sulting him?" said Mrs. Aiken.

"Such is my intention."

"He might be very much displeased."

"No matter; I would soon smooth his frowning brow. But, Mrs. Aiken,
we won't discuss that matter. The instrument is to be sold. Do you
want it?"

"I do."

"Very well. Are you prepared to buy it?"

"Perhaps so. It cost four hundred dollars?"

"Yes."

"What is your price?"

"The same."

"Then you make no deduction?" said Mrs. Aiken, smiling.

"I wouldn't like to do that. It's as good as new. If I can sell it,
I want to be able to put in my husband's hands just what he paid for
it."

"Oh, then you want the money for your husband?"

"Certainly, I do. What use have I for four hundred dollars?"

"You've come just in time, Anna," said Mrs. Aiken. "I arranged with
my husband to meet him this morning, at his store, to go and look at
some pianos. But if yours is really for sale, we have no occasion to
take any further trouble."

"It is for sale, Mrs. Aiken. Understand this."

"Very well. When do you want the money?"

"This morning."

"I don't know about that. However, I will see Mr. Aiken
immediately."

"Shall I wait here for you?"

"You may do so, or I will call at your house."

"Do that, if you please."

"Very well. In an hour, at most, I will see you."

The two ladies then parted.

When Mr. Brainard left his house that morning, he felt wretched.
Where--how was he to get four hundred dollars? To go to the party
from whom he had bought the piano, and confess that he was not able
to pay for it, had in it something so humiliating, that he could not
bear the thought for a moment. But if the note was not paid,--what
then? Might not the instrument be demanded? And how could he give it
up now? Or, worse, might it not be seized under execution?

"Oh, that I had never bought it!" he at length exclaimed, mentally,
in the bitterness of his feelings. And then he half chid himself for
the extorted declaration.

Nearly the whole of the morning was spent in the vain attempt to
borrow the needed sum. But there was no one to lend him four hundred
dollars. At length, in his desperation, he forced himself to apply
for a quarter's advance of salary.

"No doubt," said he, within himself, "that the holder of the note
will take two hundred and fifty dollars on account, and give me time
on the balance."

About the ways and means of living for the next three months, after
absorbing his salary in advance, he did not paus