The perturbation through the country which their failure caused in the end, shows how diffused and how unimpaired their popular reputation was.

No one in the rural districts (as I know by experience) would ever believe a word against them, say what you might.

The catastrophe came because at the change the partners in the old private firm--the Gurney family especially--had guaranteed the new company against the previous losses: those losses turned out to be much greater than was expected.

To pay what was necessary the 'Gurneys' had to sell their estates, and their visible ruin destroyed the credit of the concern.
But if there had been no such guarantee, and no sale of estates, if the great losses had slept a quiet sleep in a hidden ledger, no one would have been alarmed, and the credit and the business of 'Overends' might have existed till now, and their name still continued to be one of our first names.

The difficulty of propagating a good management by inheritance for generations is greatest in private banks and discount firms because of their essential secrecy.
The danger may indeed be surmounted by the continual infusion of new and able partners.