Page:The Diothas, or, A far look ahead (IA diothasorfarlook01macn).pdf/362

 "I can't, of course, explain the matter more precisely just now. The case, in regard to which our little difference of opinion arose, is still for trial. His objection, you will find, was utterly absurd. If all were to stick at such trifles, the profession would"—Here the old gentleman shook his head, and seemed lost in contemplation of the unwonted mental vista thus suggested.

"E has some means of his own, hasn't he?" resumed the old lawyer after a pause.

"He has,—not a large fortune," replied I, "but amply sufficient for his wants."

"Ah, there's the rub!" exclaimed the old gentleman in a tone of vexation. "If you could only persuade him to invest that money in some wild-cat mine, or get him engaged to a Fifth-Avenue belle, you would really be doing him a friendly turn."

"How so?" said I.

"Why, then, of course, be would be obliged to give up those high-strung notions that now render him unavailable for the profession. If either of these things happen. to him, let me know. I am speaking seriously. I shall be glad to have him back, and will let him pick his cases. Now, don't forget."

E, however, did not accept the olive-branch thus extended. It was, indeed, during the conversation in this connection, that he fairly startled me by the energy with which he unbosomed himself of the long-pent-up bitterness he had nursed for some time past.

"It is no rashly adopted notion," said he. "For months past it has been more and more borne in on me, that, in its present developments, the legal profession is