“The court is with you there, Brother Pitman,” said Michael.
“In the second,” continued the other, “it is plainly my duty to leave no stone unturned for the recovery of the lost antique.”
“My dear fellow, Semitopolis has come down like a trump; he has pocketed the loss and left you the profit. What more would you have?” inquired the lawyer.
“I conceive, sir, under correction, that Mr. Semitopolis’s generosity binds me to even greater exertion,” said the drawing-master. “The whole business was unfortunate; it was—I need not disguise it from you—it was illegal from the first: the more reason that I should try to behave like a gentleman,” concluded Pitman, flushing.
“I have nothing to say to that,” returned the lawyer. “I have sometimes thought I should like to try to behave like a gentleman myself; only it’s such a one-sided business, with the world and the legal profession as they are.”
“Then, in the third,” resumed the drawing-master, “if it’s Uncle Tim, of course, our fortune’s made.”
“It’s not Uncle Tim, though,” said the lawyer.
“Have you observed that very remarkable expression: Something to his advantage?” inquired Pitman shrewdly.
“You innocent mutton,” said Michael, “it’s the seediest commonplace in the English language, and only proves the advertiser is an ass. Let me demolish your house of cards for you at once. Would Uncle Tim make that blunder in your name?—in itself, the blunder is delicious, a huge improvement on the gross reality, and I mean to adopt it in the future; but is it like Uncle Tim?”