‘Sir, have you been vaccinated?’ asked the client earnestly.
‘Really,’ said Merton, ‘I do not quite understand your interest in a matter so purely personal.’
‘Personal, sir? Not at all. It is the first of public duties—the debt that every man, woman, and child owes to his or her country. Have you been vaccinated, sir?’
‘Why, if you insist on knowing,’ said Merton, ‘I have, though I do not see—’
‘Recently?’ asked the visitor.
‘Yes, last month; but I cannot conjecture why—’
‘Enough, sir,’ said Mr. Warren. ‘I am a man of principle. Had you not done your duty in this matter by your country, I should have been compelled to seek some other practitioner in your line.’
‘I was not aware that my firm had any competitors in our line of business,’ said Merton. ‘But perhaps you have come here under some misapprehension. There is a firm of family solicitors on the floor above, and next them are the offices of a company interested in a patent explosive. If your affairs, or your political
ideas, demand a legal opinion, or an outlet in an explosive which is widely recommended by the Continental Press—’
‘For what do you take me, sir?’ asked Mr. Warren.