f ill-starred
men bore a kind of malice and hatred against money, so that they have
recourse to the strangest devices to drive it away from them on every
side, while the miser hugs and cherishes it with a blind devotion, and
lets himself be crusht by his idol. Elizabeth was weak enough to give
up her property to him unconditionally, and, when his credit had
already fallen, to declare herself bound by his debts; and thus the
very house into which all the gods of Olympus had seemed to enter,
bringing eternal joy as their gift, became a scene of misery,
confusion, hatred, and strife. The wretched husband, counsellor
Helbach, has sold his last shilling for an annuity, without a thought
about his wife and son. This son of his is as it were possest by the
furies, unruly, headstrong, and without feeling: he ran into debt,
then took to swindling, and finally, two years ago, when his weeping
mother was trying to admonish him, abused and even struck her in his
brutal rage. After this grand feat he set off into the wide world. His
father meanwhile revels and laughs, devouring his income, which must
still be large, at well-stored tables. This made her come to me,
subduing her pride and her feelings, in order that I might relieve her
from a debt, which would have brought her to shame and to a prison.
These twenty years past she has been longing to die, but still lives,
an object of horrour to herself, and of pleasure to nobody.--Send her
a thousand dollars every quarter: she has promist me that her
abandoned husband shall know nothing of this assistance either now or
hereafter."

Edward saw the old man's deep anguish, and was long silent: at last he
began: "But how could Eleazar be so cruel as not to tell you of those
letters?"

"I was in the wrong," replied the old man, "to find fault with him for
it yesterday. He acts in my name, and knows well that I am weak and
soft-hearted: the particulars he was not aware of, and so only did his
duty. Indeed I know not myself after all whether I have done rightly
in following my torn and deeply agitated heart: for perhaps still she
may have too little firmness to keep the wretch in ignorance of what
has happened; in spite of everything he is her husband, and of all her
ties his are the closest. You no doubt, because you love me, but are
of a tender disposition so that distress affects you, would have acted
otherwise, and better; and yet probably were I to put myself entirely
in your hands,