Her neighbours and friends evinced much sympathy with her at her loss,—the true cause of the deep-seated grief they witnessed they were kept in ignorance of. The nights of agony spent in mourning over the frailties and faults of her boy—her darling boy!—not even her daughter knew anything about. She could not but note, however, how prematurely her mother was ageing, and it was with a painful sense of what might be before her that she contemplated, day after day, the tottering form, which seemed as if bowed down with the weight of years.
At Broadstone, the feeling of regret which at first prevailed when the tidings of young Sinclair's drowning was made known, had gradually given place to anger and resentment, when it ultimately became the topic of conversation that he had defrauded the firm of between four and five thousand pounds.
True, they scarcely felt the loss of that sum, since the amounts, as they were discovered, were simply made a matter of bookkeeping, for which a few entries in day book and ledger sufficed to transfer them to profit and loss account, and the thing was done with, so far as the business was concerned. Nevertheless the members of the firm had been disappointed by one on whom they had implicitly relied, and whom they had looked upon as the soul of honour. And, as time progressed, the reflex influence of this one man's actions was seen and felt by all, in the inauguration of a stricter discipline amongst the employés, and a more elaborate and, as it was regarded, a better system of account keeping being introduced, in order to maintain a closer check upon those who had the receiving and paying of money.
To the older men this was galling; but as younger men entered upon their duties, with little if any knowledge of what had preceded, they readily accommodated themselves to what was to them the natural order of things.
Perhaps it ought not to be wondered at if the firm should endeavour to find reasons for dispensing with the services of these older ones; and it might be that some such influence had been working to cause the changes which had been taking place of late. Firms do but consist of human beings, after all, although they often seem to forget that those who serve them are human beings likewise.
If the same even-handed justice prevailed when no cloud flecked the horizon, as is meted out when turmoil reigns, there might be less cause of complaint. But with the cause the complaint must not be audible, as that would be to still further wreck the position and prospects of the unfortunate employé.
CHAPTER XI.
MANITOBA.
"I spake of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents...
Of hair-breadth scapes."—Othello, Act. I. sc. iii.
After their unfortunate experience in the city of Montreal, the Bartons lost no more time in looking about, but proceeded by the first outgoing train to the great North-West. Finding, however, before starting, that the money they now possessed would not be sufficient to carry them through and leave any cash in hand, they determined to break their journey somewhere beyond Winnipeg, and see if work could be found which would enable them to replenish their exchequer before venturing farther. Fortunately succeeding in effecting a change in their through tickets for the less distant city of Regina, they prepared to face a long day's ride. Travelling on the Canadian Pacific Railway is a luxurious procedure compared with that experienced on English lines and in many Continental cities, whilst the second-class corresponds with English first-class, with the advantage of being transformable into sleeping-cars at night.