I am sure that it was the most singular situation in which a lawyer was ever consulted. My client's high character had commanded the love and confidence of all who knew him well, and this love and confidence were pushing him into danger. His own character was the wood of the cross on which he was being crucified.
That week I appeared for Norris in a case of some importance in New York. One day in court a letter was put in my hands from the editor of a great newspaper. It requested that I should call upon him that day or appoint an hour when he could see me at my hotel. I went to his office.
“Is it true that Norris is to be our new minister to—?” he asked.
“It is not true,” I said.
“Is it true that he served a term in an Illinois prison?”
“Why do you ask?”
“For the reason that a story to that effect is now in this office.”
It was a critical moment, and I did not know how to behave myself.
“I mean that a man has submitted the story—he wishes to sell it,” he added.
“Forgive me if I speak a piece to you,” I said. “It will be short and to the point.”