ABSTRACT
When Ethelinde had left the room, Colonel Chesterville, collecting all his fortitude, heard with a sort of desperate resolution all that Montgomery had to relate of the unhappy young man his son. His imagination had not gone beyond the truth: Chesterville had not only sold his commission, but owed more than double what that would raise. All the money he had received from his father he had paid away to satisfy debts of honour; but many still remained unpaid, besides heavy sums to tradesmen; and to complete the wretchedness of this unfortunate father he heard, that far from bearing with fortitude the evils he had thus brought on himself, Chesterville seemed to be rather desperate than resigned; and to hold it for a maxim, that when a man could no longer support his rank, it was time to quit the world.
