THE VILLAGE MILLIONAIRE. BY MISS LAMONT, AUTHOR OF "THE FORTUNES OF WOMAN." "And do you think them shames, which are nought else, But the protractive trials of great Jove, To find persistive constancy in man? The firmness of which metal is not found HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN, 1854. 249. W. 130. THE VILLAGE MILLIONAIRE. CHAPTER I. "No, my dear love is not the child of state, To this I witness call the fools of Time!" SHAKSPEARE. Ir was just at the time when what has been last recorded of Harriet and Gordon had taken place, that Colonel Aveley again mentioned to Lady Anne his desire to make his VOL. III. B final arrangements respecting his property. Her spirits sank at the allusion to his death more than even on former occasions, so that in the hope of rousing and amusing her, he confided to her his schemes for the young pair. He was much gratified, and he thought it highly complimentary to Gordon that, in spite of her leaning to the aristocratic in general, she joined him heartily in praising him. She looked on the young Scotchman, she said, as one of the most rising young men whom she had ever known; she doubted not his attaining the very highest honours of his profession. In reply to the Colonel's observations on his virtues, his truthfulness, his bravery, his talents, she remarked that Gordon was a good name; that it had been borne by many distinguished military men, and that according to the usages of Highland clanship, his family must be considered as a branch of the great Gordons. Talked of |