es," said Jones, "I reckon it is."

They talked, the gentleman with the barometer passing from the weather
to politics, from politics to high finance, from high finance to
himself. He had been a solicitor.

"Disbarred, as you see, for nothing, but what a hundred men are doing at
the present moment. There's no justice in the world, except maybe in the
Law Courts. I'm not one of those who think the Law is an ass, no,
there's a great deal of common sense in the Law of England. I'm not
talking of the Incorporated Law Society that shut me out from a living,
for a slip any man might make. I'm talking of the old Laws of England as
administered by his Majesty's Judges; study them, and you will be
astonished at their straight common-sense and justice. I'm not holding
any brief for lawyers--I'm frank, you see--the business of lawyers is to
wriggle round and circumvent the truth, to muddy evidence, confuse
witnesses and undo justice. I'm just talking of the laws."

"Do you know anything of the laws of lunacy?" asked Jones.

"Something."

"I had a friend who was supposed to be suffering from mind trouble, two
doctors doped him and put him away in an asylum--he was quite harmless."

"What do you mean by doped him?" asked the other.

"Gave him a drug to quiet him, and then took him off in an automobile."

"Was there money involved?"

"You may say there was. He was worth a million."

"Anyone to benefit by his being put away?"

"Well, I expect one might make out a case of that; the family would have
the handling of the million, wouldn't they?"

"It all depends--but there's one thing certain, there'd be a thundering
law case for any clever solicitor to handle if the plaintiff were not
too far gone in his mind to plead. Anyhow, the drugging is out of
order--whole thing sounds fishy."

"Suppose he escaped," said Jones. "Could they take him back by force?"

"That's a difficult question to answer. If he were cutting up shines it
would be easy, but if he were clever enough to pretend to be sane it
might be difficult. You see, he would have to be arrested, no man can go
up and seize another man in the street and say: You're mad, come along
with me, simply because, even if he holds a certificate of lunacy
against the other man the other man might say you've made a mistake, I'm
not the person you want. Then it would be a question of swearing before
a magistrate. The good old Laws of England are very strict about the
freedom of t