Mr. Worthington

“ Worthington, "and I'll give you my answer."
"B-biggest price you can pay," said Jethro, again.
Mr. Worthington's nerves could stand it no longer.
"Look here," he cried, rising in his chair, "if you've brought me here to trifle with me, you've made a mistake. It's your business to get control of things that belong to other people, and sell them out. I am here to buy. Nothing but necessity brings me here, and nothing but necessity will keep me here a moment longer than I have to stay to finish this abominable affair. I am ready to pay you twenty thousand dollars the day that bill becomes a law." ”

“ Mr. Worthington, whose hawklike look had become more pronounced, sat upright, while the Honorable Heth, his legs crossed, filled every nook and cranny of an arm-chair, and an occasional fragrant whiff from his cigar floated out to those on the tar sidewalk. Although the pedestrians were but twenty feet away, what Mr. Worthington said never reached them; but the Honorable Heth on public days carried his voice of the Forum around with him.
"Come on," said Cynthia, in one of those startling little tempers she was subject to; "don't stand there like an idiot." ”

“ Worthington!" said Cynthia, looking after him.
But Mr. Worthington had a worried look on his face, and was probably too much engrossed in his own thoughts to notice his acquaintances. He had, in fact, just come from the Throne Room, where he had been to remind Jethro that the session was almost over, and to ask him what he meant to do about the Truro Bill. Jethro had given him no satisfaction.
"Duncan and Lovejoy have their people paid to sit there night and day,"
Mr. Worthington had said. "We've got a bare majority on a full House; but
you don't seem to dare to risk it. ”

“ Worthington, the only person who comes to mind as one to whose care I can entrust you.”
“But, mother, I may not be wanted there,” and Alice’s lip quivered painfully. “Adaline is a young lady now, and Hugh, what of him, mother? What is he?”
Mrs. Johnson could not tell; neither did she know if her darling would be welcome, but money, she knew, had a charm, and she replied to Alice’s queries,
“You will not go empty handed, nor be a burden to them. They are poor, and money will not come amiss. We can but try at all events, and if they object, Mr. Liston will do the best he can for you. ”

“ Worthington. Well, well, bad storm, isn't it? I had an idea the college didn't open until next week."
"Mr. Worthington's going to stay for supper, Papa," said Susan, entering.
"Good!" cried Mr. Merrill. "Capital! You won't miss the old folks after supper, will you, girls? Your mother wants me to go to a whist party."
"It can't be helped, Carry," said Mr. Merrill to his wife, as they walked up the hill to a neighbor's that evening.
"He's in love with Cynthia," said Mrs. Merrill, somewhat sadly; "it's as plain as the nose on your face, Stephen." ”

“ I heard his mother talking with Aunt Eunice when they thought I was asleep, and it almost broke my heart. He goes without decent clothes, without a fire in his room on wintry nights, goes without every thing, and then ’Lina calls him mean and stingy. The noble, self-denying Hugh! I would almost die for 190him; and I ask God every day to bring him some good fortune at last.”
“I never knew that Mr. Worthington was so straightened,” said Alice. “Was Rocket sold to Col. Tiffton for debt?”
“Yes, for ’Lina’s debts, contracted at Harney’s and for my sick bills, too. ”

“ They belonged to a reserved race themselves; but Cynthia had a reserve which was even different from their own.
As night drew on the predictions of Mr. Worthington seemed likely to be fulfilled, and it looked as if Judge Graves would have a useless bill to pay for gas in the new town hall. The judge had never been a man who could compel a following, and he had no magnetism with which to lead a cause: the town tradesmen, especially those in the new brick block, would be chary as to risking the displeasure of their best customer. ”

“ There wasn't one woman in ten thousand that was what she seemed to be. But even men are not all alike," he continued, with something like a sneer, for when Hugh got upon his favorite hobby, "women and their weaknesses," he generally grew bitter and sarcastic. "Now, there's the one of whom you are continually thinking. I dare say you have contrasted him with me and thought how much more elegant he was in his appearance. Isn't it so?" and Hugh glanced at Adah, who, in a grieved tone, replied:
"No, Mr. Worthington, I have not compared you with him—I have only thought how good you were." ”

“ Worthington's beaver hat, and of that gentleman's first interest in libraries, for Cynthia had told the story to her husband.
“It is perhaps an open secret,” continued Mr. Worthington, “that in the near future I intend to establish a free library in Brampton. I feel it my duty to do all I can for the town where I have made my success, and there is nothing which induces more to the popular welfare than a good library.” Whereupon he shot at Wetherell another of his keen looks. “I do not talk this way ordinarily to my customers, Mr. Wetherell,” he began ”

“ So we all lamented together, a perfect Jérémiade of despair. The overseer is very tender-hearted; he condoled, comforted, and finally determined that if there was any way of getting them off, they should go. A glimpse of sunshine returned to our lowering sky, and cheerfulness reigned once more, to be violently dethroned some hours later. Three of the Madisonville pickets were announced approaching the house. Of course, they were coming after us! Oh, that vile Mr. Worthington! We always did hate him! There was such a sneaky look about him. Hypocrite! we always felt we should hate him! ”

“ Worthington. Suddenly Jake, implike, turned and stared at Worthington.
"Cynthy Ware, the minister's daughter," he said.
"Haven't I seen her in Brampton?" inquired Mr. Worthington, little thinking of the consequences of the question.
"Guess you have," answered Jake. "Cynthy goes to the Social Library, to git books. She knows more'n the minister himself, a sight more."
"Where does the minister live?" asked Mr. Worthington.
Jake pulled him by the sleeve toward the road, and pointed to the low gable of the little parsonage under the elms on the hill beyond the meeting-house. ”

“ He sealed them up in an envelope and addressed it to Miss Wetherell, at the schoolhouse; and handed it to Mr. Flint. That gentleman got as far as the door, and then he hesitated and turned.
"There is just one way out of this for you, that I can see, Mr. Worthington," he said. "It's a desperate measure, but it's worth thinking about."
"What's that?"
It took some courage for Mr. Flint, to make the suggestion. "The girl's a good girl, well educated, and by no means bad looking. Bob might do a thousand times worse. Give your consent to the marriage, and Jethro Bass will go back to Coniston." ”

“ After all, she reflected, why should she not see him—once? He might give her news of Brampton and Coniston. Thus willingly deceiving herself, she told Ellen that she would go down: much to the girl's delight, for Cynthia was a favorite in the house.
As she entered the parlor Mr. Worthington was standing in the window. When he turned and saw her he started to come forward in his old impetuous way, and stopped and looked at her in surprise. She herself did not grasp the reason for this.
"Can it be possible," he said, "can it be possible that this is my friend from the country?" ”

“ It was unfortunate that the first citizen might not always have Mr. Flint by him to restrain and caution him. But Mr. Flint could have no command over his master's sensations, and anger and apprehension goaded Mr. Worthington to indiscretion.
“Jethro Bass told you this!” he cried out.
“No,” Cynthia answered, not in the least surprised by the admission, “he did not tell me—but he will if I ask him. I guessed it from your letter. I heard that he had come back to-day, and I went to Coniston to see him, and he told me—he had been defeated.” ”

“ I should like to marry a poet,” said Miss Duncan, dreamily; “I know they want me to marry Bob, and Mr. Worthington wants it. I'm sure, of that. But he wouldn't at all suit me.”
If Cynthia had been able to exercise an equal freedom of speech, she might have been impelled to inquire what young Mr. Worthington's views were in the matter. As it was, she could think of nothing appropriate to say, and just then four people entered the room and came towards them. Two of these were Janet's mother and father, and the other two were Mr. Worthington, the elder, and the Honorable Heth Sutton. Mrs. ”

“ It was that meeting which shook the serenity of poor Moses, and he learned of it when he went to Jonah Winch's store an hour later. An hour later, indeed, Coniston was discussing the man of leisure in a new light. It was possible that Cynthia might take him, and Deacon Ira Perkins made a note the next time he went to Brampton to question Silas Wheelock on Mr. Worthington's origin, habits, and orthodoxy.
Cynthia troubled herself very little about any of these. Scarcely any purpose in the world is single, but she had had a purpose in talking to Mr. Worthington, besides the pleasure it gave her. ”

“ John Worthington," edited by James Crossley, Esq., F.S.A. (Chetham Society) , contains many letters from Hartlib to Worthington, between 1655 and 1662, but not this one. Mr. Crossley's Diary and Correspondence of Worthington, so far as it has gone, is one of the best edited books known to me, the footnotes being very nuggets of biographical lore; and it is to be regretted that the connected notices of Worthington, Hartlib, and Durie, postponed by Mr. Crossley until the work should be completed, have not yet appeared. ”

“ Unfortunately, he is a man with few facial expressions. But I believe that he was artist enough himself to appreciate the perfections of the first citizen's efforts. After a much longer interval than was necessary for their perusal, Mr. Worthington turned.
“G-guess they'll do,” said Jethro, as he folded them up. He was too generous not to indulge, for once, in a little well-deserved praise. “Hain't underdone it, and hain't overdone it a mite hev you? M-man of resource. Callate you couldn't hev beat that if you was to take a week to it.” ”

“ Tiffton that the day was fixed for the sale of his house, that he had no hope of redeeming it, and that Nell had nearly cried herself into a second fever at the thoughts of leaving Mosside. “Then there’s Rocket,” the colonel had said, “Hugh cannot buy him back, and he’s so bound up in him too, poor Hugh,” and with quivering lip the colonel had wrung Alice’s hand, hurrying off ere she had time to suggest what all along had been in her mind.
“It does not matter,” she thought. “A surprise will be quite as pleasant, and then Mr. Liston may object to it as a silly girl’s fancy.” ”

“ Once their sister, and Terrace Hill would blossom again as the rose. On the whole it was very unfortunate that Mrs. Johnson should have died so unexpectedly, and they did wish John was there to comfort the young girl who, they heard, refused to see any one except the clergyman and Mr. Liston.
“Suppose we telegraph for John,” Eudora said, and in less than two hours thereafter, Dr. Richards in New York read that Alice was an orphan.
There was a pang as he thought of her distress, a wish that he were with her, and then the thought arose, “What if she does not prove as wealthy as I have supposed. ”

“ Men and women an incredible distance away heard them in an incredible time: those in the village found an immediate pretext for leaving their legitimate occupation and going to the store, and a gathering was in session there when young Mr. Worthington drove past it on his way back. Bob thought little about the rumors, and not thinking of them it did not occur to him that they might affect Cynthia. The only person then in Coniston whom he thought about was Jethro Bass. Bob decided that his liking for Jethro had not diminished, but rather increased ”

“ To which no answer was returned.
"Don't yu heer me axes yu whos yu? If yu don't answer white man I'm agwine to sick ole Jube on yu, und run yu outen dis plantashun. Whos yu I sez?" repeated the old negro.
"My name is Mr. Livingtone, a friend of your young mistress, to whom I would be pleased to speak," came the reply.
"I kaint heer nary wurd yu sez, fur ole Jube." "Git outen de way dorg wid your whinin. You jes wait outen dar twell I axes Miss Alice mout yu cum in. What you sez your name is?" again cried the old negro. ”

“ It’ll be a sheame an’ a disgrace to us o’ if we let Worthington’s cut us eawt.”
[The said Worthington was a rival small-ware manufacturer] .
Mr. Ashton had recourse to his snuff-box, and then to his wife.
“My dear, what is to be done? There will be no flag. The painters cannot execute the jobs in hand. Worthington’s have a fine one I hear.”
“No flag! That will never do. We must have a flag. Let me consider.”
Ellen Chadwick was busy helping Augusta to make favours for the men. She looked up.
“Do you not think Mr. Clegg could paint you one?” she suggested. ”

“ She almost shrieked at the last, for she read his feelings in his face, and knew that he despised her.
“Go,” she continued, “find your Adah. It’s nothing but Adah now. I see her name in everything. Hugh thinks of nothing else, and why should he? She’s his sister, and I—oh! I’m nobody but a beggarly servant’s brat. I wish I was dead! I wish I was dead, and I will be pretty soon.”
This was their parting, and the doctor left her room a sobered, sadder man than he had entered it. Half an hour later, and he, with Anna, was fast nearing Versailles, where they were joined by Mr. ”