Rising in the world

by T. S. Arthur

At this retort, the lawyer turned on his heel and left the presence of the man who knew him too well.

"The biter got bit that time. I thought I would be too sharp for him," said Harrison, smiling inwardly.

If ever a man was completely foiled in his purposes and dashed down to the very earth, that man was Lawrence Dunbar. Of the thirty thousand dollars received from Harrison, ten thousand had been paid to the opposing attorney as his accomplice in iniquity, leaving him but twenty thousand dollars as the entire fortune of his wife. This was a very different state of affairs from that which his imagination had been picturing. Seventy thousand with his wife, twenty thousand from old Harrison as the price of his integrity, and fifteen thousand dollars already earned and saved, would have made a hundred and five thousand dollars. Instead, he was worth just thirty thousand dollars, and ten thousand of that was locked up in costly household furniture that had already lost its beauty in his eyes. As to entering into a contest with Mr. Harrison, that he did not for a moment contemplate. It could not be done without an exposure ruinous alike to his character and prospects. The very thought of it made him shudder. It was bad enough that a man who entertained such a hearty contempt for him should be in possession of such a blasting secret, which, if even a whisper of it got upon the wind, would wither up his legal reputation and blast his hopes like the hot breath of a sirocco.

He was in no mood to meet the wife he had insulted by a betrayal of his base regard for her property, instead of her person. The air of his richly-furnished parlors, as he entered them, was cold; the house itself seemed deserted, and oppressed him with a feeling of desolation. He did not seek his wife; for he had no wish to come into her presence. He thought of her with something akin to loathing. And this was scarcely five weeks from the wedding day!

At tea time they met; cold, reserved, and even haughty in their demeanor towards each other. The wife felt that she had received an unpardonable insult, and the husband felt that he had been deeply wronged. All hope of bettering his fortunes by matrimony was now gone. He was united to one who was, to use his own words, a beggar. She had no attractions of beauty of which he might be proud; and no excellences of character to win his esteem or love. But, cold, repulsive, self-willed, and passionate, she united in her person all those qualities that repel and estrange a man.

The subject of her fortune was never again alluded to by them. She asked no questions, and he made no communication touching the matter. But Mr. Harrison took the pains to call upon her, and inform her that he had paid to her husband thirty thousand dollars, in accordance with the provisions of her father's will, and that he was no longer her guardian.

[CHAPTER XVIII.]

A NEW ASPECT OF AFFAIRS.

POOR Malcolm, after escaping from the clutches of Dunbar, sold off all the goods and household furniture which he had removed to the best possible advantage, and calling together his creditors, gave them a history of his misfortunes, and divided among them the sum of one thousand dollars, all that he had received from the sale of what he had been able to save. It liquidated but thirty-three and one-third cents on the dollar of his debts. He had previously secured a clerkship paying a small salary. In consideration of his honesty in doing what was in his power, in this his last extremity, his creditors voluntarily signed him a full release from the balance of their claims against him.

One evening, a few days after this had taken place, Mr. Harrison called upon him at his boarding house. They met alone in the public parlor. Mr. Harrison was kind in his manner, but Malcolm was smarting yet too severely from the consequences of the late suit to feel in any mood for a cordial reception of his relative.