Everybody agreed that it was a melancholy affair altogether, and much sympathy was expressed, which no doubt was a comfort to Mrs. Groates. She needed comfort, for trouble was pressing hard upon her and Jack. Groates had been a singularly reserved man as to his business matters,—very much "shut up," his friends were wont to say; and no one, not, even his wife, knew the precise condition of those affairs. They only knew that money had seemed to be very short, and that the business had not of late increased; and the true state of things broke upon them gradually.
For years past, it seemed, Groates had been getting into deeper and deeper difficulties, had been running further and further into debt. It came as an absolutely new sensation to Jack, when he found that they had been actually living upon borrowed money; money borrowed, of course, at a heavy loss.
The first thing to be done was, if it might be, to clear off liabilities, to settle unpaid bills, and to meet the heritage of debt and confusion which the unhappy man had left to his family. It was extraordinary how he had managed to hide the state of matters from them so long; but no doubt he had buoyed himself up with hopes of improving business; hopes never realized. Had he lived, things might only have grown worse.
They were bad enough already. It soon became evident that one course alone lay before them. The business would have to be sold, and whatever sum they might obtain by that means would have to go in liquidation of Groates' debts; after which Jack would have to begin life anew with a family dependent on him. Will indeed was at sea, pretty well provided for; and Mimy might go out to work in some direction or other; but of the three next boys and the younger girl, only one boy was nearing an age to leave school and begin to "do something" for his livelihood.
All this had to be faced, and Jack did face it bravely. But one thought rose again and again in the midst of other perplexities,—
What about Jessie?
At first he tried to put the question aside. His father's affairs had to be thoroughly looked into; bills had to be examined; plans had to be formed—and the consideration of Jack's own future had to wait, dependent as it was upon the future of others.
Yet in the midst of all that had to be done, this thought would push itself anew to the front, refusing to be silenced,—
What about Jessie?
True, they had had no idea of marrying yet awhile. Jack and Jessie had both meant to work steadily, and to lay by a nice sum each, before they should become husband and wife. Jack had not been willing to condemn his wife in the future to such a bare and squalid existence as too often results from a hasty marriage, upon barely enough for daily food and lodging. He meant Jessie to know comfort in her home; he meant to provide beforehand for probabilities; he meant to have somewhat to fall back upon when the inevitable "rainy day" should occur.