FAR ABOVE RUBIES. A Novel. BY MRS. J. H. RIDDELL, AUTHOR OF “GEORGE GEITH,” “CITY AND SUBURB,” “TOO MUCH ALONE,” “THE RACE FOR WEALTH,” ETC., ETC. _IN THREE VOLUMES._ VOL. II. LONDON: TINSLEY BROTHERS, CATHERINE STREET, STRAND. 1867. [_The Right of Translation and Reproduction reserved._] LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. CHAPTER I. PAGE MR. BLACK WRITES HIS PROSPECTUS 1 CHAPTER II. MRS. PIGGOTT’S ASSISTANT 29 CHAPTER III. HEATHER’S DARLING 51 CHAPTER IV. POOR LALLY 78 CHAPTER V. MR. BLACK’S TARTAR 101 CHAPTER VI. HOLLY BERRIES 132 CHAPTER VII. GONE 155 CHAPTER VIII. MR. STEWART’S PROPOSAL 180 CHAPTER IX. A FEW BILLS 201 CHAPTER X. HOW HEATHER TOOK IT 231 CHAPTER XI. LEAVING BERRIE DOWN 265 CHAPTER XII. NOT QUITE SATISFIED 291 FAR ABOVE RUBIES CHAPTER I. MR. BLACK WRITES HIS PROSPECTUS. Amidst the anxieties of making salads, the desire to convert Heather from the evils and dangers of English cookery, skirmishes with Mrs. Ormson, criticisms on Bessie, and the personal enjoyment of such luxuries as ripe fruit, coffee of her own manufacture, chocolate and claret _ad libitum_, Miss Hope by no means forgot Mr. Black’s commercial scheme, and the efforts she felt confident he was making to induce Arthur to embark in it with him. A woman sharp and clever enough in her generation, she was yet no match, either in sharpness or cleverness, for Mr. Black. If she knew a few things about him, he “was up,” so he phrased it, “to two or three of her moves,” and could turn the tables on her, when she tried his temper, as is often the wise fashion of her sex, a little too much.