The situation was embarrassing.

He saw at once that she was not so much affected by the announcement of the supposed "poor" man's riches, as by the overwhelming thought that he could have represented himself to her as any other than he truly was.
"Sit down again, and let me tell you all," he said gently--"You will, I am sure, forgive him for the part he played when you know his history.
David Helmsley--who was my friend as well as my client for more than twenty years--was a fortunate man in the way of material prosperity,--but he was very unfortunate in his experience of human nature.

His vast wealth made it impossible for him to see much more of men and women than was just enough to show him their worst side.

He was surrounded by people who sought to use him and his great influence for their own selfish ends,--and the emotions and sentiments of life, such as love, fidelity, kindness, and integrity, he seldom or never met with among either his so-called 'friends' or his acquaintances.

His wife was false to him, and his two sons brought him nothing but shame and dishonour.