embarrassment, and it was much more difficult for him to obtain help than

if he had, instead of retrenching, launched into some new speculation.

Philip was greatly troubled, and exaggerated his own share in the

bringing about of the calamity.

"You must not look at it so!" Mr. Bolton wrote him. "You have neither

helped nor hindered--but you know you may help by and by. It would have

all happened just so, if we had never begun to dig that hole. That is

only a drop. Work away. I still have hope that something will occur to

relieve me. At any rate we must not give up the mine, so long as we have

any show."

Alas! the relief did not come. New misfortunes came instead. When the

extent of the Bigler swindle was disclosed there was no more hope that

Mr. Bolton could extricate himself, and he had, as an honest man, no

resource except to surrender all his property for the benefit of his

creditors.

The Autumn came and found Philip working with diminished force but still

with hope. He had again and again been encouraged by good "indications,"

but he had again and again been disappointed. He could not go on much

longer, and almost everybody except himself had thought it was useless to

go on as long as he had been doing.

When the news came of Mr. Bolton's failure, of course the work stopped.

532

The Gilded Age