It bore the legend “Pinchook, Pinchook & Becham, Solicitors, 119 Grey’s Inn.”
“I am Mr. Samson Pinchook,” he said, “and I have come out on behalf of the firm and our late client, Mr. Gordon Chetwynde—the Gordon Chetwynde—of course you’ve heard of him.” Mr. Pinchook coughed with a little air of importance, and settled his somewhat soiled and tumbled collar.
“No, I never heard of him,” said Varley Howard in his listless way. “Who was he, anyhow?”
“Dear me!” said Mr. Pinchook. “I should have thought all the world had heard of my famous client.”
“But this is out of the world,” said Varley Howard. “Why was he famous? What did he do?”
“Our late client, Mr. Gordon Chetwynde, amassed over two millions of money.” Mr. Pinchook made this announcement slowly and with due solemnity.
Varley Howard raised his eyebrows slightly, and proceeded to roll a cigarette with extreme care.
“I should have liked to have met him,” he said, dryly. He added, mentally: “And to have played cards with him.”
“He was a very wonderful man,” said Mr. Pinchook. “And an ornament to any society—”