“I trust, sir, that our humble fortunes have not taught us to forget the duties of Christianity,” was the calm reply.
“Much, indeed, to pardon,” continued he, “but far less, my Lady, than is laid to our charge. Lawyers and attorneys make many a thing a cause of bitterness that a few words of kindness would have settled. And what two men of honest intentions could arrange amicably iu five minutes is often worked up into a tedious lawsuit, or a ruinous inquiry in Chancery. So it is!”
“I have no experience in these affairs, sir, but I conclude your remarks are quite correct.”
“Faith you may believe them, my Lady, like the Bible; and yet, knowing these fellows so well, having dealings with them since—since—oh, God knows how long—upon my life, they beat me entirely after all. 'T is like taking a walk with a quarrelsome dog; devil a cur he sees but he sets on him, and gets you into a scrape at every step you go! That 's what an attorney does for you. Take out a writ against that fellow, process this one, distrain the other, get an injunction here, apply for a rule there. Oh dear! oh dear! I 'm weary of it for law! All the bitterness it has given me in my life long, all the sorrow and affliction it costs me now.” He wiped his eyes as he concluded, and seemed as if overcome by grief.
“It must needs be a sorry source of reparation, sir,” rejoined Lady Eleanor, with a calm, steady tone, “when even those so eminently successful can see nothing but affliction in their triumphs.”
“Don't call them triumphs, my Lady; that's not the name to give them. I never thought them such.”
“I 'm glad to hear it, sir,—glad to know that you have laid up such store of pleasant memories for seasons like the present.”
“There was that proceeding, for instance, in December last. Now would you believe it, my Lady, Bob and I never knew a syllable about it till it was all over. You don't know what I 'm speaking of; I mean the writ against the Knight.”
“Really, Dr. Hickman, I must interrupt you; however gratifying to me to hear that you stand exculpated for any ungenerous conduct towards my husband, the pleasure of knowing it is more than counterbalanced by the great pain the topic inflicts upon me.”
“But I want to clear myself, my Lady; I want you to think of us a little more favorably than late events may have disposed you.”