156 TRUE RICHES; OR,

 

breast rising and falling rapidly; then she turned
off, and went slowly, and with a grieving heart, from
the room.

Jasper sighed heavily as the child passed out of
sight; and rising up, began moving about with a
slow pace, his eyes cast upon the floor. The more
he dwelt upon the visit of Martin—whom, in his
heart, he had wished dead—the more uneasy he felt,
and the more he regretted having let him depart in
anger. He would give twice ten thousand dollars
rather than meet the exposure which this man could
make.

Riches was the god of Leonard Jasper. Alas!
how little power was there in riches to make his
heart happy. Wealth beyond what he had hoped
to obtain in a whole lifetime of devotion to mam-
mon, had flowed in upon him in two or three short
years. But, was he a happier man? Did he enjoy
life with a keener zest? Was his sleep sweeter!
Ah, no! In all that went to make up the true
pleasure of life, the humble clerk, driven to pro-
longed hours of labour, beyond what his strength
could well bear, through his ill-nature and injustice,
was far the richer man. And his wealth consisted
not alone in the possession of a clear conscience
and a sustaining trust in Providence. There was
the love of many hearts to blesshim. In real house-
hold treasures few were as rich as he.

But, in home treasures, how poor was Leonard
Jasper ! Poor to the extreme of indigence! The love
of his children, reaching toward him spontaneously
its tendrils, he rejected in the selfish devotion of every
thought and feeling to business as a means of ac-