Mr. Merritt was a mechanic. By industry and perseverance he had gained step by step, until he was the possessor of a comfortable property. Mr. Warden, the merchant, had been his neighbor for several years, and was engaged in a flourishing business. Now Mr. Merritt being one of those amiable dispositions that could never say “No,” when asked a favor; it consequently happened that when Mr. Warden wanted a small discount at bank, and requested Mr. Merritt to lend his name, merely for form’s sake, as the laws of the institution required several signatures, (a very troublesome law, as Mr. Warden remarked, for it obliged him to tax the friendship of his neighbors, but he would be happy to reciprocate at any time that Mr. Merritt might wish an accommodation,) he, Mr. Merritt, signed it without hesitation—and not only one, but several. The first note became due, and Mr. Warden paid it. The second matured, and in the mean time Mr. Warden’s speculations having failed, he was not in funds, and Mr. Merritt received a notice of protest. It was then that Mr. Merritt began to reflect upon the possible consequences of lending a name. He urged Mr. Warden to make some arrangement by which he would be released from the indorsements. The merchant apologized to Mr. Merritt for the accidental protest, which had happened entirely through an error of the clerk’s in entering the note on his bill-book; that functionary having made it fall due about two weeks subsequent to its actual maturity; and therefore Mr. Warden had not prepared to meet it. He felt extremely pained, he said, that his valued and esteemed friend should doubt his solvency, or for an instant imagine him so base and devoid of honor as to involve _him_ in loss, even though he should fail to meet other obligations. The mechanic was satisfied with this explanation, and regretted that he had spoken to Mr. Warden on the subject. But there came another protest, and others again in quick succession; and now Mr. Merritt felt real alarm. He saw the merchant once more, and begged of him security to the amount of his indorsements. Mr. Warden sincerely regretted that it was out of his power to do so, as he had just made a conveyance of all his effects to the bank! The mechanic was thunderstruck. This was indeed a cruel blow. There was but one other indorser with Mr. Merritt, and they were on Warden’s paper for ten thousand dollars; one half of his _all_ gone at a single stroke. Yet there are hundreds who, not knowing what they do, are every day lending their names for no better consideration, and are reaping the same bitter repentance as did Mr. Merritt. This, then, was the situation of the mechanic at the opening of this history. CHAPTER III. THE BANK ATTORNEY.