It is well known by what trifles in the mercantile world fortunes are
lost and won. The detention of a ship, the non-arrival of a mail, has
ruined hundreds; whilst some equally unforeseen caprice of fashion or
similar accident has made as many fortunes. It happened, when Lucy
had the greatest cause for despondency, that within a short period
two members of the royal family died. Mourning lace was then much in
request, and it happened that most of Lucy's stock was of that kind.
Suddenly, commissions from Honiton flowed in, and Lucy was kept
constantly at work, at wages much higher than before--her own stock
acquiring fresh value while the price continued to rise. Young
Larkin, who was a shrewd fellow, advised her to 'hold' it till the
value increased still more. She took the advice, and at the proper
moment sold it at a price she never hoped to realise. At the end of a
week she found herself in possession of a sum which was, within a few
pounds, sufficient to procure her lover's discharge from the army!
Poor Lucy could hardly believe her eyes when the manufacturer laid
down the bank-notes before her.
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