My attempts to convince my unfortunate uncle were all rendered

unavailing, and shown to be so to Julia herself in a very short

time afterward. The insolence of Mrs. Clifford, when I did seek

an interview with her husband, was so offensive and unqualified,

that Julia herself, with a degree of indignation which she could

not entirely suppress, begged me to quit the house, and relieve

myself from such undeserved insult and abuse. I did so, but with

no unfriendly wishes for the wretched woman who presided over its

destinies, and the no less wretched husband whom she helped to

make so; and my place as consulting friend and counsellor was soon

supplied by Mr. Perkins--one of those young barristers, to be

found in every community, who regard the "penny fee" as the sine

qua non, and obey implicitly the injunction of the scoundrel in

the play "Make money--honestly if you can, but--make money!" He was

one of those creatures who set people at loggerheads, goad foolish

and petulant clients into lawsuits, stir up commotions in little sets,

and invariably comfort the suit-bringer with the most satisfactory

assurances of success. It was the confident assurances of this

person which had determined Mr. Clifford--his wife rather--to

resist to the last the suit in question. Through the sheer force

of impudence, this man had obtained a tolerable share of practice.

His clients, as may be supposed, lay chiefly among such persons

as, having no power or standard for judging, necessarily look upon

him who is most bold and pushing as the most able and trustworthy.

The bullies of the law--and, unhappily, the profession has quite

too many--are very commanding persons among the multitude. Mr.

Clifford knew this fellow's mental reputation very well, and was

not deceived by the confidence of his assurances; nay, to the last,

he showed a hankering desire to give me the entire control of the

subject; but the hostility of Mrs. Clifford overruled his more

prudent if not more honorable purposes; and, as he was compelled to

seek a lawyer, the questionable moral standing of Perkins decided

his choice. He wished one, in short, to do a certain piece of

dirty work: and, as if in anticipation of the future, he dreaded

to unfold the case to any of the veterans, the old-time gentlemen

and worthies of the bar. I proposed this to him. I offered to

make a supposititious relation of the facts for the opinion of Mr.

Edgerton and others--nay, pledged myself to procure a confidential

consultation--anything, sooner than that he should resort to a mode

of extrication which, I assured him, would only the more deeply

involve him in the meshes of disgrace and loss. But there was a

fatality about this gentleman--a doom that would not be baffled,

and could not be stayed. The wilful mind always precipitates

itself down the abyss; and, whether acting by his own, or under

the influence of another's judgment, such was, most certainly, the

case with him. He was not to be saved. Mr. Perkins was regularly

installed as his defender--his counsellor, private and public--and

I was compelled, though with humiliating reluctance, to admit to

the plaintiffs, Banks & Tressell, that there was no longer any hope

of compromise. The issue on which hung equally his fortune and his

reputation was insanely challenged by my uncle.




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