“Didn’t he have no insurance?” asked the sympathetic Mrs. Crimmins, whose husband was a member of one of the fraternal organizations.
“Not when he died,” answered Mrs. Moffat. “Didn’t I say he was unlucky? He had insurance when it didn’t mean anything but paying out money, but there ain’t any when the time comes for getting it back.”
“They can’t take your money an’ not give you nothing for it,” declared Mrs. Crimmins.
“Sure they can!” said Mrs. Moffat.
“I say they can’t,” insisted Mrs. Crimmins. “There can’t nobody do that, if you got the sense to fight. There was a lawyer once told my man so.”
“Well, Tom paid the money, an’ it ain’t come back to me, has it?” demanded Mrs. Moffat, as if that settled the question.
“You ain’t tried to get it, that’s why!” retorted Mrs. Crimmins. “You go see a lawyer. He’ll make ’em pay, an’ he won’t charge you a cent if he don’t get the money. Some might, but I’ll tell you one that won’t.”
Mrs. Moffat was not in a position to overlook even a slight chance to get any money, especially if it cost nothing to make the attempt. She knew less about insurance than Mrs. Crimmins, and Mrs. Crimmins had only wild, weird, second-hand notions. Still, Mrs. Crimmins talked confidently, and Mrs. Moffat finally took the address of the lawyer recommended to her. This, of course, was a mistake—it would have been better to go direct to the insurance company. But the impression prevails in some quarters that insurance companies are ready to take advantage of any technicality to escape the payment of claims, and that a lawyer’s services are necessary to compel them to pay anything that can possibly be questioned. Some lawyers, for their own purposes, encourage this idea. Isaac Hinse, to whom Mrs. Moffat went, was one of this class.
“You did well to come to me,” he said pompously, as soon as she had stated her errand. “What chance has a woman, with no knowledge of the law, against a great corporation that has big lawyers engaged for the sole purpose of bulldozing or fooling the ignorant? Fortunately, I know how to deal with them. Now, where is this policy?”
“Tore up,” answered Mrs. Moffat.