."

Groton resumed his recital, and when at last his story reached the
Court of Appeals and the final discomforture of all his opponents he
turned indulgently to Norris.

"And now tell us, Norris, why you say there is no one politically
unimportant."

"I was thinking of an experience Jack Holcomb had a few years ago----"

"Yes?"

"You remember Jack Holcomb--don't you? No? Well, he practised here for
many years. He wasn't much of a lawyer, but he had the faculty of making
his clients believe he was, which is quite as effective. Barney McCarren
was introduced to him by some real-estate broker, and though any lawyer
could have accomplished what Holcomb did for McCarren, yet such was his
way of doing it that the man swore by him ever afterward.

"Barney McCarren was the proprietor of two or three little oyster-stands
in the lower part of the City. As may be imagined he was not a person of
any great wealth. He was of so little prominence in the down-town ward
where he had lived all his life, that even his immediate neighbours only
knew him as a quiet, self-supporting man, who devoted himself to his
family and interfered with no one.

"Well, McCarren came to Holcomb one day some years ago and said that a
judgment had been entered against him by the District Attorney's office
on a forfeited bail bond. It appeared that one of his neighbours had
been arrested for assault, and Barney, having a small piece of real
estate, became bail for him. When the case was called for trial,
however, the prisoner failed to appear, and consequently McCarren's
small property was in peril. High and low he searched for his principal,
but a month elapsed before Barney chanced upon the fellow. They saw one
another at the same moment, and instantly a chase began, which lasted
until the fugitive tripped on the Canal Street car tracks and McCarren
fell on top of him and hauled him to the nearest police station. A
little later the man was put on trial and acquitted, and at that stage
of the proceedings Barney sought Holcomb's aid. The matter was, of
course, a very simple one, and Holcomb assured his client he would have
the property cleared of the judgment forthwith. To this end he prepared
the proper papers, which, as you know, include a receipt from the
Sheriff showing payment of all the fees of that official.

"Holcomb therefore looked up the matter in the Code and found the proper
fee was fifty cents. Then he went to the Deputy in charge of