The produce if
honestly offered would have created no scandal; but the blunder of
misrepresentation, coming at such a moment, dragged Henchard's name into
the ditch.
The details of his failure were of the ordinary kind. One day
Elizabeth-Jane was passing the King's Arms, when she saw people bustling
in and out more than usual where there was no market. A bystander
informed her, with some surprise at her ignorance, that it was a meeting
of the Commissioners under Mr. Henchard's bankruptcy. She felt quite
tearful, and when she heard that he was present in the hotel she wished
to go in and see him, but was advised not to intrude that day.
The room in which debtor and creditors had assembled was a front
one, and Henchard, looking out of the window, had caught sight of
Elizabeth-Jane through the wire blind. His examination had closed, and
the creditors were leaving. The appearance of Elizabeth threw him into a
reverie, till, turning his face from the window, and towering above all
the rest, he called their attention for a moment more. His countenance
had somewhat changed from its flush of prosperity; the black hair and
whiskers were the same as ever, but a film of ash was over the rest.
"Gentlemen," he said, "over and above the assets that we've been talking
about, and that appear on the balance-sheet, there be these.
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