"I prayed for help that night from Man as I have never since prayed for
help from God.
"You are still young, Mr. Patterson, and life, as yet, is new to you, or
else I would ask whether, in going into an entirely strange office, you
have not, if agitated in mind, picked up from the table a letter or
card, and kept twisting it about, utterly unconscious for the time being
of the social solecism you were committing.
"In precisely the same spirit--God is my witness, as I am a dying man,
with no object to serve in speaking falsehoods--while we talked, I took
up one of the pistols and commenced handling it.
"'Take care,' he said; 'that is loaded'; hearing which I laid it
down again.
"For a time we went on talking; he trying to ascertain how I had
obtained the money, I striving to mislead him.
"'Come, Mr. Elmsdale,' I remarked at last, 'you see I have been able to
raise the money; now be friendly, and consent to advance me a few
thousands, at a fair rate, on a property I am negotiating for. There is
no occasion, surely, for us to quarrel, after all the years we have done
business together. Say you will give me a helping-hand once more, and--'
"Then he interrupted me, and swore, with a great oath, he would never
have another transaction with me.
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