"I am looking," stammered the southerner, "for one Randolph Mason, an attorney-at-law."
"I am Randolph Mason," said the man, thrusting the silver candlestick out before him. "Who are you, sir?"
"My name is Allen," answered the southerner, "Moseby Allen, of Gullmore county, West Virginia."
"A Virginian," said Mason, "what evil circumstance brings you here?"
Then Allen remembered the instructions which Parks had given him so minutely. He took off his hat and passed his hand across his forehead. "Well," he said, "I suppose the same thing that brings the others. We get in and plunge along just as far as we can. Then Fate shuts down the lid of her trap, and we have either to drop off the bridge or come here."
"Come in," said Mason. Then he turned abruptly and walked down the hall-way. The southerner followed, impressed by this man's individuality. Allen had pushed his way through life with bluff and bluster, and like that one in the scriptural writings, "neither feared God nor regarded man." His unlimited assurance had never failed him before any of high or low degree, and to be impressed with the power of any man was to him strange and uncomfortable.
Mason turned into his library and placed the candlestick on a table in the centre of the floor. Then he drew up two chairs and sat down in one of them motioning Allen to the other on the opposite side of the table. The room was long and empty, except for the rows of heavy book-cases standing back in the darkness. The floor was bare, and there was no furniture of any kind whatever, except the great table and the ancient high-back chairs. There was no light but the candle standing high in its silver candlestick.
"Sir," said Mason, when the Virginian had seated himself, "which do you seek to evade, punishment or dishonor?"
The Virginian turned round, put his elbows on the table, and looked squarely across at his questioner. "I am not fool enough to care for the bark," he answered, "provided the dog's teeth are muzzled."
"It is well," said Mason, slowly, "there is often difficulty in dealing with double problems, where both disgrace and punishment are sought to be evaded. Where there is but one difficulty to face, it can usually be handled with ease. What others are involved in your matter?"