n order to prove their solidity,
disdained to shut their doors at the usual hour. Money was paid throughout
the night; and before noon, on the following day, Van Gelt had cut his
throat, in a summer-house that stood on the banks of the Utrecht canal;
and Van Stopper was seen smoking a pipe, among strong boxes that were
entirely empty. At two o'clock, the post brought the intelligence that
the Mussulmans were repulsed, and that the laundress was hanged; though I
never knew exactly for what crime, as she certainly was not a debtor of
the unhappy firm. These are some of the warning events of life, gentlemen;
and as I feel sure of addressing those who are capable of making the
application, I shall now conclude by advising all who hear me to great
discretion of speech on every matter connected with commercial character."

When Myndert ceased speaking, he threw another glance around him, in order
to note the effect his words had produced, and more particularly to
ascertain whether he had not drawn a draft on the forbearance of the
free-trader, which might still meet with a protest. He was at a loss to
account for the marked and unusual deference with which he was treated, by
one who, while he was never coarse, seldom exhibited much complaisance for
the opinions of a man he was in the habit of meeting so familiarly, on
matters of pecuniary interest. During the whole of the foregoing harangue,
the young mariner of the brigantine had maintained the same attitude of
modest attention; and when his eyes were permitted to rise, it was only to
steal uneasy looks at the face of Alida. La belle Barberie had also
listened to her uncle's eloquence, with a more thoughtful air than common.
She met the occasional glances of the dealer in contraband, with answering
sympathy; and, in short, the most indifferent observer of their deportment
might have seen that circumstances had created between them a confidence
and intelligence which, if it were not absolutely of the most tender, was
unequivocally of the most intimate, character. Ail this Ludlow plainly
saw, though the burgher had been too much engrossed with the ideas he had
so complacently dealt out, to note the fact.

"Now that my mind is so well stored with maxims on commerce, which I
shall esteem as so many commentaries on the instructions of my Lords of
the Admiralty," observed the Captain, after a brief interval of silence,
"it may be permitted to turn our attention to things less metap