“Pray forgive me, sir: but—but—I happen to know that Beale’s wife and family are really starving,” said the clerk, whose heart was a trifle less hardened than that of his master.
“Let them starve!” rejoined the latter, with an air of brutal indifference. “Now, what have you next upon your list?”
“William Fox, the ironmonger, sir, has called a meeting of his creditors,” resumed Mr. Green, now regretting that he should have allowed himself to be carried away by a scintillation of humane feeling so far as to merit a rebuke at Mr. Heathcote’s hands.
“Well—I know that,” observed the lawyer. “But I never attend meetings of creditors—I never accept compositions, Mr. Green. But has the fellow been here? and what does he say?”
“It appears, sir, that he laid a full and complete account of his affairs before his creditors,” continued the clerk; “and that they were well satisfied with the statement. He showed them that his embarrassments arose from no fault of his own, but simply from the failure of a large house in Birmingham.”
“And what did he offer?” demanded Mr. Heathcote.
“He asked for two years to pay off all his liabilities,” was the answer. “He did not propose a composition, but will settle everything in full. His brother has offered to become security for him.”
“Well, he must pay me at once—within twenty-four hours—or I shall sign judgment, Green,” exclaimed the lawyer. “Or stop—it will be better to sign judgment at once, and issue execution. I shall then, get my money directly—and his other creditors may wait the two years. If he calls again to-day, tell him that I am out—and mind and have a seizure in his house by the evening.”
“It shall be done, sir,” said the head clerk: then, again referring to the diary, he proceeded thus:—“You remember that affair of Williamson, sir? He called and left seventy-two pounds the other evening to take up his bill, which had been sent back; and as you were out at the time, he could not have the bill delivered over to him. I offered him a receipt for the money: but he left it without taking any acknowledgment—saying, ‘Oh! I can trust to your honour,’—or words to that effect. Well, sir, he has called two or three times since for the bill——”
“Do the other clerks know that he paid the money?” demanded Mr. Heathcote, fixing his keen eyes significantly upon Green.