A labyrinth of debt and
difficulty. The fine house, the handsome furniture, were held in the same
bondage of the law as his household goods in Fitzgeorge Street had been.
He had given a bill of sale upon everything he possessed six months
before, to obtain ready-money. The final terrible resource had not been
resorted to until all other means had been exhausted. Let this fact at
least be recorded to his credit. He was like the lady whom the poet
sings, who,
"tolerably mild,
To make a wash would _hardly_ boil a child:"
that is to say, she would try all other materials for her cosmetic
preparation first; and if they failed, would at last resort, unwillingly,
to the boiling of children.
No; he had nothing to lose by flight--of that fact it was easy for him to
assure himself.
He went downstairs, and rang for the servant.
"I am going out," he said, "to join my wife and her daughter, and return
with them to the sea-side. There is a portmanteau upstairs in my room,
ready packed. You will give it to the messenger I shall send in the
course of the next day or two. At what time did Mrs. Sheldon and Miss
Halliday leave this morning?"
"At eight o'clock, sir. Mr. Hawkehurst came to fetch them in a carriage.
They went out by the kitchen passage and the side gate, sir, because you
were asleep, Mrs. Woolper said, and was not to be disturbed."
"At eight.
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