“Do you really mean it?” he asked, incredulously.
“What has he done?”
“The note had been paid years ago, and he wanted to get it paid over again, and asked me to help him,” said the lawyer, with virtuous indignation.
“Then he can’t collect pay?” asked Herbert.
“Of course he can’t. How many times do you think a man is bound to pay a note?”
Herbert was not pleased with the way things had turned out, and he was puzzled at the remarkable change which had taken place in his father.
“Then I suppose,” he said, “you won’t get anything for what you have done in the matter?”
The lawyer’s eyes flashed. Here, at least, was a chance to get even with the old cheat, as he now denominated Mr. Starr. The next morning he sent a bill to Joshua Starr for professional services, setting the sum at fifteen dollars. This quickly brought the old man around to his office, in terrible dismay.
“You ain’t in earnest, squire?” he said.