g toward his desk,
and taking no further notice of the alarmed and discomfited usurer.

In about two weeks he had the pleasure of handing him the whole
amount of the loan, and getting a release of the property. Wolford
tried to be very affable and apologetic; but he was treated
according to the merchant's estimation of his real character, and
not otherwise.

"Free from your clutches, and for ever!" said Mr. Tompkins, speaking
to himself, as he stepped into the street from Wolford's dwelling,
feeling lighter in heart than he had felt for a long time. "What
madness, with the means I have had in my hands, ever to have fed
your avaricious maw!"

Although Mr. Tompkins could see the sky by looking upward, he was
still in the forest, and had a hard journey before him, ere he
gained the pleasant champaign he was seeking so eagerly. The cash he
received on selling his house was barely sufficient to clear it of
all encumbrance. He was, therefore, still hard pressed for money in
his business. The sale of his handsome furniture would help him a
good deal, and he determined, resolutely, to have this done
forthwith. His wife ventured a demurrer, which he immediately
overruled. She had lost the ability to contend with him. A sale at
auction was proposed.

"Just think of the exposure," urged his wife.

"I don't care a fig for that. A protested note would be a worse
exposure. I must have the money. We can board for a couple or three
years, or keep house in a plain way, until I make up some of the
losses sustained by our folly."

Mrs. Tompkins was passive. A vendue was called, and three thousand
dollars in cash realized. This succour came just in time, for it
saved the merchant's credit, and met his pressing demands, until he
could turn the paper given in part payment for his house, into
money. From that time he began to feel his business resting less
heavily upon his shoulders. Money came in about as fast as he needed
it. In a few months he began to have quite a respectable balance in
bank--a thing he had not known for years.

It was a good while before Mrs. Tompkins could hold up her head in
society, where she had, for some time, held it remarkably high. She
never carried it as stately as before. As for Wolford, he but seldom
passed the store of the merchant: when he did so, it was not without
a pang--he had lost a good customer by grinding him too hard, and
could not forgive himself for the error.

THE TWO INVALIDS.