“Yes, sir, I have,” said Tom.
“I suppose you know also that you are one of my creditors.”
“I have heard that also, sir,” said Tom; “but I am sure that your failure is the result of misfortune, and I have called to express my sympathy for my father’s friend.”
“Thank you, my boy,” said the merchant warmly, grasping the hand of our hero. “You say this with the full knowledge that you have lost a large sum by me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You remind me of your father—a noble, generous man, and a true friend. I regret more than before that you are involved in my losses.”
“Don’t think too much of it, sir.”
“I will at any rate give you some explanation of my failure, so that you may know that it was as much my misfortune as an error of judgment.”
“I don’t ask any explanation, Mr. Armstrong,” said Tom, who was quite won over by the merchant’s friendly manner.
“I would rather be understood—by you, at least. You must know, then, that though I had met with considerable losses, which had of course crippled me, I should still have remained solvent but for the treachery of a clerk in whom I reposed the utmost confidence.”