And oh on the verge of
that same gulf how the siren had sung! A chance of clearing five
thousand dollars by investing that amount presented itself to Leonhard:
it was one of those investments which will double a man's money for him
within three months, or six months at latest. The best men of A---- were
in the enterprise, and by going into it Leonhard would reap every sort
of advantage. He might give up teaching music, and confine himself to
the studies which as an architect he ought to pursue; and to be known
among the A--- landers as a young gentleman who had money to invest
would secure to him that social position which the music-lessons he gave
did no doubt in some quarters embarrass.

It was while buoyed up by his "great expectations," and flattered by the
attentions which strangely enough began to be extended toward him by
some of the "best men"--who also were stockholders in the new
sugar-refining process--that Leonhard took a room at the Granby House,
and began to manifest a waning interest in his work as a music-master.

This display of himself, modest though it was, cost money. Before the
letter quoted was written Leonhard had begun to feel a little troubled:
he had been obliged to add two thousand dollars to his original
investment, and the thought that possibly there might be a demand for a
yet further sum--for some unforeseen difficulty had arisen in the matter
of machinery--had fixed in his mind a misgiving to which at odd moments
he returned with a flutter of spirits amounting almost to panic.

On the promenade he met Miss Ayres. She stood before the window of a
music-dealer's shop, looking at the photograph of some celebrity--a tall
and not too slightly-formed young lady, attired in a buff suit with
brown trimmings, and a brown hat from which a pretty brown feather
depended. On her round cheeks was a healthy glow, deepened perhaps by
exercise on that warm afternoon, and a trifle in addition, it may be, by
the sound of footsteps advancing. Yet as Leonhard approached, she,
chancing to look around, did not seem surprised that he was so near. Not
that she expected him! What reason had she for supposing that from his
office-window he would see her the instant she turned the corner of
Granby street and walked down the avenue fronting the parade-ground? No
reason of course; but this had happened so many times that the meeting
of the two somewhere in this vicinity was daily predicted by the wise
prophets of th