on. For a quarter of a
year the sun shone brightly, and profit, and advantage, and honour,
looked Michael in the face. Thriving abroad, happy at home, what did he
need more? His spirit became buoyant--his heart carefree and light. He
congratulated himself upon the prudence and success of his measures, and
looked for his reward in the brilliant future which he had created for
himself and earned. His soul was calmed; and so are the elements,
fearfully and oppressively, sometimes an hour before the tempest and the
storm.

At the end of three months, Michael deemed it necessary to go abroad.
The heaviest of his father's debts had been contracted with a house in
Lyons, and notices as to payment had been conveyed to him--notices as
full of politeness as they were of meaning. The difficulties in which he
had found himself at the death of his parent--the seriousness of his
engagements--and the wariness which he had been compelled to
exercise--had gone far to sober down the impetuous youth, and to endue
him with the airs and habits of a man of business. He had attended to
his duties at the banking-house faithfully and punctually. He had
entered into its affairs with the energy and resolution of a practical
and working mind. He had given his heart to the work, and had put his
shoulder to the wheel, honestly and earnestly. Whatsoever may have been
his faults previously to his connexion with his partners, it is due to
him to say that he was no sluggard afterwards, and that he grudged
neither time nor labour that could be in any way productive to the
house--could add a shilling to its profits, or a breath of reputation to
its name. To pay his father's debts from the earnings of the bank--to
keep those debts a secret--and to leave the fortune of his wife
untouched, were the objects for which he lived, and soon began to slave.
Believing that a favourable arrangement could be effected with his
father's creditors, he determined to visit them in person. He had not
been absent from the bank even for a day; and now, before he could quit
it with comfort, he deemed it necessary to have a few parting words with
his right hand and factotum, Planner.

Planner was the only member of the firm who lived in the establishment.
His specimens, his bottles, his maps, and drawings, had been removed to
a spacious apartment over the place of business, and he rejoiced in the
possession of an entire first floor. His bed-room had now a distinct
existence.