"The affidavits I have brought with me and the telegrams which are waiting at the station must convince MacFarlane that he has made a mistake. We shall prepare a motion for the discharge of the receiver and for the vacation of the order appointing him, and ask the judge to set an early day for the hearing on the merits of the case. He can't refuse." Hunnicott shook his head. "It has been all cut and dried from 'way back," he objected. "They won't let you upset it at the last moment." "We'll give them a run for their money," said Kent. "A good bit of it depends upon Perkins' speed as a stenographer." As it befell, Perkins did not prove a disappointment, and by five o'clock Kent was in the lobby of the Mid-Continent, sending his card up to the judge's room. Word came back that the judge was in the café fortifying the inner man in preparation for his journey, and Kent did not stand upon ceremony. From the archway of the dining-room he marked down his man at a small table in the corner, and went to him at once, plunging promptly into the matter in hand. "The exigencies of the case must plead my excuse for intruding upon you here, Judge MacFarlane," he began courteously. "But I have been told that you were leaving town----" The judge waved him down with a deprecatory fork. "Court is adjourned, Mr. Kent, and I must decline to discuss the case _ex parte_. Why did you allow it to go by default?" "That is precisely what I am here to explain," said Kent, suavely. "The time allowed us was very short; and a series of accidents----" Again the judge interrupted. "A court can hardly take cognizance of accidents, Mr. Kent. Your local attorney was on the ground and he had the full benefit of the delay." "I know," was the patient rejoinder. "Technically, your order is unassailable. None the less, a great injustice has been done, as we are prepared to prove. I am not here to ask you to reopen the case at your dinner-table, but if you will glance over these papers I am sure you will set an early day for the hearing upon the merits." Judge MacFarlane forced a gray smile. "You vote yea and nay in the same breath, Mr. Kent. If I should examine your papers, I should be reopening the case at my dinner-table. You shall have your hearing in due course." "At chambers?" said Kent. "We shall be ready at any moment; we are ready now, in point of fact." "I can not say as to that. My health is very precarious, and I am under a physician's orders to take a complete rest for a time. I am sorry if the delay shall work a hardship to the company you represent; but under the circumstances, with not even an affidavit offered by your side, it is your misfortune. And now I shall have to ask you to excuse me. It lacks but a few minutes of my train time."