ness at once.

She said that a Mrs. Cudgeon, the wife of a citizen who had made a large
fortune in butter and eggs, had been taking lessons in all the English
branches, and French (here Miss Pillbody smiled), for six months, but
had postponed payment on one pretext and another, and had finally
withdrawn from the school, leaving unpaid tuition to the amount of one
hundred and fifty dollars. Miss Pillbody had written several dunning
letters to Mrs. Cudgeon, and received no answer. The soft grass of
epistolary entreaty having failed, Miss P. now proposed to try what
virtue there was in the hard stones of the law. She had sent to Mr.
Overtop for advice.

Overtop listened to the statement of the case with professional
attentiveness. He was sub-thinking, all the time, what an extremely
sensible woman Miss Pillbody was, not to allow herself to be cheated,
but to go to law in defence of her rights. He assured his interesting
client that she could count on his best services, and that she might
consider the one hundred and fifty dollars as good as recovered. From
this point the conversation glided off into a wilderness of general
topics. Overtop had a habit (a bad one, it must be confessed) of
sounding people's mental depths. He found that Miss Pillbody was no
shallow thinker. He left the house at eleven o'clock, supposing it was
ten, and had a delightful vision, that night, of the little round table
and the teapot, and the presiding angel.

Next day, Overtop wrote the following letter:

New York,--.

MR. J. CUDGEON:

SIR: Enclosed is a bill of items, amounting to one hundred
and fifty dollars, for your wife's tuition at Miss
Pillbody's private school. Be good enough to look it over,
and inform me, to-morrow, what you will do about it. I will
tell you candidly, that it is for our interest, as a young
law firm, to sue you for the debt; but my client will not
consent to this, until all other efforts fail, out of regard
to the feelings of Mrs. C.

Your obedient servant,

OVERTOP & MALTBOY,

No ------ Building,

J. CUDGEON, Esq.

Overtop remembered that one J. Cudgeon had run for the Assembly at the
previous fall election, and he surmised that, being a politician and a
public character, J. Cudgeon would not like to see the bill of items in
print. Overtop reasoned correctly; for, at ten A.M. the following day,
that gentleman called at the office and