His face flushed deeply, the paper fell out of his hand, and, catching hold of one of the wagons, he leaned his head upon it.
Lenore, much shocked, took up the paper, and saw the name of the Polish estate on which she knew that her father had a large mortgage.

A day was specified for the sale of that estate by auction on behalf of a concourse of creditors.
The intelligence fell like a thunderbolt upon the baron.

Since he had burdened his own property, the sum that he had invested in Poland was his last hope of well-doing.

He had often doubted whether he was not foolish to leave his money in the hands of strangers abroad, and to pay so high an interest to strangers at home; but he had always had a horror of being led to invest this round sum in his undertakings, considering it in the light of his wife's jointure and his daughter's portion.

Now it, too, was endangered, the last security had vanished.