Arthur might have complied with her request; he might even have forgiven her taking lessons of his valet and honoring him as a nobleman, for he was aware that other ladies had been deceived by Martin, and that his own sex had favored the impostor because he pretended to a title; but, as she extended her hand in token of amity, his eye caught a brilliant on her finger; he knew it was one of the banker's jewels.
"That was the gift of Martin," said he.
"Of the Count de Verger," she stammered.
Arthur bade her good-morning.
The next day he left Boston, but not before he had learned that the count had decamped, leaving his landlord's bill and sundry loans of money from honorable men undischarged.
"It will teach me wisdom, I hope," said one gentleman. "I will never again lend money to the count when I would not trust it to the man."
Arthur Lloyd was blamed by some prudent people for the abruptness of his proceedings in the affair, as it severely wounded the feelings of the Markleys. Arabella did not recover from this shock till after she learned that Mr. Lloyd had wedded the pretty Ellen Gray, when she sent him a congratulating letter, which ended their correspondence.
I wish I could describe the course Arthur Lloyd is now pursuing without incurring the charge of personality. There are so few like him that the picture would be instantly recognized. But I can repeat two of his favorite maxims.
The first, "We must educate our sons to consider the title of Republican a prouder boast than the highest order of nobility that implies subjection, and requires homage to a mortal."
Second, "We must train our daughters to respect talent in a man more than money, and a character for usefulness more than a showy exterior; to consider their countrymen superior to the men of every other nation; and, above all things, never to receive the present of a ring, except from a near relative or an accepted lover."