“And with a refresher, sir?” said the solicitor, dropping the patronising air for one of increased respect.
“And with a refresher, sir,” replied the young barrister.
Mr Swift glanced from him to the brief he had been studying and back.
“Why, you are not in Regina versus Finlayson, sir?” he said. “Morley and Shorter told me that they had given the brief to some one, endorsed fifty.”
“I am the humble individual, Mr Swift,” said Luke, who in his calm, grave way seemed to be amused.
Without another word the solicitor snatched up the quill, dipped it, and dashing out the twenty-live guineas, rapidly wrote above it “50 gs.”
“There, sir,” he said, blotting it with a bang upon the writing-table, “we must have you, sir. We want to have you, Mr Ross. You will take this for us—it’s for the prosecution, sir,—a most important case. It is, really, sir.”
“It is astonishing how often the case is most important in the eyes of the firm of solicitors, and how very ordinary it turns out, Mr Swift, when it comes into court. But there, Mr Swift, I’ll do my best for your client,” and he rose.
The solicitor took the hint, and picked up his hat and blue bag.
“Thank you, Mr Ross; thank you, sir. I am very, very glad. Our first brief, Mr Ross. The first, sir, of many. Good morning.”