Sevenoaks

䋸Sevenoaks

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Sevenoaks, by J. G. Holland
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Title: Sevenoaks
Author: J. G. Holland
Release Date: March 1, 2005 [eBook #15214]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEVENOAKS***
E-text prepared by Audrey Longhurst, Josephine Paolucci, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

SEVENOAKS
A Story of Today
by
J.G. HOLLAND
New York Grosset & Dunlap Publishers Published by Arrangement with Charles Scribner's Sons
1875

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
Which tells about Sevenoaks, and how Miss Butterworth passed one of her evenings

CHAPTER II.
Mr. Belcher carries his point at the town-meeting, and the poor are knocked down to Thomas Buffum

CHAPTER III.
In which Jim Fenton is introduced to the reader and introduces himself to Miss Butterworth

CHAPTER IV.
In which Jim Fenton applies for lodgings at Tom Buffum's boarding-house, and finds his old friend

CHAPTER V.
In which Jim enlarges his accommodations and adopts a violent method of securing boarders

CHAPTER VI.
In which Sevenoaks experiences a great commotion, and comes to the conclusion that Benedict has met with foul play

CHAPTER VII.
In which Jim and Mike Conlin pass through a great trial and come out victorious

CHAPTER VIII.
In which Mr. Belcher visits New York, and becomes the Proprietor of "Palgrave's Folly."

CHAPTER IX.
Mrs. Talbot gives her little dinner party, and Mr. Belcher makes an exceedingly pleasant acquaintance

CHAPTER X.
Which tells how a lawyer spent his vacation in camp, and took home a specimen of game that he had never before found in the woods

CHAPTER XI.
Which records Mr. Belcher's connection with a great speculation and brings to a close his residence in Sevenoaks

CHAPTER XII.
In which Jim enlarges his plans for a house, and completes his plans for a house-keeper

CHAPTER XIII.
Which introduces several residents of Sevenoaks to the Metropolis and a new character to the reader

CHAPTER XIV.
Which tells of a great public meeting in Sevenoaks, the burning in effigy of Mr. Belcher, and that gentleman's interview with a reporter

CHAPTER XV.
Which tells about Mrs. Dillingham's Christmas and the New Year's Reception at the Palgrave Mansion

CHAPTER XVI.
Which gives an account of a voluntary and an involuntary visit of Sam Yates to Number Nine

CHAPTER XVII.
In which Jim constructs two happy-Davids, raises his hotel, and dismisses Sam Yates

CHAPTER XVIII.
In which Mrs. Dillingham makes some important discoveries, but fails to reveal them to the reader

CHAPTER XIX.
In which Mr. Belcher becomes President of the Crooked Valley Railroad, with large "Terminal facilities," and makes an adventure into a long-meditated crime

CHAPTER XX.
In which "the little woman" announces her engagement to Jim Fenton and receives the congratulations of her friends

CHAPTER XXI.
In which Jim gets the furniture into his house, and Mike Conlin gets another installment of advice into Jim

CHAPTER XXII.
In which Jim gets married, the new hotel receives its mistress, and Benedict confers a power of attorney

CHAPTER XXIII.
In which Mr. Belcher expresses his determination to become a "founder," but drops his noun in fear of a little verb of the same name

CHAPTER XXIV.
Wherein the General leaps the bounds of law, finds himself in a new world, and becomes the victim of his friends without knowing it

CHAPTER XXV.
In which the General goes through a great many trials, and meets at last the one he has so long anticipated

CHAPTER XXVI.
In which the case of "Benedict _vs._ Belcher" finds itself in court, an interesting question of identity is settled, and a mysterious disappearance takes place

CHAPTER XXVII.
In which Phipps is not to be found, and the General is called upon to do his own lying

CHAPTER XXVIII.
In which a heavenly witness appears who cannot be cross-examined, and before which the defense utterly breaks down

CHAPTER XXIX.
Wherein Mr. Belcher, having exhibited his dirty record, shows a clean pair of heels

CHAPTER XXX.
Which gives the history of an anniversary, presents a tableau, and drops the curtain

CHAPTER I.
WHICH TELLS ABOUT SEVENOAKS, AND HOW MISS BUTTERWORTH PASSED ONE OF HER EVENINGS.
Everybody has seen Sevenoaks, or a hundred towns so much like it, in most particulars, that a description of any one of them would present it to the imagination--a town strung upon a stream, like beads upon a thread, or charms upon a chain. Sevenoaks was richer in chain than charms, for its abundant water-power was only partially used. It plunged, and roared, and played, and sparkled, because it had not half enough to do. It leaped down three or four cataracts in passing through the village; and, as it started from living springs far northward among the woods and mountains, it never failed in its supplies.
Few of the people of Sevenoaks--thoughtless workers, mainly--either knew or cared whence it came, or whither it went. They knew it as "The Branch;" but Sevenoaks was so far from the trunk, down to which it sent its sap, and from which it received