It was almost eight before he got the draft finished to his satisfaction, and I had picked it out on the typewriter. As I handed it to him, my chief held it a moment, gazing at me with an odd smile.
"You seem to have acquired a good deal of useful knowledge, here and there, Hugh," he observed.
"I've tried to keep my eyes open, Mr. Watling," I said.
"Well," he said, "there are a great many things a young man practising law in these days has to learn for himself. And if I hadn't given you credit for some cleverness, I shouldn't have wanted you here. There's only one way to look at—at these matters we have been discussing, my boy, that's the common-sense way, and if a man doesn't get that point of view by himself, nobody can teach it to him. I needn't enlarge upon it"
"No, sir," I said.
He smiled again, but immediately became serious.
"If Mr. Gorse should approve of this bill, I'm going to send you down to the capital—to-night. Can you go?"
I nodded.
"I want you to look out for the bill in the legislature. Of course there won't be much to do, except to stand by, but you will get a better idea of what goes on down there."
I thanked him, and told him I would do my best.