he keeps his breakfast warm for him, and gets up to let him
in when he has staid later than usual at the Ridge House, where he is a
frequent visitor, for he and Allen Browne are fast friends and boon
companions. Together they ride and drive, and row on the lakes around
Allington; together they smoke and lounge on the broad piazza of the
Ridge House, but Neil never drinks or plays with Allen, or any one else,
for his aunt made it a condition of her friendship, that he should never
touch a drop of anything which could intoxicate, or soil his hands with
cards, even for amusement. The shadow of that awful tragedy at Monte
Carlo is over her still, and she looks upon anything like card-playing
as savoring of the pit.
Allen Browne is a young man of elegant leisure, who takes perfumed
baths, and wears an overcoat which comes nearly to his feet, and a
collar which cuts his ears. He is a graduate from Harvard, and his
mother says his 'schoolin' has cost over fifteen thousand dollars,
though where under the sun and moon the money went she can't contrive.
Mrs. Rossiter-Browne is very proud of her son and of her daughter, the
Lady Augusta, who comes home nearly every summer with a retinue of
servants and her little boy, who calls himself Lord Rossiter-Browne
Hardy, and Neil Jerrold, when he is angry with him, "a little Yankee,"
while Neil promptly returns the compliment by calling him a
"freckled-faced paddy."
In the old home on Beacon street, Mrs. Geraldine still affects her air
of exclusiveness and invalidism, although a good deal softened and
improved by the grandchildren, of whom she is very fond, and whose baby
hands and baby prattle have found their way to her heart, making her a
better because a less selfish woman.
In the street and among men Burton Jerrold holds his head as high as
ever, for all his shame and dread are buried in the grave under the
white cross at Stoneleigh Cottage, where Bessie spends every summer,
with her children, and where Grey spends as much time as possible. He is
a man of business now, and many go to him for counsel and advice, and
this, except in the hottest weather, keeps him in the city during the
week. But every Saturday afternoon the Jerrold carriage, with Bessie and
the children in it, stands behind the station waiting for the train, the
first sound of which in the distance is caught up and repeated by Neil
and Robin, while Baby Bessie claps her hands and calls out, "Papa is
coming." An
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