CHAPTER TWO.
"We have gained the day, Mrs Ashton! We have gained the day, girls!"exclaimed Mr Ashton, rushing with his hat on into the smallsitting-room of a red brick house in a dull street of a country town inEngland. Various exclamations broke from the lips of Mrs and theMisses Ashton at this unexpected announcement. For reasons best knownto himself, Mr John Ashton had not informed his wife and daughters ofthe law-suit going on between himself and his relative, Mr PhilipAshton. "Guess the amount!" he exclaimed. That was impossible. "Whatdo you think of six thousand a-year? Every shilling of it, and under mymanagement it will become ten thousand; ay, and more than that,probably." It was some time before the Ashtons could realise the factof this good fortune, as they called it; but as they realised it theirideas expanded, their aspirations increased. Their eldest son, John,lately articled to an attorney, must be entered at Oxford; the second,apprenticed to a draper, was sent off to Germany to grow whiskers and amoustache, lest any of the country gentry should recognise him as havingmeasured out ribbons for them from behind the counter; while theyoungest was taken from the Grammar-school and sent off, much againsthis will, to form aristocratic acquaintances at Eton. The greatambition of the Miss Ashtons was to shine in London society. Theirfather boasted that money could do everything. It enabled him to obtaina handsome house, equipage, and establishment, and then to commencetheir career in the world of fashion. There were three Miss Ashtons.The two eldest were considered beauties; the youngest, Mary, had beenabsent on a visit, and did not return home till her father was on thepoint of setting off for London.
"Father, I wish to speak to you alone," said Mary, on the evening of herarrival. Mr Ashton led the way to his office at the back of the house.He had considerable respect for Mary, though he tried not to show it."Father, I hope that you will not consider I have been wanting in dutyin having refrained from writing what I now wish to tell you," shebegan. Mr Ashton looked uncomfortable, but nodded for her to continue,which she did. "While I was with Mrs Musgrave, at Scarborough, agentleman of our name, who happened to be there with some members of hisfamily, was introduced to me. Mrs Musgrave was much pleased with him--we saw him frequently--he at length proposed to me, and feeling surethat you would approve of him, I accepted him."
"What is his name?" asked Mr Ashton, sharply.
"Philip Ashton;--he is most worthy--most excellent," answered Mary,trembling at her father's tone. "He is all--!"
"He is a beggar!" exclaimed Mr Ashton, vehemently. "You will havenothing more to say to him; you understand me clearly; it is not amatter I wish to discuss." Rising from his seat he led the way out ofthe room.
Two days afterwards Mary received a letter from Philip Ashton, freeingher from her engagement to him in consequence of their alteredcircumstances, but couched in terms which more than ever convinced herthat he was worthy of her best affections. The family arrived inLondon, and by dint of perseverance, managed to engage in a whirl ofdissipation, which they called pleasure. Mary's cheeks grew paler thanthey were wont. Her sisters said that it was the effect of the Londonseason. John, voting Oxford a bore, came to London, and without muchdifficulty, obtained the character of a fashionable young man abouttown. It might have been doubted whether Mr Ashton himself derivedfull advantage from his large income. Few of his guests knew him bysight, and he had often to steal off to bed fatigued with his labours asdirector of numerous promising speculations in which he had engaged toincrease his fortune. Altogether the Ashton family were very busilyemployed. Some might say that they were like those who "sow the wind toreap the whirlwind." We gladly quit them to follow the fortunes oftheir emigrant cousins.