The Man of Last Resort; Or, The Clients of Randolph MasonPost, Melville Davisson
General
The Man of Last Resort; Or, The Clients of Randolph Mason
Post, Melville Davisson
American fiction -- 19th century; Detective and mystery stories, American; Legal stories, American
THE Governor's machine marched gravely out of the Circuit Court of the
United States and down the wide steps, the Major leading, the Executive
following second, and the Honorable Ambercrombie Hergan bringing up
the rear, every man as silent and as solemn as a Japanese diplomat. The
machine passed through the great arched doorway and directly across the
street to “The Happy Maria” saloon, an institution with a variegated
past. The machine filed in through the door and lined up before the bar
as mysteriously as a country delegation in a caucus.
The Bartender of “The Happy Maria” was a lame actor from St. Louis. When
he turned and beheld the solemn array, he stepped back and tapped his
forehead tragically with his fingers.
“Ha!” he muttered, “it is Ulfius and Brastias and Sir Bedivere.”
To this no response was made, except that the Major raised his hand and
pointed to the bottle of “Dougherty” reposing on the second shelf beside
the box of “scrap” and the proprietor's pistol-belt. The bartender
hurried forward, took down the bottle, placed three little glasses on
the bar and began to fill them. When he came to the third glass, he
paused and set down the bottle. A puzzled expression gathered on his
face. He thrust his forefinger into his mouth and began to lisp:
“Be there two or be there three
In our king's companee?”
The Major turned just in time to catch a glimpse of the Governor as he
vanished in a telegraph office next door; then he swung around toward
the barkeeper with the dramatic abandon of a professional at a benefit.
“Pour on, good seneschal,” he cried; “it is the man who would be
married. He hastens with glad tidings to the well beloved. He will
return.”
_(See the famous opinion of Henry St. George Tucker, President of the
Supreme Court of Virginia, in the leading case of Gallego's Executors
vs. Attorney General, 3 Leigh, 450; also the opinion of John Marshall,
Chief Justice of the United States, in the case of the Trustees of
the Philadelphia Baptist Association el at. vs. Hart's Executors, 4
Wheaton's U. S. Reports, 330; also Knox vs. Knox's Executors, 9 W. Va.,
125; 2y W. Va., 109, and cases cited.)_
MRS. VAN BARTON
I
ALL this,” said Randolph Mason,” is the veriest nonsense.”
The younger Mrs. Van Bartan straightened up in her chair and looked
sharply at the counsellor. She was a woman of magnificent presence,
with a great fleece of yellow hair, fine eyes, and regular, clear-cut
features.
“Do you mean that it is not the truth?” she asked.
“Half truth,” responded Mason.
“Then,” said the woman, smiling, “it is only half nonsense.”
“Madam,” said Randolph Mason, “if you desire my aid, you must explain
this entire matter. I do not choose to guess riddles.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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