CHAPTER XIX.

Mr. Harry Brierly drew his pay as an engineer while he was living at the

City Hotel in Hawkeye. Mr. Thompson had been kind enough to say that it

didn't make any difference whether he was with the corps or not; and

although Harry protested to the Colonel daily and to Washington Hawkins

that he must go back at once to the line and superintend the lay-out with

reference to his contract, yet he did not go, but wrote instead long

letters to Philip, instructing him to keep his eye out, and to let him

know when any difficulty occurred that required his presence.

Meantime Harry blossomed out in the society of Hawkeye, as he did in any

society where fortune cast him and he had the slightest opportunity to

expand. Indeed the talents of a rich and accomplished young fellow like

Harry were not likely to go unappreciated in such a place. A land

operator, engaged in vast speculations, a favorite in the select circles

of New York, in correspondence with brokers and bankers, intimate with

public men at Washington, one who could play the guitar and touch the

banjo lightly, and who had an eye for a pretty girl, and knew the

language of flattery, was welcome everywhere in Hawkeye. Even Miss Laura

Hawkins thought it worth while to use her fascinations upon him, and to

endeavor to entangle the volatile fellow in the meshes of her

attractions.

Gad," says Harry to the Colonel, "she's a superb creature, she'd make a

stir in New York, money or no money. There are men I know would give her

The Gilded Age