'As the stranger spoke, he pointed to the sea. A faint cry died away

upon its surface; the last powerful struggle of the dying man agitated

the rippling waves for a few seconds; and the spot where he had gone

down into his early grave, was undistinguishable from the

surrounding water.

'Three years had elapsed, when a gentleman alighted from a private

carriage at the door of a London attorney, then well known as a man

of no great nicety in his professional dealings, and requested a private

interview on business of importance. Although evidently not past the

prime of life, his face was pale, haggard, and dejected; and it did not

require the acute perception of the man of business, to discern at a

glance, that disease or suffering had done more 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

stranger.

'The attorney bowed obsequiously, and glanced at a large packet

which the gentleman carried in his hand. His visitor observed the

look, and proceeded.

'‘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

visitor, untying the string that bound it, disclosed a quantity of

promissory notes, with 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 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 many 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.

The Pickwick Papers