The father's return soon became known to the rest, and the
children's gladness fell, like a sunny vail, over the sterner
features of the scene.
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE disaster was complete. Not a single dollar of all Markland had
cast so blindly into the whirling vortex ever came back to him.
Fenwick disappeared from New York, leaving behind conclusive
evidence of a dark complicity with the specious Englishman, whose
integrity had melted away, like snow in the sunshine, beneath the
fire of a strong temptation. Honourably connected at home, shrewd,
intelligent, and enterprising, he had been chosen as the executive
agent of a company prepared to make large investments in a scheme
that promised large results. He was deputed to bring the business
before a few capitalists on this side of the Atlantic, and with what
success has been seen. His recreancy to the trust reposed in him was
the ruin of many.
How shall we describe the scenes that followed, too quickly, the
announcement by Mr. Markland that Woodbine Lodge was no longer to
remain in his possession? No member of the family could meet the
stern necessity without pain.
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