w, it was from extreme honesty, and
because he constantly hoped to gain enough to make restitution. But
most extraordinary ill luck had pursued him; so that, seeing the deficit
growing larger and larger, and overcome with remorse and terror, he had
almost gone mad, and ceased to put any restraint upon himself.

"He laid great stress upon the fact that his whole eighty thousand
dollars had been lost on 'Change, and that he would have looked upon
himself as the meanest of rascals, if he had spent any part of it on his
personal enjoyments. Unfortunately the forged checks and drafts in his
drawer destroyed the force of this plea. Convinced that the sums he had
thus obtained were not lost, the investigating magistrate suspected
the parents of the accused. He questioned them, and obtained sufficient
evidence against them to justify their arrest. But they could not
be convicted at the trial, and had to be released. Justin Chevassat,
however, appeared at the assizes.

"Matters looked very serious for him; but he had the good luck of
falling in with a young lawyer who initiated in his case a system of
pleading which has since become very popular. He made no effort to
exculpate his client: he boldly accused the banker. 'Was it the act of
a sensible man,' he said, 'to trust so young a man with such important
sums? Was it not tempting him beyond his powers of resistance, and
almost provoking him to become dishonest? What, this banker never
examined his books for so many months? What kind of a business was it,
where a cashier could so easily take eighty thousand dollars, and remain
undiscovered? And then, what immorality in a banker to speculate on
'Change, and thus to set so bad an example to his young, inexperienced
clerks!'

"Justin Chevassat escaped with twenty years' penal servitude.

"What he was at the galleys, you may imagine from what you know of him.
He played the 'repentant criminal,' overflowing with professions of
sorrow for the past, and amendment in future, and cringing and crouching
at the feet of the officials of the prison. He carried on this comedy so
successfully, that, after three years and a half, he was pardoned.
But he had not lost his time in prison. The contact with the vilest
of criminals had sharpened his wits, and completed his education in
rascality. He came out of prison an accomplished felon. And even while
he still dragged the chain and ball along with him, he was already
planning and maturing ne