fifteen pounds every two months, until he had
paid off the whole seventy-five pounds, so that he
had about nine months in which to turn himself
round and get the money.

When the transaction with the South
American government was so far finished that the
loan had been taken up, our account with them
stood somewhat as follows: We held security,
more or less good, over the customs dues of the
country for two millions sterling, on which sum
they had to pay us two per cent commission,
and six per cent interest. For this they
received one million five hundred thousand pounds,
the payment to be spread over a year, and to be
made two-thirds in cash and one-third in our
acceptances, which of course we could renew as we
thought fit. Thus we really, for our own bills, not
cash, of seventy-five pounds, obtained scrip worth
one hundred pounds, and charged interest at the
rate of six per cent upon the hundred pounds.
The commission was to be deducted from the first
payment of the loan, and had to be paid in hard
coin. The securities which the South American
government gave us we made available to raise
money upon when we wanted it, and thus, as I
have before pointed out, we made our own
signature—that is to say, the bills we gave—good
for obtaining, as it were, double the amount
which they represented.

But whilst working out our scheme in foreign
lands, we did not neglect the harvest at home.
Few people who have not been behind the scenes
can be aware what immense interest can be
obtained in London—in the City, from business
men who are reported to be in good and even
excellent circumstances—if the thing is managed
quietly, and no one knows that the advance has
been made. In every bank, every bill-discounter's
office, every finance company's establishment,
there are small, private, Chubb-locked ledgers,
which, if laid open to the world, would cause a
far greater sensation east of Temple-bar than if
all the "seals of confession" throughout Europe
were broken. It is not only the needy West-
end swell, or the broken-down Guardsman, or the
man who has made a bad book at Goodwood,
that must have money, and will pay any price
for it, provided the transaction is "kept dark."
I have known a firm whose signature in any
commercial town in Europe would have been good
for half a million and more, so hard up, that if
they had not been accommodated with two or
three hundred thousand pounds, they must, as
the Americans say, have "cracked up." In such
cases, men don't go to their bankers; on the
contrary, they always endeavour to keep up a good
show with that individual, and for this reason
never allow their balance with him to run lower
than a certain fixed amount. Customers like these
we dealt largely with, and of course made them
pay highly for the accommodation we gave them.
I remember an instance of this kind. A bill-
broker came to me as managing director of the
"HOUSE AND LAND" one morning, and asked
whether we would accept his drafts on our
company for a hundred and fifty thousand
pounds, provided we came to terms respecting
the interest and commission which was to be
paid. I, of course, answered his question, Scotch
fashion, by asking another, which was, what
securities he had to offer us. He named certain
bonds, shares, debentures, and such-like, all of
which were quite third or fourth class securities.
These I declined, feeling certain that there
must be something behind which I could not yet
see, and being, at the same time, somewhat
surprised that so old a hand in obtaining loans,
discounts, and advances, should propose such
very indifferent security. Presently, as if struck
with a sudden thought, he exclaimed, "Suppose
I was to bring you a letter of guarantee from
Messrs. Blank and Blank," naming a very large
and first-class discounting firm in the City,
"would you let me have the money?" I at
once replied that I would, and in twenty minutes
he returned with the letter from the firm he had
named, in which they undertook to repay us the
loan, if it was not liquidated by the borrower on
such a date, or to pay off any portion of the loan
which was unpaid at that period. The security
was undoubted, and, after some little bargaining
about the commission and interest, the
transaction was concluded, although I was still
sadly puzzled to understand how it was that the
broker had obtained the guarantee of Messrs.
Blank and Blank, or what he could want with
so large a sum of money. In due time the loan
was repaid, but it was not until some months
later that I found out, by mere chance, the outs
and ins of the transaction.

The broker some months later suspended
payment, and as he owed our company a few hundred
pounds, I was appointed one of the committee to
investigate his affairs. His books were not very
voluminous, and were exceedingly well kept, all
in his own handwriting. Amongst other matters,
I found that he had no less than three separate
accounts open with the great discount house of
Blank and Blank. One of these was a discount
account, in which it appeared that he had, from
time to time, in the regular way of business,
discounted bills of customers with the firm.
This was of course perfectly intelligible, and
needed no explanation whatever. The second,
a loan account, was also plain. The broker had
from time to time borrowed money from the
great discounting house, and had repaid such
advances. But the third account, headed
Guarantee Account with Messrs. Blank and
Blank, I could make nothing of. From it the
broker appeared to be a creditor of Messrs.
Blank and Blank, and nothing was shown why
or wherefore these sums due to him, or paid to
him, had been earned. We could not make the
books balance by taking in this account. The
name of our company, being put down as a
creditor of Messrs. Blank and Blank, made me
still more anxious to learn all about the
transactions detailed in the books, and I questioned
the broker concerning it. At first he declined
altogether to answer me, but, upon being pressed,
and upon my threatening to have the estate
thrown into bankruptcy, when he would be
obliged to answer the commissioner of the court,