THE PRINCE OF MANNIS MANOR.
Havelock, the home of Hon. Walter Mannis, is a beautiful village
situated in a valley surrounded by lofty hills. The place is not a busy
one, but the home of many old and wealthy families who reside there
during the summer months. The streets are lined on either side with
well-grown shade trees, and the handsome residences are surrounded by
spacious grounds tastefully laid out.
Mannis Manor had passed down from father to son for four successive
generations, each inheritor marking his ownership with additions or
alterations until the fine old house displays architectural styles of
different periods of the past century. Walter Mannis inherited this old
manor and its two hundred acres, beside a fortune in cash of over a
quarter of a million dollars. Having been in possession about ten years,
with so much money at his command, is it strange that he had devoted
much of his time to pleasure and dissipation?
Both parents dying during his childhood, in the conduct of household
matters he was dependent upon a house-keeper, an inmate of the old manor
many years before he became its owner.
Mrs. Culver felt her responsibility, and considered it her privilege
as well as duty to keep a motherly eye upon the young master. One of
those good souls found in every community, she enjoyed her work, and
her word about the manor was law. Mannis humored her whims, for she was
a most valuable member of his household. She was sixty years of age,
prudent, systematic, orderly, thoroughly competent and trustworthy.
While carefully managing household affairs, she devoted much time to
the supervision of farm duties, acknowledging no authority except the
master himself, who had great confidence in her ability. Looking after
his domestic comforts, she kept his suite of rooms in perfect order;
regulated his wardrobe, and saw every garment kept in repair. She
occasionally scolded him for extravagance in dress, and he received her
severe words good-humoredly, for he really loved the kind, motherly
attention bestowed upon him. In sickness she was a valuable nurse, and
her closet of "yarbs and nostrums" a curiosity. With cup and spoon in
hand ready to dose a patient, she was supremely happy. She was proud of
"her Walter," although the young man caused her many hours of anxiety.
At college he had sought merry young men for associates, and as he was
provided with plenty of money he had no trouble to find them. Witty,
vivacious, and eloquent, these brilliant adjuncts made him a lion in
society, young men seeking him, while the ladies felt honored at his
attention. He was a great flirt, and his conquests of hearts were
frequent, yet he never until now had surrendered his own. While his eye
sparkled with intelligence, it did not impress a student of human nature
as being the eye of an honest man; even children could sometimes see in
it something that made them distrustful.
He enjoyed the gay life money enabled him to follow, and much of his
time was passed away from home. During the winter his abiding-place was
the great metropolis. Allowing himself to be led to palatial gambling
dens, he played, and lost heavily, yet his passion was not cooled by
reverses. Wall Street tempted him, and his ventures at first returned
him fair margins, but his later investments were unsuccessful. Becoming
interested in politics, he was twice elected member of assembly, and his
manner, fortune, and intellectual qualities made him a great favorite at
Albany.
The legislator who can gain the personal friendship of his associates
can accomplish more than the cold, dignified man, so often elected
simply to give character to his constituency. Mannis was not only a good
debater on the floor, but a "powerful persuader" between sessions, and
could accomplish more with members from the "rural districts" than any
man in either house. The farmer members looked upon him as a kind of
deity. He flattered them, and when they were unable to frame a bill in
presentable shape, assisted them, and thus won their regard, though for
his own part he felt that many buckwheat producers had been spoiled by
sending an equal number of farmers to the State Legislature.
Mannis was well adapted to politics, and really liked its excitements.
Having served two terms, he was only prevented seeking a renomination
because it had been the custom to alternate the office, every two years,
between the northern and southern part of his assembly district. He
seriously thought of overthrowing this old time-honored custom, but
friends persuading him to wait or look for something higher, he turned
his aspirations to Congress, and was trying to educate his forces to
assist in the consummation of this wish.
In business speculations he was seldom successful, for money invested
in many enterprises always returned him less than he put in. His losses
troubled him, and he was often haunted with the idea that he would
eventually become a poor man. Investing in government bonds and drawing
the interest at stated intervals was too slow a way of making money.
Observing friends gaining fortunes by speculation, he felt that he too
could make money in the same way.
At the time this story began he had lost half his fortune in speculation
and gambling, and realized that his available funds were gradually
passing from his hands. His farm yield, though not enough to help him
out of his difficulty, was, thanks to the management of Mrs. Culver,
sufficient to support his household without making drafts on his bank
account. But his extravagant private expenses worried and caused him
hours of anxious thought.
"There's nothing else to do," he would say to himself; "I must make a
wealthy marriage. With a fortune and a wife I can save myself and keep a
life-lease on the old manor."
It was this thought that actuated him partially in his desire to
wed Belle Hamblin. While he admired her brilliant personality,
and confessed that he was never before so charmed with a lady, he
acknowledged to himself that her father's fortune was necessary to save
him from the financial disaster which he feared.
He sat in his room one evening smoking a cigar and thinking. All about
were evidences of his æsthetic taste. Bric-à-brac crowded the mantels,
while many fine pictures adorned the walls. Easels, arranged with a view
to throwing light upon the works they held, were on all sides. Oriental
rugs lay on the floor, while the luxurious furniture about the apartment
seemed to coax the visitor or inhabitant to lounge upon soft cushions.
Curtains of costly material hung before the large plate-glass windows,
and as the afternoon sun peered through them it saw a picture of which
the owner of the apartment was not the least handsome part.
A servant entered with a number of letters, which Mannis hastily
shuffled through his fingers as if they had been cards. His eye quickly
detecting the one he was looking for, he dropped the rest, and said:
"Here it is: let me see what the Senator has to say. What a man he
is! He seems to be as infatuated with me as I am with his beautiful
daughter. Well, I am infatuated with her; she is certainly the most
charming creature I ever met; and I am determined to win with her her
father's fortune also, for I have no father of my own to return to, and
have the 'fatted calf' business done for me. Let me see what Hamblin has
written."
Opening the letter, he read it carefully through, then smiled and said:
"Yes, he will do anything to rid himself of Alden. When I proposed
entrapping him he was startled, but now can hardly wait for my
suggestions. He hates Alden; he is ambitious that his daughter shall
make a brilliant match; he thinks me the personification of brilliancy,
and, by Jove, he doesn't miss it much. Ah, Senator, if you knew how I
was running through my fortune you would change your mind. This is a
very good joke you are playing on yourself."
Returning to his letters, he opened another, when his countenance
suddenly changed, and he exclaimed:
"Great God! I am almost ruined!"
He arose, and for a moment walked the room without uttering a word, when
he suddenly stopped and said:
"Fifty thousand dollars gone at once! I must raise the money somehow to
pay what I have borrowed. What a fool a man is when he is not satisfied
to reach forth his hand and pluck the ripe fruit hanging near him,
instead of letting his appetite for the unattainable ruin him. What can
I do? I cannot mortgage the estate, for that would expose me at once.
But how can I raise the money--that is, who--will--lend--it--to--me?
S-h-h! I have it. I can raise it in New York on the notes of my friends,
and my friends need never know it. It is a desperate game, but my estate
is good for it, and in an emergency men do many queer things."
He walked the room in a nervous manner, running his fingers through his
hair, rubbing his hands together, and occasionally saying words that are
not in the dictionary.
"It is the old story," he resumed. "I've killed the goose that laid
the golden eggs. Well, there is one trick left in my hand, and that is
Belle Hamblin. I will go to work at once and help the Senator get rid
of Alden. I will go to Cleverdale on the evening train. The girl has a
strong will, and is very correct in her ideas of right and wrong; if she
hears that Alden is a defaulter she will shed a few tears and never wish
to see him again. He must be sacrificed; so the quicker the better."
Ringing the bell, a servant appeared.
"Tell Mrs. Culver I desire to see her immediately."
In a few moments Mrs. Culver entered, and said:
"What do you wish, sir?"
"I am going away this evening, and will be absent a few days."
"But you don't look well; are you sick? I am afraid you are not taking
care of yourself. I have been fixing some medicine for you, which you
must take before going away. Young men are so careless, they don't know
how to take care of their health."
"I am all right. Don't trouble your kind heart about me. I need fresh
air and out-door exercise, and a two-day jaunt will tone me up. Tell
Henry to hitch up the sorrels and take me to the seven-thirty train
this evening. I shall take a nap first, as I have a headache, and after
a light supper shall be ready to start. So, never mind your doctor's
stuff. If I am not well on my return you shall have two days' enjoyment
dosing me."
When the evening train left Havelock it bore away Hon. Walter Mannis,
who had previously sent a dispatch to Senator Hamblin stating that he
would be at the Cleverdale Hotel after the arrival of the evening train.
On his arrival he was greeted by Hamblin. A few remarks were made
concerning politics and business, when Mannis said:
"I received your letter while preparing to leave for Cleverdale. From
it I learned you have not changed your intention concerning Alden. You
still mean to get rid of him?"
"Yes, he must be put out of the way, for since his promotion he is
more obnoxious to me than ever. No time must be lost, for he is a more
frequent visitor at my house than before. He must be dropped as soon as
possible."
"Draw your chair closer to mine: we must speak low and be guarded. You
ask what I have to suggest. My plan is this: Sargent, you say, will
do anything you desire: well, is he a good penman, and can he imitate
handwriting?"
"Yes, he is an expert at that business."
"Good! now for it. He must alter the bank books, and make it appear that
Alden has embezzled five thousand dollars."
"Great God!" exclaimed Hamblin.
"Don't start, Senator; it is a desperate game, but it's often been
played successfully. You say you shall get him out of the way at all
hazards: well, this plan will effectually dispose of the ambitious young
man."
"Suppose he shows fight?"
"He must be allowed to run away. You can work that up. The affair can
be kept between yourself, Sargent, and Alden, and when the latter is
exposed you can feign sympathy, telling him if he will leave at once the
affair will remain a secret. Yes, you can even offer to loan him the
money to pay the deficiency. Make the evidence so strong against him
that he cannot possibly see a way of escape, and if I know anything of
human nature he will run away rather than be exposed."
"Suppose he should first see my daughter, and she should advise him to
remain and face the danger."
"It must be done when she is absent from home. You must find some
pretence to send your wife and daughter on a visit to friends, or else
send them to New York."
"You are a shrewd fellow, Mannis, and no mistake."
"A shrewd rogue, you mean."
"No, I do not. In this affair I am but doing the duty that a father owes
to his child. She is in danger of being sacrificed to an adventurer who
only wants her father's money. But she shall be saved."
The plotters talked a while longer about the matter; then Senator
Hamblin withdrew, and Mannis said to himself:
"Now my case does not seem as desperate as it did."
And as Senator Hamblin stepped into the street, he said:
"I don't like this affair at all, but I am losing heavily, and the
ventures I have lately made have turned out bad. Mannis' fortune added
to my own will save me from disaster. Poor Belle must be temporarily
made unhappy, but when she finds herself the wife of Hon. Walter Mannis
perhaps she will thank me for saving her."
Perhaps the state prisons will one day hold the great rogues instead
of small ones, but they did not do it in 187-, or the above recorded
conversation could not have taken place.