“ ‘Upon these papers,’ said the client, ‘the man whose name they bear, has raised, as you will see, large sums of money, for years past. There was a tacit understanding between him and the men into whose hands they originally went⁠—and from whom I have by degrees purchased the whole, for treble and quadruple their nominal value⁠—that these loans should be from time to time renewed, until a given period had elapsed. Such an understanding is nowhere expressed. He has sustained many losses of late; and these obligations accumulating upon him at once, would crush him to the earth.’

“ ‘The whole amount is many thousands of pounds,’ said the attorney, looking over the papers.

“ ‘It is,’ said the client.