should by-and-by come, purified as by fire. So I daily asked myself the question: "If you were restored to wealth, how would you feel? what would you do?" And so long as I could not answer it, except to say I should become as I was in the former days, I knew I could not take credit for any change of feeling or purpose.

At length I began, as I thought, to gain fairer and clearer views of "duty," and to enjoy more of that calm spirit which is so comforting, when my acquaintance with Harley commenced. Its effect on these religious developments was unfriendly and chilling. The thoughts and emotions I was attempting to cultivate, and which were, as I was convinced, to afford me happiness and tranquillity, now gave place to feverish and disturbed ideas, until the former got to be distasteful. I asked myself why this change? Was there any thing about Harley, or what he proposed, which should in any way conflict with my sense of right and honesty; if not, why should I not yield to some of the pleasurable sensations which his presence always produced? Might it not, on the other hand, be possible that the feelings I was endeavoring to cherish were sombre, morbid, unnatural, not the result of a manly effort to do right, but developed, as I have hinted, by the depressing circumstances which encompassed me?

I shall not here answer the question, but leave the reader to trace out the response to it as the narrative proceeds.

CHAPTER XIX.

ALWORTHY AND COMPANY.

ALWORTHY and Company failed just three weeks after my negotiation of their paper. It turned out that for several months previous they were in the habit of putting their own notes on the market, for the purpose of raising money. They had also exchanged acceptances largely with other houses, for the same object, and their speculations turning out badly, they broke.

There was considerable sensation in the street at the announcement. As is usual in such instances, the assets were nil, after protecting the "confidential." In fact, the concern was at the time of stopping payment a mere shell. There was also a good deal of fluttering among the houses who were really solvent, and who had exchanged notes with Alworthy, in the belief that he was so. With others it proved an even thing, since both were worthless. Among these last, I fear, might be classed our new friends Pollock, Pemberton, Hollis and Company. They had given Alworthy about ten thousand dollars of their promises to pay, and had received a like amount from him. As these last were negotiated with their indorsement, both amounts would come against them. Now-a-days they manage these matters better, by having notes drawn to the order of the makers, and indorsed only by them; and if they will sell as

"single-name paper," all responsibility is avoided. Except in a great crisis, which carries down business-men suddenly, and in battalions, the knowing ones soon discover signs of probable disaster in a firm, which is evidenced by a gradual rise in the rate at which their notes can be disposed of, till they become unsalable. Still there is a class of shrewd but greedy money-lenders, who are tempted by high prices to purchase paper of this sort, and who sometimes meet with a heavy loss, but always charge enormous rates.

I was a good deal exercised when I learned early one morning of the failure, for fear it would prove calamitous to Harley. He came in my office shortly after, and put me quite at ease on the subject.

"Have you heard the news about Alworthy ?" he said. I told him I had.

"I confess I have had my suspicions ever since that second batch of paper, which I knew nothing of when I offered you the first. However, my name is not mixed up with them, thank fortune."

"But I thought you were interested with Pollock, Pemberton, Hollis and Company?"

"Interested? not to the amount of a penny. It is true I have known Pollock for a long time, a first-rate fellow; and as I wanted an office for a few months, I took the furnished one directly over theirs. I had, besides, a little operation with them, by which I received the most of the Alworthy paper, and paid them a certain amount in cash, and the balance in real estate. I am quite satisfied with the bargain. They tried unsuccessfully in several quarters to sell the notes, and this fact helped me in the trade. So you see I

am more obliged to you than you supposed for negotiating them."

"But I understood you to say they had abundant capital."

"So they had, for their regular business. You see Hollis is a little wild by turns, and his father, who is a rich man, put in ten thousand dollars for the sake of establishing his son. But they got to be too ambitious, and struck out right and left. At last they fell in with Alworthy, who is as smooth and keen as a razor, and he put very expansive notions in their heads."

"I declare," I exclaimed with some warmth, “had I known all this, I would not have offered the notes."

“And had I known it," replied Harley, "I should not have taken them. Now, pray, don't put such a long face on the matter," he continued, seeing I looked grave. "You remind me of the Englishman who was miserable all his life for fear his country would never be able to pay the national debt. The loss in this case falls just where it ought to fall, on the note-shavers. They take the risk, and charge accordingly, and they must accept the fortune of war. Had Alworthy's speculations in cotton turned out differently, all would be right."

"True," I remarked, "but Alworthy was reckless. His transactions were not legitimate. He was a gambler, and nothing else."

"My good friend," replied Harley, "I am sorry to see a man of your excellent sense misled by that humbug word 'legitimate.' As to Alworthy's being a gambler, I can only say, all trade is but gambling; a bold bet against Providence,

that there will be such and such a market, and such and such a supply, on which depend such and such risks, and such and such profits. Yes, a merchant is not only a gambler, but the most unfortunate and most miserable of the whole gambling class. He never knows, like the man who risks on the red or the black, just where he stands. His results cannot be calculated speedily like those of the stock gambler, but he is forced to take hazard after hazard before any one of his ventures is determined. His fate, too, is dependent on the good or bad management of others, and is so mixed up with incidents and occurrences beyond his control, that I repeat, I pronounce him the most unfortunate gambler of them all. I have been fifteen years in business, have failed twice, went through the horrors of those in purgatory. I don't mean to gamble any more in trade. So, pray, don't talk to me so sanctimoniously about 'legitimate transactions.""

I perceived that I had touched a delicate point, and I did not debate the subject. Indeed, there was matter for reflection in Harley's observations.

"Come," he said cheerfully, after a little pause, "let us speak of something else. I must get ready for the other side, and you must make yourself master of all the particulars of my various enterprises, for much will have to be done here. Soon you will retrieve your fortunes, and you shall confess how much more satisfactory our labors are than any you have heretofore undertaken."

I was as usual lifted up above ordinary events by the seductive language of this man. We sat down to examine his several projects. I was surprised to see with what