"All my money was laid out upon this scheme. Scarcely enough was
reserved to supply domestic and personal wants. Large debts were
likewise incurred. Our caution had, as we conceived, annihilated every
chance of failure. Too much could not be expended on a project so
infallible; and the vessel, amply fitted and freighted, departed on her
voyage.

"An interval, not devoid of suspense and anxiety, succeeded. My
mercantile inexperience made me distrust the clearness of my own
discernment, and I could not but remember that my utter and
irretrievable destruction was connected with the failure of my scheme.
Time added to my distrust and apprehensions. The time at which tidings
of the ship were to be expected elapsed without affording any
information of her destiny. My anxieties, however, were to be carefully
hidden from the world. I had taught mankind to believe that this project
had been adopted more for amusement than gain; and the debts which I had
contracted seemed to arise from willingness to adhere to established
maxims, more than from the pressure of necessity.

"Month succeeded month, and intelligence was still withheld. The notes
which I had given for one-third of the cargo, and for the premium of
insurance, would shortly become due. For the payment of the former, and
the cancelling of the latter, I had relied upon the expeditious return
or the demonstrated loss of the vessel. Neither of these events had
taken place.

"My cares were augmented from another quarter. My companion's situation
now appeared to be such as, if our intercourse had been sanctified by
wedlock, would have been regarded with delight. As it was, no symptoms
were equally to be deplored. Consequences, as long as they were involved