"Oh, no!"
"It is true. And every dollar of Margaretta's money is locked up there!"
"Really that is dreadful! I would sell the stock immediately for what it will bring, if I were you."
"So I wish to. But neither my wife nor her aunt are willing. And so soon after our marriage I do not like to use positive measures."
"But the case is urgent. Delay may sweep from you every dollar."
"So I fear. What shall I do then? To have the prize in hand, and find it thus suddenly escaping, is enough to drive me mad!"
"Sell in spite of them. That's my advice."
"I will!"
And the half crazy young fortune-hunter hurried away. In a few minutes after, he entered the room where sat his wife and her aunt in gloomy and oppressed silence.
"The best thing we can do, Margaretta, I am satisfied, is to sell," he said, taking a chair beside his wife. "The stock is falling every hour, and it is the opinion of competent judges that it will not be worth five dollars in a week."