Gaut Gurley | Page 6

you consider yourself in trim to join them?"
"Your rooms must all be in use, and I should make less trouble to go in
and be lost in the crowd. My trim will not kill anybody, probably," was
the dry reply to the indirect hint of the other.
In all this Mark's better judgment coincided; but he had no moral
courage, and, fearing the cut and color of his somewhat outre-looking

brother's garments might excite the remarks of his fashionable guests,
he would have gladly disposed of him in some private manner till the
company had departed. Finding him, however, totally insensible to all
such considerations, he concluded to make the best of it, and
accordingly at once led the way into the guest-crowded apartments.
Here, contrary to his doubting brother's expectation, Arthur Elwood,
whose character appeared to be known to several of the wealthier
guests, was soon treated with much respect, for, in addition to what a
previous knowledge of him secured, Mrs. Elwood had promptly come
forward to greet him, and be cordially greeted in return, and, unlike her
husband, had not hesitated to bestow on him publicly the most marked
attentions. As soon, however, as she had thus testified her sense of the
superiority of worth over outward appearance, and thus, by her delicate
tact, given him the consideration with the company which she thought
belonged to the brother of her husband, she gracefully relinquished him
to the latter; when the two, by tacit mutual consent, sought a secluded
corner, and seated themselves for a private conversation.
"As I said, I did not expect you, Arthur," commenced Mark Elwood, in
the unsteady and hesitating tone of one about to broach a matter in
which he felt a deep interest. "I was not looking for you here at all,
these days; but presumed, when I wrote you, that, if you concluded to
grant the favor I asked, you would transact the business through the
mail."
"Loans of money are not always favors, Mark," responded the other,
thoughtfully; "and when I make them, I like to know whether they
promise any real benefit. I could, as you say, have transacted the
business through the mail, but I confess, Mark, I have lately had some
misgivings and doubts whether your commercial fabric here in Boston
was not too big and broad for the foundation; and I thought I would
come, see, and judge for myself."
"But I only asked for the loan of a few thousands," said Mark, meekly.
"The fact is, Arthur, that, owing to some bad luck and disappointments
in money matters, I am, just now, a little embarrassed about meeting
some of my engagements; and I trust you will not refuse to give me a
lift. What say you, Arthur?"
"I don't say, but will see and decide," replied the other. "But, Mark," he
added, after a pause, "Mark, what will this useless parade here to-night

cost you?"
"O, a mere trifle,--a few hundreds, perhaps."
"And you think hundreds well spent, when you are wanting thousands
to pay your debts, do you?"
"O, you know, Arthur, a man, to keep up his credit, must display a little
once in a while."
"No, I did not know that, Mark. I did not know that the throwing away
of hundreds would help a man's credit in thousands, especially with
those whose opinion would be of any use to him. But go," added the
speaker, rising, "go and see to your company: I can take care of
myself."
The brothers, rising from an interview in which they had felt, perhaps,
nearly an equal degree of secret embarrassment,--the one believing that
his last hope hung on the result, and the other feeling conscious of
entering on a most ungracious duty,--now separated, and mingled with
the gay throng, who, swaying hither and thither, and, seemingly
without end or aim, moving round and round their limited range of
apartments, like the froth in the circling eddies of a whirlpool,
continued to laugh, flirt, and chatter on, till the advent of the last act of
the social farce,--the throwing open of a suit of hitherto sealed
apartments, and the welcome disclosure of the varied and costly
delicacies of the loaded refreshment tables, which the company, by
their strong and simultaneous rush thitherward, the rattling of knives
and forks, spoons and glasses, the rapid popping of champagne corks,
and the low, eager hum of gratified voices that followed, evidently
deemed the best, as well as the closing, act of the evening's
entertainment.
While this scene was in progress, Gaut Gurley, who had been for some
time in vain watching the opportunity, caught Mark Elwood
unoccupied in one of the vacated apartments, and abruptly approached
and confronted him.
"Well, what now, Gaut?" exclaimed Elwood, with an assumed air