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Show JUCIIAIW IIUHDTS. 11nd punisl1ing !tis return to the patl•s of virtu e. Not to do tMs work faithfully to t!JO~C who sent mr, ·was to incm l1is risk; :md tl1i8 wa8 a position iuto wl•ich, with IHY cyc8 Oj•en, 1 had gone of my own !• end. It was uo sma ll addition to my a nnoyance, tl1at, in prosccu. tiug tl•c search into Eberly's conduct, I was ministeri11g to tl1c mean m:dicc of Haller n11d tl10 open hate of 1\Intthew 1Vebber. Bnt tl•crc was no room for hesitation 1ww. I was to go for. wnrd, or f;dl. My l10pc, as well as purpose, wns for the best; my resolution to do noll•ing wrong. J\Iy task wns to steer wide of injury to others, anll of risk to myself-no easy tnsk, witl1 so many vill:tins around me. A sentence or two of the dialogue wl1ich so interested me !nay be well enongh repeated l1erc. It will be supposed that wl1at was said must lmve hnd the effect of lifting the destined youth in my consideration : it certainly placed him in a more favorable light tl1an could well be claimed fOr one found in such a connection. "He is become too mclancltoly for any business at all," said VV ebbe1·, "and least of all for snell a business :1s ours. Set him to watch for n traveller, m1d l1c plnys wit}, fl1 e leaves, twists the vines round his finger, writes in the sand, and sighs nil the while ns if his heart were Lreaking." "\Vl1y, he lws suffered himt;('.]f really to fall in love with the girl!'' exclaimed l!'ostcr. "\VImt nn nss !" "So he is; and that is pcrlw.ps his chief offeucc, since a m:m who is an :t!:is can never Le a good knave - certa inly never a successful one," ·was tltc reply of \V eLLer. "True enough, J\Iatdtcw," said Foster, "Lut tlds is tl•c poor fellow 's misfortune. In this condition l•c cnn do notl1ing for ]Jimsclf nny more than for us. Will l•c marry tbe girl?" "If l1c can." "And can he not 1" "Y cs, I think l1c may-he might if l1c could keep Ids secret. But it is my fear that he can not keep Jlis secret. His heart has got the better of his hend-his conscience of his ncccss i· tics; and tlu~se gloomy fits wl1ich l1c lws now so constantly not only tnake him neglectful of our interests and his duties, but will, I am dubious, precipitate him into some folly which will be the undoin~ of aU of us. You kno''.' ~bo ~~ws, Clem~mt Foste~ ; 'l'IIg TOO CO~BCIEN'J'IOUS U!WTI!Eil. 325 don't you think he could get clcnr of j ustice, by telling all l1c knows about us?" "P!:ihaw! what does he know? nnd who would believe him, uulrss he gnve us up to justic.::c-unlcss he brought the l10u ncls to our cover 1-and even that would Uo little, unless he could point out and Jlrove particulnr acts. \Vhat does he know of me, or you 1 'Yo could prove him a liar by a cloud of witnesses whom he never saw, wLo could go into court and swear everythin g.' ' "True enough; but that we s1JOuld get clenr does not do away with his ofiCnce, should l1e endeavor to involve us." "Dy no means-but wherefore should he seck to do so1 - what could be his object 1 llis own CXJlOsurc follows, or, in. deed, precedes ours; and for a man to. prove himself a knave, merely to show that his neighbor is just as bad, is thrice-sodden folly." " w· ell, such is always your conscientious fool." "llut Eberly is a fool of love, 1\Iat, and not of conscience." "..,\ nd fOols of love, Foster, arc very apt to be fools of con. science." "lly no means : tl•cy arc tho greatest knaves in tl1e wide world, llllll worse hy pocrites tlwn a jJO l'k.eating p:nsou ! They lie or do anything to get tl1e woman; for j)USsiou was never yet a moralist." "Well-I don 't know-but Eberly hns done notlJing for some time p~t st. lie has let several matters slip through his fingers. There wns an nffnir-only two weeks ago- that nearly swamped us all, from his not com in~;. :1ccording to promise." "\Vl•at affair? something I l1avc not heard of?" "Yes. 'l'herc were two larks that were hitched at my l10n se, or rather that we tried to hitch. One of them got ont of tho noose, and thumped l3•·eton over l1is nwzzm·d so that the bridge of his nose is broken dowu for ever. He got off as far as the 1 Day lllind,' and there wns tumbled by a stranger-a fellow that we sent after, and made sure of. I told you something already of tl•c matter." Here WllS something to confound me. W cbbcr evidently nl! u~ed to the affair of William and myself; yet he spoke of my |
