"My beloved Mary," he whispered, "it is a secret which I can only confide to you in part, and which in strict honor I should perhaps conceal entirely. Four weeks ago a merchant, highly esteemed, was left by a curious train of circumstances without funds, and he begged me to lend him ten thousand crowns. Should I refuse his request, the credit of his house would be irretrievably ruined. His name I considered sufficient security for ten times the amount he wished to borrow. At all events, although it pained me to disobey my uncle's positive injunctions, I could not deny the assistance which was asked of me. I lent the ten thousand crowns, and obtained a receipt with a written promise of payment in one month. Yesterday the note fell due; my debtor asks a delay until to-morrow. I met him an hour ago, and he has not yet obtained the money."
"But if your debtor is rich and powerful, you need not indulge your fears to-day; to-morrow, perhaps, he will fulfil his promise," remarked the young girl, with ill-concealed anxiety.
"My fears may mislead me, Mary, but I am sure that my debtor's affairs are in a very bad condition. At his urgent entreaty I made no entry of the loan upon the books, in order to conceal the transaction from the clerks; but still I have not the amount in hand. O Mary! my uncle has an eagle eye in business affairs; he will at once discover the deficit of ten thousand crowns—a deficit resulting from my lending money: a thing he has always warned me against, and which, even recently, he strictly forbade. My uncle is a good father to me, but this act of disobedience is sufficient to deprive me forever of his favor. I foresee many future evils."
"Why were you so imprudent, Geronimo? You ought to have refused so large a loan."
"I could not possibly refuse, Mary."
"But you hold an acknowledgment of the debt and a promise of payment. Summon this merchant before the magistrates; at Antwerp justice is promptly and impartially dealt to all."
"Impossible!" replied the young man, in a plaintive voice; "my debtor is a man to whom I owe many obligations; a complaint from me would be the cause of irreparable ruin to him. Let us hope that he will succeed in procuring the ten thousand crowns. He told me even this morning that he would endeavor to give me bills of exchange on Spain."
"But of whom are you speaking?" said Mary; "your language is so mysterious."
"I will not tell his name. Be not offended by my reserve; there is between merchants a law of secrecy which honor forbids us to violate."
Mary appeared to respect this law; but she was evidently absorbed in bitter reflections.