Reyburn himself opened the door to her, and treated her as if she had been a lady every inch, handing her a chair and speaking quite as if she were attired in sealskin and diamonds.
She looked him over with bright eyes of approval. Jane was a born sentimentalist, fed on the movies. Not for anything would she have had a knight rescue her lady fair who did not look the part. She was entirely satisfied with this one. In fact, she was almost tongue-tied with admiration for the moment.
Then she rallied to the speech she had prepared:
"Mr. Reyburn," she said, "I came to see you about a matter of very great importance. I heard you was a great lawyer, and I've got a friend that's in trouble. I thought mebbe you could do something about it. But first, I want to ast you a question, an' I want you to consider it perfectly confidential!"
Jane took great credit to herself that she had assembled all these words and memorized them so perfectly.
"Certainly!" said Reyburn gravely, wondering what kind of a customer he had now.
"I don't want you to think I can't pay for it," said Jane, laying down a five-dollar bill grandly. "I know you can't afford to waste your valuable time even to answer a question."
"Oh, that's all right," said Reyburn heartily. "Let me hear what the question is first. There may be no charge."
"No," said Jane hastily, laying the bill firmly on the desk before him. "I shan't feel right astin' unless I know it's to be paid for."
"Oh, very well," said Reyburn, taking the bill and laying it to one side. "Now, what is the question?"