If he fled now, it must be as a penniless emigrant.

As he had no taste for such adventures, at his age, there was but one chance for him, and that lay in somehow getting control of Veronica's fortune before the end of the month.

As for getting any more of the income, in time to be of any use in staving off the tidal wave of ruin that rose against him, there was no chance of that.

The farmers all over the country paid their quarter's rents on the first of January, or should do so, but there was often difficulty in collecting, and the money would not really get to Macomer's hands much before February.

By that time all would be over; and it was not the idea of bankruptcy which frightened Gregorio; it was the certainty that a declaration of bankruptcy must lead to, and involve, a minute examination into his past transactions which had led to it.
Matilde knew all the truth, as has been shown.