an instant he tried to recall the glamour of old days. He
remembered when his boyish eyes regarded it as the crowning work of
opulence and distinction; he remembered a ball given there on some
public occasion, which was to him the acme of social brilliancy and
display. How tawdry and trivial it looked beside those later and
more solid structures! How inconsistent were those long latticed
verandas and balconies, pathetic record of that first illusion of
the pioneers that their climate was a tropical one! A restaurant
and billiard-saloon had aggrandized all of the lower story; but
there was still the fanlight, over which the remembered title of
"St. Charles," in gilded letters, was now reinforced by the too
demonstrative legend, "Apartments and Board, by the Day or Week."
Was it possible that this narrow, creaking staircase had once
seemed to him the broad steps of Fame and Fortune? On the first
landing, a preoccupied Irish servant-girl, with a mop, directed him
to a door at the end of the passage, at which he knocked. The door
was opened by a grizzled negro servant, who was still holding a
piece of oily chamois-leather in his hand; and the contents of a
dueling-case, scattered upon a table in the centre of the room,
showed what had been his occupation. Admitting Hathaway with great
courtesy, he said:--

"Marse Harry bin havin' his ole trubble, sah, and bin engaged just
dis momen' on his toylet; ef yo'll accommodate yo'self on de sofa,
I inform him yo' is heah."

As the negro passed into the next room, Paul cast a hasty glance
around the apartment. The furniture, originally rich and elegant,
was now worn threadbare and lustreless. A book-case, containing,
among other volumes, a few law books--there being a vague