Confession - Page 23/274

"And so you are a lawyer, Edward? Well, who would have thought of

it? It must be a very easy thing to be made a lawyer."

Julia looked at me with eyes that reddened with vexation. I felt

my gorge rising; but when I reflected upon the ignorance, and

the unworthy nature of the speaker, I overcame the disposition to

retort, and smilingly replied:-"It's not such hard work as bricklaying, certainly."

"Ah," she answered, "if it were only half so profitable. But Mr.

Clifford says that a lawyer now is only another name for a beggar--a

sort of genteel beggar. The town's overrun with them--half of them

live upon their friends."

"I trust I shall not add to the number of this class, Mrs. Clifford."

"Oh, no! I know YOU never will, Cousin Edward," exclaimed Julia,

with a flush upon her cheeks at her own temerity.

"Really, Julia," said her mother, "you are very confident. How do

you know anything about it?"

The sharp glances of rebuke which accompanied this speech daunted

the damsel for a moment, and her eyes were suddenly cast in confusion

upon the ground; but she raised them with boldness a moment after,

as she replied:-"We have every assurance, mother, for what I say, in the fact that

Cousin Edward has been supporting himself at another business, while

actually pursuing the study of law for these three years; and that

very pride about which father spoke today, is another assurance--"

"Bless my stars, child, you have grown very pert on a sudden, to

talk about guaranties and assurances, just as if you was a lawyer

yourself. The next thing we hear, I suppose, will be that instead

of being busy over the 'Seven Champions' and the last fashions,

you, too, will he turning over the leaves of big law-books, and

carrying on such studies in secret to surprise a body, as if there

was any merit or good in doing such things secretly."

Julia felt that she had only made bad worse, and she hung her head

in silence. For my part, though I suppressed my choler, the pang was

only the more keenly felt for the effort to hide it. In my secret

soul, I asked, "Will the day never come when I, too, will be able

to strike and sting?" I blushed an instant after, at the small and

mean appetite for revenge that such an inquiry implied. But I came

to the support of Julia.

"Let me say, Mrs. Clifford, that I think--nay, I know--that Julia

is right in her conjecture. The guaranty which I have given to my

friends, by the pride and industry which I have shown, should be

sufficient to convince them what my conduct shall be hereafter.

I know that I shall never trespass upon their feelings or their

pockets. They shall neither blush for nor lose by their relationship

with Edward Clifford."