Project Gutenberg's ...Or Your Money Back, by Gordon Randall Garrett

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Title: ...Or Your Money Back

Author: Gordon Randall Garrett

Release Date: November 18, 2007 [EBook #23534]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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... OR YOUR MONEY BACK

BY DAVID GORDON

Illustrated by Summers

[Transcriber note: This etext was produced from Astounding Science
Fiction, September 1959. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence
that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

[Illustration: There are lots of things that are considered perfectly
acceptable ... provided they don't work. And of course everyone knows
they really don't, which is why they're acceptable.... ]

There are times when I don't know my own strength. Or, at least, the
strength of my advice. And the case of Jason Howley was certainly an
instance of one of those times.

When he came to my office with his gadget, I heard him out, trying to
appear both interested and co-operative--which is good business. But I
am forced to admit that neither Howley nor his gadget were very
impressive. He was a lean, slope-shouldered individual, five-feet-eight
or nine--which was shorter than he looked--with straight brown hair
combed straight back and blue eyes which were shielded with steel-rimmed
glasses. The thick, double-concave lenses indicated a degree of myopia
that must have bordered on total blindness without glasses, and acute
tunnel vision, even with them.

He had a crisp, incisive manner that indicated he was either a man who
knew what he was doing or a man who was trying to impress me with a
ready-made story. I listened to him and looked at his gadget without
giving any more indication than necessary of what I really thought.

When he was through, I said: "You understand, Mr. Howley that I'm not a
patent lawyer; I specialize in criminal law. Now, I can recommend--"

But he cut me off. "I understa