When poor, the Higuchi family borrowed money from various sources, but (possibly due to their pride as shizoku) they lent what little money they had to relatives and social connections whose circumstances were even more straitened.
樋口家は貧しい中方々から借金をしていたが、士族の誇りからか、さらに困窮した縁故の人々になけなしの金を貸しもしていた。