tent attorneys are unable to tell the
difference between the two ways a case can get away from them, once they
get caught in it. They always think that nobody else agrees with them
because nobody else understands the case. It is quite a blow when it
turns out that they are the one who has been wrong all along. Yes,
sometimes an understanding of the facts is as difficult as an
understanding of the law."

"Yes," I said sleepily. "Sure must be."

If I had known better that evening, I would never have allowed myself to
get so sleepy. I should have listened for the meaning in Mr.
Spardleton's words instead of merely listening to the words themselves.
I have seen Patent Examiners act that way--they hear the words, but the
meaning does not come through. We locked the doors and went home, then.
How I wish I had listened!

* * * * *

Dr. Nathaniel Marchare is unquestionably the greatest organic chemist
the world has seen since Emil Fischer. His laboratories in Alexandria,
Virginia, constantly pour out a host of exceedingly important
inventions. The chemists, physicists, physical chemists, and biologists
who work under him are all dedicated men and women, gifted with that
scientific insight that so often produces simple solutions to great
problems. Dr. Marchare and his people are the principal clients of the
firm of Helix Spardleton, Patent Attorney, and as such they are very
important to me. Nevertheless, I always get a queasy feeling in my
stomach when Dr. Marchare excitedly calls up Mr. Spardleton, and Mr.
Spardleton turns him over to me.

Dr. Marchare is a very nice person, not at all mad as people are prone
to say. He is tall and gaunt and slightly wall-eyed, and he seems to
live in a great, flopping laboratory smock, and his hair is always wild,
and he seems to look around you rather than at you, but he is a very
nice person and not at all mad. His main trouble is he does not
understand the workings of the United States Patent System. After I have
explained to him the operation of the Patent Law on some particular
situation, Dr. Marchare frequently begins to mutter to himself as if I
were no longer in the same room with him, and I find this most
discouraging. As if this were not bad enough, many of Dr. Marchare's
scientists have acquired the same habit.

It was a bright fall morning when this particular call came through. I
hadn't heard the phone ring, nor did I hear Mr. Spardleton answ