The Mysteries of London, Vol. IV — page 290: what you’re looking at

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4 pat 8 a ee a se TILE MYSTERIES OF LONDON. 285 did not refuse them, so specious were your repre- Bentations. But by degrees I began to entertain vaguo suspicions that evorything was not as you would have mo viow it; and I latterly instituted inquiries. A week only has elapsed sincol acquired the certainty that the larger portion of the money advanced by me to you was never laid out in the way and for the purposos represented by yourself; but that it has been employed to stop up gaps and supply deficiencies in your deeply-embarrassed establish- ment!"—“My God! this is but too true!” mur- mured tho miserable Pomfret. “But you will be merciful towards a man who is reduced to despair 2” —“Tshall not harm you, sir: neither shall I expose you,” returned Mr, Gamble, while the merchant’s countenance somewhat brightened up at this assurance. ‘Perhaps, indeed,” added the old bachelor, after. a slight pause, “I may even Save you yot.’—“‘Save mo!” echoed Pomfret. “Oh! no: that is impossible! Iam so deeply involved that I owe three times as much as all you are likely to possess.”—“ Tam not 50 sure of that, sir,” returned Mr. Gamble, almost in a good- humoured tone: thon, immediately resuming his former scriousness of voice, he said, “It is not so much the less of my fourteen thousand pounds that I deplore: but it is that you havo changed my hebits, and I am not so happy asI was. The dealings that I had with men in my earlier years, made me mistrust them and taught me to look upon them with un- varying suspicion, Therefore was it that when I became rich cnougb to retire into private life, and ore than rich enough for my purposes, I abjured the society of those whom the world had spoilt, and soucht the society of thoso who were too young to be tainted by that world. I withdrew myself from the hot atmosphere breathed by men and women, and joyed in the freshness of the pure air in which frank, merry, artless, and sportive children dwelt. My hoart, while closing towards one section of tho human race, expanded towards another; and £ have loved tho infantine race as dearly—oh! as dearly as if I had been the father of a vast family. But when I renewed my intercourse with adults—that is to say, when I was tempted to join your socicty ‘and that of the two or three gentlemen and ladies whom I have occasionally met at your house—I felt my love for that infantine race diminishing: or ra- ther, their presence afforded me Jess delight and amusement, Is is all this that I deplore; and thie result has been that my home now seems lonely, and the time hangs heavily upon my hands, Nay, more: you have been the means of effecting that change in me which has made me selfish: and I fecl capable even of sacrificing the happiness of another so long as I can in any way minister unto my own.”’—“ I do not understand you,” said Pomfret, fearful that these last words implied some vindictive allusion to limself.— I will explain my meaning,” replied Mr, ‘camble. “You tell me that you are s0 deeply in- volved that ruin stares you in the face ?”— I am 50 utterly denudod of resources at this moment,” an- swered Pomfrot, “ that I cannot even pay the quar- ter’s income duc to my neighbour and lato partner, Mr. Mitcheil.’”—“ And if you fail, that poor paralytic old man will be reduced to beggary ?”’ said Gamble, —Pomfret covered his face with his hands, and groauved aloud. ‘Nay, more than all this,’ continued the old bachelor, after a long pause, during which he ap- peared to be sipping his claret complacontly, but A ES ER ES A was in reality reflecting profoundly,— more than all this, your partners will be utterly ruined; and thoy will curse you as the fatal cause of their dis- honour and their penury. Your daughter, too, wil! become a portionless girl; aud she will moan the follies of hor father that reduced her from a stato of comparative affluence to a condition of toil fora poor pittance. Lastly, that fine young man, Leo- nard Mitchell, will hate and abhor you as tho indi- vidual who has made his father’s last years wrotched and intolerable, and deprived the afflicted soptuagena- rian of the very necessaries of life. All these terrible things, Mr. Pomfret, will be accomplished on the day when your house stops payment.”—“ I know it, alas! too well!” exclaimed the unhappy, ruined merchant, clasping his hands togother in deop agony.—“ You are not so old by ten or a dozen years as am,” continued Mr. Gamble: “and yot it does me harm to see you thus reduced to despair. But let us not waste precious time. What is the amount that will save you from ruin ?”—*I dare not name it,” returned Pomfret.—" This is foolish,” oxclaimed the old bachelor, severely : “come, answer me, or else let our interview tcerminato at once. Again I domand of you the amount that can prevent all the lamentablo occurrences which I just now dotailed ?”— “ Highty thousand pounds,” was tho reply, delivered almost in a fit of desperation. Mr, Gamble rose, opened his desk, and taking out some Bank securities, directed the merchant’s atten- tion to the sums specified in those documents. ‘‘Ninety-five thousand pounds!” cried Pomfret, astonished at thoso evidences of a wealth far greater than he had supposed the old bachelor to bo pos- sessed of.— You perceive,” observed Mr. Gamblo, returning the papers to his desk, and resuming his seat,—“ you perceive that I am the master of means sufficient to save you from destruction. Indeed, I can spare the sum necessary, and even then have four hundred pounds a-year left to live upon,”"— “But is it possible that you can even entertain tho idea of assisting me to such an extent?” cried Mr. Pomfret, scarcely ablo to believe his own cars, and trembling lest he was indulging in a hope that had no other existence than in a droam.— It is quito possible, sir,” responded the old bachelor, piqued that his word should bo questioned even for a moment: “and now it all depends upon yoursolf.” —“Upon myself!” repeated Mr. Pomfret, again surveying his friend with mingicd amazement and incredulity, — “ Yos: upon yourself,’ cried Mr. Gamble: “for tho amount you require is at your service, provided you consent to accept mo as your son-in-law !’—These words wore delivered with a solemn scriousness of tone which forbade the sus- picion that they were uttered jocularly; and so completely astounded was the merchant that several minutes elapsed beforo he could make any reply During that interval Mr. Gamble still appeared to sip his claret with calmness: but ho was in reality awaiting with no small degree of anxiety the answer that would be given to his proposal. “But do you love my daughter?” inquired Pom- fret at length—T have already told you that I begin to fecl lonely and cheerless,” replied Mr. Gamblo ; “and, moreover, I am irresistibly attracted towards Miss Ellen. I may also say that I shonld feel proud and happy to ensuro her an independence: at the same time, I am not endowed with sufficient philanthropy to induce mo to save her father from ruin, exceyt on the condition of receiving her as a (C(O) DOO (C <S LL (SO)