n hoping you might come. We are in trouble and think you are
the man to help us set matters right," said the lawyer.

"What is it?" laughed Father Orin. "I don't know anything about law."

The lawyer laughed too. "Well, you see, Father, it isn't law exactly.
That is, not the kind of law that I know. That's just where you come in.
It's this way. My client here has won a suit. He was bound to win it and
I told him so before it came to trial. The law was clear enough. But you
see, Father, law isn't always justice. You can keep within the law and
do mighty mean things. And my client here doesn't want to do anything
that isn't right. He, as you know, is a clean, straight man. He has
scruples about the rights that this decision gives him. It's a knotty
question. The other man thinks that he is being cheated, and my client
isn't quite sure himself. I didn't know what to advise in such a case. I
could tell him what the law of the land and the court--of this
court--was, and I have told him. But I couldn't tell him anything about
the law of that other land or that Higher Court. I don't know any more
about those than you know about my laws and my court. And so we have
decided to ask you, to leave the whole dispute to you, and the other man
has agreed to let you decide it. He is a Protestant, as I am, but that
has nothing to do with this business. We are all perfectly willing to
leave it to you; we will all abide by your decision without another
word."

Father Orin hesitated. "I don't know that I can see any more clearly
than the rest of you. Well, call the other man," he then said. "We can
try to find out what is right, anyway. We can't go far wrong if we do
our best to treat the other man as we should like him to treat us. Come
over here where we will be more to ourselves, and fetch the other man."

The judge was too busy to notice the consultation, but after a while he
saw the four men leaving the court room together, with quiet, smiling
faces. They all stopped for a moment in the doorway to allow Father Orin
to shake hands with Peter Cartwright. The young preacher had been
delayed on his way, and was just now entering the court-house. He did
not smile when the priest said something which made the others laugh.
His square jaw was grimly set, and his fiery black eyes looked over the
heads of the crowd at the tall figure of General Jackson which towered
above every one else in the court room, with the exception of the
attorney-