The Yacht Club | Page 3

to be in her on the first trip."
"I should, for one; but I suppose it is no use for me to think of it. My
eyes are ever so much better, and I hope I shall be able to sail in the Sea
Foam soon."
"I hope so, too. We expect she will beat the Skylark; father thinks she
will."
"I don't care whether she does or not," laughed Nellie.
"Do you think I could see your father just a moment?" asked Donald. "I
only want to know whether or not he will go with us."
"I think so; I will go and speak to him. Come in, Don John," replied
Nellie, rising from her lolling-chair, and walking around the corner of
the house to the front door.
Donald followed her. The elegant mansion was located on a corner lot,
with a broad hall through the centre of it, on one side of which was the
large drawing-room, and on the other the sitting and dining-rooms. At
the end of the great hall was a door opening into the library, a large
apartment, which occupied the whole of a one-story addition to the
original structure. It had also an independent outside door, which
opened upon the piazza; and opposite to it was a flight of steps, down

to the gravel walk terminating at a gate on the cross street. People who
came to see Captain Patterdale on business could enter at this gate, and
go to the library without passing through the house. On the present
occasion, a horse and wagon stood at the gate, which indicated to Miss
Nellie that her father was engaged. This team had stood there for an
hour, and Donald had watched it for half that time, waiting for the
owner to leave, though he was not at all anxious to terminate the
interview with his fair schoolmate.
Nellie knocked at the library door, and her father told her to come in.
She passed in, while Donald waited the pleasure of the rich man in the
hall.
He was invited to enter. Captain Patterdale was evidently bored by his
visitor, and gave the young man a cordial greeting. Donald stated his
business very briefly; but the captain did not say whether he would or
would not go upon the trial trip of the Sea Foam. He asked a hundred
questions about the new yacht, and it was plain that he did not care to
resume the conversation with his visitor, who walked nervously about
the room, apparently vexed at the interruption, and dissatisfied thus far
with the result of his interview with the captain.
What would have appeared to be true to an observer was actually so.
The visitor was one Jacob Hasbrook, from a neighboring town, and his
reputation for honesty and fair dealings was not the best in the world.
Captain Patterdale held his note, without security, for thirteen hundred
and fifty dollars. Hasbrook had property, but his creditors were never
sure of him till they were paid. At the present interview he had
astonished Captain Patterdale by paying the note in full, with interest,
on the day it became due. But it was soon clear enough to the rich man
that the payment was only a "blind" to induce him to embark in a
doubtful speculation with Hasbrook. The nature and immense profits of
the enterprise had been eloquently set forth by the visitor, and his own
capacity to manage it enlarged upon; but the nabob, who had made his
fortune by hard work, was utterly wanting in enthusiasm. He had
received the money in payment of his note, which he had expected to
lose, or to obtain only after resorting to legal measures, and he was

fully determined to have nothing more to do with the man. He had said
all this as mildly as he could; but Hasbrook was persistent, and
probably felt that in paying an honest debt he had thrown away thirteen
hundred and fifty dollars.
He would not go, though Captain Patterdale gave him sufficient excuse
for doing so, or even for cutting his acquaintance. The rich man
continued to talk with Don John, to the intense disgust of the speculator,
who stood looking at a tin box, painted green, which lay on a chair.
Perhaps he looked upon this box as the grave of his hopes; for it
contained the money he had just paid to the captain--the wasted money,
because the rich man would not embark with him in his brilliant
enterprise, though he had taken so much pains, and parted with so
much money, to prove that he was an honest man. He appeared to be
interested in the box, and he looked at it all the time, with only an
impatient glance occasionally at