He knew that the pedler had
been guilty in a legal sense of no crime, and could only be liable in a
civil action for his breach of trust. But he suspected that the dealer
in wares was ignorant of the advantageous distinctions in morals which
the law had made, and consequently amused himself with playing upon the
fears of the offender. He put on a countenance of much commiseration,
and, drawing a long sigh, regretted the necessity which had brought him
to prepare the mind of his old friend for the last terrors of justice.
But Bunce was not a man easily frightened. As he phrased it himself, he
had been quite too long knocking about among men to be scared by
shadows, and replied stoutly--though really with some internal
misgivings--to the lachrymalities of the learned counsel. He gave him to
understand that, if he got into difficulty, he knew some other persons
whom his confessions would make uncomfortable; and hinted pretty
directly at certain practices of a certain professional gentleman,
which, though the pedler knew nothing of the technical significant might
yet come under the head of barratry, and so forth.
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