“Yes’m,” he answered in the tone and manner of a naughty small boy. He rolled his head towards the lawyer. “I owe you an apology for losing my temper.”
“Never mind, my boy,” said Hezekiah, who had viewed the calming of the storm with relief. “A gale clears the atmosphere. Plain speaking begets clear understanding.” Resuming his glasses, the lawyer regarded the youth with great friendliness, and, after a moment, deemed it safe to go on. “You expressed yourself so–ah–” (he sought for an inoffensive term) “with such certainty of feeling that I assume that you have determined upon some measure of adjustment yourself.”
Again Joe Curtis’s eyes flashed. “There can be no adjustment between Obadiah Dale and me,” he answered coldly.
“No?” Hezekiah’s regret had the ring of sincerity. “In a friendly spirit towards you, my boy,” he urged, “I would advise against the development of an hostile feeling towards Mr. Dale. He had no more to do with that accident than the man in the moon.”
“I know it,” admitted Joe.
“The institution of an action at law is an expensive proceeding. As a lawyer I warn you that the outcome would be extremely uncertain. Who can tell what a jury will do?” Hezekiah shook his head solemnly, thereby registering his grave doubts of the action of twelve men good and true.
“Institute an action,” repeated Joe, his eyes dancing with mischief. “Say, Uncle, when I sue that old skate, it sure is going to be some case.”
Hezekiah waxed indignant. This may have been due either to Joe’s intimation of relationship to himself or to the opprobrious designation of his client as an old skate. “Don’t mislead yourself,” he exclaimed peevishly. “You will be thrown out of court.”
Joe ruffled visibly. “Who is going to throw me out of court?” he demanded. “Obadiah Dale?” Another idea struck him. He gave the lawyer a most threatening and pugnacious glance. “Maybe you think you can do it?”
Hezekiah’s amazement at the suspicion that either he or his client contemplated physical violence upon this young giant, swathed in bandages, was extreme. “Gorry diamonds, you must be crazy,” he gasped, and then the other’s point of view came to him. He burst into a big booming peal of honest amusement, an infectious laugh which brought instant peace. “My friend,” he chuckled, “you misunderstand me. I attempted to suggest that in view of the evidence which I can produce, a court would refuse to consider your claim.”