remember that he said he had theories regarding the
use a rich man should make of his money."

"It strikes me you are willing to pay pretty dear for the probable value
of the information, even if matters turn out as you expect. But the
money is yours, Miss Harlan, not mine; and if you are resolved upon
being generous in this wholesale way, it is not for me to complain. We
lawyers get conservative as we grow older, and any romance that may have
been in us dries up, like the sap in trees that have begun to outlast
their usefulness. We know how hard it is to earn an honest living; and
when we see any one in whom we have an interest developing a taste for
imprudent speculations, we instinctively utter a protest. Still, as you
say, it is but a year's income; and maybe the cheapest way in the end to
teach you reason is to humor this expensive fancy. If the money is lost,
you will never miss it; while, assuming that this young man is all your
imagination paints him, I know of nothing that would give me greater
pleasure than to see you happily married. That is a romance to which I
would say 'Amen' with all my heart."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Chelm. But I will not obtain your connivance
on any such terms. If you regard this as other than a purely business
enterprise, I warn you that you will be wofully disappointed."

"I shall have to take my chance of being right, just as you are going to
take yours. But come now, since you insist upon my treating this matter
seriously, what is it that you wish me to do?"

"Everything, Mr. Chelm."

"Even to giving away the bride? You must promise me that, eh! Miss
Harlan?"

"With pleasure."

"It is a bargain then. Command my services as you will,--I wish I could
say my capital also. But unfortunately I cannot afford to toss away my
hundreds of thousands like some people. But that is an aside. Tell me
what you wish me to do. I am all ears."

"To begin with, when Mr. Prime returns on Saturday, I should like you to
inform him that you happened by chance to mention his predicament to a
friend of yours."

"Of which sex?"

"That is entirely immaterial. But if he should happen to inquire, I
shall depend on you to preserve my incognito. You must even fib a
little, if it is necessary."

"Mercy on us! This romantic young philanthropist talks of fibbing, as if
it were the most simple thing in life. No, Mademoiselle, we lawyers
never fib. If we are ever obliged to forsake the narrow pathwa