CHAPTER XX.THE LAST STEP.“I HOPE you are not in very deep, Paley,” said Captain Halliard, after he had stated the question in regard to the copper stocks.“Not very, but I am bitten somewhat,” I replied, trying to look cheerful, for I could not think of exhibiting to the enemy the state of my affairs. “Did you own any coppers, uncle?”“No; not a copper. I had some, but I got rid of them,” replied the wily man of the world, rubbing his hands to indicate that he was too shrewd to be involved in any speculation that could possibly miscarry.“You are fortunate.”“Speculation is just as much a trade as any other branch of human industry. It requires brains, forethought, coolness. Novices should be cautious how they venture beyond their depth, for they are almost sure to be bitten. I am sorry you have been trapped, Paley.”“I’m not badly hurt, though of course the smallloss I have experienced must make some difference in my future arrangements. And, by the way, I should like to avail myself of your kind offer.”“What was that?” he asked, rather blankly.“You offered to lend me money if I was short.”“Just so.”“I want a thousand dollars.”“Of course you mean of your aunt’s money?”“It won’t make much difference to me whose money it is, if I only get it.”“You shall have the thousand you paid me on her account.”“Very well, sir.”He gave me his check for the amount, and I wrote a note for it, payable to my aunt. The captain wished to ascertain how much I had lost by the copper explosion, but I evaded a definite answer, and intimated that I was bitten to the extent of only a few hundred dollars. I had now a thousand dollars in my pocket, besides about a hundred in my possession before. I felt a little easier, though the terrible pressure of my load still rested heavily upon me. I am not disposed to moralize in this place upon the guilt of my conduct, for really the guilt at that time did not trouble me half so much as the fear of detection.I owed the bank eight thousand dollars. I had “tinkered” the books so as to account for the deficiency, but the record would not bear a very close examination. The fact that I was mixed up in these miserable copper stock speculations was quite enough to excite suspicion, for I could not hope that the fact was unknown to the directors, as long as my uncle knew it. I felt as though I was living on a powder magazine which might explode at any instant. The slightest accident might reveal the whole truth to Mr. Bristlebach.If I should happen to be sick a day, so that I could not go to the bank, my false entries might be detected. Even while I was in the daily discharge of my duties, the president or the cashier might be tempted to examine my accounts. On the other hand, I might go a year or more without discovery, though the chances were apparently all against me. If I ran the risk of the future, I should live in constant terror of an explosion. The death of Aunt Rachel, I confidently believed, would enable me to pay off my debt; and the question was whether or not I should take the chances of detection until the possession of her money enabled me to set myself right with the bank.My aunt’s health was so much improved that I could not reasonably expect to have her money for some time. In a week, a month, a year—but be it sooner or later, it was sure to come—my deficit would be exposed. It might be discovered while I was at home, or at least before I had any suspicion that I was in peril. I should have no time to provide for my own safety. I was liable to be arrested in my own house, without any warning, and then nothing could save me from a term in the State Prison.The cold sweat dropped from my brow as I thought of this fearful contingency. I should not have a moment for preparation; an opportunity to take the first train departing from the city; or even to hide myself in the dark places of the city. Cold irons on my wrists, a gloomy dungeon for, my resting-place, with the loathing and contempt of my fellow-men, were all that would be left to me then. Lilian, whom I loved with all my soul, would be reduced to despair. My savage mother-in-law would not cease to reproach her, as long as my wife was a burden in the maternal home.I could not face the emergency. I was determined to place myself beyond the possibility ofsuch an awful crash. I was resolved that Lilian, whatever she might think of me, should never be compelled to look in upon her husband through the bars of a prison cell. Before the discovery of the deficit, I could make such arrangements as I pleased. Afterwards, I could do nothing. It seemed to me then that I had not a day or an hour to spare. I had decided to save myself from the consequences of one tremendous error, by plunging into another. Of course I could not flee from Boston with only a thousand dollars in my pocket. I am surprised now when I consider how easy it was for me to think of taking from the bank no less a sum than thirty thousand dollars. I did not now flatter myself that I intended only to borrow the money, though it did occur to me that Aunt Rachel’s fortune would in part pay my debt. Before I left the bank that day, I put in my pocket ten thousand dollars, so that if my errors were immediately discovered, I should not be wholly unprovided for.I went to a broker where I was not known, and bought a thousand pounds in gold, which I carried home in a small valise I purchased for future use. I concealed the gold in my chamber ready for the final move when I should be requiredto make it. I was intensely excited by the resolution I had taken, and my thoughts seemed to move with tremendous rapidity. I had decided upon the precise plan I intended to follow; but of course it was necessary for me to move with the utmost circumspection.I had only a day to spare, for we must leave Boston the next evening. I must prepare Lilian for a great change in her future. I must lay my plans so as not to excite a breath of suspicion in any one, especially at the bank. I had hardly twenty-four hours left to complete my arrangements. I composed myself as well as I could, and went down to dinner. Lilian was as cheerful as she always was when I came into the house, and it almost started the tears in my eyes when I thought what she would be if the world knew the whole truth in regard to my affairs.“Lilian, I have been unfortunate to-day,” I began, as a suitable introduction to the plan I had to propose.“Unfortunate! Dear me! What has happened?” she asked, dropping her pretty chin and her knife and fork at the same time.“I have lost a good deal of money.”“Lost a good deal of money?”“Yes, a large amount.”“Why, Paley!”“Don’t look so sad, Lilian. It won’t kill me; and while I have you, I need not complain.”“But how did you lose it, Paley?”“By the fall of stocks.”I showed her one of the evening papers, in which the bursting of the copper bubble was fully detailed. She looked at the article, but she could not understand it, and I explained the matter to her.“You haven’t lost all—have you, Paley?”“No, not all, my dear. But I have something else to tell you. How would you like to live in Paris for a year or two?”“In Paris!” exclaimed she, her face lighting up with pleasure.“In Paris, Lilian; and perhaps we may go to other parts of Europe.”“O, I should like it above all things! I have always thought if I could ever go to Europe, I should be the happiest woman in the world. But what do you mean, Paley? You surely do not intend to go to Paris?”“I am thinking of it.”“Are you, really?” she continued, opening herbright eyes so wide that her whole soul seemed to shine out through them.“I am, truly; but I was thinking you would not be able to go so soon as I should be obliged to leave.”“O, I would go to-night, if I could only go!” she replied, with enthusiasm.“I have an offer, or a partial offer, from a concern in New York to act as its financial agent in Paris.”“Accept it, Paley—do accept it. I shall be so happy if I can only go to Paris!”“I don’t know certainly that I can have the position, but I am pretty confident that I can.”“Don’t refuse it, Paley. As you love me, don’t!”“But there are a great many difficulties in the way,” I suggested.“O, never mind the difficulties!”“But we must mind them.”“Well, what are they?”“In the first place we must go to New York to-morrow night.”“We can do that well enough. I am ready to go to-night.”“I can’t go and leave this house, and all thefurniture, paying the rent while I am gone.”“Leave it in the hands of Tom Flynn. He will sell the furniture and let the house. There are enough who will want it.”“That is not even the principal trouble. The bank will not let me off without my giving some notice, so that the officers can get another person in my place.”“It would be mean in them to keep you when you have a good chance to better your condition.”“I think I can manage it somehow, Lilian; and I feel almost sure that we shall go.”“O, I am so glad!”“But, Lilian, you must not tell a single soul where you are going, or, indeed, that you are going at all.”“Not tell any one! Why not?” she asked, as if it would be a great hardship to deprive herself of the pleasure of telling her friends that she was going to Paris.“I will tell you why, Lilian. It is difficult and dangerous business. I am not sure of the position yet. Suppose I should go to New York, and then, after I had thrown up my situation in the bank, find that the firm who made the partialoffer did not want me? I should have lost my present place without having obtained another.”“That’s very true. I understand you, perfectly.”“If I find in New York that I can have the position, it will be time enough for me to resign my place in the bank. If I am disappointed, I have only to return to my present place. If it should get to the ears of Mr. Bristlebach that I am doing anything of this kind, he might fill my place in my absence—don’t you see?”“I do; it is plain enough.”“You can tell your mother that you are going away to-morrow night, and that possibly I may accept a position in New Orleans.”“In New Orleans?”“Yes; it won’t do to say any thing about Paris yet.”“I am sorry we have to go off in this way; but I would rather do it than not go at all.”I am willing to confess that my conscience reproached me for thus deceiving my loving wife; but I believed that I was doing it for her good—to save her from a fate so terrible that neither of us could comprehend it. We discussed the details of the plan in full, and she promisedto be as circumspect as I could desire. We had two traveling trunks which we had used upon our bridal tour, and these were immediately brought into requisition. Leaving Lilian to commence packing, I left the house with the intention of seeing Mr. Brentbone, who had so long been anxious to have my house. I found him at his lodgings. I stated my business, and inquired if he still wished to obtain the dwelling.“I am still open to a trade. I offered your uncle three hundred bonus for the house,” said he.“But I wish to sell my furniture.”“Very well; if it suits my wife, I will buy it.”“I lost a good deal of money to-day by the coppers, and I must change my plans.”“Ah! I am sorry for you; but I see you are a prudent young man.”“I am in a hurry to dispose of the matter, for I have a good chance to board now. If you and Mrs. Brentbone will walk over to the house, we can show you what there is in it.”The gentleman and the lady were willing, and I accompanied them to Needham Street. Mrs. Brentbone found some fault with the furniture,and rather objected to purchasing it. I intimated that I should not dispose of my lease unless I could sell the furniture.“What do you ask for the furniture?” he inquired.“Twenty-two hundred dollars, including the piano, or seventeen hundred without. I can show you bills for fifteen hundred; and a hundred small things not included in them.”“You ask too much. I must pay twenty-five hundred to get possession, at this rate,” said Mr. Brentbone. He made me various offers, but I was satisfied that he would give my price, and I did not abate a dollar. The trade was closed, and he agreed to see me at the bank the next day, where we were to pass the papers. My landlord consented to endorse the lease over to the new tenant. Mrs. Brentbone had a talk with Bridget, and engaged her to remain in the place. Everything was going as well as I could expect. Lilian and I staid up till midnight packing our clothes, and preparing for our abrupt departure.I went to the bank as usual, the next morning. On my way I stopped at the pianoforte warerooms, and bought the piano in my house which I had only hired, for however guilty I had been,and intended to be, I still had a certain sense of worldly honor, which would not permit me to do what I regarded as a mean action, though I acknowledge that I did not discriminate very nicely in some portions of my conduct. But I settled the bill for four hundred dollars.Mr. Brentbone came according to his promise. I gave him the lease, and the bill of sale of the furniture for his check. My uncle happened to come in while we were doing the business. I told him that my losses the day before had induced me to accept Mr. Brentbone’s offer for my house. He commended me for my prudence. Mr. Bristlebach also expressed his approbation of the economical step I had taken, and declared that he had more confidence in me than before. He liked to see a young man take counsel of prudence.I took advantage of his good-nature to put in my request for leave of absence for a single day, to enable me to visit a friend in Albany who was sick. The permission was promptly granted. I balanced my cash for the last time, leaving it thirty-eight thousand dollars short, to account for which I altered various charges and credits, and made several fictitious entries. The account wasleft square, and if no particular investigation was instituted, my deficit might remain concealed for some time. With the twenty thousand dollars which I had just appropriated I left the bank—for the last time.
CHAPTER XX.THE LAST STEP.“I HOPE you are not in very deep, Paley,” said Captain Halliard, after he had stated the question in regard to the copper stocks.“Not very, but I am bitten somewhat,” I replied, trying to look cheerful, for I could not think of exhibiting to the enemy the state of my affairs. “Did you own any coppers, uncle?”“No; not a copper. I had some, but I got rid of them,” replied the wily man of the world, rubbing his hands to indicate that he was too shrewd to be involved in any speculation that could possibly miscarry.“You are fortunate.”“Speculation is just as much a trade as any other branch of human industry. It requires brains, forethought, coolness. Novices should be cautious how they venture beyond their depth, for they are almost sure to be bitten. I am sorry you have been trapped, Paley.”“I’m not badly hurt, though of course the smallloss I have experienced must make some difference in my future arrangements. And, by the way, I should like to avail myself of your kind offer.”“What was that?” he asked, rather blankly.“You offered to lend me money if I was short.”“Just so.”“I want a thousand dollars.”“Of course you mean of your aunt’s money?”“It won’t make much difference to me whose money it is, if I only get it.”“You shall have the thousand you paid me on her account.”“Very well, sir.”He gave me his check for the amount, and I wrote a note for it, payable to my aunt. The captain wished to ascertain how much I had lost by the copper explosion, but I evaded a definite answer, and intimated that I was bitten to the extent of only a few hundred dollars. I had now a thousand dollars in my pocket, besides about a hundred in my possession before. I felt a little easier, though the terrible pressure of my load still rested heavily upon me. I am not disposed to moralize in this place upon the guilt of my conduct, for really the guilt at that time did not trouble me half so much as the fear of detection.I owed the bank eight thousand dollars. I had “tinkered” the books so as to account for the deficiency, but the record would not bear a very close examination. The fact that I was mixed up in these miserable copper stock speculations was quite enough to excite suspicion, for I could not hope that the fact was unknown to the directors, as long as my uncle knew it. I felt as though I was living on a powder magazine which might explode at any instant. The slightest accident might reveal the whole truth to Mr. Bristlebach.If I should happen to be sick a day, so that I could not go to the bank, my false entries might be detected. Even while I was in the daily discharge of my duties, the president or the cashier might be tempted to examine my accounts. On the other hand, I might go a year or more without discovery, though the chances were apparently all against me. If I ran the risk of the future, I should live in constant terror of an explosion. The death of Aunt Rachel, I confidently believed, would enable me to pay off my debt; and the question was whether or not I should take the chances of detection until the possession of her money enabled me to set myself right with the bank.My aunt’s health was so much improved that I could not reasonably expect to have her money for some time. In a week, a month, a year—but be it sooner or later, it was sure to come—my deficit would be exposed. It might be discovered while I was at home, or at least before I had any suspicion that I was in peril. I should have no time to provide for my own safety. I was liable to be arrested in my own house, without any warning, and then nothing could save me from a term in the State Prison.The cold sweat dropped from my brow as I thought of this fearful contingency. I should not have a moment for preparation; an opportunity to take the first train departing from the city; or even to hide myself in the dark places of the city. Cold irons on my wrists, a gloomy dungeon for, my resting-place, with the loathing and contempt of my fellow-men, were all that would be left to me then. Lilian, whom I loved with all my soul, would be reduced to despair. My savage mother-in-law would not cease to reproach her, as long as my wife was a burden in the maternal home.I could not face the emergency. I was determined to place myself beyond the possibility ofsuch an awful crash. I was resolved that Lilian, whatever she might think of me, should never be compelled to look in upon her husband through the bars of a prison cell. Before the discovery of the deficit, I could make such arrangements as I pleased. Afterwards, I could do nothing. It seemed to me then that I had not a day or an hour to spare. I had decided to save myself from the consequences of one tremendous error, by plunging into another. Of course I could not flee from Boston with only a thousand dollars in my pocket. I am surprised now when I consider how easy it was for me to think of taking from the bank no less a sum than thirty thousand dollars. I did not now flatter myself that I intended only to borrow the money, though it did occur to me that Aunt Rachel’s fortune would in part pay my debt. Before I left the bank that day, I put in my pocket ten thousand dollars, so that if my errors were immediately discovered, I should not be wholly unprovided for.I went to a broker where I was not known, and bought a thousand pounds in gold, which I carried home in a small valise I purchased for future use. I concealed the gold in my chamber ready for the final move when I should be requiredto make it. I was intensely excited by the resolution I had taken, and my thoughts seemed to move with tremendous rapidity. I had decided upon the precise plan I intended to follow; but of course it was necessary for me to move with the utmost circumspection.I had only a day to spare, for we must leave Boston the next evening. I must prepare Lilian for a great change in her future. I must lay my plans so as not to excite a breath of suspicion in any one, especially at the bank. I had hardly twenty-four hours left to complete my arrangements. I composed myself as well as I could, and went down to dinner. Lilian was as cheerful as she always was when I came into the house, and it almost started the tears in my eyes when I thought what she would be if the world knew the whole truth in regard to my affairs.“Lilian, I have been unfortunate to-day,” I began, as a suitable introduction to the plan I had to propose.“Unfortunate! Dear me! What has happened?” she asked, dropping her pretty chin and her knife and fork at the same time.“I have lost a good deal of money.”“Lost a good deal of money?”“Yes, a large amount.”“Why, Paley!”“Don’t look so sad, Lilian. It won’t kill me; and while I have you, I need not complain.”“But how did you lose it, Paley?”“By the fall of stocks.”I showed her one of the evening papers, in which the bursting of the copper bubble was fully detailed. She looked at the article, but she could not understand it, and I explained the matter to her.“You haven’t lost all—have you, Paley?”“No, not all, my dear. But I have something else to tell you. How would you like to live in Paris for a year or two?”“In Paris!” exclaimed she, her face lighting up with pleasure.“In Paris, Lilian; and perhaps we may go to other parts of Europe.”“O, I should like it above all things! I have always thought if I could ever go to Europe, I should be the happiest woman in the world. But what do you mean, Paley? You surely do not intend to go to Paris?”“I am thinking of it.”“Are you, really?” she continued, opening herbright eyes so wide that her whole soul seemed to shine out through them.“I am, truly; but I was thinking you would not be able to go so soon as I should be obliged to leave.”“O, I would go to-night, if I could only go!” she replied, with enthusiasm.“I have an offer, or a partial offer, from a concern in New York to act as its financial agent in Paris.”“Accept it, Paley—do accept it. I shall be so happy if I can only go to Paris!”“I don’t know certainly that I can have the position, but I am pretty confident that I can.”“Don’t refuse it, Paley. As you love me, don’t!”“But there are a great many difficulties in the way,” I suggested.“O, never mind the difficulties!”“But we must mind them.”“Well, what are they?”“In the first place we must go to New York to-morrow night.”“We can do that well enough. I am ready to go to-night.”“I can’t go and leave this house, and all thefurniture, paying the rent while I am gone.”“Leave it in the hands of Tom Flynn. He will sell the furniture and let the house. There are enough who will want it.”“That is not even the principal trouble. The bank will not let me off without my giving some notice, so that the officers can get another person in my place.”“It would be mean in them to keep you when you have a good chance to better your condition.”“I think I can manage it somehow, Lilian; and I feel almost sure that we shall go.”“O, I am so glad!”“But, Lilian, you must not tell a single soul where you are going, or, indeed, that you are going at all.”“Not tell any one! Why not?” she asked, as if it would be a great hardship to deprive herself of the pleasure of telling her friends that she was going to Paris.“I will tell you why, Lilian. It is difficult and dangerous business. I am not sure of the position yet. Suppose I should go to New York, and then, after I had thrown up my situation in the bank, find that the firm who made the partialoffer did not want me? I should have lost my present place without having obtained another.”“That’s very true. I understand you, perfectly.”“If I find in New York that I can have the position, it will be time enough for me to resign my place in the bank. If I am disappointed, I have only to return to my present place. If it should get to the ears of Mr. Bristlebach that I am doing anything of this kind, he might fill my place in my absence—don’t you see?”“I do; it is plain enough.”“You can tell your mother that you are going away to-morrow night, and that possibly I may accept a position in New Orleans.”“In New Orleans?”“Yes; it won’t do to say any thing about Paris yet.”“I am sorry we have to go off in this way; but I would rather do it than not go at all.”I am willing to confess that my conscience reproached me for thus deceiving my loving wife; but I believed that I was doing it for her good—to save her from a fate so terrible that neither of us could comprehend it. We discussed the details of the plan in full, and she promisedto be as circumspect as I could desire. We had two traveling trunks which we had used upon our bridal tour, and these were immediately brought into requisition. Leaving Lilian to commence packing, I left the house with the intention of seeing Mr. Brentbone, who had so long been anxious to have my house. I found him at his lodgings. I stated my business, and inquired if he still wished to obtain the dwelling.“I am still open to a trade. I offered your uncle three hundred bonus for the house,” said he.“But I wish to sell my furniture.”“Very well; if it suits my wife, I will buy it.”“I lost a good deal of money to-day by the coppers, and I must change my plans.”“Ah! I am sorry for you; but I see you are a prudent young man.”“I am in a hurry to dispose of the matter, for I have a good chance to board now. If you and Mrs. Brentbone will walk over to the house, we can show you what there is in it.”The gentleman and the lady were willing, and I accompanied them to Needham Street. Mrs. Brentbone found some fault with the furniture,and rather objected to purchasing it. I intimated that I should not dispose of my lease unless I could sell the furniture.“What do you ask for the furniture?” he inquired.“Twenty-two hundred dollars, including the piano, or seventeen hundred without. I can show you bills for fifteen hundred; and a hundred small things not included in them.”“You ask too much. I must pay twenty-five hundred to get possession, at this rate,” said Mr. Brentbone. He made me various offers, but I was satisfied that he would give my price, and I did not abate a dollar. The trade was closed, and he agreed to see me at the bank the next day, where we were to pass the papers. My landlord consented to endorse the lease over to the new tenant. Mrs. Brentbone had a talk with Bridget, and engaged her to remain in the place. Everything was going as well as I could expect. Lilian and I staid up till midnight packing our clothes, and preparing for our abrupt departure.I went to the bank as usual, the next morning. On my way I stopped at the pianoforte warerooms, and bought the piano in my house which I had only hired, for however guilty I had been,and intended to be, I still had a certain sense of worldly honor, which would not permit me to do what I regarded as a mean action, though I acknowledge that I did not discriminate very nicely in some portions of my conduct. But I settled the bill for four hundred dollars.Mr. Brentbone came according to his promise. I gave him the lease, and the bill of sale of the furniture for his check. My uncle happened to come in while we were doing the business. I told him that my losses the day before had induced me to accept Mr. Brentbone’s offer for my house. He commended me for my prudence. Mr. Bristlebach also expressed his approbation of the economical step I had taken, and declared that he had more confidence in me than before. He liked to see a young man take counsel of prudence.I took advantage of his good-nature to put in my request for leave of absence for a single day, to enable me to visit a friend in Albany who was sick. The permission was promptly granted. I balanced my cash for the last time, leaving it thirty-eight thousand dollars short, to account for which I altered various charges and credits, and made several fictitious entries. The account wasleft square, and if no particular investigation was instituted, my deficit might remain concealed for some time. With the twenty thousand dollars which I had just appropriated I left the bank—for the last time.
THE LAST STEP.
“I HOPE you are not in very deep, Paley,” said Captain Halliard, after he had stated the question in regard to the copper stocks.
“Not very, but I am bitten somewhat,” I replied, trying to look cheerful, for I could not think of exhibiting to the enemy the state of my affairs. “Did you own any coppers, uncle?”
“No; not a copper. I had some, but I got rid of them,” replied the wily man of the world, rubbing his hands to indicate that he was too shrewd to be involved in any speculation that could possibly miscarry.
“You are fortunate.”
“Speculation is just as much a trade as any other branch of human industry. It requires brains, forethought, coolness. Novices should be cautious how they venture beyond their depth, for they are almost sure to be bitten. I am sorry you have been trapped, Paley.”
“I’m not badly hurt, though of course the smallloss I have experienced must make some difference in my future arrangements. And, by the way, I should like to avail myself of your kind offer.”
“What was that?” he asked, rather blankly.
“You offered to lend me money if I was short.”
“Just so.”
“I want a thousand dollars.”
“Of course you mean of your aunt’s money?”
“It won’t make much difference to me whose money it is, if I only get it.”
“You shall have the thousand you paid me on her account.”
“Very well, sir.”
He gave me his check for the amount, and I wrote a note for it, payable to my aunt. The captain wished to ascertain how much I had lost by the copper explosion, but I evaded a definite answer, and intimated that I was bitten to the extent of only a few hundred dollars. I had now a thousand dollars in my pocket, besides about a hundred in my possession before. I felt a little easier, though the terrible pressure of my load still rested heavily upon me. I am not disposed to moralize in this place upon the guilt of my conduct, for really the guilt at that time did not trouble me half so much as the fear of detection.
I owed the bank eight thousand dollars. I had “tinkered” the books so as to account for the deficiency, but the record would not bear a very close examination. The fact that I was mixed up in these miserable copper stock speculations was quite enough to excite suspicion, for I could not hope that the fact was unknown to the directors, as long as my uncle knew it. I felt as though I was living on a powder magazine which might explode at any instant. The slightest accident might reveal the whole truth to Mr. Bristlebach.
If I should happen to be sick a day, so that I could not go to the bank, my false entries might be detected. Even while I was in the daily discharge of my duties, the president or the cashier might be tempted to examine my accounts. On the other hand, I might go a year or more without discovery, though the chances were apparently all against me. If I ran the risk of the future, I should live in constant terror of an explosion. The death of Aunt Rachel, I confidently believed, would enable me to pay off my debt; and the question was whether or not I should take the chances of detection until the possession of her money enabled me to set myself right with the bank.
My aunt’s health was so much improved that I could not reasonably expect to have her money for some time. In a week, a month, a year—but be it sooner or later, it was sure to come—my deficit would be exposed. It might be discovered while I was at home, or at least before I had any suspicion that I was in peril. I should have no time to provide for my own safety. I was liable to be arrested in my own house, without any warning, and then nothing could save me from a term in the State Prison.
The cold sweat dropped from my brow as I thought of this fearful contingency. I should not have a moment for preparation; an opportunity to take the first train departing from the city; or even to hide myself in the dark places of the city. Cold irons on my wrists, a gloomy dungeon for, my resting-place, with the loathing and contempt of my fellow-men, were all that would be left to me then. Lilian, whom I loved with all my soul, would be reduced to despair. My savage mother-in-law would not cease to reproach her, as long as my wife was a burden in the maternal home.
I could not face the emergency. I was determined to place myself beyond the possibility ofsuch an awful crash. I was resolved that Lilian, whatever she might think of me, should never be compelled to look in upon her husband through the bars of a prison cell. Before the discovery of the deficit, I could make such arrangements as I pleased. Afterwards, I could do nothing. It seemed to me then that I had not a day or an hour to spare. I had decided to save myself from the consequences of one tremendous error, by plunging into another. Of course I could not flee from Boston with only a thousand dollars in my pocket. I am surprised now when I consider how easy it was for me to think of taking from the bank no less a sum than thirty thousand dollars. I did not now flatter myself that I intended only to borrow the money, though it did occur to me that Aunt Rachel’s fortune would in part pay my debt. Before I left the bank that day, I put in my pocket ten thousand dollars, so that if my errors were immediately discovered, I should not be wholly unprovided for.
I went to a broker where I was not known, and bought a thousand pounds in gold, which I carried home in a small valise I purchased for future use. I concealed the gold in my chamber ready for the final move when I should be requiredto make it. I was intensely excited by the resolution I had taken, and my thoughts seemed to move with tremendous rapidity. I had decided upon the precise plan I intended to follow; but of course it was necessary for me to move with the utmost circumspection.
I had only a day to spare, for we must leave Boston the next evening. I must prepare Lilian for a great change in her future. I must lay my plans so as not to excite a breath of suspicion in any one, especially at the bank. I had hardly twenty-four hours left to complete my arrangements. I composed myself as well as I could, and went down to dinner. Lilian was as cheerful as she always was when I came into the house, and it almost started the tears in my eyes when I thought what she would be if the world knew the whole truth in regard to my affairs.
“Lilian, I have been unfortunate to-day,” I began, as a suitable introduction to the plan I had to propose.
“Unfortunate! Dear me! What has happened?” she asked, dropping her pretty chin and her knife and fork at the same time.
“I have lost a good deal of money.”
“Lost a good deal of money?”
“Yes, a large amount.”
“Why, Paley!”
“Don’t look so sad, Lilian. It won’t kill me; and while I have you, I need not complain.”
“But how did you lose it, Paley?”
“By the fall of stocks.”
I showed her one of the evening papers, in which the bursting of the copper bubble was fully detailed. She looked at the article, but she could not understand it, and I explained the matter to her.
“You haven’t lost all—have you, Paley?”
“No, not all, my dear. But I have something else to tell you. How would you like to live in Paris for a year or two?”
“In Paris!” exclaimed she, her face lighting up with pleasure.
“In Paris, Lilian; and perhaps we may go to other parts of Europe.”
“O, I should like it above all things! I have always thought if I could ever go to Europe, I should be the happiest woman in the world. But what do you mean, Paley? You surely do not intend to go to Paris?”
“I am thinking of it.”
“Are you, really?” she continued, opening herbright eyes so wide that her whole soul seemed to shine out through them.
“I am, truly; but I was thinking you would not be able to go so soon as I should be obliged to leave.”
“O, I would go to-night, if I could only go!” she replied, with enthusiasm.
“I have an offer, or a partial offer, from a concern in New York to act as its financial agent in Paris.”
“Accept it, Paley—do accept it. I shall be so happy if I can only go to Paris!”
“I don’t know certainly that I can have the position, but I am pretty confident that I can.”
“Don’t refuse it, Paley. As you love me, don’t!”
“But there are a great many difficulties in the way,” I suggested.
“O, never mind the difficulties!”
“But we must mind them.”
“Well, what are they?”
“In the first place we must go to New York to-morrow night.”
“We can do that well enough. I am ready to go to-night.”
“I can’t go and leave this house, and all thefurniture, paying the rent while I am gone.”
“Leave it in the hands of Tom Flynn. He will sell the furniture and let the house. There are enough who will want it.”
“That is not even the principal trouble. The bank will not let me off without my giving some notice, so that the officers can get another person in my place.”
“It would be mean in them to keep you when you have a good chance to better your condition.”
“I think I can manage it somehow, Lilian; and I feel almost sure that we shall go.”
“O, I am so glad!”
“But, Lilian, you must not tell a single soul where you are going, or, indeed, that you are going at all.”
“Not tell any one! Why not?” she asked, as if it would be a great hardship to deprive herself of the pleasure of telling her friends that she was going to Paris.
“I will tell you why, Lilian. It is difficult and dangerous business. I am not sure of the position yet. Suppose I should go to New York, and then, after I had thrown up my situation in the bank, find that the firm who made the partialoffer did not want me? I should have lost my present place without having obtained another.”
“That’s very true. I understand you, perfectly.”
“If I find in New York that I can have the position, it will be time enough for me to resign my place in the bank. If I am disappointed, I have only to return to my present place. If it should get to the ears of Mr. Bristlebach that I am doing anything of this kind, he might fill my place in my absence—don’t you see?”
“I do; it is plain enough.”
“You can tell your mother that you are going away to-morrow night, and that possibly I may accept a position in New Orleans.”
“In New Orleans?”
“Yes; it won’t do to say any thing about Paris yet.”
“I am sorry we have to go off in this way; but I would rather do it than not go at all.”
I am willing to confess that my conscience reproached me for thus deceiving my loving wife; but I believed that I was doing it for her good—to save her from a fate so terrible that neither of us could comprehend it. We discussed the details of the plan in full, and she promisedto be as circumspect as I could desire. We had two traveling trunks which we had used upon our bridal tour, and these were immediately brought into requisition. Leaving Lilian to commence packing, I left the house with the intention of seeing Mr. Brentbone, who had so long been anxious to have my house. I found him at his lodgings. I stated my business, and inquired if he still wished to obtain the dwelling.
“I am still open to a trade. I offered your uncle three hundred bonus for the house,” said he.
“But I wish to sell my furniture.”
“Very well; if it suits my wife, I will buy it.”
“I lost a good deal of money to-day by the coppers, and I must change my plans.”
“Ah! I am sorry for you; but I see you are a prudent young man.”
“I am in a hurry to dispose of the matter, for I have a good chance to board now. If you and Mrs. Brentbone will walk over to the house, we can show you what there is in it.”
The gentleman and the lady were willing, and I accompanied them to Needham Street. Mrs. Brentbone found some fault with the furniture,and rather objected to purchasing it. I intimated that I should not dispose of my lease unless I could sell the furniture.
“What do you ask for the furniture?” he inquired.
“Twenty-two hundred dollars, including the piano, or seventeen hundred without. I can show you bills for fifteen hundred; and a hundred small things not included in them.”
“You ask too much. I must pay twenty-five hundred to get possession, at this rate,” said Mr. Brentbone. He made me various offers, but I was satisfied that he would give my price, and I did not abate a dollar. The trade was closed, and he agreed to see me at the bank the next day, where we were to pass the papers. My landlord consented to endorse the lease over to the new tenant. Mrs. Brentbone had a talk with Bridget, and engaged her to remain in the place. Everything was going as well as I could expect. Lilian and I staid up till midnight packing our clothes, and preparing for our abrupt departure.
I went to the bank as usual, the next morning. On my way I stopped at the pianoforte warerooms, and bought the piano in my house which I had only hired, for however guilty I had been,and intended to be, I still had a certain sense of worldly honor, which would not permit me to do what I regarded as a mean action, though I acknowledge that I did not discriminate very nicely in some portions of my conduct. But I settled the bill for four hundred dollars.
Mr. Brentbone came according to his promise. I gave him the lease, and the bill of sale of the furniture for his check. My uncle happened to come in while we were doing the business. I told him that my losses the day before had induced me to accept Mr. Brentbone’s offer for my house. He commended me for my prudence. Mr. Bristlebach also expressed his approbation of the economical step I had taken, and declared that he had more confidence in me than before. He liked to see a young man take counsel of prudence.
I took advantage of his good-nature to put in my request for leave of absence for a single day, to enable me to visit a friend in Albany who was sick. The permission was promptly granted. I balanced my cash for the last time, leaving it thirty-eight thousand dollars short, to account for which I altered various charges and credits, and made several fictitious entries. The account wasleft square, and if no particular investigation was instituted, my deficit might remain concealed for some time. With the twenty thousand dollars which I had just appropriated I left the bank—for the last time.