Morton, as he closed the door behind him, and
sauntered lazily out of the house.

Mr. Morton speculated in stocks and town-lots in the same spirit that he
had formerly betted at the racecourse and cockpit in his dear Palmetto
State. It was a pleasant sort of excitement to him, and without excitement
of some kind, he would have found it impossible to exist. To have
frequented gaming hells and race courses in the North would have greatly
impaired his social position; and as he set a high value upon that he was
compelled to forego his favourite pursuits, and associate himself with a
set of men who conducted a system of gambling operations upon 'Change, of a
less questionable but equally exciting character.

Mr. Stevens sat musing at his desk for some time after the departure of his
visitor; then, taking up one of the letters that had so strongly excited
him, he read and re-read it; then crushing it in his hand, arose, stamped
his feet, and exclaimed, "I'll have it! if I--" here he stopped short, and,
looking round, caught a view of his face in the glass; he sank back into
the chair behind him, horrified at the lividness of his countenance.

"Good God!" he soliloquized, "I look like a murderer already," and he
covered his face with his hands, and turned away from the glass. "But I am
wrong to be excited thus; men who accomplish great things approach them
coolly, so must I. I must plot, watch, and wait;" and thus speaking, he
put on his hat and left the office.

As Mr. Stevens approached his house, a handsome carriage drove up to the
door of his neighbour, and Mr. Garie and his wife, who had been enjoying a
drive along the bank of the river, alighted and entered their residence.
The rustle of her rich silk dress grated harshly on his ear, and the soft
perfume that wafted toward him as she glided by, was the very reverse of
pleasant to him.

Mr. Garie bowed stiffly to him as they stood on the steps of their
respective residences, which were only divided by the low iron fence; but,
beyond the slight inclination of the head, took no further notice of him.

"The cursed haughty brute," muttered Mr. Stevens, as he jerked the bell
with violence; "how I hate him! I hated him before I knew--but now I----;"
as he spoke, the door was opened by a little servant that Mrs. Stevens had
recently obtained from a charity institution.

"You've kept me standing a pretty time," exclaimed he savagely, as he
seized her ear and gave it a spit