"He ought, as well as he can, to prevent an honourable name from being dragged through the mud."
"What is all this to me?"
"Your father's name is deservedly respected; you, sir, dishonour it."
"How dare you, sir, to address such language to me?"
"But for the interest which the gentleman, of whom I speak, inspires in the minds of all honest men, instead of being summoned before me, you would, at this moment, be standing before a police-magistrate."
"I do not understand you."
"Two months since, you discounted, through an agent, a bill for fifty-eight thousand francs (2,320l.), accepted by the house of Meulaert & Company, of Hamburg, in favour of a certain William Smith, payable in three months, at the bank of M. Grimaldi, of Paris."
"Well?"
"That bill was a forgery."