"Thank God, you have nothing terrible to communicate relative to _him_," exclaimed Markham; for he always had, and still entertained a presentiment that the appointment on the hill, beneath the two trees, would be punctually kept;--and this hope had cheered him during his horrible imprisonment. "But I will not keep you in suspense, Richard," said the old man; "it is better for me to unburthen my mind at once. You are ruined!" "Ruined!" said Markham, starting as that dread word fell upon his ears; for the word _ruin_ does not express one evil, like other words, such as sickness, poverty, imprisonment; but it comprises and expresses an awful catalogue of all the miseries which can be supposed to afflict humanity. "Ruined!" he cried;--then catching at a straw, he added, "Aye! ruined in reputation, doubtless; but rich in the possessions which this world principally esteems. My property was all vested in you by my deceased father--I was not of age when I was condemned--and consequently the law could not touch my fortune when it filched from me my good name!" "Ruined--ruined in property and all!" returned Mr. Monroe, solemnly. "Unfortunate speculations on _my_ part, but in _your_ interest, have consumed the vast property entrusted to me by your father!" Markham fell into an arm chair; and for a moment he thought that every fibre in his heart would break. A terrible load oppressed his chest and his brain;--he was the victim of deep despair. As one looks forth into the darkness of midnight, and sees it dense and motionless, so did he now survey his own prospects. The single consolation which, besides the hope of again meeting his brother,--the real, the present, the tangible consolation, as it might be called, which would have enabled him to forget a portion of his sufferings and his wrongs,--this was now gone; and, a beggar upon the face of the earth, he found that he had not even the advantage of a good name to help him onwards in his career. Hope was quenched within him! A long pause ensued. At its expiration Markham suddenly rose from the arm-chair, approached his guardian, and said in a low and hollow voice. "Tell me how all this has happened; let me know the circumstances which led to this calamity."