"Could you not advance something upon these expectations—not even a small sum?"
"Not a farthing," said the money-lender.
"Is there no way of raising fifty—thirty—even twenty pounds?" said the stranger, anxiously, and with the tenacity of a drowning man grasping at a straw.
"There is a way," said the usurer, carelessly. West in his turn was silent, awaiting the explanation of his companion. "On personal security," continued the latter with a sinister impatience, beginning to arrange his writing materials for a letter.
"I will give any discount," said the young man, eagerly. "My prospects are good: I can—"
"Get a friend to be security for the payment of the interest?"
"Of the interest and principal, you mean?"
"Of the interest only—and the life insurance," added the usurer, with a slight peculiarity of intonation that might have escaped the notice of one whose nerves were less exalted in their sensitive power than those of his visitor's.
"And what sum can I borrow on these terms?" said West, gloomily.