Weaker Than a Woman #230787

"No: I have not seen him yet. He is gone over to Nun combe He will be pleased. I can take him into partnership now. which is a thing that I have long wished to do. We have had a hard struggle together, Kate, but it is almost over now. I should not have believed that money could make such a difference in any one's sensations. yesterday I felt that the world was my master; to-day I feel that I have mastered the world."<br><br>"We shall be able to go to the sea-side now, and you can take a rest occasionally; and we can get some good port wine for little Nellie."<br><br>The lawyer smiled.<br><br>"And my bonnie Kate shall have a superb dress," ho said, "one that shall make her look young and beautiful to others as she does to me. In truth, Kate, I see no end to the relief, the ease, the happiness, that this unlooked for legacy gives us."<br><br>"We must take Vale House; it is to be let," remarked Mrs. Lonsdale. "It is just such a house as I always longed for; it is so large, so convenient, and has a much better drawing-room than that of the Mertons. What do you think, Darcy?"<br><br>"Yes; I think we might take Vale House. I will go out to-day, and inquire about the rent, rates, and taxes." "What will Mrs. Merton say?" mused Mrs. Lonsdale.<br><br>"Never mind about that," replied the lawyer. "All that we have to do is to enjoy our good fortune. I really do not know, but I think that such a sum of money never made people so happy before. Kiss me, Kate, and we will not forget to thank Heaven together."<br><br>The speakers were Darcy Lonsdale and his wife. Darcy Lonsdale was the principal lawyer in the clean and well-built town of Lilford in Loomshire - a man who had had a hard hand-to-hand struggle with the world. He had been twice married. His first wife died in her twentieth year, leaving an only son, Felix; and ten years afterward the lawyer married again. His second wife was a blithe, bonnie, rosy girl who loved him with all her heart, and thought no one in the wide world so clever, so great, or so good. For his sake she took little Felix to her heart, and loved the dark-haired, handsome boy as much as she did her own children. The lawyer's one drawback was his large family; nearly every year a pretty, rosy, smiling baby appeared, until, as he pleasantly declared, he had ceased to count them, for their number frightened him.