Page:Honest debtor, or, The virtuous man struggling with, rising superior to, and overcoming misfortune (1).pdf/5

( 5 ) 'Here,' ſaid he, are five hundred louis l'ors, ariſing from three years ſavings, and paper ſigned by my hand that will indi- ate the uſe to which I wiſh them to be put. t was ſigned Oliver Salvary. How great was my ſurpriſe to find it was deſtined for nothing but objects of luxury ! A thouſand crowns to a jeweller; a thouſand to a cabinet-maker ; a hundred louis for millinery; is much for laces, and the reſt to a perfumer.

'I ſurpriſe you,' ſaid he; 'Yet you do not ſee all. I have already paid, thank heaven, three hundred louis for the like fooleries; and I have much yet to pay before every thing will be diſcharged. Muſt I tell ie you, ſir ? Alas! I am a diſgraced man in my own country, and I am labouring here to wipe away a ſtain I have brought upon my name. In the mean while, I may die; and die inſolvent. I wiſh to make you a witneſs of my good intentions, and the efforts I am making to repair my misfortunes and my ſhame. What I am going to relate to you may be conſidered as my teſtament, which I requeſt you to receive, that, in caſe of my death, you may take the neceſſary pains to reſtore my character.' 'You will live long enough,' ſaid I; 'you will have time to efface the remembrance of the miſfortunes of your youth. But, if, in order to make you eaſy, you want nothing but a faithful witneſs of your ſentiments and con-