“Damnable, sir. I am too old, in the first place, to like change. Then change from bad to worse is adding folly to imbecility. The Common Law practice had its faults, I allow; but this new system has no merits.”
“I do not go as far as that; and I rather begin to like the new plan of remuneration. We are nothing out of pocket, and sometimes are a handsome sum in. You defend Mary Monson?”
Timms felt assured that his old antagonist had now reached the case that had really brought him to the room. He fidgeted, looked eagerly round to see that no stray paper could fall beneath the hawk-like eye of the other party, and then sat in comparative composure, waiting the result.
“I do,” Dunscomb quietly replied; “and I shall do it con amore—I suppose you know what that means, Mr. Williams?”
A sarcastic smile passed over the steeled countenance of the other, his appearance being literally sardonic for an instant.
“I presume I do. We know enough Latin in Duke’s to get along with such a quotation; though our friend Timms here despises the classics. ‘Con amore’ means, in this instance, a ‘lover’s zeal,’ I suppose; for they tell me that all who approach the criminal submits to her power to charm.”
“The accused, if you please,” put in the opposing attorney; “but no criminal, until the word ‘guilty’ has been pronounced.”
“I am convicted. They say you are to be the happy man, Timms, in the event of an acquittal. It is reported all over the county, that you are to become Mr. Monson as a reward for your services; and if half that I hear be true, you will deserve her, with a good estate in the bargain.”
Here Williams laughed heartily at his own wit; but Dunscomb looked grave, while his associate counsel looked angry. In point of fact the nail had been hit on the head; and consciousness lighted the spirit within, with its calm, mild glow. The senior counsel was too proud, and too dignified, to make any reply; but Timms was troubled with no such feeling.
“If there are any such rumours in old Duke’s,” retorted the last, “it will not need mesmerism to discover their author. In my opinion, the people ought to carry on their suits in a spirit of liberality and justice; and not in a vindictive, malicious temper.”