“The attorney bowed obsequiously, and glanced at a large packet which the gentleman carried in his hand. His visitor observed the look, and proceeded.

“ ‘It is no common business,’ said he; ‘nor have these papers reached my hands without long trouble and great expense.’

“The attorney cast a still more anxious look at the packet; and his visitor, untying the string that bound it, disclosed a quantity of promissory notes, with copies of deeds, and other documents.

“ ‘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.’