Mr. Cameron

“ He had reserved the bitterest drop for the last, and coming close to her he said,
“And who think you the woman is—this Genevra, Wilford’s and your divorced wife? You were too proud to acknowledge an apothecary’s daughter! See if you like better a dressmaker, a nurse to Katy’s baby, Marian Hazelton!”
He whispered the last name, and with a shriek the lady fainted. Mr. Cameron would not summon a servant; and as there was no water in the room, he walked to the window, and lifting the sash scraped from the sill a handful of the light spring snow which had been falling since morning. ”

“ W. E. Cameron, of New York, owns some very valuable mines out here, I understand,” said Mr. Parsons casually, his innocent remark producing rather a startling effect upon the minds of his listeners, though they, one and all, succeeded in preserving a calm exterior.
“He has an interest in some very fine properties,” replied Mr. Blaisdell blandly, though with a visible contracting of the muscles about the mouth, “you are acquainted with Mr. Cameron, I presume?” ”

“ Cameron, glancing up a moment from his papers. 'Matthew Stevenson—that is your father, of course—five thousand pounds, and more if wanted, to the fund for the Bushmen's Contingent.'
'Yes, that's the governor,' Mortimer said. 'He's red-hot on the war. I believe if he were five years younger, wild horses wouldn't keep him back from volunteering himself. You must come up to Coolooli and have a chat with him over it, Mr. Cameron.'
But Cameron was deep again in the war correspondent's letter.
Bart went off to feed the calves—Roly had vanished at the sound of Miss Browne's footstep. ”

“ They talked in a hushed undertone, and as Cameron and the tall, erect figure of Donald Ban came slowly up the hill, the hum of their voices died away entirely. A few of the near neighbors were present, and as Donald Ban, who was to act as the referee agreed upon by both sides, took up his position upon the veranda, he saw nearing the outskirts of the assembled group our worthy friend Nicholas Perkins and his companion Fraser, the carpenter. Mr. Cameron had selected an inconspicuous place from where he could easily witness the proceedings [Pg 190] without himself being too much in evidence. ”

“ Alexander Cameron. From personal acquaintance with this gentleman, he had formed a high idea of his virtue and talents; and that idea had been confirmed by the ability which Mr Cameron had displayed in the government of the Scotch College in Spain. The appointment gave general satisfaction, and Dr Hay applied to Rome for the Papal Briefs. On the 13th of August 1797 he informed Mr Cameron himself of his promotion, conjuring him to hasten to his assistance, and to relieve him of a burden which he was no longer able to support. ”

“ The great house of Duncan Sherman & Co., of New York, through which Mr. Cameron was in the habit of transacting a large exchange business with England, broke down suddenly and unexpectedly. Drafts on London were dishonoured, and Mr. Cameron's bankers there, to protect themselves, sold without notice the securities he had placed in their hands, at a loss to him personally of over a hundred thousand pounds sterling. ”

“ Cameron became leader of the Opposition, and continued to act in that capacity for a period of four years. His Parliamentary career was marked by sterling honour and integrity, and by inflexible devotion to his Party. Mr. Cameron is one of the few men who have taken a very prominent part in public life in this country during the last few years, and yet have escaped charges of political corruption and dishonesty. No man in Canada believes him to be capable of a corrupt or dishonest act, for the advancement either of his own interests or those of his Party. ”

“ This last was spoken interrogatively, and Morris replied: “There is nothing wrong or wicked in going without one’s coat. Everything depends upon the circumstances under which it is done. For me to appear at table in my shirt sleeves would be very rude, but for an old man like Uncle Ephraim to do so is a very different thing. Still, Mr. Cameron may see from another standpoint. But I would not distress myself. That love is not worth much which would think the less of you for anything outré which Uncle Ephraim may do. ”

“ An audible snicker ran through the delighted staff. Cameron seized his ledger and the pile of freight bills, and started for Mr. Bates' desk, catching out of the corner of his eye the pantomime of Jimmy and the lanky one, which was being rendered with vigor and due caution.
For a few moments Cameron stood at the manager's desk till that gentleman should be disengaged, but Mr. Bates was skilled in the fine art of reducing to abject humility an employee who might give indications of insubordination. Cameron's rage grew with every passing moment. ”

“ When a young man, James Cameron became a sailor, and was first mate on a vessel sailing the Atlantic ocean. At the outbreak of the Civil war, Mr. Cameron enlisted in the Union army at Bangor, Me., and served until the close of the war. In 1869 he came to Muscotah, Kan., and worked as a contractor and brick mason. Six children were born of this marriage: Frank, deceased; William, a traveling salesman, Kansas City, Mo.; John R., a railway operator, of Mountain Home, Idaho; Rose died in infancy; Frank J., a railroad conductor, St. Joseph, Mo., and Walter H., a traveling salesman, Kansas City, Mo. ”

“ Cameron—he is rarely called General now that he is Minister of War—was to ask him to give me authority to draw rations at cost price, in case the army took the field before I could make arrangements, and he seemed very well disposed to accede; “but I must think about it, for I shall have all our papers down upon me if I grant you any facility which they do not get themselves.” After I left the War Department, I took a walk to Mr. Seward’s, who was out. ”

“ After dinner, Urè Vadu, the head chief of Kabade was introduced, attired European fashion, in an old Crimean shirt with a string of beads round his neck. Naimé Néru sat beside him, and a palaver then commenced;
Mr. Chalmers translating for the High Commissioner's benefit the chief's opinion of Cameron's land transaction. This was to the effect that legal consent to the transfer had never been given, and that Mr. Cameron had bartered his articles to people who had no right or title to the land in question, and therefore no power to alienate it. ”

“ The titter that swept over the listeners brought the hot blood to Cameron's face. A deliberate insult a Highlander takes with calm. He is prepared to deal with it in a manner affording him entire satisfaction. Ridicule rouses him to fury, for, while it touches his pride, it leaves him no opportunity of vengeance.
“Can you tell me if Mr. Fleming is in?” he enquired again of the boy that stood scanning him with calm indifference. The rage that possessed him so vibrated in his tone that the lanky lad drawled again in a warning voice:
“Slide, Jimmy, slide!” ”

“ It never rains on things Mother plans.”
And it didn’t. The morning of the picnic dawned clear and dewy and sparkling, as perfect a summer day as though it had been made to the Camerons’ order. By nine o’clock the big hay-wagon had appeared, driven by Mr. Gordon himself, who said he was going to turn over the reins to Mr. Cameron when they reached the Gordon farm. ”

“ Perceaving what undermyning powers were against me and the course of the tyme, I resolved to have resigned my place, whereto I was bound seven yeares: wherupon Mr Cameron, that learned man—a learned man indeed, whose name I wished altogether to have spaired—perceaving he was lyke to have lost his thanks for labouring to reduce me to conformitie, dealt with me in privat, and ingadgit himselfe that I should ryse to preferments if I would be drawen to conformitie, and that it was ane happie occasion to give up my name to the King, having declaired myselfe to their satisfaction. ”

“ But the good old lady never dreamed of shocking anyone 45with her attempts at fashion; and curtsying very low to Mr. Cameron, she hoped for a better acquaintance, and then took her seat at the table, just where each movement could be distinctly seen by Wilford, scanning her so intently as scarcely to hear the reverent words with which Morris asked a blessing upon themselves and the food so abundantly prepared. They could hardly have gotten through that first dinner without Morris, who adroitly led the conversation into channels which he knew would interest Mr. ”

“ In Edinburgh a “writing machine” was still something of a new-fangled luxury, to be apologised for. Mr. Rae would allow no such finicky instrument in his office. Here, however, there were a dozen, more or less, manipulated for the most part by young ladies, and some of them actually by men; on every side they clicked and banged. It may have been the clicking and banging of these machines that gave to Cameron the sense of rush and hurry so different from the calm quiet and dignified repose of the only office he had ever known. ”

“ Cameron's most imperious tones. "To pass by the house wi' an empty stomach, and it not even a fast! A fast, say I? A feast for Gleneira, and twa glasses o' port wine for Father Macdonald whether he will or no. Marjory, my lass, away with them like good boys to the parlour and cry on Kirsty for the glasses. Will, ye gawk, are there no grooms in Gleneira House that you must be standing there doing their wark. Now, Mr. Wilson, just come you down to terry-firmy, as you would say yourself. You're no golden calf, man, to be put up on a pedestal." ”

“ Cameron to play will rise,” directed Mr. Ames.
There was a shuffling of feet, and here and there throughout the meeting fellows arose, some hesitatingly, some briskly, and stood to be counted. On a bench near the front Hansel and Phin were the only ones who remained seated, while beside them Bert, Harry, Royle and other members of the first and second teams were on their feet. Cameron, at the end of the next bench, kept his place, viewing the proceedings with a perplexed frown. After all, he was a modest chap, and all this fuss and turmoil seemed to him very silly. ”

“ To my mind any man that has a chance to go to Canada on a good job ought to call in his friends and neighbours to rejoice with him.”
“But I say, that reminds me,” said Dunn. “Mr. Rae is coming to have a talk with my governor and me about this very thing to-morrow night. I'd like awfully if you could drop in, Martin; and you, too, Linklater.”
Linklater declined. “My folks have something on, I fear.”
Martin hesitated, protesting that there was “altogether too much of this coddling business” in the matter of Cameron's future. “Besides, my work is rather crowding me.” ”

“ Dunn, who must keep his eye upon the young man.”
In his office he found Captain Cameron in a state of distraction that rendered him incapable of either coherent thought or speech. “What now, Rae? Where have you been? What news have you? My God, this thing is driving me mad! Penal servitude! Think of it, man, for my son! Oh, the scandal of it! It will kill me and kill his sister. What's your report? Come, out with it! Have you seen Mr. Sheratt?” He was pacing up and down the office like a beast in a cage. ”

“ Meantime Cameron was making his way towards the offices of the Metropolitan Transportation & Cartage Company, oppressed with an unacknowledged but none the less real sense of unfitness, and haunted by a depressing sense of the deficiency of his own training, and of the training afforded the young men of his class at home. As he started along he battled with his depression. True enough, he had no skill in the various accomplishments that Mr. Denman seemed to consider essential; he had no experience in business, he was not fit for office work—office work he loathed ”

“ Cameron, and these worthies with him at Airdsmoss, he was near Machline, in the shire of Ayr; one Robert Brown, of Cross-house, who lived near New-Mills, and one Hugh Pinaneve, factor to the Earl of Lothian, stabled their horses in that house where he was, and went to a fair in Machline; and, in the afternoon, when they came to take away their horses, they got a drink, and in the time of pit, the said Hugh, wicked wretch, both in principle and practice, broke out in a railing against sufferers, particularly against Mr. Cameron: Mr. ”

“ In vain Cameron raged and pleaded and stormed and swore, telling his story in incoherent snatches, to the intense amusement of Sergeant Crisp and his companion. At length Cameron desisted, swallowing his rage as best he could.
“Now then, we shall move on. The pass is not more than an hour away. We will put this young man in safe keeping and return for Mr. Raven and his interesting friend.” For a moment he stood looking down upon his horse. “Poor old chap!” ”

“ Cameron is apt to finish to the corners with a thoroughness too uniform or obvious—to be, indeed, like Mr. C. J. Watson, a little too positive and too material. In the “Flower Market,” with its fleeting lights and shades, he leaves in part this positiveness. He makes an interesting experiment, but, after all, recalls the theme to which he addresses himself, only enough to assure you that the experiment has not been made in the medium that is fittest for it. “Colour, colour, colour!” ”

“ With apparent unconcern the men brushed aside the living and picked out and set aside the remains of the dead, the unhappy victims of their own greed or temerity, and went on calmly and swiftly with their business. Not a word was spoken except by Cameron himself, who, constrained by what he considered to be the ordinary decencies of society, made an effort to keep up a conversation with Mr. Haley at the head of the table and occasionally ventured a remark to his wife, who, with Mandy, was acting as a waiter upon the hungry men. ”