Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 08.pdf/374

 An Astral Partner. I might as well have argued with the winds. While we talked my grasp on the big bundle of papers loosened and some of them fell to the floor. Gathering them up, one, a small slip yellow with age, attracted my attention. Somehow I seemed never to have seen it before. A glance, half-un conscious, showed me that it was the execu tion against the property in question, which had been issued seventeen years before. Still continuing my conversation with my client, I opened it, mechanically glancing over it for the endorsement of the order to levy on the land, which the law made necessary to the validity of such a docu ment. There was the return of " no per sonal property to be found "; the record of levy on the land, and the return of sale to Azariah Cooper, the highest bidder; but no order for levy to be made. Without that order entered on the execution itself, the levy was void, £nd our title good. I felt as if a load had been lifted off my shoulders. I had to wait a moment to col lect myself and calm my countenance so that it might not express exultation, for a lawyer never knows what mine his enemy may have ready to explode beneath his feet. I turned, and said in as careless a tone as I could command : — "The plaintiff will try, your Honor." My opponents were sitting about a table, looking as unconscious as if they had no interest in the case whatever; but their cli ent, who sat near, was unable to repress his anxiety : he was unquestionably worried. "Is the defendant ready? " asked the judge. Mr. Waring, the leading counsel for the defence, replied : — "We will call our witnesses and ascertain, your Honor." • He rose as he spoke and extended his hand for the papers, which I gave, reserving our subpoenas and the execution. He called his witnesses, and spoke in a low tone to

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his associates. Then he turned to me and said : — "I suppose you noticed that your witness, Masten, did not answer?" "We shall have to get along without him," I replied composedly. Mr. Waring bent over the table, and the three lawyers literally put their heads to gether. After a moment, Cooper was called on to add his carroty poll and troubled red face to the conclave. When the heads sep arated, Waring said : — "Will your Honor allow me to confer a moment with my brother, Hardynge?" The Court nodded; and beckoning to me to follow, Waring led the way out of the bar, through the crowd, to one of the jury rooms. As we passed out, a young man splashed with mud approached me and asked for a moment's conversation. Stepping inside with him, he said : — "Pardon me; my name is Archibald Williams. I am the son of the man who was the agent of Hook & Company at the Hill Mine, as it used to be called; now the Cooper Hill Mine. I have been looking over father's papers for a week to see if I could find anything in reference to the matter. It has been on my mind for months, and I have hardly been able to sleep because of it. You see, it reflects upon father's honor that he should have permitted the property to be sold when he had plenty of his principals' money in his hand to pay the debt. Last night I happened to think of looking through a big pocket-book, a sort of wallet he used to carry. Here it is," he continued. " I noticed a side of one of the compartments seemed stiffer than the other, and saw that a piece of thin cloth different from the rest of the linings had been pasted over it. Ripping this off, I found under it this paper, directed to Hook & Co., Phila delphia. It is unquestionably in my father's handwriting. I have ridden twenty miles this morning to give it to you, and hope I am not too late."