly all right."
"I am afraid I should not have called," said Mr. Lethbridge, as he entered the room. "You do not look well."
"I am better than I have been for months," was my answer. "Sit down, won't you?" ”

“ Years before, I was told, Josiah Lethbridge used to pray in the prayer-meetings at the Wesleyan Chapel; but he had ceased doing so for a long time, although he had never severed his connection with the Church and had rigidly maintained his observance of the outward form of religion. More than once I wondered why he was there, for he must have seen the curious eyes that were cast upon him. Of course every one had heard of Hugh Lethbridge's death. Every one knew, too, that the father had driven his son from home because he had joined the Army, and because he had married the girl he loved. ”

“ Lethbridge, "take care of Mr. Erskine. My daughter told me just now that he was very ill and ought not to have come here."
"God bless my soul! you do look seedy," said the Squire. "What is the matter?"
"I only had a slight attack of my old trouble, and I look a great deal worse than I am."
"All the same, I am going to take you back with me," said the Squire. "No, no, I shall take no denial. That hut of yours on the cliff, with only a man-servant to look after you, is certainly no place for a man who feels seedy. You—you are sure I can do nothing for you, Mrs. Lethbridge? ”

“ Lethbridge's face," I said. "I was wondering what he must be feeling."
"A hard man, Erskine, a hard man. A man who has lived to make money; a man who has always had his own way. Whatever he has touched has turned to gold, whatever he has willed has come to pass." The Squire sighed as he spoke. "He has pulled all sorts of people into his net," he went on, "and got all sorts of people into his power. He does not say much, but he could ruin lots of us if he willed so to do."
I called to mind what Hugh Lethbridge had told me, and I fancy I knew what the old man was thinking. ”

“ Do you know, Miss Lethbridge, that you have been a baleful influence in the lives of men? It does not matter to me now, I am beyond that; but since I have been in Cornwall I have met three fellows whose lives you have blackened. You won their love, you made them think you cared for them. Why have you done it?"
Her face from rosy red became ashy pale, but her eyes gleamed with hot anger.
"Really, Mr. Erskine," she said quietly, "you mistook your profession. A burlesque actor is your role." ”

“ Lethbridge. "He's a fortunate man, whoever he is."
"He is not quite blind. Now, Leth, that is the real reason of our visit to you."
"Indeed!" said Mr. Lethbridge, in great amazement. "I have no influence, I assure you. I wish I had; I should be only too ready and willing to use it."
"This one manager," pursued Kiss, "who proves himself to possess some glimmering of common-sense, is, curiously enough, the manager of the Star Theatre, where Linton's last piece was produced."
"And he wishes to produce the new one," said Mr. Lethbridge. "That is very good of him." ”

“ Lethbridge broke in suddenly.
"Yes, Mr. Erskine," he said, "you may be right in what you were saying—that is, up to a point—but you don't go deep enough."
"I am afraid I never do go very deep," was my reply. "The deeper one goes, as a rule, the greater the muddle."
"Not in this case," and he spoke quite eagerly. "Why, the whole life of the county is what John Wesley and Methodism have made it. People, as a whole, may seem to have discarded his teachings, but they are in the very air we breathe; the people's thoughts, the people's lives, are what they are to-day because of the work he did." ”

“ Lethbridge, kindly, "I cannot myself, as a minister of the Gospel, approve of your profession, and, if I might take the liberty, I would try and dissuade you from it; but still, as for the one act of freeing a poor girl from the most scandalous persecution, and administering, though in a rough way, a lesson to a savage brute who has long been the disgrace and terror of the neighbourhood, I cannot honestly say that it has my condemnation. The moral sense of a community is generally a right one: you have won the praise of the village. ”

“ God made me English, and if I have a love for my country, God gave me that love, and if there were a call for men I would respond."
"You would be no son of mine if you did," replied the father.
"But he would," cried Isabella Lethbridge. "Why, father, you are a fighter; you know you are, and I should be ashamed of Hugh if his country called him and he held back. There doesn't seem to be much in life worth being interested in, but if anything would arouse me, it would be the thought of England in danger." ”

“ Leaving the exhibition grounds, on which the encampment stood, the Prince passed under an arch made of Indian clothes of white antelope skin, beads and feathers, and after reviewing the war veterans, went to the town ball that had been arranged in his honour.
Lethbridge is a mixture of the plain and the pit. It is a great grain centre, and there is no mistaking its prairie air, yet superimposed upon this is the atmosphere of, say, a Lancashire or Yorkshire mining town. Coal and other mines touch with a sense of dark industrial bustle the easy air of the plain town. ”

“ Lethbridge was in a very bad temper. I imagined that he had lost a lot of money, and he saw the possibility of losing more. The fact, too, that Hugh, his only son, was not interested in his schemes, angered him.
"I say, Erskine," said Hugh, just before my leaving the house, "you have no objection to my bringing Mary Treleaven over to see you to-morrow night? I want you to know her."
"I shall be delighted," was my reply. "But do you think you are wise in opposing your father?"
"How can I help opposing him?" asked Hugh. "I am of age, and I have my own life to live. ”

“ I could not help being sad at such a splendid life being cut off in the middle.
"Yes, yes," went on the Squire. "Hugh was a splendid boy. It seems awful that we shall never see him again—at least, this side of the grave. But that lad's not dead, Erskine. A boy who could do a deed like that could never die. He had eternal life in him. Anyhow, Josiah Lethbridge is not the same man. You should have seen the look of pride, and more than pride, in his eyes as he told me about it. And what he has done for me, he has done because he says he believes Hugh would have him do it. ”

“ You see, Lethbridge, in spite of his money, is a parvenu and rank outsider. It is true that his wife comes of a decent family, but a few years ago he was a poor lad in this district, and people can't forget it. Besides, the fellow is such an aggressive Radical. He is constantly treading on the corns of people who would otherwise be civil to him."
"What about his children?" I said. "I happen to have met them both, and they strike me as being well educated and presentable."
"Yes, his children are not so bad, and but for their father would doubtless be well received. At least, Hugh would. ”

“ Lethbridge, and so, at the risk of offending you, I am going to do so. You had your hard-and-fast ideas about life; you worshipped success, position, power, and money; you wanted Hugh to conform to your iron rules and laws, and because he was a live, human boy you tried to crush him."
"Yes! yes! I know." He spoke almost eagerly. "But even now I cannot feel right about it. After all, war is murder. How can I, a Christian man, a believer in the teaching of the founder of Methodism, believe that my son was anything but murdered? After all, is not a soldier a paid murderer? ”

“ He seemed to be making an effort to be calm.
"We must tell Mary," said Mrs. Lethbridge.
"You must do nothing of the sort," said her husband. "When I said, once for all, that we would have nothing to do with that woman, I meant it. Will you come this way, Barcroft and Mr. Erskine? Oh yes, the ladies can come with us if they do not mind tobacco smoke."
A few minutes later we were all in the library, where, in spite of Mr. Lethbridge's chagrin, we were not able to suppress our desire to talk about Hugh and what he had done. ”

“ Mr. Lethbridge looked around. "Every man is innocent until he is proved guilty," he remarked sententiously, "and thus before trial every prisoner is allowed certain privileges. Come back again, sir."
I therefore accompanied him to what seemed like a tower, situated southwest of the gate at which he had entered.
"This is the Witch's Tower," remarked Mr. Lethbridge. "A witch was once burnt here, but she will not disturb us. John Jenkins, you know where to get a good supper. The best you know!" The man gave a grin and walked away in evident good humour. ”

“ I replied. "You see, I am a rank outsider so far as that kind of thing is concerned."
"For that matter the Church of England is no better," said Mr. Lethbridge.
"Should that console one?" I asked. "Cornwall, as I understand, used to be the home of religious activity, of unquestioning faith, of devoted fervor; but to-day people are careless, materialistic. Faiths which at one time were held tenaciously, doctrines which were believed in unquestioningly, are now apparently a dead letter."
"I suppose you are a Churchman, Mr. Erskine," said Mr. Lethbridge. ”

“ Why Stanley West, president of the Occidental 49 Trust, should have presented to his two young kinsmen the tickets inscribed with his own name was a problem, unless everybody else, including the elevator boys, had politely declined the offer.
“That’s probably the case,” observed Lethbridge. “Do we go?”
“Art,” said Harrow, “will be on the loose among that audience. And if anybody can speak to anybody there, we’ll get spoken to just as if we were sitting for company, and first we know somebody will ask us what Art really is.”
“I’d like to see a place full of atmosphere,” suggested Lethbridge. ”

“ LETHBRIDGE MR. JAMES YOUNG originally hails from Scotland, and comes to us from the Macleod store to take charge of the dry goods department. Mr. Young has had wide experience, both in Canada and in the Old Land.
MR. P. K. SANGSTER, of New Westminster, B.C., has joined the Lethbridge staff as Advertising Manager. Mr. Sangster was with the I. H. Smith Co., of New Westminster for twelve years, excepting for the period when he was overseas. Mr. Sangster was one of the fortunate Canadian exchanged prisoners from Germany. ”

“ Lethbridge borrowed for us. Do you see now how it is that we are responsible for what has occurred? It is Linton and I who ought to have been placed in the dock instead of that sweet, unfortunate young lady. Since the lying accusation was brought against her, we have not been able to sleep. If exhausted nature compels us to go off in a doze, we start up in affright and horror. ”

“ Erskine, it would be very foolish," said Mrs. Lethbridge. "Really, we cannot allow you."
"I would rather walk," I persisted. Whereupon Hugh announced his intention of accompanying me.
When Mr. Lethbridge bade me good-night he had quite recovered his equanimity, and expressed the hope that I would soon come to see them again.
"I feel like a toad in a hole," said Hugh, after we had walked some minutes in silence together.
"How is that?" I asked.
"What has life to offer a fellow? The pater insisted upon my going to the University and reading for the Bar. I am not fit for it—I know I am not fit. ”

“ We never seem to overstep the barriers which keep us from entering a greater and brighter world. Is there a greater and better world?"
At that moment Mr. Lethbridge senior entered the room, and our conversation ended.
XI MARY TRELEAVEN
"Seen to-day's papers, Mr. Erskine?" he said, after our first greeting.
"I am afraid I haven't."
"You do surprise me."
"I fancy I have become pretty much of a hermit, Mr. Lethbridge, and I have scarcely enough interest in what is going on to open a newspaper."
"Things are very bad," he said gloomily. ”

“ CHAPTER XII. A LITTLE PARTY IN CAPTAIN ABLEWHITE'S ROOMS.
In his vague allusions to a future carriage, and to his becoming, in course of time, as rich as the Rothschilds, Jeremiah Pamflett built, as he supposed, upon a very solid foundation. So have other men—for instance, Mr. Lethbridge; but in the indulgence of his day-dreams Uncle Leth built his castles in the air, and extracted nothing but pure pleasure from them; intangible as they were, they invariably left a sweet taste in the mouth. It is to be doubted whether he really ever seriously inquired into their composition ”