He was behind in his rent, for the first time, and
had not within a certain amount the sum required. He besought the
intercession of my friend's brother, who, having Scotch caution in his
veins, did not, though pitying, feel called upon to interfere. The old
man tendered what money he had at the office and humbly asked that he
might have time given him to make up the rest. It was refused with
contempt.
"Sir," faltered the old man, "I have paid my rent every year for sixty-
nine years. I have lived here under three landlords without reproach. I
am a very old man. I might get a little indulgence of time."
"All that is nothing to me," said the agent.
"Sir," said the old man, "if my landlord himself were here, or the
General his father, or my Lord Belmore who sold the land to him, I would
not be treated in this way after all."
"Get out of this instantly," said the agent, stamping his foot, "How
dare you give such insolence to me."
"You see," explained my friend, "he was very old, it was not likely that
any more could be got out of him even if he got time, for he was past
his labor.
