Perhaps the most curious result of the Meader case to be remarked in passing, was upon Mr. Hamilton Tooting. Austen, except when he fled to the hills, was usually the last to leave the office, Mr. Tooting often the first. But one evening Mr. Tooting waited until the force had gone, and entered Austen's room with his hand outstretched. "Put her there, Aust," he said. Austen put her there. "I've been exercisin' my thinker some the last few months," observed Mr. Tooting, seating himself on the desk. "Aren't you afraid of nervous prostration, Ham?" "Say," exclaimed Mr. Tooting, with a vexed laugh, "why are you always jollying me? You ain't any older than I am." "I'm not as old, Ham. I don't begin to have your knowledge of the world." "Come off," said Mr. Tooting, who didn't know exactly how to take this compliment. "I came in here to have a serious talk. I've been thinking it over, and I don't know but what you did right." "Well, Ham, if you don't know, I don't know how I am to convince you." "Hold on. Don't go twistin' around that way--you make me dizzy." He lowered his voice confidentially, although there was no one within five walls of them. "I know the difference between a gold brick and a government bond, anyhow. I believe bucking the railroad's going to pay in a year or so. I got on to it as soon as you did, I guess, but when a feller's worn the collar as long as I have and has to live, it ain't easy to cut loose--you understand." "I understand," answered Austen, gravely. "I thought I'd let you know I didn't take any too much trouble with Meader last summer to get the old bird to accept a compromise." "That was good of you, Ham." "I knew what you was up to," said Mr. Tooting, giving Austen a friendly poke with his cigar. "You showed your usual acumen, Mr. Tooting," said Austen, as he rose to put on his coat. Mr. Tooting regarded him uneasily. "You're a deep one, Aust," he declared; "some day you and, me must get together." Mr. Billings' desire for ultimate justice not being any stronger than Austen suspected, in due time Mr. Meader got his money. His counsel would have none of it,--a decision not at all practical, and on the whole disappointing. There was, to be sure, an influx into Austen's office of people who had been run over in the past, and it was Austen's unhappy duty to point out to these that they had signed (at the request of various Mr. Tootings) little slips of paper which are technically known as releases. But the first hint of a really material advantage to be derived from his case against the railroad came from a wholly unexpected source, in the shape of a letter in the mail one August morning. "DEAR SIR: Having remarked with some interest the verdict for a client of yours against the United Northeastern Railroads, I wish you would call and see me at your earliest convenience. "Yours truly, "HUMPHREY CREWE."