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 had been repaired and repainted twenty times since first, in Geoffrey Thorndyke's grandfather's time, it had borne the legend, "Geoffrey Thorndyke, Counsellor at Law." Thorndyke still kept the dingy little office which had been his grandfather's and his father's before him. He had given up the best of his law-practice at the time that he had been thrown down and securely roped for Congress by Senator Standiford and his trusty cowboys, the State Committeemen, but had always clung to the old law-office as a refuge in case Senator Standiford should relegate him to private life. Although he had been compelled to abandon the active and continuous practice of his profession—for according to the old axiom, "The law is a jealous mistress"—Thorndyke remained a student of law. He was by nature and training a very considerable lawyer, and his legal acquirements had helped to win for him the high and steady position he held in the House of Representatives. He was not a leader of men, but rather a thinker and adviser, and was proud of the somewhat scornful appellation of "the scholar in politics."

In his quiet summer home, among his few shabby