Page:Honest debtor, or, The virtuous man struggling with, rising superior to, and overcoming misfortune (2).pdf/17

17 tegrity as I entertained myself, and dismis- sed them all well satisfied, ' Being one day at dinner with Monsieur Nervin, my notary, one of his guests, on hearing me speak of my journey into Hol- land, asked me, with some degree of ill hu- mour and contempt, whether I had never happened to meet with one Oliver Salvary in that country. As it was easy to recog- nize in his looks a sentiment of malevolence, I stood on my guard, and answered, " that my tour into Holland having been a mere party of pleasure, I had not had leisure to ac- quire information respecting the French, that I might have seen there, but that through my connections, it would be very possible to get some account of the person he had named, "-"No," said he “it is not worth while. He has given me too much vexa- tion already. He has possibly died of want or shame, as it was but fit he should. He would have done much better still, if he had died before he married my daughter, and brought himself to ruin. After that," con- tinued he," depend upon the fire promises which a young man makes you.- In eighteen months, fifty thousand crowns in debt; and, to complete the whole exile, and disgrace!" " Ah! sir,” said he to the notary, " when you marry your daughter, be upon your guard. An insolvent and disgraced son-in- law is but a sorry piece of furniture."