ENTRAPPED BY A FAIR BORROWER 21 



assistance, in her design, of the possession of property 

 apart from her husband. It is needless to say that in 

 the hands of this special pleader and excellent judge of 

 character the astute money-lender had no chance. He 

 was not proof against the influence of such charming 

 naivetd and eloquence, and the favour sought was no 

 sooner named than granted. Eight thousand pounds 

 on mortgage was business to him, and, on an emergency 

 of this kind, the rate of interest was a matter of no 

 consequence to the lady. A cheque for the amount was 

 drawn on the spur of the moment, and the bargain con- 

 cluded save the mortgage, which was to follow. 



His charming visitor having left him, Mr. Padwick 

 indulged in a pleasant reverie, having for its subject the 

 interview just ended. But suddenly waking to his cus- 

 tomary sober, business-like habits, he prudently and 

 immediately sent to stop payment of the cheque ; only 

 to learn, with great disgust, on the return of the 

 messenger, that it had already been presented and paid. 

 He now began to see that he had been cajoled into the 

 belief that the lady had been acting in her own behalf, 

 instead of at the instigation of her husband. The up- 

 shot of the affair was that he lost his money, and was 

 very sore about it. Ever after, in referring to the sub- 

 ject, he declared ' he always felt a pain in his stomach 

 when it crossed his mind.' This anecdote, as most 

 others I relate, I give without embellishment or mutila- 

 tion on the authority of Mr. Padwick himself ; and in its 

 truth I thoroughly believe, as I do in that of the follow- 

 ing alarming incident, in which a fair one was again 

 a borrower, though to his great delight it ended harm- 

 lessly. 



A necessitous Duchess called on him with her casket 

 of jewels, which, for safety's sake, she had sealed with 



