Mr Oldmixon Author:William Alexander Hammond Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. A FAMILY PICTURE. " I Suppose, Miss Henschel," said Mr. Oldmixon, coming up to Barbara and standing by her side, Iris Lead scarcely reaching a... more »bove her shoulder—" I suppose that a bad man can be treated unjustly as well as a good one, eh ? An act that would be cruel and unfair to a model of all the heavenly virtues would be just as cruel and unfair if committed against a son of Belial, eh ? You would advise me, then, not to disinherit this blackguard that broke his poor mother's heart, stole my money, is drunk nearly all the time, is the associate of the vilest men in the city, and has now married a lovely girl upon whom I had placed my affections ? What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, eh ?" " You have already shown me, Mr. Oldmixon," answered Barbara, " that my opinion has no influence with you. It is scarcely worth while, therefore, for me to say anything more. Please allow me to go." " No, not yet, please ! 1 rely on you, Miss Henschel, to help me with your clear judgment, based, as it will be, on such power of comprehension as few, in my opinion, possess. You will kindly call to mind that when I first had the pleasure of meeting you 1 took advantage of the occasion to indulge in a little philosophical display. If I have a weakness for anything, it is philoso- phy. Well, your answers to my interrogatories were soexactly in accordance with my own views that I said to myself, ' Here is a woman who has learned how to make use of her brain. I must not lose sight of her, for perhaps some time or other I may want to use her.' The time has come sooner than I expected. 1 want to use you just as I would use a microscope or a telescope, or a fine chemical balance—to enable me to get at a result as nearly perfect as may be. Now, kindly allow me to s...« less