“Ah, my dear sir,” answered the lawyer with a pathetic sigh, “he cannot do that, for he hasn’t the means even to pay the fees.”
“Is he an old client of yours?”
“Oh, yes. I have known him for years.”
“And you have the most perfect faith in the invention?”
“Absolutely perfect.”
“Would it not be rather a good thing then for you to advance him the money at good interest?”
The lawyer smiled benignly, and replied that lawyers were not speculative as a rule; and, speaking for himself, he was not a money-lender. He was a steady-going family man, born to be a plodder and content to be a plodder; but he was always supremely happy when he could put a good thing in somebody else’s way.
Mr. Panton expressed admiration at this disinterested philanthropy, and said he was quite prepared to consider
