nder my skin. That Galligan
is a fine-looking fellow, if there ever was one, and he'll never be of a
bit of use any more. Of course the case was plain sailing, and they ought
to have had the verdict, but that lawyer of his handled it to the queen's
taste, if I do say so. He made me feel real bad, by God,--as if it was my
own son Ed who'd been battered up. Lord, I can't forget the look in that
man Galligan's eyes. I hate to go through it again, and reverse it, but I
guess I'll have to, now."
The Judge sat gazing at the flames playing over his gas log.
"Who was the lawyer?" I asked.
"A man by the name of Krebs," he replied. "Never heard of him before.
He's just moved to the city."
"This city?" I ejaculated.
The Judge glanced at me interestedly.
"This city, of course. What do you know about him?"
"Well," I answered, when I had recovered a little from the shock--for it
was a distinct shock--"he lived in Elkington. He was the man who stirred
up the trouble in the legislature about Bill 709."
The Judge slapped his knee.
"That fellow!" he exclaimed, and ruminated. "Why didn't somebody tell
me?" he added, complainingly. "Why didn't Miller Gorse let me know about
it, instead of licking up a fuss after it's all over?"...
Of all men of my acquaintance I had thought the Judge the last to grow
maudlin over the misfortunes of those who were weak or unfortunate enough
to be defeated and crushed in the struggle for existence, and it was not
without food for reflection that I departed from his presence. To make
Mr. Bering "feel bad" was no small achievement, and Krebs had been
responsible for it, of course,--not Galligan. Krebs had turned up once
more! It seemed as though he were destined to haunt me. Well, I made up
my mind that he should not disturb me again, at any rate: I, at least,
had learned to eliminate sentimentality from business, and it was not
without deprecation I remembered my experience with him at the Capital,
when he had made me temporarily ashamed of my connection with Bill 709. I
had got over that. And when I entered the court room (the tribunal having
graciously granted a rehearing on the ground that it had committed an
error in the law!) my feelings were of lively curiosity and zest. I had
no disposition to underrate his abilities, but I was fortified by the
consciousness of a series of triumphs behind me, by a sense of
association with prevailing forces against which he was helpless. I could
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