MR . HENRY GOWEN.
BY MRS. C. K. POWNELL.
"WHAT a lovely girl Emma Wharton is," said Charles Lawrey to a chance acquaintance whom he happened to meet in the street, and as the young man spoke he glanced his eye across the way to a young lady whose graceful step and elegant figure attracted universal attention.
" Ah ! is that Miss Wharton ?" said Mr. Henry Gowen, the person whom he addressed, " I've heard she is rich ; but there's no knowing certainly now-adays, since if a girl has but a thousand dollars she is made an heiress by the popular report." "I do not pretend to know how wealthy Miss Wharton is," replied Lawrey with some coldness. " She is an old acquaintance, but I have never troubled myself about her riches." "Faith, now, that's the first thing I would trouble myself about. There isn't a girl I have known for a month, a knowledge of whose fortune I haven't at my fingers' ends. It don't do to throw oneself away on an angel without a sixpence. Catch me at it." Mr. Henry Gowen spoke frankly. He made it his business to ascertain, at the earliest possible period after an introduction, the exact fortune of every single lady whom he honored with his acquaintance- we say honored, for as Mr. Henry Gowen had a few thousands of his own, and was thought to be the handsomest man in his family, he considered it quite a condescension in him to make the acquaintance of any lady. On marrying a rich wife he was fully resolved. That such advantages as his should be thrown away on a penniless girl | was not to be thought of, and if ever a hawk had a keen eye for its prey Mr. Henry Gowen had one for an heiress. From what Charles Lawrey had said, the fortunehunter suspected that Miss Wharton was really worth more than he had at first suspected, so he lost no time in making her acquaintance, and, as a matter of course, began to prosecute his enquiries as to her wealth, with what effect will appear from the following conversation held with Charles Lawrey about a month subsequent to the preceding interview. "I can tell you all about Miss Wharton ," said Gowen, as they met in the street. " Ah !" "Yes ! I soon ferreted it out. Leave me alone for an enquiry such as this is. Miss Wharton is worth exactly | one hundred and ten thousand dollars, in ground-rents, mortgages, and houses. She has also twenty thousand dollars in stocks. Her income must be at least seven thousand dollars-a very pretty pill as times go. And then she's deucedly handsome. Faith ! I've made up
31
my mind to make love to her, so if you know any body who has an eye that way you can give him a friendly hint that it's no use," and Mr. Henry Gowen pulled up his shirt collar with all the coxcombry and conceit of a finished exquisite. There might have been seen a look of surprise on the face of Lawrey when his acquaintance first announced his intentions toward Miss Wharton, but this expression quickly subsided into a quiet smile, which also soon passed away, so that ere Mr. Henry Gowen had finished speaking, the countenance of his hearer had assumed its usual composed appearance. " Pray, when do you intend to bring matters to a crisis ?" asked Lawrey. " In a month at farthest. When I've once made up my mind I lose no time ; and I flatter myself that I've already made a considerable impression on Miss Wharton." "You conceited coxcomb !" muttered Lawrey to himself, and, after a few common place expressions they parted. 66 Emma," said Lawrey that evening, as he entered the parlor where sat his betrothed, " who do you think is about to aspire to your hand, or rather to your fortune, for it seems he has found out that you have one ?" "Who ?" said the lovely girl, " oh ! surely you must mean Mr. Gowen- he is the only fortune-hunter among my acquaintance," she added laughing, " and now I recollect he has been acting very killingly of late, and has even gone so far as to send me this piece of verse- poetry he calls it." -Lawrey took the manuscript and read the poem, laughing with Emma over it. At length he spoke. "As no one knows of our engagement, dearest, this fellow has made me his confidant, and told me to warn any body that it would be useless to pretend to your hand, while he is in the field. What think you of that Emma ?" Emma's fine eyes flashed. "I will bring down his coxcombry yet, with your permission, dear Charles. The impudent fellow ! For the sake of my sex I ought to expose him. Pray, did he honor you with the exact amount of my fortune ?" "To the very cent, a piece of information I never possessed before. I wondered where he learned it, for his minute particularity convinced me that he spoke with authority ; but to-day as I was going to Court, I met the clerk of the Surrogate, who called me to him. He asked me if I knew you , and then if I knew Gowen, for,' says he, that gentleman has been here looking at the late Mr. Wharton's will, and calculating from it the daughter's fortune. Now, I do not know Miss Wharton, but I think she ought to be acquainted with this.' So you see, Emma, your suitor has it all by the card."
