as he supposed would pass with her for honest acquisitions, generally
silenced, if he did not convince, her; and she, finding him always
light-hearted and satisfied with himself, when he came home, finally ceased
her remonstrances, having concluded she would try to conquer her doubts and
fears, or at least say no more on the subject.

At length, however, after a prolonged absence on a tour, in which he had a
large venture at stake, he came home in a greatly altered mood. His usual
buoyancy of spirits was gone; he appeared gloomy and abstracted; and,
although, in reply to the anxious inquiries of his wife, he represented
himself to have been entire successful,--even to a greater extent than ever
before,--yet it was quite obvious that something very untoward, to say the
least, must have happened to him. He would not leave his house after dark,
he placed loaded pistols within the reach of his hand when he went to bed,
and he would often start up wildly from his sleep. His whole conduct,
indeed, was such as to excite the deeper concern of his perplexed wife, for
she feared it betokened his connection with something very
wrong,--something that had brought him into deadly peril,--something,
perhaps, done to others, which made her tremble to think of, but something,
at all events, which made her more than ever dread to have him go back
again to the scene of his operations. But of the last-named of her fears
she was shortly relieved; for, to her agreeable surprise, he soon assured
her of his determination to break off entirely from the business he had
been pursuing, and, as much to her gratification as to the evident vexation
of Gaut Gurley, who had come on to look his employer up, he firmly
persisted in carrying out his resolution. Nor was this all. He rapidly drew
his business to a close, broke off his old associations, privately left the
place, and, in a few weeks, sent for his family to join him in Boston,
where it appeared he had been for some time secretly transferring his
capital, and where he had now established himself in business, with all the