out the
streets looking for a place to hang my hat, and I already had
schemes in mind whereby I was soon to become rich.

My associates in the office were all scholarly, respectable young
men, most of them law-school graduates and scions of well-known
families, and I was not insensible to the advantage to me that my
connection with them might be later on. It was essential that I
should impress them and the firm with my seriousness of purpose,
and so I made it a point, unpleasant as I found it, to be on hand
at the office every morning promptly at eight-thirty o'clock, ready
to arrange papers or serve them, and to be of any assistance, no
matter how menial, to Mr. Spruggins, whose sense of dignity I took
pains to flatter in every way possible. In the afternoon, however,
I slipped away on the pretext of having to go uptown to study, but
in point of fact in order to earn enough money to pay for my board
and lodging.

I had been cogitating several ideas since I had visited Gottlieb,
and the one that appealed to me the most was that of procuring of
business for other lawyers upon a percentage basis. I reasoned
that there must be several hundred thousand people in the city who
had no acquaintance with lawyers and would be as ready to consult
one as another. Reputable lawyers did not advertise, to be sure,
but I was not yet a lawyer, and hence many courses were open to me
at this stage in my career that would be closed later on. I had
considerable confidence in my own persuasive ability and felt that
it was only a question of time before I could drum up a substantial
amount of business. Accordingly I had a few cards neatly printed
on glossed board reading:

MR. ARTEMAS QUIBBLE
BROADWAY
OF
HAIGHT & FOSTER Contracts
ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW Mortgages
10 WALL STREET Tax Matters
NEW YORK CITY General Advice

The Haight & Foster end of the card was done in very heavy type,
while my own name was comparatively inconspicuous. Further to
assist my plans I rented a tiny office not far from Madison Square
for the sum of two dollars per week and furnished it with a table,
two chairs, and an inkpot. The door bore the inscription:

OFFICE OF
ARTEMAS QUIBBLE, ESQ.
COUNSELLOR

The reader will observe that not being authorized as yet to practice
as an attorney I was scrupulous not to hold myself out as one.
"Counsellor" might mean anything. Certainly I had the right to
give c