FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103  
104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   >>   >|  
ould do as he pleased." This insolent demand was not seconded by Mr. Moncton, and I took no further notice of it. That my uncle had a game of his own to play, when he took me from the obscurity of the office and introduced me into society, I was now more than ever convinced. Whilst in the presence of his son he treated me with marked attention and respect, which rendered my situation far more trying and irksome, as I mistrusted the designs of the one and detested the other. I felt that Mr. Moncton acted thus, on purpose to annoy Theophilus, and make him feel the weight of the resentment, which for good reasons he dared not openly express; while he praised my talents and application to business, on purpose to rouse the envy and hatred of my cousin. One afternoon, as we were sitting over the dessert, Mr. Moncton as usual addressed his conversation exclusively to me, which irritated Theophilus to such a degree, that he turned suddenly to his father, and exclaimed with much violence: "You seem, sir, to forget you have a son?" "Yes, when that son forgot what was due to himself, and to his father's house." "You have to thank yourself for _that_," was the insolent reply. "I have trod too closely in your own footsteps, and followed too strictly the honest principles of my father." He laughed bitterly. "It seems strange, that you should be surprised, that such an example should have produced corresponding effects upon the mind and character of your son." Shocked at this horrible speech (for in spite of its awful truth, it seemed terrible from the mouth of a son,) I looked from Theophilus to his father, expecting to see the dark eye of the latter alive with the light of passion. But no--there he sat, mute as a marble statue; it was frightful to contemplate the glossy stare of his glittering eye, the rigid immobility of his countenance. "Heavens!" I mentally exclaimed, "can he be insulted in this manner by his only son, and remain thus calm?" But calm he was, without even attempting a reply, whilst his insolent son continued. "By heaven! if you think that advancing that puppy into my place will bend me to your purpose, you grossly deceive yourself. I pity the stupid puppet who can thus sneak to his bitterest enemy, to obtain a position he could never rise to by his own merit. Silly boy!--I laugh at his folly, our shallow policy, and his credulity." The words were scarcely out his mouth, when I sprang from
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103  
104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

father

 

Theophilus

 

purpose

 
insolent
 
Moncton
 

exclaimed

 
marble
 

statue

 

passion

 

frightful


contemplate
 

immobility

 

countenance

 

Heavens

 

mentally

 
glittering
 

glossy

 

horrible

 

speech

 
Shocked

character

 
looked
 

expecting

 

produced

 

terrible

 

effects

 

insulted

 
position
 

bitterest

 

obtain


scarcely

 

sprang

 

credulity

 

shallow

 

policy

 

puppet

 

attempting

 

whilst

 

continued

 

manner


remain

 

notice

 

heaven

 

grossly

 

deceive

 

stupid

 
advancing
 

surprised

 

strange

 

reasons