Turning away from the agreeable picture his mind had conjured up, he entered the county clerk's office. He was already known to this official, whose name was Saul, and he now greeted him with a pleasant air of patronage. Mr. Saul removed his feet from the top of his desk and motioned his visitor to a chair; at the same time he hospitably thrust forward a square box filled with sawdust. It was plain he labored under the impression that the judge's call was of an unprofessional character.
“A little matter of business brings me here, sir,” began the judge, with a swelling chest and mellow accents. “No, sir, I'll not be seated—another time I'll share your leisure if I may—now I am in some haste to look up a title for my client, Mr. Norton.”
“What Norton?” asked Mr. Saul, when he had somewhat recovered from the effect of this announcement.
“Mr. Charles Norton, of Thicket Point,” said the judge.
“I reckon you mean that timber tract of old Joe Quaid's.” Mr. Saul viewed the judge's ruinous exterior with a glance of respectful awe, for clearly a man who could triumph over such a handicap must possess uncommon merit of some sort. “So you're looking after Charley Norton's business for him, are you?” he added.
“He's a client of mine. We have mutual friends, sir—I refer to Miss Malroy,” the judge vouchsafed to explain.
“You're naming our best people, sir, when you name the Malroys and the Nortons; they are pretty much in a class by themselves,” said Mr. Saul, whose awe of the judge was momentarily increasing.
“I don't underestimate the value of a social endorsement, sir, but I've never stood on that,” observed the judge. “I've come amongst you unheralded, but I expect you to find me out. Now, sir, if you'll be good enough, I'll glance at the record.”
Mr. Saul scrambled up out of the depths of his chair and exerted himself in the judge's behalf.
“This is what you want, sir. Better take the ledger to the window, the light in here ain't much.” He drew forward a chair as he spoke, and the judge, seating himself, began to polish his spectacles with great deliberation. He felt that he had reached a crisis in his career, and was disposed to linger over the hope that was springing up in his heart.