THE BANK ATTORNEY.
A month transpired, after the events narrated in the foregoing chapters,
and all of Warden’s notes had been protested. It was impossible for Mr.
Merritt to pay these heavy and unexpected demands without sacrificing
his property, should he be pressed for immediate payment, and he
resolved to call upon the bank attorney, with the faint hope of
obtaining an extension; or, at least, prevailing upon that officer to
save him the disastrous expenses of a suit.
Poor Mr. Merritt! He was entirely unacquainted with the tender mercies
of banks and bank attorneys, or he would have prepared himself for the
worst. Neither did he know that, of all bank attorneys, he could not
have fallen into more evil hands than Isaac Rock, Esq.,
Counsellor-at-Law and Notary Public.
In person Esquire Rock was broad-shouldered, and rather short and clumsy
than otherwise; his features hard and forbidding. His heart, if he had
one, was steel, and he prided himself more upon his firmness than upon
any other of his numerous high qualities. Tears, prayers and entreaties
were alike wasted upon him. Indeed, were not that old saying, “hard as a
rock,” of greater antiquity than any date to which Esquire Rock could
lay claim, it would undoubtedly have passed into a proverb from his day
henceforth.
Whilst this attorney entertained a most unmitigated contempt for the
victims of poverty and misfortune, he had a profound and exalted sense
of his own individual consequence, and delighted to witness the cringing
spirit and suppliant knee of the awe-stricken subjects of his power.
Whosoever committed a sin against the dignity of Esquire Rock was
straightway an outlaw beyond all hope of forgiveness; and wo be to him
thus sinning, who should fall into the gripe of the attorney. Besides
all these qualifications, however, Esquire Rock had a careful eye upon
his temporal interests, and could manage a case in a way to swell his
legal perquisites, to an amount at once the envy and admiration of the
whole brotherhood.
Esquire Rock was fumbling over a miscellaneous collection of manuscripts
one morning, when a rap was heard at the office door.
“Come in,” said the attorney, settling back in his chair.
The visiter opened the door at this invitation, and advanced.
“Is Esquire Rock within?” he inquired.
“I am Esquire Rock,” answered that personage haughtily. “Be seated, sir.
Business with me, sir?”
“My name is Merritt, sir. I am indorser with John Fields on Warden’s
notes, and have called—”
“Yes, I know it,” interrupted the attorney, a scarcely perceptible,
though dangerous smile playing upon his features—“and you will have
them to pay.”
“I am aware that Mr. Warden has failed, but it will be impossible for me
to pay the amount at present, and I have called to beg a little
indulgence. Five thousand dollars is a large sum to raise, especially by
a humble mechanic.”
“You have property, Mr. Merritt.”
“I have some property, Esquire Rock, but were I forced to sell
immediately, it would bring but a fraction of its real value.”
“The law must take its course, sir,” said the attorney, decidedly; and
he looked at Mr. Merritt, then at the door.
The mechanic understood the hint, and when he met the attorney’s glance,
he saw no hope there.
“I had thought,” said he, “that the manner in which I became involved in
this misfortune would entitle me to some slight favor at your hands—to
a trifling delay by which I might avoid total ruin; but I perceive I am
mistaken in looking for mercy here,” he added, bitterly.
Esquire Rock was utterly confounded at the man’s audacity. A poor
mechanic to beard _him_—Isaac Rock, Esquire, counsellor at law, and
notary public! The thing was unprecedented.
“_You_ thought!” exclaimed he, as soon as he had recovered sufficiently
to reply. “Do you understand law, sir? You have no right to think, sir.
The majesty of the law is trampled under foot when mechanics are
permitted to think—”
“Or asses to practice at the bar,” retorted Mr. Merritt, indignantly,
turning to depart.
The fiery furnace of the attorney’s rage threatened to consume him at
this new and flagrant act of daring; and he was driven to disclose a
secret, which he had intended to hold in suspension, like the sword of
Democles, over his victim. He called to Mr. Merritt.
“Come back, Mr. Merritt; let me give you a little further light upon
this case.” Esquire Rock’s manner had undergone a sudden change, which
puzzled the mechanic exceedingly, as he obeyed the summons. All traces
of wrath had vanished, and he received the mechanic with something of
the air of complacency, with which an epicure might be supposed to
contemplate the preparations for an extensive feast.
“Do you know John Fields, Mr. Merritt?” he inquired.
“I do not—but Mr. Warden told me that he was a wealthy cousin of his,
living at Salem. Do _you_ know him, sir?”
The attorney’s face lighted up with the same curious smile that had
before accompanied the mention of that indorser’s name.
“Yes, Mr. Merritt, John Fields is a distant relative of the celebrated
John Smith, an imaginary being, as I have ascertained, who lends his
name for the accommodation of such of his friends as want a discount.
The name is not worth one copper, Mr. Merritt, and therefore we shall
make the money out of you. We will have an execution out shortly for ten
thousand dollars and the costs, which will be a thousand more, or it
shall be my fault. What think you of that, Mr. Merritt?” he continued,
watching the effects of the development with intense pleasure.
Alas! it was too true. Mr. Warden had been in the habit of conforming to
the rules of the bank, by furnishing fictitious indorsers to the
requisite number; a harmless evasion, which the president readily winked
at, in consideration of a trifling token of good will, provided always,
that Warden obtained one genuine and responsible name in addition to his
own.
Mr. Merritt was so utterly stupefied at this new intelligence of
treachery, that he walked off mechanically, without answering a word.
Esquire Rock gazed after him until he was gone; when he again returned
to his papers, muttering aloud, “chew that awhile, Mr. Merritt—asses
practice at the bar, do they?”