CHAPTER XIX.A CRASH IN COPPERS.I WAS worth forty-five hundred dollars while Bustumups were quoted at fifty. Every day, while they hung at about this figure, I debated with myself the policy of selling, paying my debt, and investing my surplus in some other concern. Perhaps I should have done so, if I had known of a company in which I could place entire confidence. I missed Cormorin very much, for I needed his advice; and I had come to regard him as an oracle in the matter of coppers.It looked like madness to sacrifice a stock which might go up to eighty or a hundred, as the Ballyhack had, and though my debt worried me, I could not make up my mind to let it go. If I could put ten thousand dollars in my pocket, my fortune would be made, for with this sum I could operate on a large scale. There was no danger of another examination of my cash at present, and I was secure. But Bustumups did not advance as rapidly as I wished. They hung at about fifty.I was told that parties were investigating the condition of the mine, and that as soon as they reported, the stock would go up as rapidly as Ballyhack had done. I was willing to wait patiently for a week or two, while the stock about held its own. Its trifling fluctuations up and down troubled me, but the parties who worked it convinced me that these were only accidental changes.Though I saw my uncle every day, he did not allude to his own villainy, and I was prudent enough to wait until I was out of the woods before I did so. In the course of a couple of weeks, when I had made my ten thousand dollars, I intended to resign my position, and then I could afford to express my mind very freely to Captain Halliard. With ten thousand dollars in my exchequer, I could go into any business that suited me, and make money enough to support me in a style becoming my abilities.I still had strong hopes that the fortune of Aunt Rachel would be mine. She was now apparently rapidly regaining her health, and I determined to improve my chances as soon as I could. On the following Saturday afternoon I took Lilian down to Springhaven with me, and we both usedour best efforts to win her regard. I took her out to ride, I read to her, and the old lady seemed as fond of me as when I was a boy. I was her only nephew, and it had been often reported that I was to be her heir, though on what authority I did not know. I invited her to spend a week or a month at my house in Boston, and she promised to do so as soon as she was able.A rumor that the parties who were investigating the condition of the mine intended to make a favorable report sent Bustumups to fifty-five, and I was very happy. I was worth nearly six thousand dollars. At the end of another week the stock went up to sixty, and the balance of worldly wealth in my favor was seven thousand dollars. The game was becoming intensely exciting. Another week or so would realize all my hopes. I should be free and safe.While every thing was in this cheerful condition Aunt Rachel sent for me, and I hastened to Springhaven, for I could not afford to neglect her summons. She was ready to go home with me, and she accompanied me to my house in Needham street. The old lady was a little surprised to find that I lived in elegant style, as she was pleased to express it; but then she regarded thesalary I received, which was double what her minister had, as princely in itself. Simple as were her views of social economy, she did not accuse me of extravagance. Lilian understood the matter perfectly, and was all tenderness and devotion.One morning, after she had been at our house three days, Aunt Rachel asked me if I knew a certain Squire Townsend, a lawyer, whom the old lady had been acquainted with in the early years of her life. I had heard of him. He was an attorney of the old school, and I hoped she intended to make her will while she was thus kindly disposed towards me. She begged me to see the old gentleman, and ask him to call upon her during the forenoon.“Do you see much of Captain Halliard, Paley?” asked my aunt, as I was going out.“I see him nearly every day.”“I wonder he has not been up to see me yet,” added the old lady.I did not wonder. I had not taken the trouble to tell him that Aunt Rachel was at my house.“Do you wish to see him?” I asked.“Not particularly. He has done considerable business for me.”“I know it. He did some for you while you were sick.”“Did he?”“He made me pay the thousand dollars I borrowed of you.”“What, Captain Halliard!” exclaimed the old lady.“He did.”“Why, I didn’t tell him to do that.”“I know you didn’t, but he showed me a power of attorney from you, and I couldn’t have helped myself if I had wished to do so; but I paid it, and it’s of no consequence now.”“I didn’t mean you should pay that money. I shouldn’t have cried if you had never paid it. I’ll talk with Squire Townsend about it. Couldn’t you take care of my property for me just as well as your uncle?”“Well, I suppose I could,” I replied, rather indifferently.“I never liked your uncle very well. He is too sharp for me. I’ll see what can be done.”“I wouldn’t say anything about meddling with Captain Halliard, at present,” I suggested, for I was somewhat afraid of him myself.“I’ll see about it; but I didn’t mean he shouldtrouble you about that money. He’d no business to do it, and I shall tell him so when I see him.”I did not intend she should see him at present. I went to the office of Squire Townsend, on my way down town, and left a message for him to call upon my aunt. I was fully persuaded in my own mind that she intended to make a will, and that she had come up to Boston in order to have the instrument drawn up by her old friend. Every thing looked rosy to me, for the old lady would certainly leave me the larger portion, if not the whole, of her worldly wealth.When I went home in the afternoon I learned that Squire Townsend had spent a couple of hours with Aunt Rachel, but Lilian had not heard a word that passed between them. Then the squire had called a carriage, and they had gone off together. I was not very anxious to know where they had gone, though I concluded that it was only to the office of her old friend for the purpose of having the will properly signed and witnessed. Now, as always before, Aunt Rachel kept her own counsel. She never told how much she was worth, or what she intended to do with her property. She was true to her antecedents, and during the remainder of her stayshe never mentioned the nature of her business with Squire Townsend, as she invariably called him. She said a good deal about the worthy lawyer’s history, and told stories about him at school. She was glad to meet him once more before she left the world, but she did not hint that she had special business with him.The old lady staid her week out, and then said she must go home. She did not think the city agreed with her. She did not sleep as well nights as at Springhaven. Both Lilian and I pressed her to remain longer, and promised to do every thing we could to make her happy, but she was resolute, and I attended her home, a week to a day from the time she arrived.I never saw her again.During the week that Aunt Rachel was with me, Bustumups began to look a little shaky. From sixty the stock went down to fifty-five in one day, but it immediately rallied, and those who managed it assured me it was only because money was a little tight, and a considerable portion of the stock had been forced upon the market. I proposed to sell, as I had promised myself that I would on the first appearance of a decline.“Don’t do it,” said the operator. “Wait threedays, and you can take sixty, if not sixty-five, for your stock. If you crowd it upon the market at once, you will drive it down, and cheat yourself out of twelve hundred dollars.”But it looks shaky,” I pleaded.“The best stocks on the street go up and down by turns. Wait till day after to-morrow, at least.”I did wait, because I did not like to have twenty-five hundred dollars taken out of my pocket at one swoop. Two days after, I was in a fever of anxiety about my Bustumups. They had gone up and down under the influence of various rumors, good and bad, and no one could foresee the end. At noon Tom Flynn went out for his lunch.“The coppers are in a bad way,” said he, taking his place at the counter on his return.“What is the matter with them?” I inquired, with my heart in my throat, for my very reputation rested upon the prosperity of the coppers.“Ballyhacks have dropped down from eighty to fifty,” added Tom.“What?” I exclaimed.“That’s what they say. Did you own any?”“No, no; no Ballyhacks,” I replied, struggling to conceal my emotion.I had not told Tom I was speculating in coppers,and I think he knew nothing about it, though he might have heard something of the kind.“Did you own any coppers?” he inquired, with a tone and look that indicated the sympathy he felt for me.“None of any consequence,” I replied.I dared not talk with him about the matter lest I should expose my emotion. With the stunning intelligence he had communicated to me on my mind, it was simply impossible for me to discharge my duties in the bank. I could hardly tell a hundred-dollar bill from a thousand. I told the cashier that I was sick, and was fearful that I should faint again if I did not get out in the air. He took my place, and I staggered out into the street. There were people on the sidewalk, but I could not see them. Every thing seemed to be without form or shape. I was in a fearful agony of mind, and dreaded lest I should drop senseless upon the pavement.I went into a saloon and drank a glass of brandy. I sat down at one of the little tables to gather up my shattered senses. Ruin stared me in the face. If Ballyhacks had fallen from eighty to fifty, what hope could there be for Bustumups? Afterall, the mischief might be confined to this particular stock, and mine might be still on the top of the wave. The brandy I had drank seemed to have no effect upon me. I took another glass, and my courage began to rise a little. The saloon was nearly filled with people, and there was a confused jabber of tongues all around me. Men spoke to me, and called me by name. I replied mechanically, but I could not have told a minute later who had spoken to me.“But they are a fraud,” said a gentleman, seating himself at the table next to mine.“Certainly they are,” replied the other. “The Ballyhack mine has produced some copper; but they say there is not a particle of metal on the Bustumup track—not an ounce! The managers of this affair ought to be indicted and sent to the State Prison.”“Merciful Heavens!” I ejaculated to myself, “I am ruined!”“Ballyhack has gone down to forty within half an hour,” added one of the gentlemen.“I heard a man offer Bustumups just now for twenty, and people laughed at him,” added the other. “I don’t believe they will bring ten.”“Probably not. There is not a dollar of valuein them. The thing is an unmitigated swindle.”The whole of the savage truth was poured into my ears. A moment later, I heard some one say that the managers of the Bustumup Company had found it convenient to disappear. I was almost a maniac. I cursed my folly because I had not sold my stock when it began to look shaky. The villains who had comforted me and made promises that I should sell at sixty were simply designing knaves, who had fraudulently worked this stock up to sixty, while there was not a penny of real value in it.The first shock bore heavily upon me, but I soon recovered in some measure from its effect. I went into the street, and inquired for myself, in regard to the coppers. There were two or three substantial companies which were actually producing metal and paying handsome dividends. The other companies were swindles; and Bustumup was the most egregious humbug of the whole. I tried to get an offer for my stock, and found it would not bring a dollar a share. Indeed, it could not be sold at any price. In a word, the five thousand dollars I had borrowed from the bank was a total loss.I will not attempt to describe the misery intowhich I was so suddenly plunged. If I had sold my stock a week before, I might have paid my debt and had five thousand dollars left. Now I was a defaulter in the sum of eight thousand dollars. It was horrible to think of. There was no possible way, that I could see, to escape the consequences. What should I do?I went back to the bank and told Mr. Heavyside that I was better. I resumed my place at the counter, and did my work till the bank closed, sustained by the brandy I had drank. I tried to devise some plan by which I could conceal my deficit for a time. I could think of nothing satisfactory. An examination of the affairs of the bank was sure to betray me. I was tempted to commit suicide, as others have done under the same pressure of guilt.I thought of my wife, and my eyes filled with tears, as I pictured the fall to which she would be subjected. It was ruin to her as well as to me. What would she do, while I was thinking of her in my narrow cell in the State Prison? The thought was madness to me. I swore that this should never be. She should not be the widow of a living man, who could not support her, who could give her nothing but a legacy of disgrace.My pride rebelled as I thought of being confined in the prisoners’ dock, with all my former friends and enemies staring at me. I thought of facing my uncle after he had been called upon to pay the bond; of meeting Buckleton, Shaytop, and others to whom I had talked so magnificently. I could not survive the crash. I could not live in dread of the calamity that impended. While I was thinking what to do, my uncle came into the bank. He was a cold-blooded wretch, but he was afraid of me.He began to talk of coppers, as, of course, I expected he would.
CHAPTER XIX.A CRASH IN COPPERS.I WAS worth forty-five hundred dollars while Bustumups were quoted at fifty. Every day, while they hung at about this figure, I debated with myself the policy of selling, paying my debt, and investing my surplus in some other concern. Perhaps I should have done so, if I had known of a company in which I could place entire confidence. I missed Cormorin very much, for I needed his advice; and I had come to regard him as an oracle in the matter of coppers.It looked like madness to sacrifice a stock which might go up to eighty or a hundred, as the Ballyhack had, and though my debt worried me, I could not make up my mind to let it go. If I could put ten thousand dollars in my pocket, my fortune would be made, for with this sum I could operate on a large scale. There was no danger of another examination of my cash at present, and I was secure. But Bustumups did not advance as rapidly as I wished. They hung at about fifty.I was told that parties were investigating the condition of the mine, and that as soon as they reported, the stock would go up as rapidly as Ballyhack had done. I was willing to wait patiently for a week or two, while the stock about held its own. Its trifling fluctuations up and down troubled me, but the parties who worked it convinced me that these were only accidental changes.Though I saw my uncle every day, he did not allude to his own villainy, and I was prudent enough to wait until I was out of the woods before I did so. In the course of a couple of weeks, when I had made my ten thousand dollars, I intended to resign my position, and then I could afford to express my mind very freely to Captain Halliard. With ten thousand dollars in my exchequer, I could go into any business that suited me, and make money enough to support me in a style becoming my abilities.I still had strong hopes that the fortune of Aunt Rachel would be mine. She was now apparently rapidly regaining her health, and I determined to improve my chances as soon as I could. On the following Saturday afternoon I took Lilian down to Springhaven with me, and we both usedour best efforts to win her regard. I took her out to ride, I read to her, and the old lady seemed as fond of me as when I was a boy. I was her only nephew, and it had been often reported that I was to be her heir, though on what authority I did not know. I invited her to spend a week or a month at my house in Boston, and she promised to do so as soon as she was able.A rumor that the parties who were investigating the condition of the mine intended to make a favorable report sent Bustumups to fifty-five, and I was very happy. I was worth nearly six thousand dollars. At the end of another week the stock went up to sixty, and the balance of worldly wealth in my favor was seven thousand dollars. The game was becoming intensely exciting. Another week or so would realize all my hopes. I should be free and safe.While every thing was in this cheerful condition Aunt Rachel sent for me, and I hastened to Springhaven, for I could not afford to neglect her summons. She was ready to go home with me, and she accompanied me to my house in Needham street. The old lady was a little surprised to find that I lived in elegant style, as she was pleased to express it; but then she regarded thesalary I received, which was double what her minister had, as princely in itself. Simple as were her views of social economy, she did not accuse me of extravagance. Lilian understood the matter perfectly, and was all tenderness and devotion.One morning, after she had been at our house three days, Aunt Rachel asked me if I knew a certain Squire Townsend, a lawyer, whom the old lady had been acquainted with in the early years of her life. I had heard of him. He was an attorney of the old school, and I hoped she intended to make her will while she was thus kindly disposed towards me. She begged me to see the old gentleman, and ask him to call upon her during the forenoon.“Do you see much of Captain Halliard, Paley?” asked my aunt, as I was going out.“I see him nearly every day.”“I wonder he has not been up to see me yet,” added the old lady.I did not wonder. I had not taken the trouble to tell him that Aunt Rachel was at my house.“Do you wish to see him?” I asked.“Not particularly. He has done considerable business for me.”“I know it. He did some for you while you were sick.”“Did he?”“He made me pay the thousand dollars I borrowed of you.”“What, Captain Halliard!” exclaimed the old lady.“He did.”“Why, I didn’t tell him to do that.”“I know you didn’t, but he showed me a power of attorney from you, and I couldn’t have helped myself if I had wished to do so; but I paid it, and it’s of no consequence now.”“I didn’t mean you should pay that money. I shouldn’t have cried if you had never paid it. I’ll talk with Squire Townsend about it. Couldn’t you take care of my property for me just as well as your uncle?”“Well, I suppose I could,” I replied, rather indifferently.“I never liked your uncle very well. He is too sharp for me. I’ll see what can be done.”“I wouldn’t say anything about meddling with Captain Halliard, at present,” I suggested, for I was somewhat afraid of him myself.“I’ll see about it; but I didn’t mean he shouldtrouble you about that money. He’d no business to do it, and I shall tell him so when I see him.”I did not intend she should see him at present. I went to the office of Squire Townsend, on my way down town, and left a message for him to call upon my aunt. I was fully persuaded in my own mind that she intended to make a will, and that she had come up to Boston in order to have the instrument drawn up by her old friend. Every thing looked rosy to me, for the old lady would certainly leave me the larger portion, if not the whole, of her worldly wealth.When I went home in the afternoon I learned that Squire Townsend had spent a couple of hours with Aunt Rachel, but Lilian had not heard a word that passed between them. Then the squire had called a carriage, and they had gone off together. I was not very anxious to know where they had gone, though I concluded that it was only to the office of her old friend for the purpose of having the will properly signed and witnessed. Now, as always before, Aunt Rachel kept her own counsel. She never told how much she was worth, or what she intended to do with her property. She was true to her antecedents, and during the remainder of her stayshe never mentioned the nature of her business with Squire Townsend, as she invariably called him. She said a good deal about the worthy lawyer’s history, and told stories about him at school. She was glad to meet him once more before she left the world, but she did not hint that she had special business with him.The old lady staid her week out, and then said she must go home. She did not think the city agreed with her. She did not sleep as well nights as at Springhaven. Both Lilian and I pressed her to remain longer, and promised to do every thing we could to make her happy, but she was resolute, and I attended her home, a week to a day from the time she arrived.I never saw her again.During the week that Aunt Rachel was with me, Bustumups began to look a little shaky. From sixty the stock went down to fifty-five in one day, but it immediately rallied, and those who managed it assured me it was only because money was a little tight, and a considerable portion of the stock had been forced upon the market. I proposed to sell, as I had promised myself that I would on the first appearance of a decline.“Don’t do it,” said the operator. “Wait threedays, and you can take sixty, if not sixty-five, for your stock. If you crowd it upon the market at once, you will drive it down, and cheat yourself out of twelve hundred dollars.”But it looks shaky,” I pleaded.“The best stocks on the street go up and down by turns. Wait till day after to-morrow, at least.”I did wait, because I did not like to have twenty-five hundred dollars taken out of my pocket at one swoop. Two days after, I was in a fever of anxiety about my Bustumups. They had gone up and down under the influence of various rumors, good and bad, and no one could foresee the end. At noon Tom Flynn went out for his lunch.“The coppers are in a bad way,” said he, taking his place at the counter on his return.“What is the matter with them?” I inquired, with my heart in my throat, for my very reputation rested upon the prosperity of the coppers.“Ballyhacks have dropped down from eighty to fifty,” added Tom.“What?” I exclaimed.“That’s what they say. Did you own any?”“No, no; no Ballyhacks,” I replied, struggling to conceal my emotion.I had not told Tom I was speculating in coppers,and I think he knew nothing about it, though he might have heard something of the kind.“Did you own any coppers?” he inquired, with a tone and look that indicated the sympathy he felt for me.“None of any consequence,” I replied.I dared not talk with him about the matter lest I should expose my emotion. With the stunning intelligence he had communicated to me on my mind, it was simply impossible for me to discharge my duties in the bank. I could hardly tell a hundred-dollar bill from a thousand. I told the cashier that I was sick, and was fearful that I should faint again if I did not get out in the air. He took my place, and I staggered out into the street. There were people on the sidewalk, but I could not see them. Every thing seemed to be without form or shape. I was in a fearful agony of mind, and dreaded lest I should drop senseless upon the pavement.I went into a saloon and drank a glass of brandy. I sat down at one of the little tables to gather up my shattered senses. Ruin stared me in the face. If Ballyhacks had fallen from eighty to fifty, what hope could there be for Bustumups? Afterall, the mischief might be confined to this particular stock, and mine might be still on the top of the wave. The brandy I had drank seemed to have no effect upon me. I took another glass, and my courage began to rise a little. The saloon was nearly filled with people, and there was a confused jabber of tongues all around me. Men spoke to me, and called me by name. I replied mechanically, but I could not have told a minute later who had spoken to me.“But they are a fraud,” said a gentleman, seating himself at the table next to mine.“Certainly they are,” replied the other. “The Ballyhack mine has produced some copper; but they say there is not a particle of metal on the Bustumup track—not an ounce! The managers of this affair ought to be indicted and sent to the State Prison.”“Merciful Heavens!” I ejaculated to myself, “I am ruined!”“Ballyhack has gone down to forty within half an hour,” added one of the gentlemen.“I heard a man offer Bustumups just now for twenty, and people laughed at him,” added the other. “I don’t believe they will bring ten.”“Probably not. There is not a dollar of valuein them. The thing is an unmitigated swindle.”The whole of the savage truth was poured into my ears. A moment later, I heard some one say that the managers of the Bustumup Company had found it convenient to disappear. I was almost a maniac. I cursed my folly because I had not sold my stock when it began to look shaky. The villains who had comforted me and made promises that I should sell at sixty were simply designing knaves, who had fraudulently worked this stock up to sixty, while there was not a penny of real value in it.The first shock bore heavily upon me, but I soon recovered in some measure from its effect. I went into the street, and inquired for myself, in regard to the coppers. There were two or three substantial companies which were actually producing metal and paying handsome dividends. The other companies were swindles; and Bustumup was the most egregious humbug of the whole. I tried to get an offer for my stock, and found it would not bring a dollar a share. Indeed, it could not be sold at any price. In a word, the five thousand dollars I had borrowed from the bank was a total loss.I will not attempt to describe the misery intowhich I was so suddenly plunged. If I had sold my stock a week before, I might have paid my debt and had five thousand dollars left. Now I was a defaulter in the sum of eight thousand dollars. It was horrible to think of. There was no possible way, that I could see, to escape the consequences. What should I do?I went back to the bank and told Mr. Heavyside that I was better. I resumed my place at the counter, and did my work till the bank closed, sustained by the brandy I had drank. I tried to devise some plan by which I could conceal my deficit for a time. I could think of nothing satisfactory. An examination of the affairs of the bank was sure to betray me. I was tempted to commit suicide, as others have done under the same pressure of guilt.I thought of my wife, and my eyes filled with tears, as I pictured the fall to which she would be subjected. It was ruin to her as well as to me. What would she do, while I was thinking of her in my narrow cell in the State Prison? The thought was madness to me. I swore that this should never be. She should not be the widow of a living man, who could not support her, who could give her nothing but a legacy of disgrace.My pride rebelled as I thought of being confined in the prisoners’ dock, with all my former friends and enemies staring at me. I thought of facing my uncle after he had been called upon to pay the bond; of meeting Buckleton, Shaytop, and others to whom I had talked so magnificently. I could not survive the crash. I could not live in dread of the calamity that impended. While I was thinking what to do, my uncle came into the bank. He was a cold-blooded wretch, but he was afraid of me.He began to talk of coppers, as, of course, I expected he would.
A CRASH IN COPPERS.
I WAS worth forty-five hundred dollars while Bustumups were quoted at fifty. Every day, while they hung at about this figure, I debated with myself the policy of selling, paying my debt, and investing my surplus in some other concern. Perhaps I should have done so, if I had known of a company in which I could place entire confidence. I missed Cormorin very much, for I needed his advice; and I had come to regard him as an oracle in the matter of coppers.
It looked like madness to sacrifice a stock which might go up to eighty or a hundred, as the Ballyhack had, and though my debt worried me, I could not make up my mind to let it go. If I could put ten thousand dollars in my pocket, my fortune would be made, for with this sum I could operate on a large scale. There was no danger of another examination of my cash at present, and I was secure. But Bustumups did not advance as rapidly as I wished. They hung at about fifty.I was told that parties were investigating the condition of the mine, and that as soon as they reported, the stock would go up as rapidly as Ballyhack had done. I was willing to wait patiently for a week or two, while the stock about held its own. Its trifling fluctuations up and down troubled me, but the parties who worked it convinced me that these were only accidental changes.
Though I saw my uncle every day, he did not allude to his own villainy, and I was prudent enough to wait until I was out of the woods before I did so. In the course of a couple of weeks, when I had made my ten thousand dollars, I intended to resign my position, and then I could afford to express my mind very freely to Captain Halliard. With ten thousand dollars in my exchequer, I could go into any business that suited me, and make money enough to support me in a style becoming my abilities.
I still had strong hopes that the fortune of Aunt Rachel would be mine. She was now apparently rapidly regaining her health, and I determined to improve my chances as soon as I could. On the following Saturday afternoon I took Lilian down to Springhaven with me, and we both usedour best efforts to win her regard. I took her out to ride, I read to her, and the old lady seemed as fond of me as when I was a boy. I was her only nephew, and it had been often reported that I was to be her heir, though on what authority I did not know. I invited her to spend a week or a month at my house in Boston, and she promised to do so as soon as she was able.
A rumor that the parties who were investigating the condition of the mine intended to make a favorable report sent Bustumups to fifty-five, and I was very happy. I was worth nearly six thousand dollars. At the end of another week the stock went up to sixty, and the balance of worldly wealth in my favor was seven thousand dollars. The game was becoming intensely exciting. Another week or so would realize all my hopes. I should be free and safe.
While every thing was in this cheerful condition Aunt Rachel sent for me, and I hastened to Springhaven, for I could not afford to neglect her summons. She was ready to go home with me, and she accompanied me to my house in Needham street. The old lady was a little surprised to find that I lived in elegant style, as she was pleased to express it; but then she regarded thesalary I received, which was double what her minister had, as princely in itself. Simple as were her views of social economy, she did not accuse me of extravagance. Lilian understood the matter perfectly, and was all tenderness and devotion.
One morning, after she had been at our house three days, Aunt Rachel asked me if I knew a certain Squire Townsend, a lawyer, whom the old lady had been acquainted with in the early years of her life. I had heard of him. He was an attorney of the old school, and I hoped she intended to make her will while she was thus kindly disposed towards me. She begged me to see the old gentleman, and ask him to call upon her during the forenoon.
“Do you see much of Captain Halliard, Paley?” asked my aunt, as I was going out.
“I see him nearly every day.”
“I wonder he has not been up to see me yet,” added the old lady.
I did not wonder. I had not taken the trouble to tell him that Aunt Rachel was at my house.
“Do you wish to see him?” I asked.
“Not particularly. He has done considerable business for me.”
“I know it. He did some for you while you were sick.”
“Did he?”
“He made me pay the thousand dollars I borrowed of you.”
“What, Captain Halliard!” exclaimed the old lady.
“He did.”
“Why, I didn’t tell him to do that.”
“I know you didn’t, but he showed me a power of attorney from you, and I couldn’t have helped myself if I had wished to do so; but I paid it, and it’s of no consequence now.”
“I didn’t mean you should pay that money. I shouldn’t have cried if you had never paid it. I’ll talk with Squire Townsend about it. Couldn’t you take care of my property for me just as well as your uncle?”
“Well, I suppose I could,” I replied, rather indifferently.
“I never liked your uncle very well. He is too sharp for me. I’ll see what can be done.”
“I wouldn’t say anything about meddling with Captain Halliard, at present,” I suggested, for I was somewhat afraid of him myself.
“I’ll see about it; but I didn’t mean he shouldtrouble you about that money. He’d no business to do it, and I shall tell him so when I see him.”
I did not intend she should see him at present. I went to the office of Squire Townsend, on my way down town, and left a message for him to call upon my aunt. I was fully persuaded in my own mind that she intended to make a will, and that she had come up to Boston in order to have the instrument drawn up by her old friend. Every thing looked rosy to me, for the old lady would certainly leave me the larger portion, if not the whole, of her worldly wealth.
When I went home in the afternoon I learned that Squire Townsend had spent a couple of hours with Aunt Rachel, but Lilian had not heard a word that passed between them. Then the squire had called a carriage, and they had gone off together. I was not very anxious to know where they had gone, though I concluded that it was only to the office of her old friend for the purpose of having the will properly signed and witnessed. Now, as always before, Aunt Rachel kept her own counsel. She never told how much she was worth, or what she intended to do with her property. She was true to her antecedents, and during the remainder of her stayshe never mentioned the nature of her business with Squire Townsend, as she invariably called him. She said a good deal about the worthy lawyer’s history, and told stories about him at school. She was glad to meet him once more before she left the world, but she did not hint that she had special business with him.
The old lady staid her week out, and then said she must go home. She did not think the city agreed with her. She did not sleep as well nights as at Springhaven. Both Lilian and I pressed her to remain longer, and promised to do every thing we could to make her happy, but she was resolute, and I attended her home, a week to a day from the time she arrived.
I never saw her again.
During the week that Aunt Rachel was with me, Bustumups began to look a little shaky. From sixty the stock went down to fifty-five in one day, but it immediately rallied, and those who managed it assured me it was only because money was a little tight, and a considerable portion of the stock had been forced upon the market. I proposed to sell, as I had promised myself that I would on the first appearance of a decline.
“Don’t do it,” said the operator. “Wait threedays, and you can take sixty, if not sixty-five, for your stock. If you crowd it upon the market at once, you will drive it down, and cheat yourself out of twelve hundred dollars.”
But it looks shaky,” I pleaded.
“The best stocks on the street go up and down by turns. Wait till day after to-morrow, at least.”
I did wait, because I did not like to have twenty-five hundred dollars taken out of my pocket at one swoop. Two days after, I was in a fever of anxiety about my Bustumups. They had gone up and down under the influence of various rumors, good and bad, and no one could foresee the end. At noon Tom Flynn went out for his lunch.
“The coppers are in a bad way,” said he, taking his place at the counter on his return.
“What is the matter with them?” I inquired, with my heart in my throat, for my very reputation rested upon the prosperity of the coppers.
“Ballyhacks have dropped down from eighty to fifty,” added Tom.
“What?” I exclaimed.
“That’s what they say. Did you own any?”
“No, no; no Ballyhacks,” I replied, struggling to conceal my emotion.
I had not told Tom I was speculating in coppers,and I think he knew nothing about it, though he might have heard something of the kind.
“Did you own any coppers?” he inquired, with a tone and look that indicated the sympathy he felt for me.
“None of any consequence,” I replied.
I dared not talk with him about the matter lest I should expose my emotion. With the stunning intelligence he had communicated to me on my mind, it was simply impossible for me to discharge my duties in the bank. I could hardly tell a hundred-dollar bill from a thousand. I told the cashier that I was sick, and was fearful that I should faint again if I did not get out in the air. He took my place, and I staggered out into the street. There were people on the sidewalk, but I could not see them. Every thing seemed to be without form or shape. I was in a fearful agony of mind, and dreaded lest I should drop senseless upon the pavement.
I went into a saloon and drank a glass of brandy. I sat down at one of the little tables to gather up my shattered senses. Ruin stared me in the face. If Ballyhacks had fallen from eighty to fifty, what hope could there be for Bustumups? Afterall, the mischief might be confined to this particular stock, and mine might be still on the top of the wave. The brandy I had drank seemed to have no effect upon me. I took another glass, and my courage began to rise a little. The saloon was nearly filled with people, and there was a confused jabber of tongues all around me. Men spoke to me, and called me by name. I replied mechanically, but I could not have told a minute later who had spoken to me.
“But they are a fraud,” said a gentleman, seating himself at the table next to mine.
“Certainly they are,” replied the other. “The Ballyhack mine has produced some copper; but they say there is not a particle of metal on the Bustumup track—not an ounce! The managers of this affair ought to be indicted and sent to the State Prison.”
“Merciful Heavens!” I ejaculated to myself, “I am ruined!”
“Ballyhack has gone down to forty within half an hour,” added one of the gentlemen.
“I heard a man offer Bustumups just now for twenty, and people laughed at him,” added the other. “I don’t believe they will bring ten.”
“Probably not. There is not a dollar of valuein them. The thing is an unmitigated swindle.”
The whole of the savage truth was poured into my ears. A moment later, I heard some one say that the managers of the Bustumup Company had found it convenient to disappear. I was almost a maniac. I cursed my folly because I had not sold my stock when it began to look shaky. The villains who had comforted me and made promises that I should sell at sixty were simply designing knaves, who had fraudulently worked this stock up to sixty, while there was not a penny of real value in it.
The first shock bore heavily upon me, but I soon recovered in some measure from its effect. I went into the street, and inquired for myself, in regard to the coppers. There were two or three substantial companies which were actually producing metal and paying handsome dividends. The other companies were swindles; and Bustumup was the most egregious humbug of the whole. I tried to get an offer for my stock, and found it would not bring a dollar a share. Indeed, it could not be sold at any price. In a word, the five thousand dollars I had borrowed from the bank was a total loss.
I will not attempt to describe the misery intowhich I was so suddenly plunged. If I had sold my stock a week before, I might have paid my debt and had five thousand dollars left. Now I was a defaulter in the sum of eight thousand dollars. It was horrible to think of. There was no possible way, that I could see, to escape the consequences. What should I do?
I went back to the bank and told Mr. Heavyside that I was better. I resumed my place at the counter, and did my work till the bank closed, sustained by the brandy I had drank. I tried to devise some plan by which I could conceal my deficit for a time. I could think of nothing satisfactory. An examination of the affairs of the bank was sure to betray me. I was tempted to commit suicide, as others have done under the same pressure of guilt.
I thought of my wife, and my eyes filled with tears, as I pictured the fall to which she would be subjected. It was ruin to her as well as to me. What would she do, while I was thinking of her in my narrow cell in the State Prison? The thought was madness to me. I swore that this should never be. She should not be the widow of a living man, who could not support her, who could give her nothing but a legacy of disgrace.
My pride rebelled as I thought of being confined in the prisoners’ dock, with all my former friends and enemies staring at me. I thought of facing my uncle after he had been called upon to pay the bond; of meeting Buckleton, Shaytop, and others to whom I had talked so magnificently. I could not survive the crash. I could not live in dread of the calamity that impended. While I was thinking what to do, my uncle came into the bank. He was a cold-blooded wretch, but he was afraid of me.
He began to talk of coppers, as, of course, I expected he would.