towards which I knew he had a strong natural disposition, and of which I
was still a little afraid. With this object, then, I conceived the
following scheme.

"You shall simply introduce me as Mr. Miles Wallingford," I said, "but in
a formal manner, that may induce this Mr. Van Tassel to-imagine I'm a sort
of lawyer; and this may have the effect to awe him, and bring him to terms
the easier. Do not _say_ I am a lawyer, for that will not be true, and it
will also be awkward falling back when the truth comes to be known."

Marble took the idea, and seemed pleased with it, though he affirmed that
there could be no such thing as acting lawyer without lying a little, and
that "the truth was too good for one of your bloody usurers." I got him
trained, however, by the time we reached the door; and we alighted as well
prepared for our task as could be expected.

There was nothing about the residence of 'Squire Van Tassel to denote the
grasping money-dealer, unless a certain negligence of the exterior might
be supposed to betray the abode of such a man. His friends wished to
ascribe this to an indifference to appearances; but the multitude, more
accurately imputed it to parsimony. When the very soul gets to be
absorbed in the process of rolling gold over and over, in order to make it
accumulate, the spirit grudges the withdrawal of the smallest fraction
from the gainful pursuit; and here lies the secret of the disdain of
appearances that is so generally to be met with in this description of
persons. Beyond this air of negligence, however, the dwelling of Van
Tassel was not to be distinguished from those of most of the better houses
of that part of the country. Our application for admission was favourably
received, and, in a minute, we were shown into the attorney's office.