The lawyer stared. "Do you mean to say that you have paid out of the estate the fees--undoubtedly exorbitant--of these lawyers for the ten years' fiddling they have been--" "My doctor's name is Fiddler, sir," interrupted Mr. Bingle, looking so hard into Mr. Hoskins' eyes that once more the interruption passed unresented. "I have paid them all in full, if that's what you are trying to get at." "Don't you know that such an act is distinctly illegal?" demanded Mr. Hoskins. "So my lawyers informed me." "And yet they permitted you to hand over to them large sums of money in the nature of fees without waiting for an order of the Court, knowing full well that an opinion had been handed down? It is incomprehensible!" "It shouldn't be incomprehensible to you, Judge Hoskins," said Mr. Bingle gently. "You are a lawyer yourself." "Am I to infer that you--What do you mean, sir?" "I leave that entirely to you, sir." Mr. Hoskins coughed, although there was nothing to indicate that it was necessary. "It is possible, sir, for my clients to bring suit against you for a full accounting of all monies that you have expended or misused in--" "I wouldn't say that, if I were you, Judge Hoskins." "I beg your pardon, Mr. Bingle. For all monies that belong or have belonged to the estate of their father. I say it is possible for them to do so--but not likely. You should not forget that this estate virtually has been held in trust by you for all these years, pending the final decision--a point agreed upon by my clients and yourself in the desire to increase the value of--" "If they feel inclined to bring such a suit, Mr. Hoskins, I shall not combat it," said Mr. Bingle drily. "They may take judgment by default. They are used to waiting by this time, so it won't be anything new for them to wait a million years for what they'd get if they sued me. By carefully hoarding a couple of dollars a year for a million years, I fancy I could in the end be able to take care of the judgment. But it hardly seems worth while, does it? It is barely possible that your clients might die before that time is up, even though I should survive." "I fear that you do not realise that this is no joking matter, Mr. Bingle," said Mr. Hoskins stiffly. He was not quite so pompous as when he entered the house. "I fear that you did not realise it either, Mr. Hoskins, when you spoke of suing me." "Ahem! And now, sir, when may we arrange for a conference over the transfer of all properties now in your hands, or under your control, as coming from the estate of the late Joseph Hooper?"