About eight that evening, Dunscomb and Timms were busy, looking over minutes of testimony, briefs, and other written documents that were connected with the approaching trial. Mrs. Horton had reserved the best room in her house for this distinguished counsel; an apartment in a wing that was a good deal removed from the noise and bustle of a leading inn, during a circuit. Here Dunscomb had been duly installed, and here he early set up “his traps,” as he termed his flesh-brushes, sponges, briefs, and calfskin-covered volumes. Two tallow candles threw a dim, lawyer-like light on the scene; while unrolled paper-curtains shut out as much of night as such an imperfect screen would exclude. The odour of segars—excellent Havannas, by the way—was fragrant in the place; and one of the little fountains of smoke was stuck knowingly in a corner of the eminent counsel’s mouth, while Timms had garnished his skinny lips with the short stump of a pipe. Neither said anything; one of the parties presenting documents that the other read in silence. Such was the state of matters, when a slight tap at the door was succeeded by the unexpected appearance of “saucy Williams.” Timms started, gathered together all his papers with the utmost care, and awaited the explanation of this unlooked-for visit with the most lively curiosity. Dunscomb, on the other hand, received his guest with urbanity, and like one who felt that the wrangling of the bar, in which, by the way, he had too much self-respect and good temper to indulge, had no necessary connection with the courtesies of private life.
Williams had scarcely a claim superior to those of Timms, to be considered a gentleman; though he had the advantage of having been what is termed liberally educated—a phrase of very doubtful import, when put to the test of old-fashioned notions on such subjects. In manners, he had the defects, and we may add the merits, of the school in which he had been educated. All that has been said of Timms on this subject, in the way of censure, was equally applicable to Williams; but the last possessed a self-command, an admirable reliance on his own qualities, which would have fitted him, as regards this one quality, to be an emperor. Foreigners wonder at the self-possession of Americans in the presence of the great; and it is really one of the merits of the institutions that it causes every person to feel that he is a man, and entitled to receive the treatment due to a being so high in the scale of earthly creations. It is true, that this feeling often degenerates into a vulgar and over-sensitive jealousy, frequently rendering its possessor exacting and ridiculous; but, on the whole, the effect is manly, not to say ennobling.
Now, Williams was self-possessed by nature, as well as by association and education. Though keenly alive to the differences and chances of fortune, he never succumbed to mere rank and wealth. Intriguing by disposition, not to say by education, he could affect a deference he did not feel; but, apart from the positive consequences of power, he was not to be daunted by the presence of the most magnificent sovereign who ever reigned.[reigned.] No wonder, then, that he felt quite at home in the company of his present host; though fully aware that he was one of the leading members of the New York bar. As a proof of this independence may be cited the fact that he had no sooner paid his salutations and been invited to be seated, than he deliberately selected a segar from the open box of Dunscomb, lighted it, took a chair, raised one leg coolly on the corner of a table, and began to smoke.
“The calendar is a little crowded,” observed this free-and-easy visiter, “and is likely to carry us over into the middle of next week. Are you retained in Daniels against Fireman’s Insurance?”
“I am not—a brief was offered by the plaintiff, but I declined taking it.”
“A little conscientious, I suppose. Well, I leave all the sin of my suits on the shoulders of my clients. It is bad enough to listen to their griefs, without being called on to smart for them. I have heard you are in Cogswell against Davidson?”
“In that cause I have been retained. I may as well say, at once, we intend to move it on.”
“It’s of no great moment—if you beat us at the circuit, our turn will come on execution.”
“I believe, Mr. Williams, your clients have a knack at gaining the day in that mode. It is of no great interest to me, however, as I rarely take the management of a cause after it quits the courts.”
“How do you like the Code, brother Dunscomb?”