Page:The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.djvu/283

221 THE PICKWICK CLUB. ^21

to work a change in his appearance, than the mere hand of time could have accomplished in twice the period of his whole life.

" * I wish you to undertake some legal business for me/ said the Rtranger.

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

" * 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 visiter, untying the string that bound it, disclosed a quantity of promis- sory notes, with some 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 some 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.'

" * The whole amount is some thousands of pounds,' said the attorney, looking over the papers.

" * It is,' said the client.

" * What are we to do ? ' inquired the man of business.

" * Do I ' replied the client, with sudden vehemence — * Put every engine of the law in force, every trick that ingenuity can devise and rascality execute ; fair means and foul ; the open oppression of the law, aided by all the craft of its most ingenious practitioners. I would have him die a harassing and lingering death. Ruin him, seize and sell his lands and goods, drive him from house and home, and drag him forth a beggar in his old age, to die in a common gaol.'

" ' But the costs, my dear Sir, the costs of all this,' reasoned the attorney, when he had recovered from his momentary surprise — * If the defendant be a man of straw, who is to pay the costs. Sir ? '

" ' Name any sum,' said the stranger, his hand trembling so violently with excitement, that he could scarcely hold the pen he seized as he spoke — 'Any sum, and it is yours. Don't be afraid to name it, man. I shall not think it dear, if you gain my object.*

" The attorney named a large sum, at hazard, as the advance he should require to secure himself against the possibility of loss ; but more with the view of ascertaining how far his client was really disposed to go, than with any idea that he would comply with the demand. The stranger wrote a cheque upon his banker, for the whole amount, and left him.

" The draft was duly honoured, and the attorney, finding that his strange client might be safely relied upon, commenced his work in earnest. For more than two years afterwards, Mr. Heyling would sit whole days together, in the office, poring over the papers as they accu-