ngs were of value. And, indeed, he was prone to disbelieve them,
because they ran counter to a conviction which had already been
made in his own heart, and had been extensively acted on by him.
Nevertheless he resolved that even Aby's letter deserved attention,
and that it should receive that attention early on the following
morning.

And thus he had sat for the three hours after dinner, chatting
comfortably with his young friend, and holding this letter in his
pocket. Had he shown it to Herbert, or spoken of it, he would have
utterly disturbed the equilibrium of the embryo law student, and
rendered his entrance in Mr. Die's chambers absolutely futile. "Ten
will not be too early for you," he had said. "Mr. Die is always in
his room by that hour." Herbert had of course declared that ten would
not be at all too early for him; and Mr. Prendergast had observed
that after leaving Mr. Die's chambers, he himself would go on to the
City. He might have said beyond the City, for his intended expedition
was to Spinny Lane, at St. Botolph's in the East.

When Herbert was gone he sat musing over his fire with Aby's letter
still in his hand. A lawyer has always a sort of affection for a
scoundrel,--such affection as a hunting man has for a fox. He loves
to watch the skill and dodges of the animal, to study the wiles by
which he lives, and to circumvent them by wiles of his own, still
more wily. It is his glory to run the beast down; but then he would
not for worlds run him down, except in conformity with certain laws,
fixed by old custom for the guidance of men in such sports. And the
two-legged vermin is adapted for pursuit as is the fox with four
legs. He is an unclean animal, leaving a scent upon his trail, which
the nose of your acute law hound can pick up over almost any ground.
And the more wily the beast is, the longer he can run, the more
trouble he can give in the pursuit, the longer he can stand up before
a pack of legal hounds, the better does the forensic sportsman love
and value him. There are foxes of so excellent a nature, so keen in
their dodges, so perfect in their cunning, so skilful in evasion,
that a sportsman cannot find it in his heart to push them to their
destruction unless the field be very large so that many eyes are
looking on. And the feeling is I think the same with lawyers.

Mr. Prendergast had always felt a tenderness towards the Molletts,
father and son,--a tenderness which would by no means have pr