Page:Edgar Huntly, or The Sleep Walker.djvu/140

 concealed from me; I was not only unapprised of any other employment of his time, but had not the slightest suspicion of his possessing any property besides his clothes and books. Ransacking his papers, with a different view, I lighted on his bank book, in which was a regular receipt for 7500 dollars. By what means he acquired this money, and even the acquisition of it, till his death put us in possession of his papers, was wholly unknown to us."

"Possibly he might have held it in trust for another; in this case some memorandums or letters would be found explaining this affair."

"True: this supposition could not fail to occur, in consequence of which, the most diligent search was made among his papers; but no shred or scrap was to be found which countenanced our conjecture."

"You may reasonably be surprised, and perhaps offended," said Weymouth, "at these enquiries; but it is time to explain my motives for making them. Three years ago, I was, like Waldegrave, indigent, and earned my bread by daily labour. During seven years' service in a public office, I saved from the expenses of subsistence a few hundred dollars: I determined to strike into a new path, and with this sum to lay the foundation of better fortune. I turned it into a bulky commodity, freighted and loaded a small vessel, and went with it to Barcelona in Spain. I was not unsuccessful in my projects; and changing my abode to England, France, and Germany, according as my interest required, I became finally possessed of sufficient for the supply of all my wants. I then resolved to return to my native country, and laying out my money in land, to spend the rest of my days in the luxury and quiet of an opulent farmer. For this end I invested the greatest part of my property in a cargo of wine from Madeira; the remainder I turned into a bill of exchange for 7500 dollars. I had maintained a friendly correspondence with Waldegrave during my absence; there was no one with whom I had lived on terms of so much intimacy, and had boundless confidence in his integrity: to him therefore I determined to transmit this bill, requesting him to take the money into safe keeping until my return. In this manner I endeavoured to provide