CHAPTER XIII.
MORE REVERSES.
In a far different spirit did Mrs. Townsend receive the news of their altered circumstances. It broke her down completely for a time. But the example of Eveline and Eunice, in a cheerful submission to what was unavoidable, gradually tended to give her strength of mind, and to nerve her for her new and severer duties in life.
The first step taken was to procure a smaller house in a retired part of the town, move into it, and reduce expenses at every point, so as to make them, in some measure, correspond to their reduced circumstances. In the carrying of this out, Eveline and Eunice were foremost, and acted with a decision and energy that, while it surprised, gave strength and hope to the minds of their parents.
When Mr. Townsend made sale of his stock, which was in a few days after the interview with his children related in the last chapter, the price had fallen still lower. The net proceeds were just ten thousand dollars. Shortly afterward, his house was sold to satisfy the judgment mentioned as having been obtained against him.
To sit idly down and live upon this little remnant of his fortune, until exhausted, was not to be thought of by Mr. Townsend. Something must be done, not only to gain the means of present subsistence, and keep the little stock undiminished, but also to add to it, and lay the basis of future wealth, after which Mr. Townsend resolved to strive. Some business must be entered into. But the recollection of former disasters filled his mind with doubt, and made him hesitate and ponder long and anxiously the way before him. At length, he opened a store as a commission merchant, thinking that the safest, and used his capital in advancing upon goods. This was the aspect of things without. At home, Eunice and Eveline were doing all in their power to smooth the asperities of the change that had taken place, and to make every thing conform to their father’s reduced means. This was their labor of love, and in the performance of it they had a sweet reward.
Still, they were not without their trials, and especially did the heart of Eveline often sink in her bosom. Strong as was the feeling of indignation with which she thought of her lover’s heartlessness, the wounds his base desertion of her occasioned, healed but slowly, and were often painful. Only a few of the many friends and companions of brighter days sought them out in their retirement; and these were not of those who had been most beloved; but they were better appreciated now, and truly loved.
Less than a year had passed, when Eunice said one day to her sister, when alone with her—
“I am afraid every thing is not going right with father. He is getting to be very silent, and looks troubled again.”
“I have noticed as much myself,” returned Eveline, a look of anxiety crossing her face. “What can it mean? I hope he has not lost in business the little capital he saved.”
“I trust not. But I have my fears. He was getting more and more cheerful every day, when, all at once, there came a change. I noticed it for the first time last week, when he came home one evening. Ever since then, he sits silent and seems anxious about something.”
The words of Eunice filled the mind of Eveline with alarm. The change in their circumstances had been very great. But, although in obscurity, and living with plainness and frugality, the means of living had still been at hand. If, however, another reverse should have met their father, and stripped from him the little remnant of his property, how were they to retain the comforts they still enjoyed? This thought chilled the heart of Eveline. A lower, yet still a firm step, she did not see.
“What is to become of us, if your fears are true?” she said, while her lips trembled and her eyes grew dim.
“Don’t let such a question find utterance in your thoughts, Evie,” replied Eunice. “We must not look downward in human despondency, but upward in spiritual trust. Let us not think of ourselves, nor of what will become of us. All will come out right in the end. Of that I have a deep assurance. We may be called upon to pass through severer trials, and to make greater sacrifices, but the strength to meet the one, and sustain the other, will be given. Evie, there are deeper places than any we have yet gone through, but there is a bottom and a shore to all. He who calls the soul to enter these dark and bitter waters, will not suffer it to be overwhelmed. Here rests my strong confidence, and here should rest yours, Evie.”
“Ah! sister,” said the now weeping girl, “these deeper waters you speak of, fill me with dismay. I tremble at the thought of entering them, and shrink back in fear.”
“Evie, do not give way to such weakness; it is unworthy of you. Life comes with its lights and with its shadows for all; and as surely as day follows night, will the darkness of these sad changes pass away; and, even while it remains, many a bright star will shine in the mental sky.”
But still Eveline wept, and continued to weep until Eunice drew her head down upon her breast, and soothed her with many words of cheerfulness and hope.
“I am like a child,” Eveline at length said, rising up with a calmer face, and eyes now undimmed, “and your braver spirit shames my weakness. But, I hope to be able, for all this, to stand firmly by your side, sister, in any new and severer trial that may come.”
“Spoken like yourself, Evie!” returned Eunice, with a smile. “Let us not be doubtful but believing—let us be brave and strong, and no difficulty shall beset our path that will not be easily overcome.”
The observations of Eunice, as well as her conclusions, were correctly made. Her father was in trouble, and she had guessed, as before, the cause.
Some months previously, he had received a large consignment of goods, upon which an advance of five thousand dollars was asked. In order to make this advance, Mr. Townsend had to get a small temporary loan. The parties consigning the goods, required a guaranty of sales, and this, although against his wishes, Mr. Townsend agreed to do. Over ten thousand dollars worth of these goods were sold to one house, and that house, before the notes given in payment for them had matured, failed.
On the very day that Eunice called the attention of her sister to their father’s depressed state of mind, a meeting of creditors was held, at which it was made clearly apparent, that not twenty cents in the dollar would be divided, and that, at least, twelve or eighteen months must pass before the whole of this would be paid. Mr. Townsend went back to his store, after the meeting had closed, with his mind in a complete state of despondency. He felt that he was utterly ruined, and hopelessly gave up the struggle. After writing to his principal consignors, informing them of what had occurred, and stating that he would make an assignment for their benefit, he left his place of business, and returned home. On his way, he stopped at the store of a druggist, and procured two ounces of laudanum.