mmediate and violent disgust, he burned to expose his parent's cupidity
and dishonesty, and to rid himself of the burden which he had
voluntarily taken as his own; but pride, shame, and other low
incentives, came between him and the fulfilment of a rash resolution,
and he had nothing to do but to look his difficulty fully and bravely in
the face. In addition to this trial, he found it necessary to proceed
without delay as far eastward as Vienna; for thither his chief creditor
had taken himself on urgent business, which threatened to detain him on
the spot until the following year. Nor was this all; a Lyonese merchant,
who held old Allcraft's note of hand for a considerable sum, advanced
under assurances of early payment, had grown obstinate and restive with
disappointment and anxiety. He insisted upon the instant discharge of
his claim, and refused to give another hour's grace. To rid himself of
this plague, Michael had not hesitated to draw upon his house for a sum
somewhat greater than five thousand pounds. The act had not been
committed without some distress of mind--some murmurings of conscience;
but the necessity was great--the compulsion not to be avoided. To put an
end to all further and importunate demands, he posted into Austria fast
as he could be conveyed. The chief creditor was destined to be Michael's
chief misery. He was an obdurate, unyielding man, and, after days of
negotiation, would finally listen to nothing but the chink of the gold
that was due to him. And how much that was, Michael dared not trust
himself to think. Now, what was to be done? To draw again upon the
bank--to become himself, to his partners, an example of recklessness and
extravagance, was out of the question. He had but one course before him,
and it was one which he had solemnly vowed never to adopt. To beg a loan
from his wife so early in the morning of their union, seemed a thing
impossible--at least it seemed so in the outset, when the thought first
blushed upon him, and there remained a chance, a hope, of escaping from
the miserable alternative. But as the creditor got clamorous, and every
prospect of satisfying his demand--every means save one--grew dim, and
shadowy, and blank, the wrongfulness, the impropriety of making an
appeal to her, whose heart was willing as her hand was able to release
him from despair, became less evident, and by degrees not evident at
all. It would have been well for Allcraft, and for Margaret too, had the