is
gave Hiram a certain advantage in telling his story, for he dreaded his
cousin's scrutinizing glance.

Mr. Bennett was much alarmed at Hiram's announcement. 'In trouble?' What
could that mean but financial disaster?

'I was afraid he would speculate too much,' said Mr. Bennett to himself;
'but how could he have got such a blow as this? I saw him the day after
his return, and he said everything had gone well in his absence.'

He settled himself, however, resolutely to hear the worst, and, to his
praise be it spoken, fully determined to do what he could to aid the
young man in his difficulties.

Hiram was brief in his communication. When he chose, he could go as
straight to the point as any one. He did not attempt to gloss over his
story, but put his cousin in possession of the facts pretty much as the
reader understands them.

It is doubtful if Mr. Bennett was much relieved by the communication.
Indeed, I think he would have preferred to have some pecuniary tangle
out of which to extricate his cousin. In fact, it was impossible for him
to suppress a feeling of contempt, not to say disgust, at Hiram's
conduct. For, worldly minded as he was, It was what he never would have
been guilty of. Indeed, it so happened that Mr. Bennett had actually
married his wife under circumstances quite similar, three months after
her father's failure, and one month after his death; so that where be
expected a fortune, he had taken a portionless wife and her widowed
mother. What is more, he did it cheerfully, and was, as he used to say,
the happiest fellow in the world in consequence. It would have been
singular, therefore, if while hearing Hiram's story he had not recurred
to his own history. In indulging his contempt for him, he unconsciously
practised an innocent self-flattery.

He did not immediately reply after Hiram concluded, but waited for this
feeling to subside, and for the old worldly leaven to work again.

'A nice mess you're in,' he said, at length, 'and all from not seeking
my advice in time. Do you know, Hiram, you made a great mistake in
giving up that girl? I'm not talking of any matter of affection or
sentiment or happiness, or about violating pledges and promises. That is
your own affair, and I've nothing to do with it. I have often told you
that you have much to learn yet, and here is a tremendous blunder to
prove it. The connection would have been as good as a hundred thousand
dollars cash capital, if the girl h