Page:Popular Tales and Romances of the Northern Nations (Volume 2).djvu/18

6 room, than one of old and worn down dollars; but the creditors had so little respect for the improved taste of the owner, that they demanded immediate payment of their money. As this could not be made, a commission of bankruptcy was immediately taken out, and the parental house, with the magazines, gardens, ground, and furniture was put up to auction, and their possessor, who had fortified himself as well as he could by the help of the law, saw himself deprived of them all.

It was now too late to philosophise over his thoughtlessness, as the most judicious reflections and the wisest resolutions could not undo the mischief which had been done. According to the mode of thinking in this civilized age, our hero might now have made his exit from the scene of life with dignity—he might, as he could no longer live in his native city with honour, have deserted it for ever, or have put an end to his existence in any one of the many fashionable modes of shooting, hanging or drowning. Frank, however, did neither one nor the other. The “what will the world say?”