When Mrs. Mortimer started up from unquiet slumber, as the first beams of the morning sun fell upon her face, she looked around, eagerly, for her husband.  Not seeing him, she called his name.  No answer was received, and she sprung from the bed.  As she did so, a letter placed conspicuously on the bureau met her eyes.  Eagerly breaking the seal, she read this brief sentence: 

“Circumstances make it necessary for me to leave the city by the earliest conveyance.  Say not a word of this to any one—­not even to your father.  My safety depends on your silence.  I will write to you in a little while.  May Heaven give you strength to bear the trials through which you are about to pass!”

But for the instant fear for her husband, which this communication brought into the mind of Mrs. Mortimer, the shock would have rendered her insensible.  He was in danger, and upon her discretion depended his safety.  This gave her strength for the moment.  Her first act was to destroy the note.  Next she strove to repress the wild throbbings of her heart, and to assume a calm exterior.  Vain efforts!  She was too weak for the trial; and who can wonder that she was?

Mr. Johnson was sitting in his store about half past three o’clock that afternoon, when a man came in and asked him for the payment of a note of five thousand dollars.  He was a Notary.

“A protest!” exclaimed Mr. Johnson, in astonishment.  “What does this mean?”

“I don’t understand this,” said he, after a moment or two.  “I have no paper out for that amount falling due to-day.  Let me see it?”

The note was handed to him.

“It’s a forgery!” said he, promptly.  “To whom is it payable?” he added.  “To Mortimer, as I live!”

And he handed it back to the Notary, who departed.

Soon after he saw the father-in-law of Mortimer go hurriedly past his store.  A glimpse of his countenance showed that he was strongly agitated.

“Have you heard the news?” asked his son-in-law, coming in, half an hour afterwards.

“What?”

“Mortimer has been detected in a forgery!”

“Upon whom?”

“His father-in-law.”

“He has forged my name also.”

“He has!”

“Yes.  A note for five thousand dollars was presented to me by the Notary a little while ago.”

“Is it possible?  But this is no loss to you.”

“If he has resorted to forgery to sustain himself,” replied Mr. Johnson, looking serious, “his affairs are, of course, in a desperate condition.”

“Of course.”

“I am on his paper to at least twenty thousand dollars.”

“You!”

“Such, I am sorry to say, is the case.  And to meet that paper will try me severely.  Oh, dear!  How little I dreamed of this!  I thought him one of the soundest men in the city.”

“I am pained to hear that you are so deeply involved,” said Mr. Watson.  “But, do not let it trouble you too much.  I will defer my building intentions to another time, and let you have whatever money you may need.”