"_Barton Mackenzie,
"99 Wall Street_.

"_Another adjournment fatal. Constable dying. Makes full
confession. See him at once._

"Wire it, Nurse, wire it, and--let no one know! I thought I had done
enough--but I'll do it--I'll beat them yet. Help me to live--till--he
comes!"

IN HIS OWN BEHALF.

"Well, Clancy, your case is on the Day Calendar, and is likely to be
reached this week."

"'Tis thankful Oi am, Sorr."

Michael Clancy's two hundredweight of flesh and bones rested in my most
reliable office chair, and Michael Clancy's huge hands were clasped over
his capacious stomach, while his outstretched legs were crossed in a
settled attitude.

Clancy had been entrusted to me by a sympathetic House Physician of an
up-town hospital. The story made a "negligence case."

I had taken up the matter merely out of good nature, but the old man was
a character, and I soon became interested in his personality.

For two years he had been a regular visitor at my office, ostensibly to
make inquiries as to the progress of his law suit, but really, I think,
for social recreation. A litigation does not advance very rapidly in a
New York Court for the first two years, and he knew this at the outset,
but his calls were made with a regularity which suggested routine. If he
chanced to come in while I was busy he never interrupted, but sat in the
outer offices chatting with the clerks until such time as he judged his
social duty had been discharged.

Clancy's confidence in me was certainly gratifying, but it took the form
of completely transferring to my shoulders all responsibility for the
case. His attitude toward it was that of a friend interested but not
especially involved in the outcome. Whenever he referred to it, which
was not often, he spoke of it as "yur kase," as though he had washed his
hands of it but wished me well. There was no question about his
gratitude, but his idea of expressing this was to put himself wholly in
my care and give as little trouble as possible.

I once thought that the possession of another's confidence was a proper
matter for self-congratulation, but I have never felt quite the same
about this since I finished Clancy's case.

Michael's injuries had completely incapacitated him for work and his
massive frame had taken on flesh until the ponderous body made his head
appear ridiculously small. His clean-shaven face was round, his eyes
were almost tiny