e bestowed upon him, and look upon it as the first and
priceless object on earth, and but second to one above in heaven!

The lovers remained in this silence, which spoke more than words could
have done, until the entrance of a tall and venerable looking
gentleman of about fifty years of age. As soon as he entered, they
rose up together, the young lady addressing him as "father," and the
young man as "doctor."

"How are you, Harry, my boy? give me a kiss, Em'," he said, in one
breath, as he shook the young man warmly by the hand and pressed a
parental kiss on the brow of his daughter. "Pretty warm weather,
this," he continued, speaking to the young man; "it is almost
stifling."

"Suppose we step out on the balcony, pa," said the young lady; "it is
much cooler there."

"Ha, ha, ha," he laughed; "you had not found that out until I entered.
However," he went on, "do you both go out there. I am certain you will
do better without than with me."

His daughter blushed, but made no reply, and the young man removing
two chairs to the balcony, they both left the old gentleman, who,
turning up the gas, proceeded to read his evening _Mississippian_.

Dr. James Humphries was one of the oldest and most respectable
citizens of Jackson, and was looked upon with great esteem by all who
knew him. He had been a medical practitioner in that city from the
time it was nothing more than a little village, until railroad
connections had raised it to be a place of some consequence, and the
capital of the State. He had married when a young man, but of all his
children, none remained but his daughter Emma, in gaining whom he lost
a much-loved wife, she having died in child-birth.

At the time we write, Emma Humphries was betrothed to Henry
Shackleford, a young lawyer of fine ability, but who was, like many of
his countrymen, a soldier in the service of his country, and been
elected first lieutenant of the "Mississippi Rifles."

We will now leave them for the present, and in the next chapter
introduce the reader to two other characters.

CHAPTER SIXTH

The Spectator and Extortioner.

Mr. Jacob Swartz was sitting in the back room of his store on Main
street counting a heap of gold and silver coins which lay on a table
before him. He was a small, thin-bodied man, with little gray eyes,
light hair and aquiline nose. He was of that nationality generally
known in this country as "Dutch;" but having been there for over
twenty years