ntleman,
and would explain it all to your satisfaction."

Mrs. Chapman expressed herself highly gratified at what she had heard.
But in order to put the matter beyond question, and to prove to her
entire satisfaction that he was not only an innocent, but a much injured
gentleman, Gusher returned on the following day armed with a large
number of letters, some of them sealed with great seals, the writers
setting forth that they had known the young gentleman from his birth
up, that he was of irreproachable character, and his parents very
distinguished people.

Of course the Chapmans were entirely satisfied. Indeed Mr. Gusher so
turned his guns on Mr. Romer as to make his position extremely
uncomfortable. Both were guests at the old City Hotel, where Gusher was
a great favorite with all the young ladies, and to whom he related his
difficulty with Romer. In short, he so enlisted their sympathies in his
behalf that they were ready to join him in ejecting Romer from the house
as a slanderer. One said what a mean thing he must be to slander the
handsome young foreigner in that way. A second tossed and turned her
head aside when she met him, and pouted her pretty lips to let him know
what she meant. A third refused to return his bow, while a fourth gave
him the cut direct. There was no standing up against such a storm of
female indignation as he now found blowing about his ears. He saw, also,
that to have attempted to sustain his charges with proof would only be
sheer folly. In short, there was nothing for the plain young outspoken
American to do but surrender the field to the handsome young foreigner
and his female admirers, seek respectful treatment beyond the sound of
their voices--and wait.

CHAPTER XXIX.

CHANGED CIRCUMSTANCES.

Oh, what a sweet charm there is in hope. How it beguiles the ambitious
lover, causes him to build castles he finds crushed at last under his
disappointments. How gently it lifts the drooping heart into an higher
realm of cheerfulness, still gilding and brightening the future. Day
after day and week after week it carries the timid, desponding soul over
its sea of trouble and disappointment, and pictures its love-dream in
colors more and more beautiful. How it ensnares us, and then betrays us
with its false visions of future bliss. It beguiles both you and me with
its featly spun tales of fame and riches, which it weaves so ingeniously
into its fascinating web.

Such were the thoughts