The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1869-08-24


80 sooner did this ihoneIi strike me
than ! determined 80 follow that track
myself. and I started Of Al the rate Of
about siz miles per hour Il was a hot
bfeszeless May day. The FIRST day q
sumner. what with the heat and turb-
uleuce d mind in which / was. / arriy-
Cd at the pass some 1900 feet above
the level Of the sea, quite exhausted. l
fling myself down on the top rock. the
highest toot-paih oyefhnugirg the foot
path below, and followed for miles with
my eve. the track. which ! could trace
for miles, TO where il crossed the bord-
er Of The county. There wasn't a living
soul upon IT, | was ruined root and
branch For every penny, every penny
of those sixteen bundled pounds was
personally liable No matter that Potts
wasn't worth penny, and that he had
been captured as means Of cxtort-
ing money from his friends. That
made 40 difference in the eye of the
law; had done no wrong, not been
imprudent, and yet / was ruined, and
all my people, My poor old father
would probably end his days in the
workhouse Ny friend who bad lent
me his name would have to take to the
road again for bare subsistence. /
might become a bankrupt and get a
clerkship afterwards; but had ! cour-
age to begin life again with such load
upon me2 Wouldn't il be better for
me to end my misery and perplexity by
rolling off this sloping bank into the
chasm below?
Then ] thought Of Mary Jane, and
how she would wait and wait, and how
gradually, from impatlence, she would
ccme TO uneasiness, and from uneasi-
ness to terror; and how she would pass
the night in sorrow, and the morning
would bring no JOY, and how the whis-
per would 60 round the town, they've
found tie body how hard on the poor
creature, only six moths wife !
No, | could never be a coward God
knows couldn't have done it; but in
great trouble strange thoughts surge
in your brain.
! felt better after a while, and gen.
tie breeze sprang up and cooled my tenn
pies, and ! heard the bleatng of the
lambs and the bark Of the shepherds
dog, and the call Of his master far away
on the hillside. AT all events, bad
to puy the sixteen hundred pounds that
night; ! would crawl home, and per-
haps think Of some way to stave Off ru-
in tomorrow.
Well got home, and remember Ma
ry Jane pitched into me awfully be-
cause was an hour late to dinner, and
everything was spoilt, she said. | took
a couple of glasses of brandy after din
ner, and that stoadiod my nerves, and
| could think,
would go up to London tomorrow
and try and compromise with my cred.
itors. could, perhaps, by the sale Of
all l had, and by borrowing on my life
policy, make up $500.
could offer this, and it was five hun
dred times as much they would have
got ont Of Potts, surely they would nc.
cept it and cry quits
OF course, Mary Jane had heard oi
Potts escape, aud she made me very
savage by expressing her delight at The
event She didn't know bow nearly it
concerned me, and | did not tell her. -
Next morning | went to London to find
Moses and Mosheim, who bad cham,
bers somewhere up little court out oI
Bshopgate street. Mr. Moses wasn't
in, the clerk said, didn't know but Mr.
Mosheim was, would take my card IN
and see. Yes, he was in, and would
see me by and by. / sat down and
waited in the dingy office, feeling the
indignity of my position in having &c
wait at all for such a man. Profession.
al pride made me look upon Moshein
with the feeling a Bramin might have
for Pariah. / had graduated with o
high caste firm Fudge would never
have acknowledged the existance Of
such a firm as Moses a. Co. Frizzie-
uin, who would sometimes have to meet
such creatures on behalf Of some Of hi;
great clients sons or relatives, would
treat them with the coolest impudeuct
Of which he was capable
There l was, however, a suppliant
before these Shylocks.
Mosheim was dark, rather gentle.
manly, very neatly dressed. But for BIS
curly hair and large nose, you'd have
thought him Christian. He pretend
ed to be busy writing when entered
and looked up aul moiionod me with
the butt-end Of bis pen to chair; but
] walked up to the fireplace and stood
there
Mr. Mosheim.
That's my name.
Mine is Roberts, aud In under-sher-
T. Al