me five thousand dollars, which, by the
maturing of your drafts, has become a _cash_ advance. The death of
our senior, Mr. Randall, and the consequent withdrawal of his
capital, has left us with an extended business and limited means.
Money, also, is very tight, and we therefore earnestly beg you to
put us in funds at the earliest possible moment.'

No reply was received to this letter; but, about ten days after its
transmission, Preston himself walked into my private office. His clothes
were travel stained, and he appeared haggard and careworn. I had never
seen him look so miserably.

He met me cordially, and soon referred to the state of his affairs. His
wife, the winter before, had agreed to reside permanently at Newbern,
and content herself with an allowance of three thousand dollars
annually; but at the close of the year he found that she had contracted
debts to the extent of several thousand more. He was pressed for these
debts; his interest was in arrears, and he could raise no money for lack
of another indorser. Ruin stared him in the face, unless I again put my
shoulder to the wheel, and pried him out of the mire. The turpentine
business was not paying as well as formerly, but the new plantation was
encumbered with only the original mortgage--less than six thousand
dollars--and was then worth, owing to an advance in the value of land,
fully twenty thousand. He would secure me by a mortgage on that
property, but I _must_ allow the present indebtedness to stand, and let
him increase it four or five thousand dollars. That amount would
extricate him from present difficulties; and, to avoid future
embarrassments, he would take measures for a legal separation from his
wife.

I heard him through, and then said:

'I cannot help you, my friend. I am very sorry; but my own affairs are
in a most critical state. I owe over a hundred thousand dollars,
maturing within twenty days, and my present available resources are not
more than fifty thousand. I have three hundred thousand worth of produce
on hand, but the market is so depressed that I cannot realize a dollar
upon it. The banks have shut down, and money is two per cent. a month in
the street. What you owe us would aid me wonderfully; but I can rub
through without it. That much I can bear, but not a dollar more.'

He walked the room for a time, and was silent; then, turning to me, he
said--each separate word seeming a groan:

'I have curse