He said to himself, "Before that horrible trial comes on, I shall be the house of Wardlaw, and able to draw a check for thousands.

I'll buy off Adams at any price, and hush up the whole matter." So he hoped, and hoped.

But the accountant was slow, the public prosecutor unusually quick; and, to young Wardlaw's agony, the partnership deed was not ready when an imploring letter was put into his hands, urging him, by all that men hold sacred, to attend at the court as the prisoner's witness.
This letter almost drove young Wardlaw mad.

He went to Adams and entreated him not to carry the matter into court.

But Adams was inexorable.