BARON.--"Ha, ha! He is young, our friend Randal; eh, sir?"

RANDAL.--"Well, I am not more scrupulous than others, I dare say; and I
have often been pinched hard for money, but I would go barefoot rather
than give security upon a father's grave! I can imagine nothing more
likely to destroy natural feeling, nor to instil ingratitude and
treachery into the whole character, than to press the hand of a parent,
and calculate when that hand may be dust; than to sit down with strangers
and reduce his life to the measure of an insurance-table; than to feel
difficulties gathering round one, and mutter in fashionable slang, 'But
it will be all well if the governor would but die.' And he who has
accustomed himself to the relief of post-obits must gradually harden his
mind to all this."

The squire groaned heavily; and had Randal proceeded another sentence in
the same strain, the squire would have wept outright. "But," continued
Randal, altering the tone of his voice, "I think that our young friend,
of whom we were talking just now, Levy, before this gentleman joined us,
has the same opinions as myself on this head. He may accept bills, but
he would never sign post-obits."

BARON (who, with the apt docility of a managed charger to the touch of a
rider's hand, had comprehended and complied with each quick sign of
Randal's).--"Pooh! the young fellow we are talking of? Nonsense. He
would not be so foolish as to give five times the percentage he otherwise
might. Not sign post-obits! Of course he has signed one."

RANDAL.--"Hist! you mistake, you mistake!"