The Confessions of Artemas Quibble: Being the Ingenuous and Unvarnished History of Artemas Quibble, Esquire, One-Time Practitioner in the New York Criminal Courts, Together with an Account of the Divers Wiles, Tricks, Sophistries, Technicalities, and Sundry Artifices of Himself and Others of the Fraternity, Commonly Yclept "Shysters" or "Shyster Lawyers"Train, Arthur Cheney
General
The Confessions of Artemas Quibble: Being the Ingenuous and Unvarnished History of Artemas Quibble, Esquire, One-Time Practitioner in the New York Criminal Courts, Together with an Account of the Divers Wiles, Tricks, Sophistries, Technicalities, and Sundry Artifices of Himself and Others of the Fraternity, Commonly Yclept "Shysters" or "Shyster Lawyers"
Train, Arthur Cheney
Attorney and client -- Fiction; Legal stories; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction
"My gay young man," he remarked finally, "the only position you
occupy is one into which you have deliberately walked yourself.
You come here in your fine clothes and your beaver hat and--excuse
me--your whiskers, and you are surprised that there is no money
forthcoming to pay your debts. Do not look astonished. I know
and have known for a long time of your debts. I have followed your
career with attention if not with edification. Even for the son
of a Baptist minister you have done pretty well. However, life is
life and everybody is not the same. I sha'n't judge you. I was
a bit of a dog myself, although I don't look it now. But I can
give you no more money for game-cocks and cigars. It is time for
you to start in and earn your own living--if you can. At the end
of the term I will give you fifty dollars and a ticket to New York,
or one hundred dollars and no ticket to anywhere. You will have
to kick out for yourself. So fine a fellow," he added, "ought not
to find it hard to get along. No doubt you could find some rich
girl to marry you and support you in idleness."
I flushed with anger and sprang to my feet.
"I did not come here to be insulted!" I cried furiously.
Old Mr. Toddleham chuckled apologetically.
"Tut, tut! No offence. You won't find earning your living such
an easy matter. Have you thought anything about what you'll do?"
"No," I answered, still indignant.
"How much do you owe?"
"About forty-eight hundred dollars."
"Damme!" muttered Mr. Tuckerman Toddleham. "More than you could
earn in the first five years at the law!"
"See here," I interrupted, "do you seriously mean that except for
fifty dollars or so there is nothing coming to me out of my
grandfather's estate? Why, he was worth over a million!"
"That is exactly what I mean," he returned. "He left you nothing
except an allowance for your education during your good behavior.
He made me the judge. I'm your trustee and I can't conscientiously
let you have any more money to drink up and gamble with. It's over
and done with." He rapped with an air of finality on his desk with
the little bronze horse.
"Who gets all the money?" I asked ruefully.
"The Society for the Propagation of Free Thinking," he answered,
eyeing me sharply.
"I should think anything like that ought to be contrary to law!"
I retorted. "It ought to be a crime to encourage atheism."
"It's a good devise under our statutes!" he answered dryly. "I
suppose your own faith is beautiful enough, eh?"
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