Heberdon had not been long at the office when he received a summons to Judge Palliser’s room. In his present state of inflation he was not easily to be intimidated. “Let him say anything he likes to me,” he muttered to himself. “Just let him try it on! I’ll tell him to go to blazes and turn around and march out of the place! He’d begin to appreciate me then.”
However, Judge Palliser’s attitude was propitiatory rather than admonishing.
“Sit down, Frank,” he said. “Have a cigar.”
“Huh,” thought Frank; “he wants something out of me now.”
“I have a proposition to put up to you, Frank,” the judge went on, “that is not exactly to your disadvantage.”
“Nor to yours, either,” reflected Heberdon. “I thought so!” Heberdon, with his wooden face, was able to conceal the fire that was burning in hi
