And what's life but a dance, too, where, twisting and twirling,
We jostle each other, to get through the ball!
THE MAN WITH THE CLUB FOOT.
TALE (THE SECOND) OF ST. LUKE'S.
"You must know, sir, that our family is of very distinguished origin. My father was descended from the ancient L——s, of L—— Hall, in Leicestershire; my mother is from the sole remaining branch of the renowned family of Maxwell;—of course you must remember, sir, what great actions have been achieved by the Maxwells in olden time?"
"My memory is not very good in such particulars," said I, to the elegant young man with whom I was speaking; "pray proceed with your narration, and never mind your ancestors."
"Not mind my ancestors!" returned L——, a little angrily; "but perhaps you are right, sir, after all; the living ought to claim our attention more than the dead. Well! we were left in the deepest distress,—my excellent mother, and myself, her only child. I will not trouble you in detailing how my poor father, by a hundred improvident and extravagant ways contrived to dwindle down his property; too proud to embark in any profession except the army, and afterwards too poor to enter it. He died of—of—a broken heart when I was about twelve years old. I did nothing but devise schemes after this event to retrieve our wretched circumstances when I became old enough. A thousand plans, wild and visionary, passed through my brain; I could not sleep at night for projects and inventions. I became fevered, restless, taciturn, irritable, and absent. One day, when I had arrived at the age of fifteen, on returning from a solitary walk, weary and exhausted, with a lump of clayey substance, wrapped up carefully, in my hands, which I had extracted from the side of a canal at a great distance from my home, believing it to contain some most precious qualities which might lead to my making a rapid fortune, I was forcibly struck with the extreme dejection of my mother, and the want of all preparation in our little parlour. I could not understand it at first; but the truth came home slowly, heavily upon my heart. She had no longer the means of procuring her son and herself another meal!" Here L—— paused, and looked for sympathy.
"Did not the distress of your mother rouse you, L——, into immediate action?" said I.
"No, sir," replied my companion, with an emphasis that made me start; "would you have had a son of the ancient house of L—— go and work upon the highway? to degrade himself with trade? or——"