"Do you expect me to be content with this explanation?"
"I think you are rather hard on me, squire. It isn't as if I had the money and objected to pay. I am a poor man, but no one ever lost a dollar by me; and I don't mean that any one shall, while I have my life and strength."
"That's all very well, but it won't make up the thirty dollars in which you are delinquent."
"What would you have me do? I cannot make money."
"I wouldn't give much for an investment when the interest is delayed. It is no longer worth its face. If any of my railroad bonds defer their usual interest they at once drop in value."
"I know very little of railroad bonds, never having any money to invest in them; but I think my farm will be full security for all the money I owe you."
"Suppose I should foreclose—you would consider it an unkind thing and a great hardship, wouldn't you?"
"It would take away my means of supporting my family. I don't think you would go to extremes, for the sake of thirty dollars."
"It isn't the amount of money, neighbor Nelson, that is to be considered. It is the principle that is involved."
This is a very common pretext with men who have made up their minds to do a mean thing. Generally speaking it is false, and the money is the first consideration.