"We have gained the day, Mrs Ashton! We have gained the day, girls!"
exclaimed Mr Ashton, rushing with his hat on into the small
sitting-room of a red brick house in a dull street of a country town in
England. Various exclamations broke from the lips of Mrs and the
Misses Ashton at this unexpected announcement. For reasons best known
to himself, Mr John Ashton had not informed his wife and daughters of
the law-suit going on between himself and his relative, Mr Philip
Ashton. "Guess the amount!" he exclaimed. That was impossible. "What
do you think of six thousand a-year? Every shilling of it, and under my
management it will become ten thousand; ay, and more than that,
probably." It was some time before the Ashtons could realise the fact
of this good fortune, as they called it; but as they realised it their
ideas 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 a
moustache, lest any of the country gentry should recognise him as having
measured out ribbons for them from behind the counter; while the
youngest was taken from the Grammar-school and sent off, much against
his will, to form aristocratic acquaintances at Eton. The great
ambition of the Miss Ashtons was to shine in London society. Their
father boasted that money could do everything. It enabled him to obtain
a handsome house, equipage, and establishment, and then to commence
their career in the world of fashion. There were three Miss Ashtons.
The two eldest were considered beauties; the youngest, Mary, had been
absent on a visit, and did not return home till her father was on the
point of setting off for London.
"Father, I wish to speak to you alone," said Mary, on the evening of her
arrival. 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 duty
in having refrained from writing what I now wish to tell you," she
began. Mr Ashton looked uncomfortable, but nodded for her to continue,
which she did. "While I was with Mrs Musgrave, at Scarborough, a
gentleman of our name, who happened to be there with some members of his
family, was introduced to me. Mrs Musgrave was much pleased with him--
we saw him frequently--he at length proposed to me, and feeling sure
that 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 have
nothing more to say to him; you understand me clearly; it is not a
matter I wish to discuss." Rising from his seat he led the way out of
the room.
Two days afterwards Mary received a letter from Philip Ashton, freeing
her from her engagement to him in consequence of their altered
circumstances, but couched in terms which more than ever convinced her
that he was worthy of her best affections. The family arrived in
London, and by dint of perseverance, managed to engage in a whirl of
dissipation, which they called pleasure. Mary's cheeks grew paler than
they were wont. Her sisters said that it was the effect of the London
season. John, voting Oxford a bore, came to London, and without much
difficulty, obtained the character of a fashionable young man about
town. It might have been doubted whether Mr Ashton himself derived
full advantage from his large income. Few of his guests knew him by
sight, and he had often to steal off to bed fatigued with his labours as
director of numerous promising speculations in which he had engaged to
increase his fortune. Altogether the Ashton family were very busily
employed. Some might say that they were like those who "sow the wind to
reap the whirlwind." We gladly quit them to follow the fortunes of
their emigrant cousins.