he could no longer parry the determination of
one of Captain Armine's principal creditors to arrest him instantly for
a considerable sum. Poor Ferdinand, mortified and harassed, with his
heart and spirit alike broken, could scarcely refrain from a groan.
However, some step must be taken. He drove Henrietta from his thoughts,
and, endeavouring to rally some of his old energy, revolved in his mind
what desperate expedient yet remained.

His sleep was broken by dreams of bailiffs, and a vague idea of
Henrietta Temple triumphing in his misery; but he rose early, wrote a
diplomatic note to his menacing creditor, which he felt confident must
gain him time, and then, making a careful toilet, for when a man is
going to try to borrow money it is wise to look prosperous, he took his
way to a quarter of the town where lived a gentleman with whose brother
he had had some previous dealings at Malta, and whose acquaintance he
had made in England in reference to them.

It was in that gloomy quarter called Golden-square, the murky repose of
which strikes so mysteriously on the senses after the glittering bustle
of the adjoining Regent-street, that Captain Armine stopped before a
noble yet now dingy mansion, that in old and happier days might probably
have been inhabited by his grandfather, or some of his gay friends. A
brass plate on the door informed the world that here resided Messrs.
Morris and Levison, following the not very ambitious calling of coal
merchants. But if all the pursuers of that somewhat humble trade could
manage to deal in coals with the same dexterity as Messrs. Morris and
Levison, what very great coal merchants they would be!

The ponderous portal obeyed the signal of the bell, and apparently
opened without any human means; and Captain Armine, proceeding down
a dark yet capacious passage, opened a door, which invited him by
an inscription on ground glass that assured him he was entering the
counting-house. Here several clerks, ensconced within lofty walls of the
darkest and dullest mahogany, were busily employed; yet one advanced
to an aperture in this fortification and accepted the card which the
visitor offered him. The clerk surveyed the ticket with a peculiar
glance; and then, begging the visitor to be seated, disappeared. He
was not long absent, but soon invited Ferdinand to follow him. Captain
Armine was ushered up a noble staircase, and into a saloon that once
was splendid. The ceiling was richly carved, a