verge of ruin.  He could not foresee such a crisis.  Even the Solons of Wall Street had not anticipated it.  It was not his fault.  He had meant to make all right in a few years.  What was that they said was paved with good intentions?  He could not remember.  He seemed to have strange fits of forgetfulness lately.  He must see that everything was put in proper shape in the event of his death.  People died suddenly sometimes.  One never knew.

It would be safer to make re-investments.  Yes, that was a good thought.  He wondered it had never occurred to him before.  His wisest plan was to have all moneys and securities in his own name.  It would make it so much easier for the executors.  It was not fair to burden any one with a business so involved as his was now.  Of course he would make a mental note of just how much belonged to his brother.  It would not be safe to put it in black and white—­executors had such an unpleasant habit of going over one’s private papers—­but he would be sure to remember, and, if he ever got out of this bog, as he expected to do of course shortly, he would give Evadne back her own.  It would leave him badly crippled for funds, but one must expect to make sacrifices for the sake of principle.  Then, when these letters were destroyed, they would have no clue—­he frowned.  What an unfortunate word for him to use!  A clue wag suggestive of criminality.  What possible connection could there be between Judge Hildreth and that?

He fitted the key in the lock and turned it, then his hand fell by his side.  No, no, he had not come to that—­yet.  He had always held that tampering with the mails evinced the blackest turpitude.  He was an honorable gentleman.  He started.  What was that?  A long, low, blood-curdling laugh, as if a dozen mocking fiends stood at his elbow,—­or was it just the shrieking of the wind among the gables?  It was a wild night.  The rain dashed against the window panes in sheets of vengeful fury, and the howling of the storm made him shudder as he thought of the ships at sea.  Now and then a loose slate fell from an adjoining roof and was shivered into atoms upon the pavement, while the wind swept along the street and lashed the branches of the trees into a panic of helpless, quivering rage.  Could any poor beggars be without a shelter on such a night as this?  How did such people live?

He caught himself dozing.  He felt strangely drowsy.  He straightened himself resolutely in his chair and drew a package of stock certificates from one of the secret drawers of the desk.  He would see about selling the stock and making re-investments to-morrow.

It must be done,—­to save the Hildreth honor.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Once more the Hildreth household was united, if such a thing as union could be possible, among so many diverse elements.