day forth."

"How can I suddenly refuse? The thing has been going on for years."

"You can refuse to do wrong on the plea of wrong. If your name gives no
real value to a piece of paper, yet accredits it in the eyes of others,
it is wrong for you to place your endorsement thereon. Is not this so?"

"I admit the proposition, Henry."

"Very well. The only way to get right, is to start right. And my dear,
dear sir! let me implore you to take immediately the first step in a
right direction. Standing outside of the charmed circle of temptation as
I do, I can see the right way for your feet to walk in better than you
can. Oh, sir! Let me be eyes, and hand, and feet for you if need be; and
if it is not too late, I will save you from impending ruin."

Wallingford took the old man's hand, and grasped it warmly as he
spoke. The Judge was moved by this earnest appeal, coming upon him so
unexpectedly; and not only moved, but startled and alarmed by the tenor
of what was said.

"The first thing," he remarked, after taking time to get his thoughts
clear, "if I accept of your friendly overtures, is for me to lay before
you everything just as it is, so that you can see where I stand, and how
I stand. Without this, your view of the case would be partial, and your
conclusions might not be right."

"That is unquestionably so," Wallingford replied. "And now, Judge, if
you wish my friendly aid, confide in me as you would a son or brother.
You will find me as true as steel."

A revelation succeeded that filled Mr. Wallingford with painful
astonishment. The endorsements of Judge Bigelow, on paper brought to him
by Dewey, and of which he took no memorandums, covered, no doubt, from a
hundred to a hundred and fifty thousand dollars! Then, as to the affairs
of the Clinton Bank, of which Judge Bigelow was still the President, he
felt a great deal of concern. The Cashier and Mr. Dewey knew far more
about the business and condition of the institution than anybody else,
and managed it pretty much in their own way. The directors, if not
men of straw, might almost as well have been, for all the intelligent
control they exercised. As for Judge, Bigelow, the principal duty
required of him was to sign his name as President to great sheets of
bank bills, the denomination running from one dollar to a thousand.
Touching the extent to which these representatives of value were issued,
he knew nothing certain. He was shown, at regular periods, a statem