"No: he is at home, sick in bed with jaundice. He sent for me to come and talk with him this afternoon; and really, Caswell, if you had seen him, I don't think you would find it hard to forgive him. The man is completely broken down. All his old pompous way is gone. He cried like a little child when I spoke to him; and when I came away, he grasped my hand and sobbed,—
"'Trescott, if you see any of those poor people, beg them to try and forgive me.'
"Think of such a speech as that coming from Beckman!"
"Poor man!" said Letty, with tears in her eyes. "I am sure we will forgive him: won't we, John?"
"I should have tried to do so, at any rate," replied John. "If you think it will do him any good, Mr. Trescott, please tell him so."
"I will: All his property, without exception, has been placed in the hands of Street & Brothers, to see if any thing can be done towards satisfying the creditors. They will clear matters up, if any one can; and perhaps it will not be a dead loss, after all; though Mr. Street tells me he never saw such confusion as the accounts and papers are in. There is the trouble.
"Beckman would not be content to go on quietly in a business which he thoroughly understood: he must make money fast. And, moreover, what I think influenced him even more than the desire of making money,—he wanted to be fashionable. Mr. Beckman the banker sounded much better in his ears than Mr. Beckman the soap and candle maker."
"Any thing to be genteel," said John. "I hate the very sound of it. I wish there wasn't any such word in the language."
"They say his wife was very extravagant," observed Agnes. "Mrs. Van Horn says she never saw such lace as she wears; and I have noticed that myself," she added, hastily, as a smile went round the circle.
"I do not think she has been greatly to blame," said Mr. Trescott. "Mr. Beckman never allowed his wife or daughter to know any thing about his affairs. I heard him say, once, it was a maxim of his that no woman should know any thing of his business. His wife doubtless supposed him to be immensely rich, and regulated her expenses accordingly."