glimpses into the future, they were by far too earthly to extend beyond
any other settling day than those which were regulated by the ordinances
of the stock exchange. With him, to be born was but the commencement of
a speculation, and to die was to determine the general balance of profit
and loss. A man who had so rarely meditated on the grave changes of
mortality, therefore, was consequently so much the less prepared to gaze
upon the visible solemnities of a death-bed. Although he had never truly
loved my mother, for love was a sentiment much too pure and elevated
for one whose imagination dwelt habitually on the beauties of the
stock-books, he had ever been kind to her, and of late he was even
much disposed, as has already been stated, to contribute as much to
her temporal comforts as comported with his pursuits and habits. On
the other hand, the quiet temperament of my mother required some more
exciting cause than the affections of her husband, to quicken those
germs of deep, placid, womanly love, that certainly lay dormant in her
heart, like seed withering with the ungenial cold of winter. The last
meeting of such a pair was not likely to be attended with any violent
outpourings of grief.

My ancestor, notwithstanding, was deeply struck with the physical
changes in the appearance of his wife.

"Thou art much emaciated, Betsey," he said, taking her hand kindly,
after a long and solemn pause; "much more so than I had thought, or
could have believed! Dost nurse give thee comforting soups and generous
nourishment?"

My mother smiled the ghastly smile of death; but waved her hand, with
loathing, at his suggestion.

"All this is now too late, Mr. Goldencalf," she answered, speaking with
a distinctness and an energy for which she had long been reserving her
strength. "Food and raiment are no longer among my wants."

"Well, well, Betsey, one that is in want of neither food nor raiment,
cannot be said to be in great suffering, after all; and I am glad that
thou art so much at ease. Dr. Etherington tells me thou art far from
being well bodily, however, and I am come expressly to see if I can
order anything that will help to make thee more easy."

"Mr. Goldencalf, you can. My wants for this life are nearly over;
a short hour or two will remove me beyond the world, its cares, its
vanities, its--" My poor mother probably meant to add, its heartlessness
or its selfishness; but she rebuked herself, and paused: "By the mercy