"Dear Benjamin: The blow has fallen at last. I felt that our prosperity was not lasting¹, though I never could make you believe it. I have always expected the worst, and it has come. Benjamin, we are ruined; I shall end my days in the poorhouse after all. If you want an explanation, read the letter which I enclose."

 

The letter enclosed was from Solomon Brief, attorney, of Montreal, informing Mrs. Bradford that, as executor of the estate of the late Matthew Baldwin, of Montreal, he begged to remind her that for five years she had failed to pay the rent on a tenement² owned by the deceased, and which he now found it to be his duty to demand. At sixty dollars per year, without interest, this would now amount to three hundred dollars, which he hoped Mrs. Bradford would see the propriety³ of paying at once.

 

Mrs. Bradford continued:

 

I don't know whether they will put me in jail or not; but you know that I cannot pay this money, and couldn't if I had five years to do it in. What will become of us all I don't know. 'Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.'

 

"Your sorrowful aunt, "Jane Bradford.

 

"P.S.—I am sure your Uncle Matthew never intended that I should pay the rent. He once wrote me a letter to that effect, but I can't find it."

 

Even Ben, hopeful as he was, looked sober after reading this letter. He went to his friend, the bookkeeper.

 

"Have you ever seen your uncle, Ben?" he inquired.

 

"No, sir."

 

"What was his reputation?"

 

"He was considered wealthy."

 

"It is a pity you could not visit Montreal, and make some inquiries," said the bookkeeper thoughtfully.

 

"Of course I can't do that."

 

"Then, first of all, write to this lawyer, and inquire the particulars of Mr. Baldwin's death; and next, how his property is left. Then make him acquainted with the terms on which your aunt has occupied her house."

 

This advice seemed reasonable, and Ben adopted it.

 

As Ben left the store at six o'clock, one evening, he brushed by an old man with a

分享到：