Through by Daylight by Oliver Optic

My father was very unhappy, and my mother was afraid he would again resort to the cup for solace in his misfortune. I do not know what she said to him; but he treated her very tenderly, and never was a woman more devoted than she was during this threatening misfortune. My father was again a poor man. All that he had of worldly goods was to be stripped from him to satisfy the malice of his hard creditor. He was too proud to apply to Major Toppleton for assistance, believing that he would have nothing to do with property on the other side of the lake.

I continued to run the dummy, and was so happy as to keep on the right side of the major, his son, and the students. Before the expiration of the legal notice, my father hired a small house in Middleport, and we moved into it. It was only a hovel, compared with the neat and comfortable dwelling we had occupied in Centreport, and the change was depressing to all the members of the family. My father's place was advertised to be sold, and as the day -- which looked like a fatal one to us -- drew near, we were all very sad and nervous. Nothing had yet been heard of Christy; and the case was a plain one. The thousand dollars saved from the earnings of the debtor was to be sacrificed. No man in Centreport, however much he wanted the house, would dare to bid upon it.

My father desired to attend the sale, perhaps hopeful that his presence might induce some friend of other days to bid a little more for the place. My mother did not wish to have him attend the auction; but as he insisted, she desired that I should go with him. I had no wish to be present at the humiliating spectacle, or to endure the sneers and the jeers of the Centreporters; but I decided to go, for my presence might be some restraint upon my father, if his misfortunes tempted him to drink again. I applied to Major Toppleton for leave of absence for my father and myself on the day of the sale. My father had engaged a man to take his place, and Faxon could now run the dummy.

"What's going on over there? " asked the major, after he had consented to the absence of both of us.

"My father's place is to be sold at auction. Colonel Wimpleton has foreclosed the mortgage," I replied.

"How much has your father paid on the house?"

"He paid a thousand dollars down; and the mortgage is for two thousand. He would have paid the note when it was due, but his money was stolen from him."

"I remember about that," added the major, musing. "Will the place bring enough at auction to enable your father to get back the thousand dollars he paid?"

"No, sir; we don't expect it will bring anything over the mortgage. Colonel Wimpleton means to punish my father by ruining him, and none of the Centreport people will dare to bid on the place."

He asked me several questions more, and I told him as well as I could how the matter stood. I was hoping most earnestly that he would offer to advance the money to pay off the mortgage; but just as my expectations reached the highest pitch, a gentleman interrupted the conversation, and the major went off with him in a few moments, having apparently forgotten all about the subject. My hopes were dashed down. I conveyed all the students out to Sandy Beach in the dummy that afternoon, and brought them back; but I was so absorbed in our family affairs that I hardly knew what I was doing.

At one o'clock the next day, I went over to Centreport with father to attend the sale. He was very nervous, and I was hardly less so. At the appointed time, a large collection of people gathered around the house. A red flag was flying on the fence, and all the company seemed as jovial as if they were assembled for a picnic, rather than to complete the ruin of my poor father. Hardly any one spoke to us; but I saw many who appeared to be talking about us, and enjoying the misery we experienced at the prospect of seeing our beloved home pass into other hands.

Colonel Wimpleton was there, and so was Waddie. Both of them seemed to be very happy, and both of them stared at us as though we had no right to set foot on the sacred soil of Centreport. Others imitated their illustrious example, and we were made as uncomfortable as possible. In our hearing, and evidently for our benefit, a couple of men discussed their proposed bids, one declaring that he would go as high as fifteen dollars, while the other would not be willing to take the place at so high a figure. Finally, the colonel, after passing us a dozen times, halted before my father.

"I suppose you have come over to bid on the place, Ralph," said he.

"No, sir; I have nothing to back my bid with," replied my father, meekly.

"You had better bid; I don't think it will bring more than fifteen or twenty dollars over the mortgage," chuckled the magnate.

"It ought to bring fifteen hundred," added my father. "I was offered that for it once."

"You should have taken it. Real estate is very much depressed in the market."

"I should think it was; and I'm afraid Centreport is going down," answered my father, with a faint smile.

"Going down! " exclaimed the great man, stung by the reflection. "Any other piece of property in Centreport would sell a hundred per cent. higher than this."

"I suppose so! " ejaculated my poor father, fully understanding the reason why his place was to be sacrificed.