ing why, never ascribing the change to her
sister, poor Susan wept, amazed at Mainwaring's transformation. No care
now for the new books from London, or the roses in the garden; the music
on the instrument was unheeded. Books, roses, music,--what are those
trifles to a man thinking upon cent per cent? Mainwaring's very
countenance altered; it lost its frank, affectionate beauty: sullen,
abstracted, morose, it showed that some great care was at the core.
Then Lucretia herself began grievingly to notice the change to Susan;
gradually she altered her tone with regard to the speculator, and hinted
vague fears, and urged Susan's remonstrance and warning. As she had
anticipated, warning and remonstrance came in vain to the man who,
comparing Lucretia's mental power to Susan's, had learned to despise the
unlearned, timid sense of the latter.

It is unnecessary to trace this change in Mainwaring step by step, or
to measure the time which sufficed to dazzle his reason and blind his
honour. In the midst of schemes and hopes which the lust of gold now
pervaded came a thunderbolt. An anonymous letter to the head partner
of the bank provoked suspicions that led to minute examination of the
accounts. It seemed that sums had been irregularly advanced (upon
bills drawn by men of straw) to the speculator by Mainwaring; and the
destination of these sums could be traced to gambling operations in
trade in which Mainwaring had a private interest and partnership. So
great, as we have said, had been the confidence placed in William's
abilities and honour that the facilities afforded him in the disposal of
the joint stock far exceeded those usually granted to the partner of a
firm, and the breach of trust appeared the more flagrant from the extent
of the confidence misplaced. Meanwhile, William Mainwaring, though
as yet unconscious of the proceedings of his partners, was gnawed by
anxiety and remorse, not unmixed with hope. He depended upon the result
of a bold speculation in the purchase of shares in a Canal Company,
a bill for which was then before parliament, with (as he was led
to believe) a certainty of success. The sums he had, on his own
responsibility, abstracted from the joint account were devoted to this
adventure. But, to do him justice, he never dreamed of appropriating the
profits anticipated to himself. Though knowing that the bills on which
the moneys had been advanced were merely nominal deposits, he had
confidently calculated