“I must have turned white in my relief, for he threw his head back and laughed in a low unmusical way that at any other time would have affected me unpleasantly. But my only thought then, was to get the money back and rush with my new hopes into the room from which came the low ceaseless hum of his daughter’s voice. But at the first movement of my hand towards him, he assumed a mysterious air, and closing his fingers over the notes, said:
“‘These are yours, to do what you wish with, I suppose?’
“I may have blushed, but if I did, he took no notice. ‘What I wish to do with them,’ returned I, ‘is to shut them up in the bank for the present, at least till Ona is my wife.’
“‘Oh no, no, no, you do not,’ came in easy, almost wheedling tones from the man before me. ‘You want to put them where they will double themselves in two months.’ And before I could realize to what he was tempting me, he had me down before his desk, showing me letters, documents, etc., of a certain scheme into which if a man should put a dollar to-day, it would ‘come out three and no mistake, before the year was out. It is a chance in a thousand,’ said he; ‘if I had half a million I would invest it in this enterprise to-day. If you will listen to me and put your money in there, you will be a rich man before ten years have passed over your head.’
“I was dazzled. I knew enough of such matters to see that it was neither a hoax nor a chimera. He did have a good thing, and if the five thousand dollars had been my own—But I soon came to consider the question without that conditional. He was so specious in his manner of putting the affair before me, so masterful in the way he held on to the money, he gave me no time to think. ‘Say the word,’ cried he, ‘and in two months I bring you back ten thousand for your five. Only two months,’ he repeated, and then slowly, ‘Ona was born for luxury.’
“Paula, you cannot realize what that temptation was. To amass wealth had never been my ambition before, but now everything seemed to urge it upon me. Dreams of unimagined luxury came to my mind as these words were uttered. A vision of Ona clad in garments worthy of her beauty floated before my eyes; the humble home I had hitherto pictured for myself, broadened and towered away into a palace; I beheld myself honored and accepted as the nabob of the town. I caught a glimpse of a new paradise, and hesitated to shut down the gate upon it. ‘I will think of it,’ said I, and went into the other room to speak to Ona.
“Ah, if some angel had met me on the threshold! If my mother’s spirit or the thought of your dear face could have risen before me then and stopped me! Dizzy, intoxicated with love and ambition, I crossed the room to where she sat reeling off a skein of blue silk with hands that were whiter than alabaster. Kneeling down by her side, I caught those fair hands in mine.
“‘Ona,’ I cried, ‘will you marry me? Your father has given his consent, and we shall be very happy.’
“She bestowed upon me a little pout, and half mockingly, half earnestly inquired, ‘What kind of a house are you going to put me in? I cannot live in a cottage.’
“‘I will put you in a palace,’ I whispered, ‘if you will only say that you will be mine.’