After a Shadow and Other Stories

text of Shakspeare to actors, actresses, prima donnas, and ballet-dancers, the relative merits of which were knowingly discussed for some time. In the midst of this discussion, oysters, in two or three styles, and a smoking dish of terrapin, ordered by a member of the company—which our young friend Green did not know—were brought in, followed by a liberal supply of wine and brandy. Bland expressed surprise, but accepted the entertainment as quite agreeable to himself.

After the supper, cigars were introduced, and after the cigars, cards. A few games were played for shilling stakes. Green, under the influence of more liquor than his head could bear, and in the midst of companions whose sphere he could not, in consequence, resist, yielded in a new direction for him. Of gambling he had always entertained a virtuous disapproval; yet, ere aware of the direction in which he was drifting, he was staking money at cards, the sums gradually increasing, until from shillings the ventures increased to dollars. Sometimes he won, and sometimes he lost; the winnings stimulating to new trials in the hope of further success, and the losses stimulating to new trials in order to recover, if possible; but, steadily, the tide, for all these little eddies of success, bore him downwards, and losses increased from single dollars to fives, and from fives to tens, his pleasant friend, Bland, supplying whatever he wanted in the most disinterested way, until an aggregate loss of nearly a hundred and fifty dollars sobered and appalled him.

The salary of Martin Green was only four hundred dollars, every cent of which was expended as fast as earned. A loss of a hundred and fifty dollars was, therefore, a serious and embarrassing matter.

“I’ll call and see you to-morrow, when we can arrange this little matter,” said Mr. Bland, “on parting with Green at his own door. He spoke pleasantly, but with something in his voice that chilled the nerves of his victim. On the next day while Green stood at his desk, trying to fix his mind upon his work, and do it correctly, his employer said, —

“Martin, there’s a young man in the store who has asked for you.”

Green turned and saw the last man on the earth he desired to meet. His pleasant friend of the evening before had called to “arrange that little matter.”

“Not too soon for you, I hope,” remarked Bland, with his courteous, yet now serious, smile, as he took the victim’s hand.

“Yes, you are, too soon,” was soberly answered.

The smile faded off of Bland’s face.

“When will you arrange it?”

“In a few days.”

“But I want the money to-day. It was a simple loan, you know.”

“I am aware of that, but the amount is larger than I can manage at once,” said Green.

“Can I have a part to-day?”

“Not to-day.”

“To-morrow, then?”

“I’ll do the best in my power.”

“Very well. To-morrow, at this time, I will call. Make up the whole sum if possible, for I want it badly.”

“Do you know that young man?” asked Mr. Phillips, the employer of Green, as the latter came back to his desk. The face of Mr. Phillips was unusually serious.

“His name is Bland.”

“Why has he called to see you?” The eyes of Mr. Phillips were fixed intently on his clerk.

“He merely dropped in. I have met him a few times in company.”

“Don’t you know his character?”

“I never heard a word against him,” said Green.

“Why, Martin!” replied Mr. Phillips, “he has the reputation of being one of the worst young men in our city; a base gambler’s stool-pigeon, some say.”

“I am glad to know it, sir,” Martin had the presence of mind, in the painful confusion that overwhelmed him, to say, “and shall treat him accordingly.” He went back to his desk, and resumed his work.

It is the easiest thing in the world to go to astray, but always difficult to return, Martin Green was astray, but how was he to get into the right path again? A barrier that seemed impassable was now lying across the way over which he had passed, a little while before, with lightest footsteps. Alone and unaided, he could not safely get back. The evil spirits that lure a man from virtue never counsel aright when to seek to return. They magnify the perils that beset the road by which alone is safety, and suggest other ways that lead into labyrinths of evil from which escape is sometimes impossible. These spirits were now at the ear of our unhappy young friend, suggesting methods of relief in his embarrassing position.

If Bland were indeed such a character as Mr. Phillips had represented him, it would be ruin, in his employer’s estimation, to have him call again and again for his debt. But how was he to liquidate that debt? There was nothing due him on account of salary, and there was not a friend or acquaintance to whom he could apply with any hope of borrowing.

“Man’s extremity is the devil’s opportunity.” It was so in the present case, Green had a number of collections to make on that day, and his evil counsellors suggested his holding back the return of two of these, amounting to his indebtedness, and say that the parties were not yet ready to settle their bills. This would enable him to get rid of Bland, and gain time. So, acting upon the bad suggestion, he made up his return of collections, omitting the two accounts to which we have referred.

Now it so happened that one of the persons against whom these accounts stood, met Mr. Phillips as he was returning from dinner in the afternoon, and said to him,—

“I settled that bill of yours to-day.”

“That’s right. I wish all my customers were as punctual,” answered Mr. Phillips.