“But if your debtor is rich and powerful, you need not indulge your fears to-day; to-morrow, perhaps, he will fulfil his promise,” remarked the young girl, with ill-concealed anxiety.

“My fears may mislead me, Mary, but I am sure that my debtor’s affairs are in a very bad condition.  At his urgent entreaty I made no entry of the loan upon the books, in order to conceal the transaction from the clerks; but still I have not the amount in hand.  O Mary! my uncle has an eagle eye in business affairs; he will at once discover the deficit of ten thousand crowns—­a deficit resulting from my lending money:  a thing he has always warned me against, and which, even recently, he strictly forbade.  My uncle is a good father to me, but this act of disobedience is sufficient to deprive me forever of his favor.  I foresee many future evils.”

“Why were you so imprudent, Geronimo?  You ought to have refused so large a loan.”

“I could not possibly refuse, Mary.”

“But you hold an acknowledgment of the debt and a promise of payment.  Summon this merchant before the magistrates; at Antwerp justice is promptly and impartially dealt to all.”

“Impossible!” replied the young man, in a plaintive voice; “my debtor is a man to whom I owe many obligations; a complaint from me would be the cause of irreparable ruin to him.  Let us hope that he will succeed in procuring the ten thousand crowns.  He told me even this morning that he would endeavor to give me bills of exchange on Spain.”

“But of whom are you speaking?” said Mary; “your language is so mysterious.”

“I will not tell his name.  Be not offended by my reserve; there is between merchants a law of secrecy which honor forbids us to violate.”

Mary appeared to respect this law; but she was evidently absorbed in bitter reflections.

Either the communication of his difficulties to his beloved had given him new strength, or the sight of her sorrow made him affect a confidence he did not feel, for he said to her in a cheerful manner: 

“Come, Mary, you must not yield to discouragement.  Perhaps I exaggerate the danger.  My debtor is a member of a house which equals any other in consideration and wealth.  In a few days, to-day even, or to-morrow, he may acquit himself of the debt, and should my uncle arrive before the restitution, I will endeavor to delay his examination of the books.”

He took the young girl’s hand, and exclaimed, with joyous enthusiasm:  “O Mary, my beloved, may Heaven be propitious to our vows!  May the benediction of the priest descend upon our union!  We will pass in Italy the first months of our happy life; Italy—­that earthly paradise where God has lavished all the treasures of nature, and man all the treasures of art.”

They heard Mr. Van de Werve’s voice in the hall giving urgent orders to the servants.

“Mary,” said Geronimo, “your father is coming.  I implore you not to divulge, in any manner, what I have told you.  Keep my secret even from your father; remember that the least indiscretion might cause the ruin of an honorable merchant.”