Of course
he could not vie with them. He got deeply in debt. Not but what they were
in debt too, every one of them. He used to send to me for money oftener
than I liked; but I never suspected the rate he was going at. I was
anxious, too, about him; but I said to myself he was just sowing his wild
oats, like other fellows. Well, it went on, until--to his misfortune and
mine--he got entangled in some disgraceful transactions; the general
features are known to all the world. I dare say you have heard of one or
two young noblemen who committed forgeries on their relations and friends
some years ago. _One of them, the son of an earl, took his sister's whole
fortune out of her bank, with a single forged check. I believe the sum
total of his forgeries was over one hundred thousand pounds. His father
could not find half the money. A number of the nobility had to combine to
repurchase the documents; many of them were in the hands of the Jews; and
I believe a composition was effected, with the help of a very powerful
barrister, an M. P. He went out of his line on this occasion, and
mediated between the parties._ What will you think when I tell you that
my brother, the son of my father and my mother, was one of these
forgers--a criminal?"
"My poor friend!" cried Zoe, clasping her innocent hands.
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