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Modeling and Simulation
Challenges and Best Practices for
Industry
Modeling and Simulation
Challenges and Best Practices for
Industry

Guillaume Dubois
This book was previously published in French as La simulation numérique: Enjeux et bonnes pratiques pour
l’industrie (Numerical simulation: Challenges and best practices for industry) by Dunod, Malakoff, France.

CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
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Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742

© 2018 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data

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Title: Modeling and simulation : challenges and best practices for industry /
Guillaume Dubois.
Description: Boca Raton : Taylor & Francis, a CRC title, part of the Taylor &
Francis imprint, a member of the Taylor & Francis Group, the academic
division of T&F Informa, plc, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017054207| ISBN 9780815374893 (hardback : acid-free paper)
| ISBN 9781351241137 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Simulation methods.
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“ Be the change that you wish to see in this world.”

—Gandhi
Foreword

Numerical modeling and simulation have revolutionized the industry over

the past few decades. It has allowed us to design more complex systems and
predict behaviors without field testing. Today’s trucks, cars, and planes are
higher performing and produced faster at a lower cost. However, numerical
simulation expansion and mutations are still evolving at pace and have a
long way to go. Great opportunities for numerous industries are still to come.

My teams and I often have to address challenging questions that require

the use of numerical simulation. To go further, the scope of simulation, its
limitations, the expected impacts and benefits must be assessed. These are
questions that are top of the mind for any company that wants to remain
competitive and relevant in the future.

This book is accessible and holistic enough to be useful to different catego-

ries of readers, whether they are project leaders, engineers, or students. It
gives a good understanding of what simulation is and when it really should
be used. It further provides both technical and organizational best practices
to implement it. This book will be a strong contribution to the expansion and
adoption of simulation in the industry.
Martin Lundstedt,
President and CEO of Volvo Group

vii
Special Thanks

I thank, for proofreading or making detailed comments on this or that,

in alphabetical order: Alexis Beauvillain, Claire Casas, Jyster Crauser-
Delbourg, Laurent Di Valentin, Sébastien Dubois, Antoine Ferret, Manuel
Fontanier, Florent Fossé, Étienne Fradet, Éric Le Dantec, Ikramjit Narang,
Éric Noirtat, Hugues-Loup Robedat, Éric Suty, Manuel Tancrez; Éric Tomieto,
Benoît Trémeau, Yang Xu, and Alexandre Zann.

To Taylor & Francis, especially Cindy Renee Carelli, executive editor, and
Renee Nakash, editorial assistant, for their professionalism and the quality
of their work.

To Dunod for allowing me to publish this book abroad.

To Martin Lundstedt, for his Foreword and being a great leader.

To Dorothée Dorwood and Olivier Franceschi, the Traductorz, for the quality
of their translation and their great conviviality.

To Benoît Parmentier, whom fate took away violently and whom I wish could
have proofread this book, for training me when I was starting out.

To my parents, Chantal and Xavier, for their proofreading, their encourage-

ments, and their eternal support.

To my family, especially Cécile, Sébastien, Claire, Youri, Lucas, Julien,

Jeanine, Gérard, Martine, Séverine, Ivan, Geneviève, and Michel, for encour-
aging me and bringing me happy moments.

To Violette, for being inspiring.

To the Ethiopian farmers from 2000 years ago who discovered coffee and
enabled me to write this book within a few weeks, by night.

Finally, to Doug, the fictional engineer we follow in this book, who, although
he doesn’t exist, helped me a lot in my writing.

ix
Contents

About the Author................................................................................................. xiii

Introduction......................................................................................................... xvii

1 What Is Numerical Simulation?...................................................................1

1.1 What Is a Model?....................................................................................1
1.2 What Is a Simulation?............................................................................ 4
1.3 What Are Modeling and Numerical Simulations?........................... 4
1.4 What Is a State Representation?...........................................................6
1.5 What Is the Value of Numerical Simulation?.....................................8

2 A Bit of History................................................................................................9
2.1 Before 1940.............................................................................................. 9
2.2 From 1940 to 1960: The First Steps of Numerical Simulation........ 10
2.3 From 1960 to 1980: The Evolution of Numerical Simulation.......... 11
2.4 From 1980 to 1995: The Revolution of Numerical Simulation....... 13
2.5 From 1995 to 2015: The Spread of Numerical Simulation.............. 14
2.6 Three Lessons from History............................................................... 16

3 Numerical Simulation in Industry: Why?................................................ 17

3.1 Why Expand Simulation?................................................................... 17
3.1.1 A Predictive Tool…................................................................. 17
3.1.2 …That Is Profitable.................................................................. 18
3.2 Contributions of Simulation............................................................... 19
3.2.1 The Modeling Iceberg............................................................ 19
3.2.2 Eight Levers of Value Creation............................................. 19
3.3 Simulation Costs and Limits.............................................................. 31
3.3.1 Costs of Simulation................................................................. 31
3.3.2 Limits to Simulation............................................................... 32
3.4 Deciding Whether to Use Simulation or Not................................... 33

4 Efficient Use of Numerical Simulation: Technical Aspects.................. 35

4.1 Different Kinds of Numerical Simulations...................................... 35
4.2 Five Steps to Expand Numerical Simulation................................... 37
4.3 Eight Technical Best Practices............................................................ 38
4.3.1 Best Practice 1: Defining the Objective................................ 40
4.3.2 Best Practice 2: Including Sufficient and Necessary
Physical Phenomena��������������������������������������������������������������44
4.3.3 Best Practice 3: Converting into Equations and
Configuring the Model ��������������������������������������������������������� 50

xi
xii Contents

4.3.4 Best Practice 4: Picking the Software................................... 59

4.3.5 Best Practice 5: Managing the Numerical and IT Issues...... 63
4.3.6 Best Practice 6: Managing the Validity Level of the
Results������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 69
4.3.7 Best Practice 7: Producing Useful Results........................... 76
4.3.8 Best Practice 8: Maintaining and Storing the Models....... 79

5 Efficient Use of Numerical Simulation: Organizational Aspects.......85

5.1 Stakeholders.......................................................................................... 85
5.2 Eight Organizational Best Practices.................................................. 86
5.2.1 Best Practice 1: Leading Change Related to
Numerical Simulation ............................................................ 87
5.2.2 Best Practice 2: Defining a Numerical Simulation
Expansion Strategy���������������������������������������������������������������� 91
5.2.3 Best Practice 3: Managing Communication for
Numerical Simulation����������������������������������������������������������� 95
5.2.4 Best Practice 4: Provide Any Necessary Means to
Numerical Simulation����������������������������������������������������������� 99
5.2.5 Best Practice 5: Industrializing Numerical Simulation.......102
5.2.6 Best Practice 6: Managing the Numerical
Simulation–Related Skills.................................................... 108
5.2.7 Best Practice 7: Managing the Models Expansion............ 112
5.2.8 Best Practice 8: Managing Configurations of Models
and Results���������������������������������������������������������������������������� 120

6 The Future of Numerical Simulation in Industry: The Early

Twenty-First Century.................................................................................. 125
6.1 Why Is Predicting the Future Important?...................................... 125
6.2 The Next 20 Years.............................................................................. 125
6.2.1 Changes from the Past, Still in Progress........................... 126
6.2.2 Changes to Come.................................................................. 126
6.3 And Then?........................................................................................... 138
Conclusion............................................................................................................ 139
Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 141
Index...................................................................................................................... 143
About the Author

Guillaume Dubois works at McKinsey & Company and serves clients in

various types of industries.

Guillaume graduated as an engineer from École Centrale Paris, France. He

started his career at Pratt & Whitney Canada, developing thermal models for
airplane engines and at Enertime, developing financial models for biomass
plants. He then joined PSA Peugeot Citroën, where he created and grew
new modeling activities, teams, and processes across R&D departments to
improve energy efficiency of cars.

He has progressively held the different roles discussed in this book: mod-
eling engineer—developing models, team manager—managing these engi-
neers, project manager—being a client of these teams.

Guillaume authored La simulation numérique: Enjeux et bonnes pratiques pour

l’industrie (Numerical simulation: Challenges and best practices for indus-
try), published by Dunod, Malakoff, France, in 2016. Modeling and Simulation:
Challenges and Best Practices for Industry is the English version.

xiii
This book has been translated by Dorothée Dorwood and Olivier Franceschi.
Introduction

Why This Book?

A few decades ago, numerical simulation introduced a significant disrup-
tion among the major sectors of industry. It revolutionized the realm of
possibility and brought more value than the usual operational tools. It then
expanded progressively. In the early twenty-first century, numerical simula-
tion expansion and mutations are far from being over. Great changes are still
ahead of us.
However, the expansion of numerical simulation remains obviously slow.
Only a few industry leaders manage to comprehend its full potential. We’ll
see that this slowness may be partly explained by poor knowledge sharing.
This sluggishness affects its expansion in industry and results in a loss of
potential return for our society.
The usual questions, which don’t often receive satisfying answers, are the
following:

1. What is numerical simulation and what is its intrinsic value?

2. Why expand it further in industry? Under what conditions? How
much trust can we allow?
3. How can it be expanded in industry?
4. What are the pitfalls and the technical and organizational best
practices?
5. What leads are there for the future? How can we be a driving force?

The purpose of this work is to bring the clearest answers to these ques-
tions. Our goal here is to contribute to knowledge sharing in order to open
pathways to the expansion of numerical simulation and maximize the cre-
ation of value for our society.
Observation: The objective of this work is not to explain in detail digital
methods and techniques adapted to specific fields. Many works exist about
these topics (including Pratique de la simulation numérique, Dunod).

xvii
xviii Introduction

Who Is This Book For? (To Be Read First If You Are in a Hurry)
This work targets three types of people:

• Managers and project managers: In order to gain perspective on the sub-

ject of numerical simulation, the conditions of successful planning,
the limits, and the impacts on management, first read Chapters 1, 3,
5, and 6.
• Modeling and simulation engineers (in every sense, including experts): In
order to contribute from the inside to the expansion of simulation,
still gaining perspective on the impacts, first read Chapters 1, 3, 4,
and 6.
• Students and teachers: In order to prepare the next generation, who
will contribute to simulation in industry, first read Chapters 1, 2, 3,
4, and 6.

What Industries Is This Work Concerned With?

Numerical simulation is used in an increasing number of sectors.
Nevertheless, the present work focuses on its use in industry, particularly the
aircraft, energy, car, space, transport, agribusiness, and chemistry industries.
1
What Is Numerical Simulation?

A model is a testable representation of a system. Numerical simulation

consists of translating a mathematical model into numerical language
in order to perform complex calculations more easily.
Discerning readers may skip to the next chapter.

1.1 What Is a Model?

A model of a system is an experienceable representation.
Let’s begin with defining what a system is. It is an object (real or abstract)
or a set of objects that we are willing to study. It is a very broad concept:
for instance, a system may be a plane, an engine, or even a screw. Note that
it may contain subsystems that are systems as well. So, in industry, teams
work on systems on a daily basis (these systems will be products or parts of
products marketed by the company), either to conceive, develop, or produce
them.
There are many possible representations of a single system. In this work,
we will deal with a mathematical representation; that is to say, the represen-
tation aims at describing its behavior through equations. Those equations
often come from known laws of physics (such as the forces of gravity or the
fundamental principles of dynamics). The representation of a system may
be understood as a rationalization of reality or a vision of a system through
one angle.
In industry, a wide range of systems are constantly tested through live
experiments. For example, we are able to test an aircraft engine to assess
the temperatures its compartments can reach or to test a screw to determine
what mechanical stresses it can resist. Also, a system representation can be
tested. This experiment will consequently be virtual.
Let’s illustrate this concept with an example, represented by the figure
below, assuming that our goal is to assess the duration of an ice cube melting
in a glass of water (Figure 1.1).
The system studied here is an ice cube—that is to say, the volume of water
initially contained in it. The rest of the water filling the glass will be the

1
2 Modeling and Simulation

Ice cube

Air
Water
c
T0

hwater
Twater

FIGURE 1.1
The system studied: an ice cube floating in a glass of water.

environment of the system. We will build a representation of the ice cube,

making it simpler.
We consider that the ice cube exchanges, by convection, with the rest of the
water contained in the glass. Using thermodynamics, we can assume that
the exchanged heating power will be

Pexchanged ( t ) = 5hwater ( Twater − T0 ) c 2 ( t )

Where:
t is time
hwater is the heat convection coefficient between the water and the ice cube
Twater is the water temperature
T0 is the temperature of the ice cube
c(t) is the width of the cube, still frozen

Our hypothesis is that the heat exchanges with the air, at the upper side
of the ice cube, are insignificant compared with those of the water, and we
are simplifying the problem by also assuming all the other sides are fully in
contact with the water.
Heat energy contained in the ice cube can be approximated as

Ecube ( t ) = E0 − Lwater fusion ρice c 3 (t)

Where:
E0 is the ice cube’s energy once it has melted
Lwater fusion is the mass enthalpy of the state change from a liquid to a solid
state
Usual physics laws allow us to predict the total exchanged power equal to
the variation of the system’s energy. Thus, we can write
What Is Numerical Simulation? 3

Pexchanged (t) = 5hwater (Twater–T0)c2(t)

Ecube(t) = E0– Lwater fusion ρice c3(t)

∂E cube (t)
= Pexchanged (t)
∂(t)

c(tfinal) = 0

FIGURE 1.2
Mathematical model vs. reality.

This set of equations

• Is a system representation (the ice cube)

• Is testable (It is a set of four equations with four unknowns and a
single solution we can determine.) (Figure 1.2)

This is a model!
To thoroughly illustrate our example, we can test this model on a specific
situation. The model is solved analytically, and the solution of this set of
equations is (calculation details are skipped)

3Lwater fusion ρice c ( t = 0 )

tfinal =
5hwater (Twater − T0 )
Where tfinal is the time the ice cube takes to melt entirely.
Let’s detail the situation we want to test.

c(t = 0) = 2 cm

Twater = 20°C

T0 = 0°C


 hwater = 250 W/K/m
2


Lwater fusion = 334 kJ/kg

ρice = 917 kg/m 3


The result we get for this test is tfinal ≈ 12 mn.

We have performed the live experiment for you, reader, and the time found
was 9 minutes, which means that our model has a +33% gap with reality.
Nothing surprising here, as our modeling is very simplified and we have
eluded several factors.
4 Modeling and Simulation

A significant consequence of this definition: there is always an infinite

range of models for a single system. Going back to the example of the ice
cube, the reader will notice that we could have complicated the system rep-
resentation (we would theoretically get a more accurate time for the duration
of the ice cube melting).
We could have taken into account the ice cube’s surface reduction and its
shape-changing effects on the power exchange between the air and the cube,
or the radiative occurrences between the ice cube and the other surrounding
elements, which can’t be ignored. We made a choice as to the level of reality
simplification to build this model. This choice must depend on many factors,
which will be covered in Chapter 3.

1.2 What Is a Simulation?

A simulation is the action of performing a test on a model.
Theoretically speaking, the concepts of model and simulation are differ-
ent, as a model is a tool, whereas a simulation is the action of using that tool.
Nevertheless, these notions are connected and in practice are often used inter-
changeably. The result of a simulation is also frequently called a simulation.

1.3 What Are Modeling and Numerical Simulations?

A numerical model is a model implemented into a numerical tool.
In practice, it is about translating the mathematical model into a numerical
language (informatics) in order to test it on a numerical tool (computer).
Why use numerical tools?
Digital technology is used because we don’t know how to get results on a
complex model without using a digital tool. Today, any computer will cal-
culate faster than a human. Whenever the calculations become numerous
or complex, they become theoretically unachievable without a digital tool.
Indeed, it would require too much time to get the result.
Let’s illustrate this by going back to the last example of an ice cube melting. We
took a very simple case, where we could solve the model without needing a digi-
tal tool. Let’s make the situation a little more complex, assuming this time that
a small heated steel solid was placed at the surface of the ice cube (Figure 1.3).
This heated steel solid will increase the melting speed of the ice cube.
We can go back to the previous equations, considering that an additional
exchange is taken into account: the heat exchange with the steel solid. Let’s
assume that this extra power is Psolid exchange(t) = φsolid, where φsolid is a constant
equaling 1 W. The model becomes
What Is Numerical Simulation? 5

Ice cube
Solid

Air
Water
c
T0

hwater Twater

FIGURE 1.3
The new system studied: the ice cube is now touching a solid made of steel.

Pexchanged ( t ) = 5hwater (Twater − T0 )c 2 (t) + ϕsolid


E (t) = E − L
water fusion ρice c ( t )
3
 cube 0

 ∂E (t)
 cube = Pexchanged (t)
 ∂t

c(tfinal ) = 0
or
 ∂c(t)  1 
 = − A + B 2 
 ∂t  c (t) 

 A = 5hwater (Twater − T0 )
 3Lwater fusion ρice


B = ϕsolid
 3Lwater fusion ρice

c(tfinal ) = 0

This very simple addition (the heated solid) complicates the situation. Here,
the equation isn’t analytically solvable (without using inverse trigonometric
functions; that would also require the digital tool).
We have to use numerical methods to solve the equation. For instance, we
can reject time, considering an infinitesimal time frame dt (we will take here
dt = 0.1 s).

 c(t + dt) − c ( t )  1 
 = − A + B 2 
 dt  c (t) 

c(tfinal ) = 0
6 Modeling and Simulation

We are thereby able to calculate c step by step, until the value reaches 0.

c(t = 0) = c0

  1 
c(dt) = c(t = 0) − dt  A + B 2 
  c (t = 0 ) 

  1 
c(2 * dt) = c(t = dt) − dt  A + B 2 
  c (t = dt ) 

  1 
c(3 * dt) = c(t = 2 * dt) − dt  A + B 2 
  c ( t = 2 * dt ) 

...

  1 
c(n * dt) = c(t = ( n − 1) * dt) − dt  A + B 2
  c (t = (n − 1) * dt) 

c(tfiinal ) = 0



In this way, there are n calculations to operate to be able to find the final
value (n being the number of iterations to perform before stopping); that is to
say, before c(n*dt) becomes negative. We’ll see that tfinal ≈ 455 s ≈ 8 mn, where
dt = 0.1 s; so 4550 calculations must be performed to find the answer!
This is the moment the digital tool unveils its usefulness. It is able to per-
form these 4550 calculations in a split second, whereas a human being would
have needed several hours. A computer just needs these previous equations
translated into a digital language to solve them (see the numerical model in
Figure 1.4).
By using a computer and the appropriate software, these calculations are
performed in a split second, and the solution we find is tfinal ≈ 455 s ≈ 8 mn.
Thus, in 99% of the situations encountered in industry, mathematical mod-
els are converted into numerical models, in order to solve them with digital
tools.
As explained in the previous paragraph, a numerical simulation is the action
of performing a test with a numerical model.

1.4 What Is a State Representation?

We briefly mentioned this notion because it organizes the model and will be
useful later. A model can take the following form (state representation):
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which had been lost.
 CHAPTER IV.

THE PIECE OF LUCK.

It so happened that the very truckman who was sent to take Henry's
trunks, was our friend Bobolink, who was plying in the vicinity, and
as it was his first job, he was anxious enough to get it accomplished;
therefore, a few minutes before Sterling came out, he and his
protégé, Bryan, the Irishman, trotted up to the door.

"There! away with you up, and get the trunks," said Bobolink; "I'll
wait for you here."

Bryan timidly rung at the bell, and entered. In the meantime, Tom
stood at his horse's head, pulling his ears, and having a little
confidential chat. Taking out his wallet, he investigated its contents.

"Only fifty cents," he exclaimed, shrugging his shoulders, "and this

job will make a dollar—that's all the money in the world."

In putting back his greasy, well-worn wallet, his eye happened to fall
upon an object, which made the blood rush with a tremendous
bound through his frame. Lying close to the curb, just below his feet,
was a large pocket-book.

"Good gracious!" he exclaimed, "what's that? It looks very like"—

(picking it up hurriedly, and taking a hasty survey of its contents)
—"it is—money—heaps of money—real, good money, and such a lot
—all fifties and twenties!" And now a crowd of contending thoughts
pressed upon his brow. First, he blessed his good luck; then, he
cursed the heaviness of the temptation—he thrust it deep into his
bosom; again, he thought he would place it where he found it; at
one moment he would whistle, and endeavor to look unconcerned;
at another, he would tremble with apprehension. What to do with it,
he did not know; but the tempter was too strong; he at last
determined to retain it. "It's a windfall," said he to himself; "nobody
has seen me take it. Such a large sum of money could not have
been lost by a poor person, and nobody wants it more than I do
myself. I'll be hanged if I don't keep it!"

Just then Bryan emerged from the door, with a most lachrymose
expression of countenance, and was very much astonished to find
that his stay did not produce an equally woe-begone effect upon
Tom.

"There's no thrunks goin'," said Bryan. "The fellow as was leavin',

ain't leavin' yet; because somebody's after leavin' him a lot o'
money.

"Come, jump up, then," cried Bobolink, "and don't be wasting time
there."

At that moment his eye caught that of Sterling, who, with Travers,
had commenced a search for the lost pocket-book. Instinct told him
in an instant what their occupation was, and yet he determined to
keep the money.

"My man," said Travers to Bryan, "did you see anything of a pocket-
book near this door?"

"Is it me?" replied Bryan. "Do I look as if I'd seen it? I wish I had!"

"What for? you'd keep it, I suppose?" observed Travers.

"Bad luck to the keep," replied Bryan; "and to you for thinkin' it! but
it's the way of the world—a ragged waistcoat's seldom suspected of
hidin' an honest heart."

"Come, old friend," said Henry to Sterling, "these men have not seen
it, evidently;" and off they went on their fruitless errand, while a
feeling of great relief spread itself over Bobolink's heart at their
departure.

"How wild that ould fellow looked," said Bryan.

"Humbug!" replied Bobolink; "it was only put on to make us give up

the pocket-book."

"Make us give it up?"

"Yes; that is to say, if we had it. There, don't talk. I'm sick. I've got
an oppression on my chest, and if I don't get relief, I'll drop in the
street."

"Indeed, an' somethin's come over ye since mornin', sure enough,"

said Bryan; "but you've been kind, an' good, an' generous to me, an'
may I never taste glory, but if I could do you any good by takin' half
yer complaint, I'd do it."

"I dare say you would," replied Tom; "but my constitution's strong
enough to carry it all. There, you run home, and tell Polly I'll be back
early. I don't want you any more."

As soon as Bryan was off, Bobolink sat down on his truck, and began
to ruminate. His first thought was about his wife. "Shall I tell Polly?"
thought he. "I've never kept a secret from her yet. But, suppose she
wouldn't let me keep it? I shan't say a word about it. I'll hide it for a
short time, and then swear I got a prize in the lottery." It suddenly
occurred to him that he was still on the spot where he had found the
money. "Good Heaven," said he, "why do I linger about here? I must
be away—away anywhere! and yet I feel as though I was leaving my
life's happiness here. Pooh! lots of money will make any one happy."
So saying, and singing—but with most constrained jollity—one of the
songs which deep bitterness had called up spontaneously from his
heart, he drove to the nearest groggery, feeling assured that he
should require an unusual stimulant of liquor, to enable him to fitly
bear this accumulation of good luck, which did not justly belong to
him.

CHAPTER V.

HOME.

"What a dear, considerate, good-natured husband I have, to be sure!

The proudest lady in the land can't be happier than I am in my
humble house," said Polly, as she bustled about to prepare for Tom's
coming home, having been informed by Bryan that she was to
expect him. "Poor fellow! he may well be tired and weary. I must get
his bit of supper ready. Hush! that's his footstep," she continued. But
something smote her as she noticed the fact, that he was silent.
There was no cheering song bursting from his throat—no glad word
of greeting; but he entered the door, moody and noiseless. Another
glance. Did not her eye deceive her? No! The fatal demon of Liquor
had imprinted his awful mark upon his brow. She went up to him,
and, in a voice of affection, asked what was the matter.

"Matter? What should be the matter?" he answered, peevishly.

"Don't speak so crossly, Thomas," said she, in a subdued voice; "you

know I did not mean any harm."

"Bless your little soul! I know you didn't," he exclaimed, giving her a
hearty embrace. "It's me that's the brute."

"Indeed, Thomas, you are nothing of the kind," she went on, the
cheerful smile once more on her lip.

"I am, Polly; I insist upon being a brute. Ah! you don't know all."

"All what? you alarm me!"

"I wish I dared tell her," thought Bobolink; "I will! I've found a jolly
lot of money to-day, Polly."

"How much, Thomas?"

"Shall I tell her? I've a great mind to astonish her weak nerves. How
much do you think?" cried he, with a singular expression, which Polly
attributed but to one terrible cause, and she turned sadly away. That
angered him—for men in such moods are captious about trifles. "I
won't tell her," said he; "she doesn't deserve it. Well, then, I've
earned a dollar."

"Only a dollar?" replied Polly. "Well, never mind, dear Thomas, we

must make it do; and better a dollar earnt, as you have earnt yours,
by your own honest industry, than thousands got in any other way."

Somehow Tom fancied that everything she said was meant as so

many digs at him, forgetting, in his insane drunkenness, that she
must have been ignorant of what had passed. The consequence
was, that he became crosser than ever.

"Why do you keep saying savage things, that you know must
aggravate me?" he cried. "I can't eat. Have you any brandy in the
house? I have a pain here!" and he clasped his hands upon his
breast, where the pocket-book lay concealed. "I think the brandy
would relieve me."

"My poor Thomas," replied his wife, affectionately; "something must

have happened to annoy you! I never saw you thus before; but you
are so seldom the worse for drink, that I will not upbraid you. The
best of men are subject to temptation."

At that word Bobolink started from his seat, and gazing intently in
her face, exclaimed—

"What do you mean by that?"

"Why, even you, Thomas, have been tempted to forget yourself,"
she replied.

"How do you know?" he thundered, his face now sickly pale.

"I can see it in every feature, my poor husband!" said she,

sorrowfully, as she quitted the room to get the brandy he required.

"I suppose you can," muttered Bobolink to himself, as he fell into the
chair, utterly distracted and unhappy; "everybody can. I'm a marked,
miserable man! and for what? I'll take it back; no, no! I can't now,
for I've denied it!"

"Something has happened to vex you terribly, my dear husband!"

cried Polly, as she returned with a small bottle of brandy.

"Well, suppose there has," replied he, in a loud and angry tone, "is a
man accountable to his wife for every moment of his life? Go to bed!
Where's the use in whimpering about it? You've had such a smooth
road all your life, that the first rut breaks your axle. Come, don't
mind me, Polly!" he went on, suddenly changing to a joyous laugh,
and yet somewhat subdued by the tears that now flowed down his
wife's pale cheeks; "I don't mean to worry you, but—but you see
that I'm a little sprung. Leave me to myself, there's a good girl!
Come, kiss me before you go. Ha! ha! I'll make a lady of you yet,
Pol! see if I don't. Didn't you hear me tell you to go to bed?"

"Yes, Thomas, but"——

"But what?"

"Pray, drink no more."

"I'll drink just as much as I please; and, moreover, I won't be

dictated to by you, when I can buy your whole stock out, root and
branch. I've stood your nonsense long enough, so take my advice
and start."
"Oh! Thomas—Thomas!" cried his weeping wife, as she hurried to
her little bedroom; "never did I expect this, and you'll be sorry for it
in the morning."

"Damn it! I am an unfeeling savage. Don't cry, Pol!" he shouted after

her, as she quitted the room; "I didn't intend to hurt your feelings,
and I won't drink any more, there. Say God bless you before you go
in, won't you?"

"God bless you, dear husband!" said the loving wife.

"That's right, Pol!"

As soon as Tom found himself quite alone, he looked carefully at the

fastenings of the doors and windows, and having cleared the little
table of its contents, proceeded to examine the interior of the
pocket-book. With a tremulous hand and a quick-beating heart, he
drew it forth, starting at the slightest sound; tearing it open, he
spread the thick bundle of notes before him; the sight seemed to
dazzle his eye-sight; his breath became heavy and suffocating; there
was more, vastly more, than he had ever dreamed of.

"What do I see?" he cried, while his eyes sparkled with the fire of
suddenly-awakened avarice, "tens—fifties-hundreds—I do believe—
thousands! I never saw such a sight before. What sound was that? I
could have sworn I heard a small voice call out my name. For the
first time in my life, I feel like a coward. I never yet feared to stand
before a giant! now, a boy might cow me down. Pshaw! it's because
I'm not used to handling money."

Again and again, he tried to count up how much the amount was,
but grew confused, and had to give it up.

"Never mind how much there is," he cried, at last; "it's mine—all
mine! nobody saw me; nobody knows it: nobody—but one—but
one!" he continued, looking upward for an instant, and then,
clasping his hands together, and leaning his head over the money,
he wept bitter tears over his great Piece of Luck.

CHAPTER VI.

THE WILL.

At a splendid escritoir Mr. Granite sat, in his own room, surrounded

by the luxurious appliances which wait upon wealth, however
acquired. The face of the sitter is deadly pale, for he is alone, and
amongst his most private papers. He has missed one, upon which
the permanence of his worldly happiness hung. Diligently has he
been searching for that small scrap of paper, which contained the
sentence of death to his repute. Oh! the agony of that suspense! It
could not have been abstracted, for it was in a secret part of his
writing-desk; although by the simplest accident in the world it had
now got mislaid; yet was he destined not to recover it. In hastily
taking out some papers, it had dropped through the opening of the
desk, which was a large one, upon the carpet, where it remained,
unperceived. In the midst of his anxious and agonized search, there
was a knock at the door, and even paler and more heart-broken than
the merchant himself, Sterling tottered into the room.

"Well, my good Sterling," said the merchant, with a great effort

stifling his own apprehension, "I am to be troubled no more by that
fellow's pitiful whinings. I was a fool to be over-persuaded; but
benevolence is my failing—a commendable one, I own—but still a
failing."

"I am glad to hear you say that, sir, for you now have a great
opportunity to exercise it."
"Ask me for nothing more, for I have done"—interrupted Granite;
fancying for an instant that he might have placed the missing
document in a secret place, where he was sometimes in the habit of
depositing matters of the first importance, he quitted the room
hurriedly.

"Lost! lost, for ever! I have killed the son of my old benefactor!"
cried Sterling. "He can't recover from the shock—nor I—nor I! my
heart is breaking—to fall from such a height of joy into such a gulf of
despair—I, who could have sold my very life to bring him
happiness." At that moment his eye caught a paper which lay on the
carpet, and with the instinct of a clerk's neatness solely, he picked it
up and put it on the table before him. "The crime of self-destruction
is great," he continued, "but I am sorely tempted. With chilling
selfishness on one side, and dreadful misery on the other, life is but
a weary burden." Carelessly glancing at the paper which he had
taken from the floor, he read the name of Travers; he looked closely
at it, and discovered that it was an abstract of a will. Curiosity
prompted him to examine it, and his heart gave one tremendous
throb, when he discovered it to bear date after the one by which
Henry, in a fit of anger, was disinherited by his father.

The old man fell upon his knees, and if ever a fervent, heartfelt
prayer issued from the lips of mortal, he then prayed that he might
but live to see that great wrong righted.

He had but just time to conceal the paper within his breast, when
Granite returned.

"You here yet?" he cried. "Have I not done enough to-day? What
other beggarly brat do you come suing for?"

"For none, dear sir," said Sterling. "I would simply test that
benevolence, of which you spoke but now—the money which you
sent to Travers"——
"Well, what of it?"

"I have lost!"

"Pooh! old man," continued the other, contemptuously, "don't think

to deceive me by such a stale device; that's a very old trick."

"You don't believe me?"

"No."

"After so many years!" cried the old man, with tear-choked

utterance.

"The temptation was too much for you," bitterly replied the
merchant. The old leaven exhibited itself once more. "You
remember"——

"Silence, sir!" cried the old man, drawing up his aged form into
sudden erectness, while the fire of indignation illumined his
lustreless eye. "The majesty of my integrity emboldens me to say
that, even to you—your cruel taunt has wiped out all of feeling that I
had for you—fellow-sinner, hast thou not committed an error also?"

"Insolent! how dare you insinuate?"

"I don't insinuate; I speak out; nay, not an error, but a crime. I know
you have, and can prove it."

"Away, fool! you are in your dotage."

"A dotage that shall wither you in your strength, and strip you of
your ill-bought possessions," exclaimed the old man, with nearly the
vigor of youth; "since Humanity will not prompt you to yield up a
portion of your stolen wealth, Justice shall force you to deliver it all—
aye, all!"
"Villain! what riddle is this?" cried Granite, with a vague
presentiment that the missing paper was in some way connected
with this contretemps.

"A riddle easily solved," answered Sterling. "Behold its solution, if

your eyes dare look at it! A will, devising all the property you hold to
Henry Travers! There are dozens who can swear to my old
employer's signature. Stern, proper justice should prompt me to
vindicate his son's cause; yet, I know that he would not purchase
wealth at the cost of your degradation. Divide equally with him, and
let the past be forgotten."

There was but one way that Granite could regain his vantage-
ground, and he was not the man to shrink from it.

With a sudden bound, he threw himself upon the weak old clerk,
and snatching the paper from him, exclaimed—

"You shallow-pated fool! think you that you have a child to deal
with? The only evidence that could fling a shadow across my good
name would be your fragment of miserable breath, which I could
take, and would, as easily as brush away a noxious wasp, but that I
despise you too entirely to feel your sting. Go, both of you, and
babble forth your injuries to the world! go, and experience how poor
a conflict starveling honesty in rags can wage against iniquity when
clad in golden armor! I defy ye all! Behold how easily I can destroy
all danger to myself, and hope to him at once." So saying, he held
the paper to the lamp, and, notwithstanding the ineffectual efforts of
Sterling to prevent it, continued so to hold it until a few transitory
sparks were all that remained of Henry Travers's inheritance.

Sterling said not a syllable, but, with a glance at the other, which
had in it somewhat of inspiration, pointed upward, and slowly
staggered from the room.
 CHAPTER VII.

MORNING THOUGHTS.

The early grey of dawn peeped furtively through the shutters of Tom
Bobolink's home, and as they strengthened and strengthened, fell
upon a figure which could scarcely be recognized as the same
joyous-hearted individual of the day before. On the floor lay Tom;
the candle, which had completely burned out in its socket, close to
his head; one hand grasped the empty bottle, and the other was
tightly clutched within his breast.

And now another scarcely less sorrowful-looking figure is added.

Polly gazes, with tearful eyes, upon the prostrate form. He is
evidently in the maze of some terrible dream, for his head rolls
fearfully about, his limbs are convulsed, and his breathing is thick
and heavy.

Polly stooped down to awake him gently, when, at the slightest

touch, he started at one bound to his feet, muttering incoherent
words of terror and apprehension; his eyes rolled about wildly. He
seized Polly, and held her at arms' length for an instant, until he
fairly realized his actual situation, when he burst into a loud laugh,
that chilled his poor wife's very blood.

"Ha! ha! Pol, is that you?" he cried, wildly. "I've been a bad boy, I
know; but I'll make up for it gloriously, my girl. Ugh! what a dream
I've had. Ah! the darkness is a terrible time to get over when one's
conscience is filling the black night with fiery eyes." Then, turning to
his wife, he said, loudly: "Polly, darling, I'm ashamed of myself; but
it will be all right by and by. You were cut out for a rich woman, Pol."
"Dear Thomas, let me be rich in the happiness of our humble home;
'tis all I ask."

"Oh, nonsense! Suppose now you got a heap of money a prize in the
lottery, wouldn't you like to elevate your little nose, and jostle
against the big bugs in Broadway?"

"Not at the price of our comfort, Thomas," she answered, solemnly.

"You're a fool! Money can buy all sorts of comfort."

"What do you mean, Thomas, by those hints about money? has

anything happened?"

"Oh! no—no!" he replied, quickly, turning his eyes away; "but there's
no knowing when something might. Now I'll try her," thought he.
"It's my dream, Pol. Shall I tell it to you?"

"Do, my dear Tom. Oh! I'm so glad to see you yourself once more."

"Well, dear," he continued, sitting close to her, and placing his arm
around her waist, "I dreamed that as I was returning from a job,
what should I see in the street, under my very nose, but a pocket-
book, stuffed full of money. Presently the owner came along. He
asked me if I had found it. I said no, and came home a rich man—
oh! so rich!"

"I know your heart too well, Tom, to believe that such a thing could
happen except in a dream," said his wife, to his great annoyance. He
started up, and after one or two turns about the little, now untidy,
room, exclaimed, angrily:

"Why not? I should like to know if fortune did—I mean—was, to fling

luck in my way, do you think I'd be such a cursed fool as not to grab
at it?"

"Thomas, you have been drinking too much," said she, sadly.
"No, no," he interrupted, "not enough; give me some more."

"Not a drop, husband," she replied, seriously, and with

determination. "If you will poison yourself it shall not be through my
hand."

"Don't be a fool," he cried, savagely, "or it may be the worse for you.
I'm master of my own house, I think."

"Home! ah, Thomas, some evil spirit has stolen away our once
happy home for ever," said Polly, as she slowly and sorrowfully
returned again to weep in the silence of her own room.

"There has, there has," cried Tom, as she quitted him. "And this is
it"—pulling out the pocket-book, which he had not left hold of for an
instant, and frowning desperately at it—"Confound your skin, it's you
that has stolen away our comfort. I'll take the cursed thing back; I
wouldn't have Polly's eyes wet with sorrow to be made of money—
I'll take it back this very blessed morning; and somehow that
thought brings a ray of sunlight back to my heart." So saying, he
thrust the pocket-book, as he thought, safely within his vest, but in
his eagerness to take extra care of it, it slipped through, and
dropped upon the floor; his mind being taken off for a moment by
the entrance of Bryan, to tell him that the horse and truck were
ready.

"Very well, I'm glad of it," cried Tom. "Now I'll see what the fine,
bracing, morning air will do for this cracked head of mine; now then,
to take this back," and he slapped his chest, under the full
impression that the pocket-book was there. "Bryan, I don't want you
for half an hour; just wait till I come back, will you?"

"That I will, sir, and welcome," said Bryan, and with a merry song
once more at his lip, and a cheerful good-bye to Polly, to whose
heart both brought comfort in her great sadness, Bobolink mounted
his truck, and trotted off.
Meantime Bryan, now left alone in the room, dived into the recesses
of his capacious coat-pocket, and producing from thence a piece of
bread and cheese, moralized the while upon the pleasant change in
his prospects.

"Long life to this tindher-hearted couple," said he. "Shure an' I'm on
the high road to good luck at last; plenty of the best in the way of
atin', and an elegant stable to sleep in, with a Christian-like
quadruped for company; av I had only now a trifle o' money to get
myself some clothes—these things doesn't look well in this part of
the world," casting his eyes down in not over-delighted
contemplation of his nether integuments. "A little bit o' money now
would make me so happy an' industrious, I could take the buzz out
of a hive o' bees. The saints between us and all mischief, what's
that?" he continued, starting to his feet, as his glance fell upon the
pocket-book which Tom had dropped. "It serves me right," he went
on, his face suddenly becoming pale as paper, "to wish for any such
thing. I don't want it—it was all a mistake," cried he, apologetically.
"This is the devil's work; no sooner do I let a word out o' me mouth,
that I didn't mane at all at all, but the evil blaggard sticks a swadge
of temptation right before me. I won't have it—take it away."

At that instant Polly returned into the room. "Take care how you
come—don't walk this way," said Bryan. "Look!"

"What is it?" cried Polly, in alarm.

"Timptation!" shouted Bryan. "I was foolish enough just now to wish
for a trifle of money, and may I niver see glory if that lump of a
pocket-book didn't sprout up before me very eyes."

"Pocket-book, eh?" cried Polly, seizing it in her hands, despite of the

comic apprehension of Bryan, who insisted that it would burn her
fingers. The whole truth flashed across her mind at once. Tom's
dream was no dream, but a reality, and the struggle in his mind
whether to keep or return it, had caused that sleepless and
uncomfortable night. "Bryan," said she, quickly, "did you hear any
one say that they had lost any money yesterday?"

"Let me see," replied the other. "Yes, to be sure, 44 came out of the
hall-door, and axed me if I saw a pocket-book."

"It must be his. Thank God for this merciful dispensation," cried the
agitated wife. "Quick, quick, my bonnet and shawl, and come you,
Bryan, you know the place; this money must be that which was
lost."

"I'm wid you, ma'am," answered Bryan. "Who knows but that may
be the identical pocket-book; at any rate it'll do as well if there's as
much money in it, and if there isn't, there'll be another crop before
we come back."

CHAPTER VIII.

RETRIBUTION.

Snugly ensconced in his own particular apartment, Mr. Granite had

flung himself in post-prandial abandon into his easiest of easy-chairs.
Leisurely, and with the smack of a true connoisseur, he dallied with a
glass of exquisite Madeira. The consciousness of the enviable nature
of his worldly position never imbued him so thoroughly as at such a
moment. Business was flourishing, his health was excellent, and his
son, on whom he concentrated all the affection of which his heart
was capable, had recently distinguished himself at a college
examination. Everything, in fact, seemed to him couleur de rose.

It can readily be imagined that to be disturbed at such a period of

enjoyment was positive high treason against the home majesty of
the mercantile monarch.
Fancy, therefore, what a rude shock it was to his quiet, when he was
informed that Mr. Sterling wished to see him on a matter of the
greatest importance. "I cannot, I will not see him, or anybody," said
the enraged potentate; "you know, he knows, my invariable rule. It
must not be infringed, for any one whatever, much less for such a
person," and, closing his eyes in a spasm of self-sufficiency, he again
subsided into calmness, slightly ruffled, however, by the outrageous
attack upon his privacy.

He had just succeeded in restoring his disturbed equanimity, when

he was once more startled into ill-humor by the sound of voices as if
in altercation, and a sharp knock at the chamber-door.

The next instant, to his still greater surprise and anger, the old clerk,
Sterling, who had been ignominiously dismissed since the last
interview between him and Granite, stood before him. Every particle
of his hitherto meekness and humility had apparently vanished, as
for a few moments he regarded the merchant with a fixed and
penetrating look.

"What villainous intrusion is this? Where are my servants? How dare

they permit my home to be thus invaded?" cried Granite, with
flashing eyes and lowering brow.

"I am here, not for myself," replied Sterling, calmly, "but for the
victim of your rapacity—of your terrible guilt. I have intruded upon
you at this unusual time to inform you of the extremity in which
Travers is placed, and from my carelessness—my criminal
carelessness. Will you not at least remedy that?"

"No!" thundered the exasperated merchant. "Your indiscreet zeal has

ruined both you and those for whom you plead. I'll have nothing to
do with any of ye—begone!"

"Not before I have cautioned you that my lips, hitherto sealed for
fear of injury to him, shall henceforward be opened. Why should I
hesitate to denounce one who is so devoid of common charity?"

"Because no one will believe you," responded the other, with a bitter
sneer. "The denunciations of a discharged servant are seldom much
heeded; empty sounds will be of no avail. Proof will be needed in
confirmation, and where are you to find that?"

"Ah! where, indeed! you have taken care of that; but have you
reflected that there is a power to whom your machinations, your
schemes of aggrandizement, are as flimsy as the veriest gossamer
web?" solemnly ejaculated Sterling.

"Canting sways me as little as your hurtless threats. What I have, I

shall keep in spite of"——

"Heaven's justice?" interposed the old clerk.

"In spite of anything or everything," savagely replied the irritated

merchant. "You have your final answer, nor is it in the power of
angel or devil to alter it; and so, the sooner you relieve me from
your presence the better I will like it, and the better it may be for
your future prospects."

"Of my future, God knows, I take no care; but for the sake of those
poor young things, so cruelly left to struggle with a hard, hard world,
I feel that I have strength even to oppose the stern rock of your
obstinacy, almost hopeless though the effort may be. I am going,"
he went on, seeing the feverish impatience working in Granite's face,
"but, as a parting word, remember that my dependence is not in my
own ability to unmask your speciousness, or contend against the
harshness of your determination. No, I surrender my case and that
of my clients into His hands who never suffers the guilty to triumph
to the end. The avalanche falls sometimes on the fruitfullest
vineyards, as well as on the most sterile waste."

"By Heaven! you exhaust my patience," roared the other, as he rung

the servants' bell impetuously; "since you will not go of your own
accord, I must indignantly thrust you forth into the street like a cur."

"There shall be no need of that," meekly replied the clerk, turning to

leave the apartment, just as the servant entered, bringing a letter
for Mr. Granite on a silver waiter.

The latter was about to address an angry sentence to the servant,

when he perceived that the letter he carried was enclosed in an
envelope deeply bordered with black.

His heart gave one mighty throb as he snatched it—tearing it open,

and gasping with some terrible presentiment of evil, he but glanced
at the contents, and with a fearful shriek fell prostrate.

Sterling rushed to his side, and with the aid of the servant, loosed
his neckcloth, and placed him in a chair, using what immediate
remedies he could command in the hope of restoring animation. It
was some minutes before the stricken man, clutched from his pride
of place in the winking of an eyelid, gave signs of returning vitality.
During his unconsciousness, Sterling ascertained from the open
letter lying at his feet, that the merchant's son, the sole hope of his
existence, for whom he had slaved and toiled, set at naught all
principle, and violated even the ties of kindred and of honesty, had
died suddenly at college. No previous illness had given the slightest
shadow of an apprehension. He had quietly retired to his bed at his
usual hour on the previous night, and in the morning was found
stark and cold. None knew the agony which might have preceded
dissolution. No friendly tongue was nigh to speak of consolation; no
hand to do the kindly offices of nature.

Slowly, slowly and painfully the wretched parent returned to

consciousness, and with it, the terrible reality of his bereavement.
Glaring around him fiercely: "Where am I?—what is this?—why do
you hold me?" he cried, madly. At this instant his glance fell upon
the fatal letter; "Oh, God! I know it all—all! my son! my son!"
Turning upon Sterling, fiercely, he grasped him by the throat. "Old
man," he cried, "you have murdered him! you, and that villain
Travers!" Then he relaxed his gripe, and in an agony of tears, fell to
supplication. "It cannot be—it shall not be—oh! take me to him—
what am I to do? Sterling, my old friend, oh, forgive me—pity me—
let us away." He tried to stand, but his limbs were paralyzed. "The
judgment has fallen—I feared it—I expected it, but not so suddenly
—it may be that there is still hope—hope, though ever so distant.
Perhaps a quick atonement may avert the final blow. Quick, Sterling
—give me paper, and pen." They were brought. "Now write," he
continued, his voice growing fainter and fainter: "I give Travers all—
all—if this late repentance may be heard, and my son should live. I
know I can rely on his benevolence—quick, let me sign it, for my
strength is failing fast."

With extreme difficulty, he appended his signature to the document

Sterling had drawn up at his desire. When it was done, the pen
dropped from his nerveless grasp, his lips moved for an instant as
though in prayer—the next—he was—nothing!

CHAPTER IX.

SUNLIGHT.

Our scene shifts back to Mrs. Grimgriskin's elegant establishment,

where poor Travers' affairs are once more in a very dilapidated state,
as may be inferred from the conversation now progressing.

"People as can't pay," said the now curt landlady, smoothing down
an already very smooth apron, "needn't to have no objections, I
think, to turn out in favor of them as can. I'm a woman of few words
—very few indeed. I don't want to make myself at all disagreeable;
but impossibles is impossibles, and I can't provide without I have the
means to do so with."
"My good lady," interposed Travers, "do pray give me a little time;
my friend Sterling has again applied to Mr. Granite"——

"Pooh! I'm sick of all such excuses; one word for all—get your trunks
ready. I'd rather lose what you owe me than let it get any bigger,
when there's not the remotest chance, as I can see, for its
liquidation; and, dear me, how lucky—I declare there's the very
truckman who came the other day. I'll tell him to stop, for I don't
mind giving you all the assistance I can, conveniently with my own
interest."

So saying, she hailed Tom Bobolink, who was indeed looking

somewhat wistfully towards the house. He was just cogitating within
his mind what excuse he could make to get into the place, and so rid
himself of his unfortunate good fortune at once.

"Yon trunks, I presume from appearance, won't take a long time to

get ready," said the delicate Grimgriskin. "Here, my man; just come
in here," she continued, as Tom, in a state of considerable
trepidation, entered the room; "this young man will have a job for
you." The poor wife now joined Travers, and on inquiring the cause
of the slight tumult, was told by Henry that she must prepare to
seek an asylum away from the hospitable mansion which had
recently afforded them a shelter.

"Come, my love," said he, with a tolerable effort at cheerfulness, "let

us at once leave this mercenary woman's roof."

"Mercenary, indeed!" the landlady shrieked after them, as they

entered their own room. "Because a person won't suffer themselves
to be robbed with their eyes open, they're mercenary. The sooner
my house is cleared of such rubbish, the better. Mercenary, indeed!"
and with an indignant toss of her false curls, she flounced out of the
room.
"Now for it!" cried Tom; "the coast is clear; what the deuce shall I do
with it? I dare not give it openly; suppose I say I found it under the
sophia. Egad, that will do famously; here goes." So saying, he
plunged his hand into his bosom, and to his horror and
consternation it was not there; his blood froze in his veins for an
instant, then deluged him with a perfect thaw of perspiration. "Oh,
miserable, miserable wretch, I've lost it, I've lost it; what is to
become of me!" In vain he searched and searched; it was clean
gone. "Oh, how can I face Polly again?" he groaned. "My life is made
unhappy for ever; cursed, cursed luck. That ever my eyes fell upon
the thing at all: ha!" a shadowy hope flitted across him, that he
might have left it at home. "Could I have been so drunken a fool as
to leave it behind me? if so, where is it now? At all events, I must go
back as fast as I can, for if I cannot recover it, my God! I shall go
mad." With a few big jumps he reached the street, and hastily
mounting his truck, drove rapidly home, unmindful of the public
observation his demented look and unusual haste produced.

A short time after Tom's sudden departure, which was a perfect

mystery to Mrs. Grimgriskin, and also to Henry and his wife, a timid
ring was heard at the hall-door, and soon Travers, to whom every
sound brought increase of apprehension, trembled as he became
aware of an altercation between his irate landlady and the new
comers, whoever they were.

"I tell you I must see 44, the man that had the thrunks, goin' away a
few days agone," said an unmistakably Irish voice, rich and round.

"Oh, if you please, ma'am," placidly continued a small, silvery one.

The dispute, however, was very suddenly cut short by the owner of
the loud voice exclaiming, "Arrah, get out o' the road, you
cantankerus witch of Endher," and O'Bryan and Polly rushed up the
stairs without further ceremony. The door of Travers' room was flung
open. "Ha! ha!" cried O'Bryan, "there he is, every inch of him; that's
44; long life to you; and it's glad I am I've found you, and glad you'll
be yourself, I'm thinkin', if a trifle o' money will do yez any good."

"What's the matter with you, my friend, what do you seek from me?"
demanded Travers.

"Oh, sir, I beg your pardon for breaking in upon you so suddenly,"
said Polly, "but have you lost any money!"

"I have, indeed," replied Henry, "a large sum; do you know anything
about it?"

"Yes, sir," cried Polly, with a radiant flash of her eye. "Here it is;"
handing over the wallet, with its contents, with a sigh of the greatest
possible relief. "Tell me one thing, sir," she hesitatingly went on,
"was it—was it—taken from you?"

"No, my good woman, it was lost by an old friend of mine, dropped,

he believes, in the street."

"It was, sir, just as you say, thank Heaven for it. Yes, sir; my
husband found it. Is it all there, sir? oh, pray relieve me by saying it
is."

"Yes, every penny."

"Then, sir, whatever joy you may feel at its restoration cannot equal
what I feel at this moment," said Polly, while the tears gushed forth
unrestrainedly from her eyes.

"Here, my good woman, you must take a portion and give it to your
honest husband," said Henry, handing to her a liberal amount of the
sum.

"Not a shilling, sir, not a shilling," Polly firmly repeated. "I hate to
look at it."
"Then would you, my friend, take some reward," continued he,
addressing O'Bryan.

"Is it me? not av you were me father, I wouldn't," said the Irishman,
with a look of horror. "I know where it came from; bedad I know the
very soil it sprouted out of. I'll tell you how it was, sir. You see I was
sittin' by myself, and, like an ungrateful blaggard as I am, instead of
thankin' the blessed Heavens for the good luck that had fell a-top o'
me, what should I do but wish I had a bit o' money, for to dress up
my ugly anatomy, when all at once that swadge of temptation
dropped on the floor before my very face."

"Don't heed him, sir, he knows not what he talks about," said Polly.
"It is all as I told you, sir. My husband"——

She was interrupted by O'Bryan, who cried, "Here he comes. May I

niver stir if he doesn't, skelpin' along the street in a state of
disthractitude; by me sowl it's here he's coming, too."

"Yes, I know," said Henry, "he is employed, I believe, by our worthy

landlady, to remove our things."

At this moment Tom burst into the room, but on seeing Polly and
O'Bryan he stopped short, as if arrested by a lightning stroke. "You
here, Polly? have you heard of my crime," he said, wildly: but she
restrained him by gently laying her hand upon his arm.

"Yes, Tom," she said, quietly, "I know all about it, and so does this
gentleman. I have restored the money."

"What?" exclaimed Bobolink, while a thrill of joy went through his

frame; "is this true?"

"Hush! husband, dear, hush!" she continued; "I did as you told me,
you know. I have brought and given back the lost money to its
owner. You know you left it at home for me to take."
"Ah, Polly, I wish I could tell this fellow that," said Tom, laying his
hand upon his heart; "but I did intend to give it back. I did, by all
my hopes of happiness."

"I know you did, my dear Tom," replied Polly, earnestly. "Your true
heart could not harbor a bad thought long."

"My good friend," said Travers, approaching the truckman. "Your

wife has refused any reward for this honest act."

"She's right, sir, she's right," interrupted the other.

"At least you'll let me shake you by the hand, and proffer you my
friendship?"

"I can't, Poll, I can't," said Tom, aside, to his wife. "I'm afraid—I'm
half a scoundrel yet—I know I am; but I've learned a wholesome
lesson, and while I have life I'll strive to profit by it."

Urged to it by Polly, he did, however, shake hands with Travers and

his wife, just as old Sterling, his face shrouded in gloom, and Mrs.
Grimgriskin, stiff and tigerish, entered the room.

"Ah, Sterling, my good old friend, rejoice with us—this honest fellow
has found, and restored the money lost," said Travers, gaily; "but,
how is this? you don't join in our gladness. Has that old rascal"——

"Hold!" interrupted the old clerk, in an earnest voice, and impressive

manner; "Heaven has avenged your wrongs in a sudden and fearful
manner. Mr. Granite is dead."

"Dead!" exclaimed Henry, in a subdued tone; "with him let his

misdeeds be buried. His son will perhaps be more merciful; he will
inherit"——

"He has inherited—his father's fate," solemnly replied the old clerk.
"Justice may slumber for a while, but retribution must come at last.
You are now, by the merchant's will, his sole heir."
"Ho, ho!" thought Mrs. Grimgriskin, who had been an attentive
listener, "I'm a woman of few words, but if I had been a woman of
less, perhaps it would be more to my interest; but sudden
millionaires are usually generous;" and so, smoothing her feline
demeanor into quietude, she approached Travers.

"Allow me most sincerely to congratulate you upon your good

fortune," she simpered. "Apropos, the first floor is somewhat in
arrear; lovely apartments, new carpet, bath, hot water."

"Plenty of that, I'll be bail," remarked O'Bryan; "arrah, howld yer

prate, Mrs. Woman-of-few-words—don't you see there's one too
many here?"

"Then why don't you go, you ignorant animal," sharply suggested
the other.

"Because I'm not the one."

Suffice it to say, Henry, with his young wife, and dear old Sterling,
were soon installed in a house of their own, and, to their credit,
never lost sight of the interest of Tom Bobolink and Polly, who from
that day increased in content and prosperity.

As for O'Bryan, the last intimation we had of his well-doing, was the
appearance of sundry gigantic street-bills, which contained the
following announcement:
 THE TIPPERARY VENUS.

Amongst a people so simple-hearted and enthusiastic as the Irish, it

is not at all surprising that a firm and implicit belief in supernal
agency should be almost universal. To vivid imaginations, ever on
the stretch for the romantic, yearning ever for something beyond the
dull realities of commonplace existence, there is something
extremely fascinating in the brain revellings of Fairy Land.

Now the Irish fairies are very numerous, and all as well classified,
and their varied occupations defined and described by
supernaturalists, as though they really were amongst the things that
be. The "learned pundits" in such matters declare that the economy
of human nature is entirely carried on through their agency.
Philosophers have demonstrated the atomic vitality of the universe,
and the believer in fairies simply allots them their respective places
and duties in the general distribution. They tell you that every breath
of air, every drop of water, every leaf and flower, teems with actual
life. Myriads of tiny atomies, they say, are employed carrying on the
business of existence, animal, vegetable, and atmospheric. Here are
crowds of industrious little chemists, extracting dew from
moonbeams, which they deliver over to relays of fairy laborers, by
them to be applied to the languishing grass. The noxious exhalations
of the earth are, by a similar process, gathered from decaying
vegetation, and dispersed or condensed into refreshing rain. The
warm sunbeams are by them brought down and scattered through
the fields; it is the beautiful ministry of one class to breathe upon,
and gently force open, the budding blossoms, while, another
seduously warms and nurtures the ripening corn, and tends the
luscious fruits. Mischievous fellows there also are, whose delight it is
to try and frustrate the exertions of the workers. They travel from
place to place, loaded with malign influences; blight and mildew, and
all the destructive agents that blast the hopes of the agriculturist are
under their control; and, with an industry nearly equal to their
opponents, they employ their time in training caterpillars and other
devouring insects to assist them in the work of desolation.

Many are the battles, we are informed, that occur between the two
opposing classes, and it depends upon which side has the best of
the contest what the result may be to the defeated object; whether
they contend for the life of some delicate flower, or whether the
poor farmer's toils were to be rewarded or rendered hopeless by the
safety or the destruction of his entire crops.

But to leave this fanciful, and, it must be admitted, poetical theory,

our business now is with an individual of a highly responsible class in
the world of Fairydom—The Leprechaun. A most important
personage he is; being the custodian of all hidden treasure, it is he
who fabricates the gold within the rock-encircled laboratory. The
precious gems, the diamond, sapphire, ruby, amethyst, emerald, and
all the world-coveted jewels, are in the safe guardianship of the
Leprechaun; and fatal it is to him when aught is discovered and torn
from his grasp—for his fairy existence, his immortal essence, is lost
with it; he can no longer sport through the air, invisible to mortal
ken, but is compelled to take a tangible form, and to work at a
degrading occupation—that of making and mending the shoes of his
former fairy companions.

The experiences of the writer of this sketch in fairy lore and

anecdote, were mostly gathered from a wild, Tipperary sort of
cousin, some dozens of times removed, one Roderick O'Callaghan—
familiarly Rory—or as, by an easy corruption, he was known "the
country round," Roarin' O'Callaghan, who, in his time, had gathered
them from the wilder henchmen and followers by whom he was
surrounded, when, a devil-may-care gossoon, he wandered among
the Galtie mountains, the especial pet and persecutor of the entire
neighborhood.
Many and many were the mischievous pranks recorded of young
Rory. I almost wish that I had begun with the determination of
recounting a few of them; but, as I have set myself another task, I
must defer that intention until a future opportunity. I am not at all
certain still, but that my erratic nib—for I write "currente calamo,"
and without much especial method—may diverge from the grand
current of narrative, and, in spite of myself, imperceptibly stray into
the now interdicted by-way.

It was from Rory that I heard the strange tale I am now about to
relate. Desperate boy-rivals were we, at that time, I must tell you,
for the affectionate regards of a young beauty who played old Harry
with the juvenile susceptibilities of the whole vicinage. Ah! now that
my memory has reverted to that epoch, digression is inevitable.
Lovely Polly O'Connor!—bless my soul; a sigh, even at this distant
period; how very tenacious these boy-attachments are. I see her as
plainly now, mentally pictured, as though in very deed she stood
before me.

Both Rory and I endeavored, in the ardent enthusiasm of our

fledgling passion, to give vent to the burning thoughts that flamed
within us, through the lover's peculiar channel—poetry. My own
extraordinary effusion I remember—his I have preserved, and
although, at the time, I knew well which was best entitled to the
world's consideration, I submit both productions now without a
remark. They will at least serve for a description, however
insufficient, of our inspiratress.

I had an immense advantage over my competitor in one instance;

for, having an acquaintance in the editorial department of the local
newspaper, my lucubration lent a lustre to the poets' corner, while, I
am ashamed to confess, I exerted, successfully, the same influence
to keep Rory's out; it was ungenerous, I own, unpardonable; but
what won't a boy-rival do to clear the onward path before the
impetuosity of a first love.
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