ut if he were the villain they suspected him to be, the
man with crime upon his hand, then Mr. Carlyle would have ordered his
office door held wide for him to slink out of it.

"Cannot you advise me what my course ought to be?" he inquired,
detecting Mr. Carlyle's hesitation.

"I could advise you, certainly. But--you must excuse my being plain,
Captain Thorn--I like to know who my clients are before I take up their
cause or accept them as clients."

"I am able to pay you," was Captain Thorn's reply. "I am not short of
ready money; only this bill--"

Mr. Carlyle laughed out, after having bit his lip with annoyance. "It
was a natural inference of yours," he said, "but I assure you I was not
thinking of your purse or my pocket. My father held it right never
to undertake business for a stranger--unless a man was good, in a
respectable point of view, and his cause was good, he did not mention
it--and I have acted on the same principle. By these means, the position
and character of our business, is rarely attained by a solicitor. Now,
in saying that you are a stranger to me, I am not casting any doubt upon
you, Captain Thorn, I am merely upholding my common practice."

"My family is well connected," was Captain Thorn's next venture.

"Excuse me; family has nothing to do with it. If the poorest day
laborer, if a pauper out of the workhouse came to me for advice, he
should be heartily welcome to it, provided he were an honest man in the
face of the day. Again I repeat, you must take no offence at what I say,
for I cast no reflection on you; I only urge that you and your character
are unknown to me."

Curious words from a lawyer to a client-aspirant, and Captain Thorn
found them so. But Mr. Carlyle's tone was so courteous, his manner
so affable, in fact he was so thoroughly the gentleman, that it was
impossible to feel hurt.

"Well, how can I convince you that I am respectable? I have served my
country ever since I was sixteen, and my brother officers have found no
cause of complaint--any position as an officer and a gentleman would be
generally deemed a sufficient guarantee. Inquire of John Herbert. The
Herberts, too, are friends of yours, and they have not disdained to give
me room amidst their family."

"True," returned Mr. Carlyle, feeling that he could not well object
further; and also that all men should be deemed innocent until proved
guilty. "At any rate, I will advise you what must be done at present,"
he add