"Too bad! too bad!" he ejaculated, as, under a sense of the utter
desperation of the case, he struck his hands together, and then
threw them above his head. But it did no good to fret and scold, and
blame his son-in-law; the error had been committed, and it was now
too late to retrace a step. Six or seven thousand dollars would
inevitably be lost; and, as Williams had no capital, originally, of
his own, the money would have to come out of his pocket. The ruin of
which the young man talked was more in his imagination than anywhere
else, as Mr. Hueston was able enough to sustain him in his
difficulty.

In the winding up of the affairs of Eldridge, who stopped payment on
the day Williams announced to his father-in-law the fact that he
held his notes, every thing turned out as badly as Mr. Hueston had
predicted. The unhappy young man was almost beside himself with
trouble, mortification, and disappointment. Not only had he lost
every thing he possessed in the world; he was deeply involved in
debt besides, and his good name was gone. A marriage contract, into
which he had entered, was broken off in consequence; the father of
the lady demanding of him a release of the engagement in a way so
insulting, that the young man flung insult back into his teeth, and
never after went near his house.

For months after the disastrous termination of his business,
Eldridge lingered about the city in a miserable state of mind. Some
friends obtained for him a situation as clerk, but he did not keep
the place very long; it seemed almost impossible for him to fix his
attention upon any thing. This neglect of the interests of his
employer was so apparent, that he was dismissed from his place at
the end of a few months. This increased the morbid despondency under