Attended by the entire
force of the house in complete armor, Roseton granted the interview. The
stranger advanced within easy gun-shot, and said:--'The great house of
Boscobello, Bolaro and Company is in imminent peril. Unless a certain
sum can be raised by two o'clock to-morrow, their acceptances will lie
over. These acceptances constitute the entire loan and discount line of
thirty-eight of the Banks of this city, for they have latterly made it a
rule to take nothing else.' A meaning glance shot from the stranger's
eye as he delivered this fearful announcement, but Roseton remained
firm, though a cold shiver passed through the frames of his domestics,
who were aware how vitally he was interested. 'The pledge of their stock
of wine alone,' continued the mysterious visitant, 'will relieve them
from their difficulties, and the capitalists then stand ready to carry
them forward if they will retire from the Southern trade. Ten hundred
nickels is the sum required, and I stand prepared to deliver the
security by ten o'clock, A.M. The discount is immense, but the
exigencies of the case are weighty.'
A consultation ensued. The bill for the kitchen crockery had just come
in, and a set of three-tined forks were badly needed; but Roseton's
intellect grasped the necessities of the operation, and the necessary
funds were ordered to be advanced; and the pledge, now forever forfeited
by the loan clause of the Revised Statutes, lay upon the floor of the
vault.
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