Alone, he could never bring himself to ask the banker for money. Quite the reverse, he always felt an unaccountable urge to give money to Uncle Pete. More than once, in need of a loan, he had offered to pledge the deed to his Beacon Hill condominium, the title to his car, or any other worldly asset he possessed. Pete had always smiled and turned him down. “I don’t need it now,” Pete had always said.

Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action, loc. 1118