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.