“Yes, yes, there is; but I don't see how it's to be done. Would it be possible to have a talk with him on the matter--informally, of course?” “That would betray me, and he would never forgive my having told you his opinion already,” said Sewell. “No, that is out of the question; but if you would confide to me the points you want his judgment on, I 'd manage to obtain it.” Pemberton seemed to reflect over this, and walked along some paces in silence. “He mentioned a curious thing,” said Sewell, laughingly; “he said that in Emmett's affair there were three or four men compromised, whom the Government were very unwilling to bring to trial, and that they actually provided the bail for them,--secretly, of course,--and indemnified the men for their losses on the forfeiture.” “It couldn't be done now,” said Pemberton. “That's what the Chief said. They could n't do it now, for they have not got M'Nally,--whoever M'Nally was.” Pemberton colored crimson, for M'Nally was the name of the Solicitor-General of that day, and he knew well that the sarcasm was in the comparison between that clever lawyer and himself. “What I meant was, that Crown lawyers have a very different public to account to in the present day from what they had in those lawless times,” said Pemberton, with irritation. “I 'm afraid the Chief Baron, with all his learning and all his wit, likes to go back to that period for every one of his illustrations. You heard how he capped the Archbishop's allusion to the Prodigal Son to-day?--I don't think his Grace liked it--that it requires more tact to provide an escape for a criminal than to prosecute a guilty man to conviction.” “That's so like him!” said Sewell, with a bitter laugh. “Perhaps the great charm that attaches him to public life is to be able to utter his flippant impertinences _ex cathedra_. If you could hit upon some position from which he could fulminate his bolts of sarcasm with effect, I fancy he 'd not object to resign the Bench. I heard him once say, 'I cannot go to church without a transgression, for I envy the preacher, who has the congregation at his mercy for an hour.'” “Ah, he 'll not resign,” sighed Pemberton, deeply. “_I_ don't know that.” “At least he 'll not do so on any terms they 'll make with him.” “Nor am I so sure of that,” repeated the other, gravely. Sewell waited for some rejoinder to this speech, of which he hoped his companion would ask the explanation; but the cautious lawyer said not a word.