Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 55, No. 339, January, 1844

ichael Allcroft returned to his duties, tuned for labour, full of courage,

and the spirit of enterprise and action. Discharged from the thrallwhich

had hitherto borne hard upon his energies, and kept them down, he felt

the blessed influence of perfect Liberty, and the youthful elasticity of mind

and body that liberty and conscious strength engender. Devoted to the task

that he had inflicted upon himself, he grudged every hour that kept him

from the field of operations. Firm in his determination to realize, by his

exertions, a sum of money equal to his parent's debts, and to redeem the es-

tate from its insolvency, he was uneasy and impatient until he could resume

his yoke, and press resolutely forward. Rich and independent as he was, in

virtue of the fortune of his wife, he still spurned the idea of relying upon

her for his release-for the means of rescuing his fathers name and house

from infamy. No; he saw-he fancied that he saw a brighter way marked

out before him. Industry, perseverance, and extreme attention would steer

his bark steadily through the difficult ocean, and bring her safely into har-

bour: these he could command, for they depended upon himself whom he

might trust. He had looked diligently into the transactions of the house formany years past, and the investigation was most satisfactory. Year after year,

the business had increased-the profits had improved. The accumulations of

his father must have been considerable when he entered upon his ruinous

speculations. What was the fair inference to draw from this result? Why-

that with the additional capital of his partners-the influx and extension of

good business, and the application of his own resolute mind, a sum would

be raised within a very few years, sufficient to reinstate the firm, to render it

once more stable and secure. And then-this desirable object once effected,

and the secret of the unfortunate position of the house never divulged-the

income which would afterwards follow for his partners and himself, must be

immense. It was this view of the subject that justified, to his mind, the means

which he had used-that silenced self-reproof, when it accused him of arti-

fice, and called him to account for the deception he had practised upon his

colleagues. It must be acknowledged, that the plan which he proposed held

out fair promise of ultimate success and that, reckoning upon the united

will and assistance of his partners, he had good reason to look for an even-

tual release from all his difficulties and cares. Yet it was not to be. "We still

have judgment here." Punishment still comes to us from those whom we

would circumvent. It was in vain that Michael set foot in the Bank with an

indomitable and eager spirit; in vain that he longed to grapple with his fate-

resolute to overcome it. The world was against him. The battle was already

decided. His first hard struggle for deliverance was coincident with his last

hour of earthly peace.

Before one year had passed over the respectable heads of our notable Banking-

House, Allcraft was involved in a net of perplexity, from which it required

all the acuteness of his apprehending mind to work out a mode of extrica-

tion. Augustus Brammel continued abroad, spending his money, and draw-

ing upon the house, with the impudent recklessness which we have already

seen to be a prime ingredient in his character. He did not condescend to

communicate with his partners, or to give them any information touching