SETTLING ACCOUNTS.

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CHAPTER XI.

"Alas! and must another fill thy place,
My gentle mother! Must the stranger sit
Where thou wert wont to gather to thy feet
Thy little ones in twilight's stilly hour,
Long, long ago!"

1

THE next morning in the discharge of her domestic duties, Grace had need of a certain unliquidated bill, which, from having some distrust of the justice of a portion of its claims she had laid before her father as requiring his special inspection.

Mr. Hamilton examined the document at his leisure, told his daughter that he commended her for having brought it under his supervision, but stated also that the items, though exorbitant, were not incorrect, and that therefore she might settle the affair as soon as she pleased. The bill remained where Mr. Hamilton had examined it-namely, in his dressing-room, and thither Grace went to seek it when it became necessary to enter the amount in her account book which she wished to balance that afternoon. It did not lie on the table where she had last seen it. She lifted the letter-weight and carefully examined the various papers underneath, but her search was unsuccessful. She looked round the

124

A TREASURE DISCOVERED.

room, trying to think in what quarter it would most likely be stowed away. There was a small drawer in a cabinet opposite the fire-place, where loose papers were generally thrown; she had often found accounts there, which her father after examination had neglected to return to her. She opened it, but a few memoranda and some old dingy letters were all that she could find. Again she reflected, it might be underneath the tray of Mr. Hamilton's dressing-case, which was always left unlocked and never contained anything of a private nature. She lifted the tray slowly, pausing to admire the exquisite gold chasing of the various cases and bottles, though she had seen it a hundred times before; but there was the missing document, and eagerly taking possession of what had given her so much trouble she was about to lower the tray, when her eye caught some morocco cases new from "Storr and Mortimer's." Without a moment's reflection she took them into her hands, and with very pardonable curiosity opened them; for she doubted not that the contents were intended for herself, her father being in the habit of presenting his daughter from time to time with various articles of jewellery, of greater, or lesser value. There were two cases, a ring and a bracelet case. Grace opened the first, it contained a splendid ring, set with opals, and one magnificent diamond of the purest water. Grace knew enough of the value of such things to form a faint estimate of the price. She had never known her father so extravagant, though he had promised her some pearls, that were to cost no insignificant sum.

PREMATURE CONCLUSIONS.

125

She tried on the sparkling ring, it was rather too small for any finger but the little one, and for that it was far too large. "What a pity! well! it could be altered as soon as her father presented it." Next, she inspected the bracelet. It was an affair of the most exquisite workmanship, set with very valuable sapphires. Grace clasped it on her arm, it looked very beautiful, only she wished the sapphires had been rubies; they would have suited her black hair and her dark complexion so much better. Then she wondered when her father would present them, and how long they had been lying there awaiting a transfer to her jewel-box. Her curiosity was quickly gratified, the bill laid beside them. They had been purchased and paid for only the preceding day, and the price was considerably more than she had anticipated. Slowly she put back the costly baubles into their soft nests of white satin, and fastened the cases; then she closed the dressing-box once more, and with the missing bill returned to her accounts. One thing troubled her; she wished now she had not opened the tempting morocco cases, and yet she had been more than woman had she left them uninspected. course they were for herself; there was no one else for whom Mr. Hamilton would think of selecting trinkets; and she had but forestalled his generous intention by a few hours, or it might be a day or two, Still she felt very uncomfortable and inclined to blame herself for the part she had taken; for her father she knew would remember perfectly where he had placed the bill, and would certainly infer that in taking

Of

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BUSINESS HABITS.

possession thereof she must unavoidably have seen the jewels, and doubtless have given them her serious attention. 'Then he would be vexed to find his intended surprise would be no surprise at all, and most likely displeased, for Mr. Hamilton could not bear his minutest plan to be overturned. Grace wished with all her might that she had not thought of looking for the missing document in the right place; but time was flying, and the housekeeping accounts still unbalanced; and on a certain day in every month Mr. Hamilton expected to see Grace's accounts made up and laid on his dressing-room table. Not that he ever cared to examine them, it mattered not how much money Grace spent; so that everything procured was of the first quality, and so that nothing was wanting to the completeness and recherché style of her mènage. But it was his way; he had a great idea of exactness in money matters, and from their earliest years his children had been trained scrupulously to account for every sixpence entrusted to their care. The habit had grown up with all three, and Ernest and Grace still adhered to it without any reluctance; but Captain Hamilton found it often so very inconvenient and as he declared such a bore, that he preferred daring his father's wrath on the count of disobedience to astounding him with sundry items, which he had no conception of whatever. Here it must be remarked that Captain Hamilton, who was furious with her Majesty's ministers on the score of public expenditure and private misappropriation, had not the remotest compunction at the state of his own particular

accounts. He used up his cash and wondered where it had flown; his individual finances were always, as he himself said, in such a jumble and scramble that he never knew exactly what he possessed. Sometimes he owed a great deal more than he had anticipated, sometimes considerably less; sometimes he paid ready money for divers articles and forgot all about it, and then stood looking in comical dismay at his empty purse. So that for a steady, moral, well-conducted young man, Captain Hamilton's cash account was anything and everything but what it ought to be.

That day passed away; Mr. Hamilton neither presented his daughter with the discovered trinkets nor appeared to miss the tradesman's bill which had been placed with them. On the following evening, there was to be rather a stylish party at the Dovers, and, excepting Lady Leslie and Miss Clayton, they were all to spend the evening, according to the invitation, which had been accepted some days before. Grace very naturally imagined that her father was reserving the ornaments for this special occasion, and while she was arraying herself for the evening, she expected every moment to hear her father's personal servant stop at her door, with this message, "If you please, ma'am, Mr. Hamilton's compliments to Miss Hamilton, and he wishes to see Miss Hamilton in his own room, before the carriages come round!" But no such Mercury making his appearance, Grace completed her toilet, and descended to the drawing-room there to await the remainder of the party, who had not been quite so expeditious as herself.