Explore "The Poor Gentleman" by Hendrik Conscience on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
A few days afterward, as De Vlierbeck had predicted, the public sale of all their property was inserted in the papers and placarded over the city and neighborhood. The affair made some noise, and every one was astonished at the ruin of a person whom they considered rich and miserly.
As the sale was stated to be in consequence of his departure from the country, the gossips would have been unable to discover the genuine motive if the news had not come from Antwerp that De Vlierbeck had resolved to pay his debts and was wretchedly poor. The cause of his misfortune -- that is to say, his liability for his brother -- was known, though all the circumstances were not fully understood.