the
close adviser of a score of them; not the defender of their accident
cases, but the confidential attorney who was consulted in regard to
their vital interests, and who charged them liberal sums for his
services. He still figured in court from time to time in his capacity of
the plain man's friend, which he still considered himself to be no less
than before, but most of his time was devoted to protecting the legal
interests of the railroad, gas, water, manufacturing, mining and other
undertakings which, the rapid growth of Benham had forgotten. And as a
result of this commerce with the leading men of affairs in Benham, and
knowledge of what was going on, he had been able to invest his large
fees to the best advantage, and had already reaped a rich harvest from
the rapid rise in value of the securities of diverse successful
enterprises. When new projects were under consideration he was in a
position to have a finger in the pie, and he was able to borrow freely
from a local bank in which he was a director.

He was puzzled--it might be said distressed--how to make these rewards
of his professional prominence appear compatible with his real political
principles, so that the plain and sovereign people would recognize as
clearly as he that there was no inconsistency in his having taken
advantage of the opportunities for professional advancement thrown in
his way. He was ambitious for political preferment, sharing the growing
impression that he was well qualified for public office, and he desired
to rise as the champion of popular ideas. Consequently he resented
bitterly the calumnies which had appeared in one or two irresponsible
newspapers to the effect that he was becoming a corporation attorney and
a capitalist. Could a man refuse legitimate business which was thrust
upon him? How were his convictions and interest in the cause of
struggling humanity altered or affected by his success at the bar? Hence
he neglected no occasion to declare his allegiance to progressive
doctrine, and to give utterance to the patriotism which at all times was
on tap in his emotional system. He had been married, but his wife had
been dead a number of years, and he made his home with his aged mother,
to whom he was apt to refer with pious tremulousness when he desired to
emphasize some domestic situation before a jury. As a staunch member of
the Methodist Church, he was on terms of intimate association with his
pastor, and was known as a liber