“But why did they go? Father isn’t ill?”
“Your father is an extremely sick man. To get him out of town, away from business, was his only chance for life, the doctors thought.”
“But what—what is the matter?” cried Tom, paralyzed by this news.
“Why, nothing; that is, nothing very physically serious, I think. And that’s the worse of it. The doctors don’t know what to get hold of. Has your father told you anything about his business affairs?”
“Not much—only that they were a little involved, some time ago. But I thought he had them straightened out all right.”
“So he might have done, with a little bit of luck. He had several large contracts pending. He had bought options of some pulp-wood tracts; he expected to close a deal with the railroad for a big lot of ties. Nothing went right, though. He even failed to get the tie contract. Everything seemed to go back on him at once. He couldn’t take up his options, and he’s been obliged to close out nearly all his holdings at a big loss. At last he broke down. He gave up, and when a man like your father gives up, at his age, it means something serious.”
Tom uttered a horrified exclamation. Armstrong looked at him coldly, but it was easy to see that the lawyer, under his frigid exterior, was deeply affected by the misfortunes of his old friend.
“So you didn’t know anything about it?” he resumed. “Well, the doctors forbade him to think of business for months, and they sent him up north. He put all his affairs into my hands—gave me power to go through the business, and act as I see fit—either to go into bankruptcy, or to try to fight it out.”
“Bankruptcy!” Tom exclaimed. The idea seemed preposterous to him, who had always regarded his father’s business as a source of wealth, varying, indeed, but inexhaustible. “Surely that’s impossible! What have you found?”
“I haven’t finished going through the books. But it looks about as bad as it can be. The lumber business has been slumping for the last year. Three months ago I advised your father to make an assignment and have the thing over. But he said that every dollar of his paper had always been worth a hundred cents, and always would be while he lived. I think he was speaking truth. For if the business goes under I don’t believe he will survive it long. Business was his whole life.”