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good opinion, by contracting a new debt to pay an old one?"
"If you contract it with a friend to pay a stranger, Yes.—And these notes, I suppose, of course, belong to a friend?"
"Not to . . . . . an enemy, certainly!—" she answered, much embarrassed; "but is that a reason that I should betray a trust?"
"What becomes of the trust of these poor people, then, that don't know you, and that you don't know? Don"t you betray that? Do you think that they would have let you take their goods, if they had not expected your payment?
"Oh heaven, Mr. Arbe!" cried Ellis, "How you probe—perplex—entangle me!"
"Don"t vex, don't vex!" said he, kindly, "for that will fret me prodigiously. Only, another time, when you are in want, borrow from the rich, and not from the poor; for they are in want themselves. This friend of yours is rich, I take for granted?"
