."

"We didn't do it, but the fact that the law held certain frauds to be
hanging matters operated on the minds of men in regard to all fraud.
What with the joint-stock working of companies, and the confusion
between directors who know nothing and managers who know everything,
and the dislike of juries to tread upon people's corns, you can't
punish dishonest trading. _Caveat emptor_ is the only motto going,
and the worst proverb that ever came from dishonest stony-hearted
Rome. With such a motto as that to guide us no man dare trust his
brother. _Caveat lex_,--and let the man who cheats cheat at his
peril."

"You'd give the law a great deal to do."

"Much less than at present. What does your _Caveat emptor_ come to?
That every seller tries to pick the eyes out of the head of the
purchaser. Sooner or later the law must interfere, and _Caveat
emptor_ falls to the ground. I bought a horse the other day; my
daughter wanted something to look pretty, and like an old ass as I am
I gave a hundred and fifty pounds for the brute. When he came home he
wasn't worth a feed of corn."

"You had a warranty, I suppose?"

"No, indeed! Did you ever hear of such an old fool?"

"I should have thought any dealer would have taken him back for the
sake of his character."

"Any dealer would; but--I bought him of a gentleman."

"Mr. Chaffanbrass!"

"I ought to have known better, oughtn't I? _Caveat emptor_."

"It was just giving away your money, you know."

"A great deal worse than that. I could have given the--gentleman--a
hundred and fifty pounds, and not have minded it much. I ought to
have had the horse killed, and gone to a dealer for another. Instead
of that,--I went to an attorney."

"Oh, Mr. Chaffanbrass;--the idea of your going to an attorney."

"I did then. I never had so much honest truth told me in my life."

"By an attorney!"

"He said that he did think I'd been born long enough to have known
better than that! I pleaded on my own behalf that the gentleman said
the horse was all right. 'Gentleman!' exclaimed my friend. 'You go
to a gentleman for a horse; you buy a horse from a gentleman without
a warranty; and then you come to me! Didn't you ever hear of _Caveat
emptor_, Mr. Chaffanbrass? What can I do for you?' That's what my
friend, the attorney, said to me."

"And what came of it, Mr. Chaffanbrass? Arbitration, I should say?"

"Just that;--with the horse eating his head off every meal at ever so
much per wee