Page:Edgar Huntly, or The Sleep Walker.djvu/139

 This deportment, and the strain of his enquiries, excited much surprise. His interest in the fate of Waldegrave ought to have made the information he had received, a. source of satisfaction rather than of regret. The pr0perty which Waldegrave left was much greater than his mode of life and his own professions had given us reason to expect; but it was no more than sufficient to ensure to thee an adequate subsistence: it ascertained the happiness of those who were dearest to Waldegrave, and placed them for ever beyond the reach of that poverty which had hitherto beset them. I made no attempt to interrupt the silence, but prepared to answer any new interrogatory. At length Weymouth resumed.

"Waldegrave was a fortunate man to amass so considerable a sum in so short a time; I remember when we parted he was poor. He used to lament that his scrupulous integrity precluded him from all the common roads to wealth: he did not contemn riches, but he set the highest value upon competence; and imagined that he was doomed for ever to poverty. His religious duty compelled him to seek his livelihood by teaching a school of blacks. The labour was disproportioned to his feeble constitution, and the profit was greatly disproportioned to the labour; it scarcely supplied the necessities of nature, and was reduced sometimes even below that standard by his frequent indisposition. I rejoice to find that his scruples had somewhat relaxed their force, and that he had betaken himself to some more profitable occupation. Pray, what was his new way of business?"

"Nay," said I, "his scruples continued as rigid in this respect as ever; he was teacher of the negro free-school when he died."

"Indeed I how then came he to amass so much money? Could he blend any more lucrative pursuit with his duty as a schoolmaster?"

"So it seems."

"What was his pursuit?"

"That question, I believe, none of his friends are qualified to answer. I thought myself acquainted with the most secret transactions of his life, but this had been carefully