“The £250 in registered letter duly received to day. With it I have
been enabled to obtain consent to the following:--That, with the
exception of issuing the writs against your mother, no proceeding
as to service shall be made until the morning of Saturday, the
10th, when you are to send up the £1,000 or £1,500. You will be
debited with a month’s interest on the whole of £4,000 out of the
money sent up. I impress upon you the necessity of your being
punctual as to the bills. You will not forget also the £1,500 due
on the 9th of November.”
On the 6th of November I issued writs against Palmer and his mother for
£4,000. I sent them to Mr. Crabbe, a solicitor at Rugeley. On the 10th
of November Palmer called on me. I had received a letter from him on the
9th of November:--
“I will be with you on Saturday next, at half-past one.”
He did call on me, and paid me £300, which, with the two sums I had
before received, made up £800. £200 was deducted for interest, leaving
£600. He was to endeavour to let me have a further remittance, but
nothing positive was said. It is possible that writs were mentioned, but
I have no recollection of it. No doubt he knew of them. [A letter of
November 13 from Pratt to Palmer was then read, in which, after giving
some explanations with respect to the “Prince of Wales” policy, Pratt
said:--“I count most positively on seeing you on Saturday; do, for both
our sakes, try to make up the amount to £1,000, for without it I shall
be unable to renew the £1,500 due on the 9th.”]