Mr. Bennett and Hiram both sat on the sofa, even as the Doctor and Mr. Tenant had sat together.  It was quite dark, as I have said, and this gave Hiram a certain advantage in telling his story, for he dreaded his cousin’s scrutinizing glance.

Mr. Bennett was much alarmed at Hiram’s announcement.  ‘In trouble?’ What could that mean but financial disaster?

‘I was afraid he would speculate too much,’ said Mr. Bennett to himself; ’but how could he have got such a blow as this?  I saw him the day after his return, and he said everything had gone well in his absence.’

He settled himself, however, resolutely to hear the worst, and, to his praise be it spoken, fully determined to do what he could to aid the young man in his difficulties.

Hiram was brief in his communication.  When he chose, he could go as straight to the point as any one.  He did not attempt to gloss over his story, but put his cousin in possession of the facts pretty much as the reader understands them.

It is doubtful if Mr. Bennett was much relieved by the communication.  Indeed, I think he would have preferred to have some pecuniary tangle out of which to extricate his cousin.  In fact, it was impossible for him to suppress a feeling of contempt, not to say disgust, at Hiram’s conduct.  For, worldly minded as he was, It was what he never would have been guilty of.  Indeed, it so happened that Mr. Bennett had actually married his wife under circumstances quite similar, three months after her father’s failure, and one month after his death; so that where be expected a fortune, he had taken a portionless wife and her widowed mother.  What is more, he did it cheerfully, and was, as he used to say, the happiest fellow in the world in consequence.  It would have been singular, therefore, if while hearing Hiram’s story he had not recurred to his own history.  In indulging his contempt for him, he unconsciously practised an innocent self-flattery.

He did not immediately reply after Hiram concluded, but waited for this feeling to subside, and for the old worldly leaven to work again.

‘A nice mess you’re in,’ he said, at length, ’and all from not seeking my advice in time.  Do you know, Hiram, you made a great mistake in giving up that girl?  I’m not talking of any matter of affection or sentiment or happiness, or about violating pledges and promises.  That is your own affair, and I’ve nothing to do with it.  I have often told you that you have much to learn yet, and here is a tremendous blunder to prove it.  The connection would have been as good as a hundred thousand dollars cash capital, if the girl hadn’t a cent.  That clique is a powerful one, and they all hang together.  Mark my words:  they won’t let the old man go under, and it would have been a fortune to you to have stood by him.  You’ve taken a country view of this business, Hiram.  There every man tries to pull his neighbor down.  Here, we try to build one another up.’