Just as simple as that. Helen Bryant tossed Harker a glance of molten hatred and flounced out, followed by her younger brothers and sisters. Auerbach leaned forward from his bench and said to Harker, "I'm glad _that's_ over with. One more delaying injunction--" "There wouldn't have been one, Tom. They just were waiting for old Bryant to kick off. Jonathan didn't want to give him the satisfaction of winning while he was alive." Auerbach shrugged. "They really didn't have a claim to the money. Were they just trying to make trouble?" Harker nodded. "Trouble's their specialty, Tom." "Well, you're through with having trouble with the Bryants now, I guess." Harker shook his head slowly. "No," he said. "Not by a long shot." * * * * * He rode uptown from the courthouse and stopped off at his law office for the first time in a week. The girls in the outer office stared at him strangely, as if he had undergone some frightening apotheosis and was no longer just the firm's newest partner. He crossed left and rapped on Bill Kelly's door. The plump lawyer smiled at him as he entered, but without much warmth. "Morning, Jim. Long time no see." "I've been busy." "I know. I know all about it." Harker ignored Kelly's tone and said, "I've just come from the Bryant hearing. Thought I'd let you know that it's over. Poof: fifteen minutes!" "The will was upheld?" "What else? It was just a case of willful petty obstruction on the part of the Bryant family. They're mean, twisted people, Bill. They've lived all their lives in the shadow of one great man--Rick Bryant--and I guess they chose this time to show him and everyone else just what Great Big Important Persons they really were." He scowled. There was a pained expression on Kelly's face that seemed to have nothing to do with the Bryant affair. Slowly Kelly said, "Jim, this completes all the current work you're doing here, isn't that right?" Harker nodded. "I turned over the Fuller and Heidell cases to Portobello. That was to leave me clear for--" "Yes. I know." Kelly's face reddened even more than normally, and he squirmed wretchedly in his inflated pneumatic desk-chair. "I've been following the papers, Jim. I've been following the whole thing." "I warned you it was hot." "I know. I didn't know how hot it was, though. Jim, this hurts me," Kelly said. "I'm going to ask a favor of you. It's a lousy thing to ask, because it shows I don't have guts or the courage of your convictions or something along those lines. But--" Harker said, "I'll spare you the trouble of putting it into words. The answer is yes. If you think my presence on your firm letterhead will hurt the firm, Bill, I'll resign."