It was a cold day in November, and a miserable sleet was falling. I was sitting alone in my private office, looking over some papers, when my clerk announced a Mr. Richard Glaive, who had written that he wished to consult me upon his affairs. He entered--a tall sleek man, well fed, well dressed, about fifty years of age--a man, I judged, who had seen but little of the troubles of the world. But there was trouble in his face on the occasion of my first introduction to him. With the air of one who was suffering from a deep injustice, he explained to me the nature of his inheritance. I learnt that he was, as I had supposed, a man who had never worked, who had never done anything useful, and who had lived all his life upon a moderate income which he had inherited. Wishing to increase his income, for the purpose, as I understood, of being able the better to enjoy life--'surely an innocent and laudable desire,' he said--he had been tempted to take a large number of shares in a company which had been established with a great flourish of promises--had been tempted to become a director for the sake of the fees; 'nothing to do, my dear sir,' he explained to me, and so much a year for it; the very thing to suit a gentleman.' His money hitherto had yielded five per cent, invested in safe securities; the new company promised from twenty to thirty. The temptation was too great to be resisted, and, blinded by his cupidity, he had walked into the pit. As was to be expected, the company was a bubble, the crash came, and the gulls were swooped upon by the creditors. Lawyers' letters were pouring in upon him, and actions were about to be taken against him. There were other complications, also, in the shape of long-standing debts upon which he had been paying interest, but a full settlement of which was now demanded. There was a manifest sense of injury in his tone as he spoke of these debts--'youthful follies,' he called them; adding immediately, with an easy smile, 'youth must have its fling;' conveying the idea that he did not consider himself responsible for them, for the reason that they had been so long standing. Altogether the case was a common one enough, and when he had concluded the catalogue of his embarrassments, I said that the first thing to be done was to prepare a statement of his affairs from his papers, so that he might really see how he stood with the world. He thanked me effusively, as though I had suggested something which would not have occurred to an ordinary mind, and said that he had been advised to consult me, as I should most certainly be able to steer him safely through his difficulties. I replied that I would do the best I could, and on the following day he brought to the office a mass of papers, letters, and accounts. He had received other threatening letters since our first interview, and he was in a fever of perplexity. 'I depend entirely upon you, my dear sir,' he said. I suggested that I should