trade (high-sounding, but imperfectly understood term) could once more
turn in our favor; if we could export our surplus goods, and find new
markets,--as no doubt we would,--every shop and factory would soon be
ringing with the cheerful sound of labor. It would be a hard winter; but
he, for one, believed the spring would open auspiciously, that business
would revive, homes be prosperous, and every heavy heart light. Let them
all take courage for their own future and that of Hope Mills in the
hands of its young master. He regretted deeply that there was no money
to pay them with to-night; but that would doubtless be attended to
soon. He wanted to bid them a cordial good-by, and beg them to stand by
young Mr. Lawrence.

There was some rather faint cheering. Troubled eyes questioned
despondent eyes; what were they to do with winter coming on? First it
was the bank, now the mills, and what next God only could tell.

Fred Lawrence reached Yerbury Monday evening; and at midnight the faint,
fluttering soul of his father passed over that mighty river. There had
been no return to consciousness. Mrs. Lawrence still lay in her darkened
room, unable to bear any sound beyond that of the trained nurse.

To say that Fred was shocked, would feebly express his emotion. He had
never dreamed of his father's dying,--never dreamed of any thing like
misfortune happening to him, of any keener suffering than some temporary
annoyance. He felt quite helpless. His old philosophies did not inspire
him with courage, or open a way out of this dark present. There was to
be a funeral; there were business complications; some one had to think
of the future; the mill was shut up, the fortune swept away, and he had
been stranded on a strange shore, knowing not which way to turn.

Eastman was still in Yerbury. He was intensely sympathetic with the
bereaved family. In fact, now that he would never have to meet the eye
of the man he had so deeply wronged, his spirits rose, his pity
overflowed. Fred was quite touched by it. Hamilton Minor, with his
rather brusque business ways, jarred against his sorrow.

He was rather testy with Mr. Eastman. "For the life of me, I can't see
how things have come to this pass," he said sharply. "Hope Mills has
been considered as sound as a nut,--one of the surest places in the
country. Mr. Lawrence has made thousands and thousands. I have known a
good deal about his affairs."

"It is the result of a large-hearted philan