As a man lives.

Chapter I

“Yon are the one to blame, Stella; to say such unkind things of Janet. She is not rich like you, and her one dollar is more to her than your ten are to you. ,,

“Well, I despise poverty, and everything connected with it, and I was going to add, good people also, but I will make an exception in your case, Belle, for I sometimes think I almost love you, although you are forever pulling me up, and making me think meanly of myself.”

“Does anyone ever do that ? ” said Gladys. “I thought you were supreme in your own estimation, and superior to all of us in every way. But don’t let us quarrel. What are you going to give Miss Wise for her birthday? We have collected fifty 1

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dollars, and have not been half through the school yet, nor asked any of the younger children for contributions.”

“ Get a silver-mounted travelling bag,” said Stella, “it would only cost a hundred dollars, and if the youngsters come forward handsomely, we shall get that much.”

Just then the door opened and Janet came into the room.

“Oh, girls!” she said. “I have an idea if you are all willing. I was passing by Reggie’s door a moment ago, and heard the doctor say as he was leaving, ‘The child must go to the sea before the hot weather comes, or I will not answer for the consequences.’ Now I was thinking that as we have not decided on a present for Miss Wise, it would be nice to make up a purse, enough to defray the expenses of Reggie’s trip. What do you all say to that ? Miss Wise has so many to care for ; there is her invalid mother, and her aged father, besides Reggie and the home she has started for poor girls. I feel sure

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that she will only sacrifice herself, instead of taking the rest she needs, if she has to pay Reggie’s expenses at the sea-shore.”

“Well, I for one, do not agree to it;” said Stella. “The child is nothing to us, and I will not give this money for sick children.”

“Shame!” cried all the girls. “Then you can take your money back, for Reggie’s trip will not cost nearly so much as the travelling bag, and we can do very well without your contribution.”

So it was decided that the child should go to the sea, and Stella’s money was returned to her, for all the girls declared they would not have it.

These four girls were the eldest pupils in the school, and when vacation came they would leave “Richmond House ” and Miss Wise, never to return as students.

Stella Ramona was a Spanish girl, rich, haughty, domineering, and not at all a favorite in the school.

Belle was a tiny creature, the daughter of a clergyman, not pretty,

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but with a sweet face and gentle winning ways, which made all the girls regard her affectionately.

Gladys was the daughter of a rich merchant. She had a happy nature, that would be a sunbeam in any home, rich or poor. The girls said that her very hair was sun-kissed; (it was golden brown in fact.) She had laughing grey eyes, and her figure was prettily rounded.

Janet was an orphan, and had been placed in the school by a gentleman who called himself her uncle. She was a stately girl, very dignified and graceful, but with a face too sad to be called beautiful, although the features were clear cut, and the cast patrician.

The girls were gathered in Stella’s room. Wide windows looked out upon the lovely California landscape, a long stretch of rain-washed meadows, delicately green, low hills veiled in brilliant evening haze, and sunsetglowing skies. Janet sat looking out with silent appreciation, upon the familiar beauty of the scene. Inside

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all was equally brilliant, for Stella loved bright colors. She was reclining now on a couch half buried in silken cushions of every hue. Belle was nestled in a big armchair, her white dress thrown into strong relief by the black fur rug which covered her seat. Gladys was swinging energetically in the hammock which was stretched across the alcove.

Miss Wise had furnished the rooms neatly, but plainly, and the girls had finished the decorating according to their own tastes. Stella’s room was like the boudoir of an oriental beauty ; Gladys’ chamber plainer, colder, but equally well furnished; Belle’s little room had been turned into a white bower, with inexpensive curtains and rugs, while Janet’s room remained as she found it — neat but bare.

“Richmond House” was a highclass boarding school for girls, just outside the pretty town of Milford, and within a few hours’ ride of San Francisco*

Reggie, the subject of the dispute among the girls, was Miss Wise’s

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nephew, a little crippled boy, whose mother and father were dead. He had been ill for some time with slow fever and attendant weakness and the doctor had ordered him to the seaside. Through the kindness and generosity of the girls, he was able to go with his aunt, for when they heard Janet’s story they all doubled their contributions.

The little fellow was delighted. He had never seen the sea, and had no idea what it was like, except from the pictures he had seen and stories the girls had read to him. He imagined that it was going to make him strong and well, and that soon he would be able to do everything like other boys.

After the commencement exercises the girls separated for their homes, and Reggie went to the sea, where he lay all day upon the warm sand, watching the waves break over the children’s naked feet, and dreaming of the time when he too could run and play with the rest. And health and strength crept slowly into his veins with the California sunshine.

Chapter II

Fifteen years before our story opens a gentleman and a lady were walking the deck of an ocean steamer, waiting with eager anticipation for the ship to reach the wharf at New York. She was delayed for a few hours, because the vessel ahead of her had been quarantined on account of a supposed case of smallpox on board.

The gentleman, Jack Stanton by name, was irritable and impetuous, and evidently greatly troubled in mind ; lately his wife had watched him closely to prevent him doing something desperate. Had it not been for a promise to her, she would many times during the voyage have feared that he would throw himself overboard. Now he could control himself no longer.

“Why the devil are we kept here?” he cried. “The captain might have found this out from the custom

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house officers, and got us in ahead other. It’s just my cursed luck!”

“Jack, dear, an hour or two can make no difference, now that an ocean separates you from your creditors,” said his wife softly.

“ Hang it, Agnes, I shall not feel safe until we are in California. They will never look for me there. Then, in a new land,” changing his tone, “ with my little wife and baby, I shall begin a new life. They tell me money is made so fast out there that I shall not only be able to satisfy every creditor, but clear my name and go back to England and take my place in that rank and position to which I was born,”

“Jack, dear, if you would only promise me that in starting on this new life, you would try to get money honestly, and not by gambling, I should be so happy ; and perhaps in California I can earn something. I have been well educated you know, and in a new country they must need teachers, and — ”

“Once for all, Agnes, I shall get

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money as I can, for get it I must ; but I will not have my wife grinding at the mill, for that has never been the way of the Stantons or Hamiltons, and it shall not be mine. No, little wife, you must let me be the bread-winner, and in my own way. But come ! the passengers are beginning to land and w T e have no time to lose. ,,

Jack Stanton gathered together their small possessions, Agnes carried the baby and they were soon lost in the crowd.

Presently there was a commotion among the passengers who were having their baggage examined. In one of Jack's trunks, safely hidden, he supposed, were a number of small pieces of jewelry, watches included, which the custom house officers immediately seized, marching Jack off to pay duty on them, although he stormed and declared that he would not, neither would he give them up. He was finally compelled to leave the trinkets, however, when he became aware of the fact that he would

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not have money enough to buy tickets to California, if he paid the duty demanded.

“My cursed luck again,” he said. “Is this going to follow me right along, I wonder?”

“Do you think they will trace us by those things?” asked Agnes anxiously. “For I fear, Jack, that you did not get them honestly.”

“I have taken precautions against that, you may be sure, and if anyone asks you where you are going, say Colorado still, as you did on the boat. All our luggage will be checked there.”

After many hindrances they arrived in California in nine days from the time they left New York. Jackmade the acquaintance of a Californian, Tom Henshaw, on the train. Tom had a mine in Chico, also a store, and he offered Jack a house, rent free, and a position in the store, until he could look around and find something better to do.

The store was just such a place as one sees in any mining camp ; a large

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wooden shanty divided into two rooms. In the front room was the store. One side of it was devoted to men’s dry goods, while the other side held groceries, liquors and tobacco. The hack room was used for a concert hall at night, and for a court room, and place of general assembly in the daytime. Jack soon turned this hall into a gambling den, and many were the fights which took place in there, fights in earnest in which Jack seldom came off victorious. Tom remonstrated, but he had g^own very fond of Jack, and was generally found taking his part in a brawl, even when he knew that the other man was right.

Agnes pleaded with him to give up this life for the sake of their child, but she pleaded in vainj She dreaded to think that some day her little Janet might be the daughter of a murderer, for shots were frequently exchanged in this gambling hell. She had never been a strong woman, and the constant worry and anxiety about her husband, together with the

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hard life to which she was not accustomed, soon proved too much for her. It was only two years after Jack Stanton brought his wife to the little mining town, that he buried her in the small but populous graveyard, where most of the dead had been suddenly stopped in their picturesque careers by various kinds of gun and pistol balls.

For a time after his wife’s death, Jack did try to do better. He drank less of the “pizen” sold in the store, and he gambled less in the room behind. He had been drinking heavily, and was but the wreck of his former self. He still ran the faro bank, for, he said, “Janet and I must live, and I’m not fit to work now.” Besides, there was little honest work for any but miners in the town. The one short street held several stores like Henshaw’s, and many saloons, bearing such legends as, “Miners’ Delight,” the “ Bullpup ” and “ Harrigan’s Hall.” The principal trade of the place was in “pizen” whiskey, appropriately

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named, and the only amusements were card playing and dancing. When particularly festive, the “boys” were in the habit of riding furiously down the little street, shooting to right and left, and yelling like painted Indians. Then they would combine their forces, raid the saloons, holding up the barkeeper and faro-dealers, while they helped themselves liberally to money and drink. The invariable rule was to finish these scenes by shooting out the lights, often leaving a rifled saloon and sometimes a dead proprietor behind them, while they passed on in search of more fun.

Mrs. Stanton and Mrs. Henshaw had been almost the only respectable women in the place. Now Mrs. Henshaw was left again without any woman’s companionship.

Little Janet was four years old when her mother died. Every man in camp was devoted to her, and kind Tom Henshaw promptly offered to take the little girl home to his wife.

Mrs. Henshaw was not quite so willing, although there was plenty of

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room in the superintendent’s house, and plenty of food. But she did not like Jack, and was jealous because Janet was prettier and brighter than her own children.

At last, however, Tom had his way, and little Janet was installed as a member of the Henshaw family.

For a time things went on smoothly. Jack, during his spare moments, gave the children lessons, and two of the Henshaw boys became quite well grounded in Algebra and other studies.

Stanton had plenty of friends among the miners, and many a stormy hour they passed, listening to his tales of English life, for he always spoke of a life they knew nothing about, although there w T ere many Englishmen among them.

“Say Jack,” they would say, “how d’you know so much about sech big bugs ? ” or “ Say, ole feller, did you ever know this yer lord Eversham that hed th’ speedy hosse& ? I say, boys, he’s a-rusticatin’ in our humble sassiety incog, and he’s shore a juke or a lord himself.”

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Then Jack would stop his “yarning,” and explain hastily, “No, no, I’m only a gambler like some of you, and have never been anything else. Fact is, boys, I’m not half as good as those of you who earn an honest living.”

He would never allow the Henshaw boys to come into the gambling den, and often said to Tom,

‘ ‘ I am glad that my only child is a girl. A boy might have inherited some of my characteristics, but Janet will be like her mother.”

The little girl was very fond of her father, and spent as much of her time with him as was possible. She was a pale, quiet little creature, very quaint and old-fashioned in her manners, and the little Henshaws were too rough and rude for her. Stanton liked to have her with him, and it was owing to her company partly that he kept sober. His little one was always welcome, except when he was gambling. She had stolen in once or twice, a timid little figure in gingham apron and sunbonnet, during the

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morning hours after an all-night game. But the savage faces, the ready pistols, the lights still burning, because no one would stir to put them out, all these things frightened her, and most of all her father's stern reproof, or worse still, the fearful look he wore when he was too much absorbed even to notice her.

That look was never quite effaced from her memory; in after years it was vividly recalled to her.

One stormy night in December a large number of men had gathered in the hall, some playing, w T hile the rest looked on. Jack was winning steadily, and drinking far too much, as he repeatedly treated the crowd from his winnings.

The rain beat against the windows, and the wind blew at such a terrific rate that it seemed every moment as if the building must go over. Still Jack won. Tom, seeing how excited he was getting, crept up to his side, and whispered,

“That’s enough for to-night. Leave it, and come home.”

Jack paid no attention.

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‘ ‘ More drinks ! ” he called . ‘ ‘ And this time let us drink to the storm.”

He gave no heed to Tom, who pleaded in his ear, “For Janet’s sake, come ! ”

Some of the players, seeing his extraordinary luck, and feeling angry at their own continued loss, hinted that it could not be square. This made Jack furious.

“ Curse you, take that back!” he shouted.

“We all saw Tom give him a tip,” cried a looker-on.

“Yes,” cried others, “we all did.” Quick as a flash Jack sprang to his feet, and putting his hand behind him, cried, “Who accuses me of cheating ? ”

“I do,” said the man who had first insinuated.

Instantly two shots rang out, and both men fell. In the pause that followed, the howling of the storm was a fearful sound and the building rocked. Large trees were blown over, and the crash of their falling shook the ground like an earthquake.

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The two men were hastily examined. Jack’s accuser was dead, but Jack still breathed. They carried him to Henshaw’s house and summoned the doctor, who found that he was fatally wounded, and could live only a short time.

All night Tom sat by his dying friend; he feared that Jack would never recover consciousness, but with the first flush of dawn he opened his eyes, and recognizing his friend, said :

“Thank God, I did not die last night. I have only a few hours to live, Tom, and I have something to say. The money that I have made by gambling, will pay for Janet’s education. I wish it had been made in some honest way, but surely a merciful God will not visit my sins on her innocent head! I want her to be brought up as a lady, for some day, if she is restored to her own she will occupy a high position in England. Ah! I had hoped to see that day to restore her to the place and position that I through my sin have defrauded her of. It would

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have made me happy — but what right had I to expect happiness ? I threw away all chances of it when I first started in life. Three times my poor old father paid my debts — heavy ones — and he would have done so the fourth time, but I had some conscience left, and skipped for this country, intending to make money enough to let me return and pay my creditors. I can’t do it now, but there is a little left for Janet ! and, Tom, I "wish you would have a small marble grave stone placed to the memory of my poor wife, with her name and age. These you will find in a small case in my trunk, if you will get it forme. — That’s it. Thank you. Please bury me near my wife, but don’t put my name on the stone or make any mention of me. I was not worthy to be known in life, and am not worthy to be remembered after death. Janet will know that I lie beside her mother.

“Oh ! for a few more years of life !

I would turn over a new leaf. I would do my duty by Janet. I have

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promised before, Tom, but this time I surely would fulfill.”

Tom saw that he was getting weaker. He pressed the dying man’s hand tenderly, striving to comfort him, begging him to finish his instructions quickly, and rest.

“Give this package to Janet when she is eighteen,” said Jack, taking it from the case he had asked for. “And now, let me see my little girl before it is too late.”

Tom went for Janet. He found her just outside the door, poor child, sobbing as though her heart would break. She had heard a commotion in the house, and partly surmised the cause. Kind-hearted Tom took the little girl in his arms, talked to her soothingly, warned her not to excite her father, and finally carried her to the bedside of the dying gambler, who, with all his sins, had yet been a tender husband and a kind father.

Chapter III

Janet was twelve years old when her father died, and at the time when our story opens she was seventeen.

Mrs. Henshaw declared she should not stay any longer at school, or all her money w T ould be used up and nothing left to pay for her board. “And the girl with her citified airs can not stay here for nothing,” she declared.

Tom had had his way up to the present time about her schooling, but he had been compelled to leave her clothing to Mrs. Henshaw, who had spent the money on her own children, sending Janet cast-off things from the wardrobe of her own girls.

Janet did not know that her father had left her anything. She thought it was through Mrs. Henshaw’ s kindness that she had escaped the orphan asylum.

Mr. Henshaw did not know how badly Janet was treated. He knew 81

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that she did not get on very comfortably in his family, and therefore he had kept her at school for five years continuously, even during the vacation times. Now there was no help for it, she must come back to the only home she had ever known, and he determined to keep a sharp lookout and see that she was not ill-treated.

It was again December when the stage containing Mr. Henshaw and Janet arrived in Chico. They were put down at Tom’s residence, and greeted cheerfully by the family.

Janet was taken to a room in the top of the house, very cold just then, hut very warm in summer. Having removed her hat and brushed her hair, she went down to the dining room. The family had already taken supper, so she sat down alone with Mr. Henshaw.

“Now my girl,” said he, “you must try to make yourself happy here. I dare say the life won’t be exactly to your taste, but try to make the best of things, and then I think they won’t seem very bad, and remem-

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ber I am always your friend when you want one.”

“Oh uncle,” said Janet, “how shall I ever repay you for your goodness to me ! I should indeed be ungrateful if I made myself unhappy-”

“That’s right, dear; just make up your mind not to be discontented, and you won’t be.”

“No, uncle, I am going to try to be useful, if you and aunt will be patient with me. I know I shall be stupid at first. I think I could take care of your books, and teach the children — ”

“Indeed you cannot,” said Miss Henshaw. “I am father’s bookkeeper, and Annie teaches the children. You can help mother with the housework.”

Janet replied cheerfully, but the prospect was not encouraging.

Supper over, Annie said in a patronizing way, “I will carry the things away to-night, for perhaps you are tired.”

Janet thanked her and being glad

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of an excuse to be alone said goodnight, and retired to her room in the attic.

The next morning she was told what her duties would be.

“You will do the ordinary housework, Janet,” said Mrs. Henshaw, “ and help with the garden, and take care of the chickens. I’ll help you for the present; I’ll do the cooking until you learn how, for I don’t suppose you have learned that or much else that is useful at school, so far as I can see.”

Poor Janet! She had not been taught housework at school, or anywhere else, and they had not much patience with her. Sometimes Mrs. Henshaw would say she was too slow, too long about her work, and when she tried to do it more quickly she was told that it could not have been well done, for nothing could be well done in so short a time. If she made the beds first, Mrs. Henshaw was quite sure that they had not been aired. If she left them for a time, she was lazy and slovenly.

It seemed to the poor girl that, try t as she would, she could not please this family. She spent all of her spare time alone in her little room, reading, thinking and trying to plan for her future.

Whenever she ventured to use the piano Mrs. Henshaw made scornful remarks about “girls who work for their own living having no time for such fol-de-rol,” yet her own daughters practiced two hours a day. They had not had good teachers, and thenplaying and singing was far from edifying. Janet herself had shown decided talent for music at school, and had a very sweet contralto voice. She was passionately fond of music and the situation was trying in the extreme.

The three girls were often invited to entertainments given by the miners ; these frequently took the form of dances, where there were, at the most, ten or twelve women and girls, and often more than a hundred men.

Janet attended one of these, wishing to make herself agreeable, but

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she was so disturbed by the roughness and familiarity of the men that she never repeated the experience.

Mrs. Henshaw was secretly pleased at this decision, for she well knew that Janet was more attractive than either of her own girls, and had observed the attention she received.

Chapter IV

One beautiful day in spring, when the hills were golden with poppies and the birds were singing in merry chorus, Janet felt lightsome of heart in spite of her troubles, and having finished her morning's work she asked Mrs. Henshaw’s permission to go out for a little walk.

“And who’s asked you to go a- walking ? ’ ’ asked the woman, her jealousy manifested immediately.

“No one, Aunt.”

“Come now, don’t you tell me no lies. You’re likely agoin’ to meet some man, and you should tell me about it.”

“Indeed,” said Janet angrily, “I do not even know any man well enough to walk with him. Why do you always mistrust me? And why do you treat me as if I were ill-bred and given to deceiving you? I do all I can to please you, but I can never succeed. I suppose you have a right

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to demand my services as you give me my board, but you have no right to behave so cruelly to me. If you dislike me so,” Janet was sobbing by this time, “why don’t you let me go away ? In San Francisco I could get my own living teaching music, or in some other way, and it would be much more congenial to my taste than being your servant, for that is what I am.”

It was a bold speech and Mrs. Henshaw was purple with wrath.

“You ungrateful little hussy! Talking to me that way! I’ll teach you ! Go to San Francisco indeed ! In less than a month you would be on the streets; it’s just your kind that get there. Putting on such grand airs, and making yourself out so much better than the rest of us ! And what are you, I should like to know? A gambler’s daughter, yes, a murderer’s daughter!”

“You shall not speak against my poor father in that wicked way, now he is gone ! ” cried Janet. “Whatever he was he was a good father to me. I only wish he was alive now, for I

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have not a friend in the whole world.” The girl looked heart-broken and her voice had a pitiful sound.

Mrs. Henshaw was moved, in spite of her anger, by this cry of the orphan.

“Well,” she said, softening her tone and manner, “you need not tell your uncle that we have quarrelled, and if you will promise to be in by five o’clock, you may go for your walk.”

Janet longed to be alone, and knowing that this was impossible in the house, she said sincere thanks for the concession and hastily put on her hat, and escaped from the hateful place.

She found a pretty canon where the water bubbled and gurgled over stones, making little cascades. Rank graceful ferns waved their tall fronds lightly in the fragrant air, and the banks were covered with moss and maiden-hair. Occasionally a bevy of quail would come down to drink, but when they caught sight of the intruder, would whir away among the trees.

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At any other time Janet would have enjoyed this woodland scene, for she loved nature, but was now feeling so sad and hopeless that she hardly noticed anything except that she was alone, which was some comfort.

She sat down, and hiding her face in her hands burst into a violent fit of weeping. The more she thought of her lonely condition the more miserable she grew. Where could she go? What could she do? She, the daughter of a gambler and a murderer ! Yes, the cruel words were true. She knew, she remembered.