Mr. Lawrence walked the floor for half of that night, and lay awake for the other half.  To sleep was impossible.  Thus far, in the many difficulties he had encountered, a way of escape from them had opened either on the right hand or on the left, but now no way of escape presented itself.  A hundred plans were suggested to his mind, canvassed and then put aside.  He saw but one measure of relief, if it could be carried out; but that he had proposed already, and it was not approved.

The unhappy state in which she saw her husband deeply distressed Mrs. Lawrence.  Earnestly did she beg of him to tell her all that troubled him, and let her bear a part of the burden that was upon him.  At first he evaded her questions; but, to her oft-repeated and tenderly urged petition to be a sharer in his pains as well as his pleasures, he mentioned the desperate state of affairs in the company of which he was president.

“But, my dear husband,” she replied to this, “you cannot be held responsible for the losses the institution has sustained.”

“True, Florence; but the odium, the censure, the distress that must follow its failure,—­I cannot bear to think of these.  My credit, too, will suffer, for I shall lose all I have invested in the stock, and this fact, when known, will impair confidence.”

“All this is painful and deeply to be regretted, Sidney,” said the wife, speaking in as firm a voice as she could assume.  “But as it is a calamity that cannot now be avoided, and is not the result of any wrong act of yours, let a clear conscience sustain you in this severe trial.  Let the public censure, let odium be attached to your name—­so long as your conscience is clear and your integrity unsullied, these cannot really hurt you.”

But this appeal had little or no effect.  The mind of the unhappy man could not take hold of it, nor feel its force.  It was repeated again and again, and with as little effect.  Finally he begged to be left to his own reflections.  In tears his wife complied with his request.  That night she slept as little as her miserable husband.

On the next day the——­Insurance Company was dishonoured, and “went into liquidation.”  On the day following Sidney Lawrence suspended payment.  Trustees were appointed to take charge of the effects of the company, who immediately commenced a rigid examination into its affairs.  Lawrence made an assignment at the same time for the benefit of his creditors.

One evening, about a week after his failure, Mr. Lawrence came home paler and more disturbed than ever.  There was something wild in the expression of his countenance.

“Florence,” said he, as soon as he was alone with her, “I must leave for Cincinnati in the morning.”

“Why?” eagerly asked the wife, her face instantly blanching.

“Business requires me to go.  I have seen your father, and have made arrangements with him for you to go to his house, with the children, while I am away.  This property, as I have before told you, has to be sold, and the sale will probably take place while I am gone.”