the pigeon, and sent to Mr. James Fordyce at
Liverpool.

For the next few days the business of the
house was almost at a standstill. The sad
event was the gossip of the Exchange, and the
commercial coffee-rooms; and the credit of
Fordyce, Brothers, high as their character
stood in the city, was, of course, materially
and fatally injured by this sudden calamity.

It was late on the Friday night when Mr.
James Fordyce returned, having started at
once upon the receipt of the despatch, and
posted the whole way. He spent an hour in
silent and sacred communion with his dead
brother, and every one read in his fine, open,
benevolent face how thoroughly the wrong
was forgiven that had shaken the foundations
of the firm, and sent one of its members to a
sudden grave.

He then devoted himself, night and day,
to an investigation of their financial position,
aided in everything by Michael Armstrong,
who was ever at his side. In the course of a
few days his determination was known. By
closing the branch concern at Liverpool,
contracting the operations, and reducing the
London house, the capital remaining was
sufficient to discharge all outstanding obligations,
leaving a small balance upon which to
re-construct the firm. This was done, and
the honour of Fordyce, Brothers, was
preserved.

Many of our staff, under the new arrangements,
were dismissed, but the thoughtful
care of Mr. Fordyce had provided them with
other situations in neighbouring firms. In
other respects our business went on as before,
but with one remarkable exception. The
confidence hitherto existing between Mr. Fordyce
and Michael Armstrong was at an end, and
although the latter was still retained in his
capacity as private secretary, he appeared to
feel that he was no longer honoured and
trusted. I believe at this time he would
gladly have left the place, but some secret
power and influence seemed to compel him to
remain.

He had never made friends of any of his
fellow-clerks, nor did he seek them now. Old
Barnard's repugnance to his marriage with
Esther at length took the form of open
personal repugnance; and poor Esther, herself,
while her heart was undoubtedly unchanged,
became sometimes cold and timid in his
presence: at others loving and repentant, as if
struggling with some great, fearful doubt that
she did not dare to confide to him. She was
less desirous of seeking his company; and the
roses on her fair young cheeks, that had
grown up even within these old city walls,
now faded away before the hidden grief of
her heart. God bless her; her love had
fallen, indeed, upon stony ground.

Mr. Fordyce seemed also to be struggling
between a variety of contending feelings.
Whether he had set a watch upon Michael
Armstrong at this period I cannot say; but
while he appeared to feel his presence
irksome, he seemed always anxious to have him
near. Better would it have been for him if
he had let him go his ways.

It was impossible for Michael Armstrong
to be ignorant of this state of things, and it
only served to make him, if possible, more
keen-eyed and watchful. What he thought
or did was still only known to himself, but
there was occasional evidence upon the
surface that seemed to indicate the direction of
his silent working.

Our house had never entirely recovered
the shock given to its credit by the violent
death of Mr. Robert Fordyce. Rumours of
our being in an insolvent position were
occasionally bandied about the town, gaining
strength with the maturing of a large
demand; dying away for a time, after it had
been promptly satisfied. Our bankers, too,
began to look coldly upon us.

The rumours gradually took a more
consistent and connected form; an unfavourable
condition of the money-market arose; the
strongest houses cannot always stand against
such adverse influences, and we were, at last,
compelled to close our transactions. We
stopped payment.

Contrary to general expectation, Mr.
Fordyce declined to call in any professional
assistance to prepare a statement of the
affairs of the firm. At a preliminary meeting
of his creditors, he took his ground upon
his long and dearly-earned character for
commercial integrity; and asked for a fortnight,
in which to investigate his books and assets.
He obtained it.

If any one was disappointed at this, it was
Michael Armstrong. His will for once was
foiled. For reasons best known, at that
time, to himself, he wished, now that the
house was destroyed, to have all the books
and papers removed out of the reach of Mr.
Fordyce. It was not to be.

Mr. Fordyce, from the hour of the meeting,
almost lived in his private office-room.
Day after day was he seen arranging papers,
and making extracts from the leathern-bound
ledgers. Night after night his green-shaded,
office-lamp was lighting him through the
same heavy, weary task. He had removed
his writing-desk from the back of the room
to that window on the left of the ground-
floor, where Michael Armstrong used to sit.
He worked chiefly alone, and seldom called
in the help of his secretary, except for some
intricate parts of the cash accounts.

In this way the time went quickly on, and
Mr. Fordyce had arrived within a few days
of the completion of his labours.

It was on a Wednesday evening—a
winter's evening in the latter part of
January—about half-past seven o'clock, that
Mr. Fordyce and Michael Armstrong were
alone together, after all the clerks had
gone, at the window in that room, deeply
engaged in a mass of papers. There