me
still more shaky, and finally came down. Now, it is a well understood
fact that men cannot fall alone. You cannot remove a small prop from a
large old tree without running the risk of causing the old tree to fall
and carry a few of the neighbouring trees, with a host of branches,
creeping plants, and parasites, along with it. Especially is this the
case in the mercantile world. The death of Colonel Green was a calamity
only to a few tradesmen, but the fall of Wentworth and Company was a
much more serious matter, because that firm was an important prop to the
much greater firm of Dalgetty and Son, which immediately shook in its
shoes, and also went down, spreading ruin and consternation in the city.
Now, it happened that Dalgetty and Son had extensive dealings with
Webster and Company, and their fall involved the latter so deeply, that,
despite their great wealth, their idolatrous head was compelled to
puzzle his brain considerably in order to see his way out of his
difficulties.

But the more he looked, the less he saw of a favourable nature. Some of
his evil practices also had of late begun to shed their legitimate fruit
on John Webster, and to teach him something of the meaning of those
words, "Be sure your sins shall find you out." This complicated matters
considerably. He consulted his cash-books, bank-books, bill-books,
sales-books, order-books, ledgers, etcetera, etcetera, again and again,
for hours at a time, without arriving at any satisfactory result. He
went to his diminutive office early in the morning, and sat there late
at night; and did not, by so doing, improve his finances a whit,
although he succeeded in materially injuring his health. He worried the
life of poor meek Grinder to such an extent that that unfortunate man
went home one night and told his wife he meant to commit suicide, begged
her to go out and purchase a quart of laudanum for that purpose at the
fishmonger's, and was not finally induced to give up, or at least to
delay, his rash purpose, until he had swallowed a tumbler of mulled port
wine and gone to sleep with a bottle of hot water at his feet! In
short, Mr Webster did all that it was possible for a man to do in order
to retrieve his fortunes--all except pray, and commit his affairs into
the hands of his Maker; _that_ he held to be utterly ridiculous. To
make use of God's winds, and waves, and natural laws, and the physical
and mental powers which had been given him, for t