you, sir? In just three hours,” was the cheering answer. “Then my business is ruined!” groaned the unhappy man. However, this fretfulness at length wore away, and the three resigned themselves to wait, as patiently as might be, for the arrival of the next train. Mrs. Lawrence went into the waiting room, while Mr. Lawrence and Will spent most of the time out on the platform, gazing at the stars and the signals along the railway-track. After Mr. Lawrence had talked himself hoarse about the signs of the zodiac, the perfection of signals used on the railways, and the stupendous power of steam, he determined to improve the remaining time by reasoning with his son on the sin of carelessness. Will—whose ears were ringing with such terms as spherical bodies, solar immensity, eternal revolutions, average momentum, preternatural velocity, lunar cycles, semaphorical[31] warnings, and planetary systems—sighed on this change in the conversation, for he loved sonorous phraseology, but listened humbly. After a long lecture, in which he touched upon various matters not pertinent to his subject, Mr. Lawrence made a dark allusion to his “ruined business,” and then wound up with these words: [31] “Will, if you continue in your present course, I am afraid your end will be as terrible as your uncle Dick’s.” “What became of Uncle Dick, pa?” eagerly inquired the boy, thinking that the subject would again be changed. Poor boy! he felt his guilt, but he winced under his father’s polysyllabic reprimands. “Listen, Will,” said Mr. Lawrence, “and I will give you a short account of your uncle. Uncle Dick, my brother, was an eccentric man; good-natured, but credulous, and always making blunders. In that particular, he was not unlike you; but his blunders were far more serious in their results than yours. Early in life he made a large fortune by lucky speculations. One day he drew all his money from the banks and collected all that he could from his debtors—for what purpose I never knew; for, no sooner did he get his wealth into his own hands, than both he and it vanished, and nothing has since been seen or heard of either. Some suppose that he was robbed and murdered in the approved way; others, that he left the country, to return unawares at some future time; while a few unprincipled barbarians maintain that he has lost his mind. I, myself, think that by some great blunder, or unlucky speculation, he lost all his wealth, and prefers to stay
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