“She will be the more fully mine,” he said; “and purer and brighter for the trials through which she has passed.”
After that, they corresponded regularly, and occasionally met.
While the fortunes of Mr. Townsend had rapidly declined, those of the young man he had treated so rudely had rapidly improved. The business of Jones, Claire, & Co. doubled itself in a single year, and had gone on increasing almost in a similar ratio. The interest in it held by Albertson was, therefore, a very profitable one.
Two months after the last removal, Eunice noticed that her father had again become unusually serious. This led her to inquire of him as to the state of his business.
“I have no reason to despond in regard to business,” he said, “taking all things into consideration. If I could only meet a payment of twelve hundred dollars that falls due in a few days, I believe every thing would go on smoothly enough. This is the last of my guarantied sales to the house, by the failure of which I lost ten thousand dollars. My name is on the note, and when it is returned protested, I must take it up. But how this is to be done, I cannot tell.”
“Help has come heretofore in extremity, father, and I am sure it will come now.”
“But where is it to come from, child? Heaven knows; I do not. I have struggled up to this point, and overcome many difficulties, but this seems likely to overwhelm me. I sometimes think, Eunice, that I am mocked of Providence.”
“Dear father! do not permit such a thought to find place in your mind for an instant. It is not so; it cannot be so. These trials are for your good. We all suffer with you, and we shall all be better in the end, for our suffering. I feel that I am better, and that my after life will be a happier and more useful life in consequence. Our real good, you know, father, does not lie in our worldly possessions or prosperity; and the failure of our worldly expectations is often but a salutary reaction upon our natural affections, when too intently fixed upon mere natural things. Still have confidence, father; still believe that all will come out right in the end. Even the failure to meet this payment may not prove so great an evil as you now fear it will be.”
Thus Eunice sought to inspire her father with confidence, and succeeded in doing so for the moment, but he soon sunk back again into despondency. His mind had not sufficient power to rise above the pressure of present circumstances.
On the next day, Eunice, while alone with her sister, said to her, “I mentioned to you last night, the cause of father’s looking so troubled.”