Tempest and Sunshine

As they neared the Queen City, they noticed at one of the stations a tall,

intelligent, but rather reckless-looking young man, who entered the cars

and took a seat directly opposite them. There was something peculiarly

attractive to Raymond in the confident, self-possessed manner of the

stranger, and ere long he had, to use a Yankee expression, "scraped

acquaintance" with him, and learned that his name was Henry Ashton, and

that he too was on his way to Frankfort, where he resided. As the young

man told his name, Raymond turned to Stanton and said, "I should think

that you'd feel acquainted with this gentleman, you are so partial to his

name."

Stanton did not answer, and Raymond proceeded to question Mr. Ashton about

Frankfort and its inhabitants. "By the way," said he, "are there any

pretty girls there? Substantial ones, I mean, who have a purse long enough

to pay a fellow for the trouble of marrying them?"

Mr. Ashton smiled and answered, "Yes, we have a good many, and rich ones

too; but the belle of the city when I left was a Mrs. Carrington--"

"The plague it was!" interrupted Raymond, "and can't we get rid of her

husband somehow? Won't he die of yellow fever, cholera or something? Or is

he a gouty old wretch, who will live forever?"

"You prevented me from telling you," said Mr. Ashton, "that Mr. Carrington

has died since I left there. But you will hardly win this fair, haughty

lady, unless you can plank about a million. But there are other faces

quite as pretty, I think. There is a Julia Middleton, who is attending

school. She is a great beauty, but, if report speaks truly, she would keep

you busily employed in curbing her high temper."

"No matter about the temper--has she got the dimes?" said Raymond.

"About one hundred thousand dollars, I think," answered Ashton; "but one

would need to be paid that much for having such a fury as she is, and such

a queer old rat as her father."

He then proceeded to enumerate some of Mr. Middleton's oddities, at all of

which his auditors laughed heartily, and expressed their determination to

make the old man's acquaintance as soon as possible. When the young men

reached Cincinnati, they concluded to take the stage route to Lexington

and Versailles, and to pay Mr. Middleton a visit before they proceeded to

Frankfort. Accordingly on Thursday afternoon, just as the sun was setting,

they entered Mr. Middleton's yard, where they were received by the dogs,

with just such a demonstration of anger as had greeted Mr. Wilmot more

than a year before.