Robert Livingston

“ Did you not know that you were coming to your sweetheart, and that he would care for you?”
“Aye, dear heart, I know,” sobbed the girl, “but I had to lie to my father, and I love him so dearly, Victor.”
“I know that, dearest, but we are going to tell him just as soon as we are married. I cannot wait any longer.”
Oh, Annie Benson, beloved of your father, had you only told your handsome lover that you [16] would rather wait until your parent had given his consent, how much better your life would have been, but, woman-like, you could not refuse the man you love. ”

“ He did not find the girl in when he reached the boathouse. Biddy was making biscuits and singing.
“You are as happy as I am, Biddy,” said the man as he put down his oars upon the dock, and came into the house.
“Of course I’m happy,” replied the woman, “and why should I not be? Why, Tom, have any two people any more reason to be happier than we are? Think of it, Nellie loves us both, and we are saving money by the quart, and our darling is a lady.” ”

“ Gloom seemed to settle over the childish hearts in the home as both boys vied with each other for most of Annie’s attention, and Tom won out, for the little girl could not forget that George had taken money from her dear father, and the lad pondered long over his cousin’s changed attitude.
[13]
The children all went away to school, the millionaire thinking it best to keep his girl from the two boys, who might captivate her childish heart, but little he thought that his ambitions for her would be dashed to the ground by one wave of the tiny white hand. ”

“ The cry in the one word was enough to startle each man. The aged invalid raised on his elbow, and looked into the contorted face. The lawyer was thankful that he had stayed, for he believed and told the doctor afterward that he thought George Benson would have killed his uncle if he had not been there. ”

“ As they were driving home through the cool night air, Nellie was resting in the arms of her lover and husband, and he whispered softly: “Beloved, if it had not been for you, I should still have been in prison. But, thanks to my dear sweetheart, I have her now for a dear little wife.”
Slowly they drove along toward home, and suddenly [188] Helen looked up with a shudder, which was immediately followed by a smile.
“Tom, dear,” murmured she, “if there ever was a man who deserved a good home and wife, it is you, for all your life you have been shrouded by ‘The Shadows of a Great City.’”
THE END. ”

“ George Benson’s face took upon it a terrible expression.
“Oh, you think you are going to see Annie, do you? Well, know the truth, and if it kills you it serves you right, for Annie was here only the other day, begging to see you, and I sent her away starving with her child. She will not see you again, for a thinner girl never applied for alms to any one before.”
“Shame, shame,” cried the lawyer, as the old man toppled back in his bed and covered his face with his hands. “Shame on a man who would torment a dying father. You are a brute, Benson, and I am glad you have been foiled.” ”

“ Jim Farren was of under size, with a brutal-looking face. After the Jew had gone the escaped convict looked his question and Benson said suddenly:
“Don’t you think you’ve a good nerve to come here and ask to get a certain sum of money you did not earn? If you had not interfered with our arrangements fifteen years ago and helped that sailor to escape you would have been all right now. He would still have been serving a sentence and the girl would be dead. You had better go away.”
“I’ve been seeing my Cousin Biddy,” said the man, thinking to gain time. ”

“ There was a quiet marriage between a man and a very pretty woman. The minister kissed the charming little bride and wished her many happy years. But Nellie noticed that he looked curiously at the bridegroom’s closely-shaven head. Of course, Tom would not wait for his happiness. He persuaded Nellie that the sooner they were married the better. All that the girl wanted before her marriage was to see the two men who had tried to ruin her life, dealt with according to law and then she consented to get married. ”

“ Impatiently George Benson sat down, for he had not patience with this imbecile old man.
“I would not waste my energy upon the ungrateful girl,” said he, “for she does not seem to care, or why should she not answer your letters? It is shameful for a daughter to be so undutiful.”
There was something in the young man’s tone that caused the millionaire to look keenly at him.
Then he closed his lips upon the words that were about to fall. He was upon the point of confiding how Tom was going after Annie, but the rich man noticed a glitter in the blue eyes, and he said nothing. ”

“ The girl ceased her laughing and came forward.
“Well, I don’t care, George Benson; Tom’s as good as you are any day. That’s what he is.”
“Nobody said he wasn’t,” contemptuously replied the lad, “but he can’t fight.”
Tom was watching George out of the corner of his eye, trying to determine whether it would be well to go at it again, when the girl spoke:
“Never you mind, Tommy; you come with me, and I’ll ask papa for twenty-five cents, and then we will go to the candy store.”
The boy addressed as George Benson followed Tom and the girl. ”

“ I am paying the servants well.”
“Women are not to be trusted,” commented Nathans, “for when you think you know just what they are doing that is the time you get fooled.”
Benson made no reply to this.
“The only thing I want,” went on the Jew [159] angrily, “is some of the money I’ve let you have the past fifteen years and before that time. Now, get a hustle on yourself, and don’t keep me waiting any longer. ”

“ Just at this moment a woman came in with a clock in her hand.
“What will you give for this, Abe?” asked she. “Now, don’t be tight about it, for the girl I’m a-selling it for is almost starved to death, and I am going to pay her rent.”
“Oh, you’re like all the rest, Higgins,” blurted the broker, “always got some reason why you [55] should have money, more money than any one else. You would have me in the poorhouse if you had your way.”
“But I must have two dollars for this,” insisted the woman. “Please, Abe, it will save a woman from being turned out.” ”

“ Then he sent for his nephew after his valet had put him in bed, and said:
“If Tom Cooper comes here, he is to be refused admittance; also notify the bank that he is to be discharged.”
After George Benson heard this he went down stairs, and with a malicious smile upon his face wrote the letter, and as he dropped it in the mail box, he said to himself:
“So you will find the girl, will you, Tom Cooper? We will soon see what your future will amount to.” ”

“ He cared not a picayune if Jim stayed in prison all the rest of his days, but he wanted to get the child whose mother was the daughter of the millionaire Benson, and there must be no mistake.
“Rich,” replied Arkwright, as he held the large gate open for the Jew to pass through; “I should think so. They have more money than they know what to do with,” and as the Jew walked away he waggled his beard after the manner of his race. ”

“ Biddy shook the bed with hearty laughter.
[158]
“You’ve got the brain,” said she softly, and then they fell asleep.
Old Nathans was so angry about the coming of Nellie upon the scene that he stormed every time he came to the Benson home.
“You are a fool,” raved he, “a perfect fool. Long ago you ought to have settled this affair, instead of calling upon me for such large amounts. Now then, unless you get some of that girl’s money or get her out of the way, we will both be ruined. She is a crafty witch.” ”

“ She never had had a brother, and now to find this young lad whom she had taken into her heart like one should be found wanting was hard to bear.
“You are sure, Tommy dear?” asked she plaintively.
“More than sure, for he offered me five dollars and I wouldn’t take it.”
“Good for you, Tom,” replied the girl, “and for that I’ll marry you when you get to be a man. You are a good fellow, Tommy.”
Annie Benson was the only child of her father, her mother having died long ago. ”

“ What’s the use of being rich if one cannot do as they wish to?”
“And you don’t love your old Biddy less for all the money you have, me darlint?” cried the woman.
[150]
“Indeed I do not,” said Nellie; “the only thing concerns me now is my dear Tom.”
“Oh, you’ll get him out all safe,” said the woman; “don’t you worry about that.”
“Well, how can I help it,” asked Nellie, “when I know that dear fellow is languishing over on that Island for something he did not do? Now then, Biddy, did you ever see any man look as handsome as he did when he took off those whiskers? The horrid things ”

“ Let’s have our supper, and then I’ve got a story to tell you.”
“One of your fairy stories, Tom?” laughed the girl. “I always liked them when I was a little girl, and what a wilful child I was, wasn’t I?”
“You were a sweet child, Nellie,” said Tom, “and now Biddy is calling saying that her biscuits will be cold if we don’t go to supper.”
[112]
The meal was hardly over before Nellie broke out: “What makes you people so awfully quiet to-night? Is it your fairy story, Cousin Tom?” ”

“ In 1759, Livingston's father died, and his funeral obsequies were performed in all the pomp and attended with all the expense customary in colonial times. These took place in New-York. The lower apartments of most of the stores in Broad-street, where he resided, were thrown open—a pipe of wine was spiced—there were eight pall-bearers, and to each was presented a pair of gloves, a mourning ring, scarf and handkerchief, and a spoon. ”

“ Livingston, relieved of the care of the other ladies of his party, watches his valet, assisted by two maid-servants in caps, carrying the hand-satchels, shawls, and minor baggage of the party to the car, then turns his glance towards Miss Travenion. The savageness leaves his eyes, and a little soft passion takes its place. They follow the movements of the girl with prim rapture, as well they may. ”

“ An ill death may thou die!
Thou micht hae taen anither woman,
And let my lady be.'
=
D
=
BONNIE Annie Livingstone
Was walking out the way,
By came the laird of Glendinning,
And he's stolen her away.
The Highlands are no for me, kind sir,
The highlands are no for me,
And, if you wad my favour win,
You'd take me to Dundee. ”

“ Livingston was twice married. His first wife, Mary McEvers, whom he married on the 10th of April 1788, died on the 13th of March 1801. In June 1805 he married Madame Louise Moreau de Lassy (d. 1860) , a widow nineteen years of age, whose maiden name was Davezac de Castera, and who was a refugee in New Orleans from the revolution in Santo Domingo. ”

“ The library was scattered, the philosophical apparatus destroyed, and the college buildings shared with troops quartered in the establishment; yet young Livingston left college a good scholar. He was a member of the fourth Congress, and there made himself remarkable by his exertions to ameliorate the criminal code of the United States, then as sanguinary as those of the Old World. In 1801 he returned to the practice of his profession of the law in New-York, but was not long permitted to decline public life. He was appointed attorney of the state of New-York, and mayor of the city. ”

“ He evinced a paternal pride in the adulation she everywhere received as a woman. At his request she stood as godmother to his wife's great niece, Mary Donalson, now Mrs. Wilcox, who was born in the White House during his term of office.
On their return to America, in 1835, both the Livingstons and Bartons made their home at Montgomery Place at Barrytown on the Hudson, an estate of three hundred acres, which Mr. Livingston had inherited from his sister, Mrs. Montgomery, the widow of General Montgomery, of Revolutionary fame. ”

“ Go set some more fires in the tannery; you'll soon find that'll get you nowhere but in jail!"
"We've set no fires, Mr. Varr," answered Maple with dignity. "On the contrary, sir, the three of us here now were amongst them who helped to put out the fire last night. You've no call to blackguard honest men. As for starving in the gutter, sir—"
He stopped speaking to reach in his pocket and draw out a few small bills, which he held up for Varr's inspection, and at a nod of his head, his two companions also produced money from their trousers. Simon glanced at it and sneered. ”

“ Livingston, having committed himself to the steamboat and holding a monopoly of navigation on the waters of New York State, could hardly be expected to give a willing ear to a rival scheme, and no one then seems to have dreamed that both canal and railway would ultimately be needed. Livingston, however, was an enlightened statesman, one of the ablest men of his day. He had played a prominent part in the affairs of the Revolution and in the ratification of the Constitution; had known Franklin and Washington and had negotiated with Napoleon the Louisiana Purchase. ”

“ Livingston's remarkable memory for minute details and his ability to recognize peculiarities in volumes with which he was unfamiliar had long been an important asset which did much to give the house its preëminent position among American dealers in rare old books. These qualities combined with the instinctive confidence which every one who dealt with him felt in his frankness and sincerity, gave the new firm an unassailable position. ”

“ He went on musingly to quote a local aphorism. "What Varr says, goes!"
"That's right," concurred the pessimist glumly. "I reckon we took on a pretty big contract when we started to buck Simon Varr!" He wagged his head despondently. "Why—a man might as well try to buck Gawd!"
Charlie's face came out from behind the tomato and his eyes swept the other with fiery scorn. "Gettin' cold feet, huh? Mebbe you'd like to git down on your knees an' crawl back to th' old skinflint? The rest of us started out to do somethin' an' I guess we'll stick. Ain't that so, boys?" ”