Victime des créanciers

Yes, I understand that everyone gets a little behind occasionally, but when the stout, well-dressed man is woken by his servant to deal with the creditors, I tend to be a bit more sympathetic to them than him. When they rise from the soup tureen to demand their just moneys, I wonder why he didn't sell the tureen and pay them. Even when they rise from the nether regions of the lavatory en masse.