cuit. I cannot say why he obtained no
great success till he was nearer fifty than forty years of age. At
that time I fancy that barristers did not come to their prime till
a period of life at which other men are supposed to be in their
decadence. Nevertheless, he had married on nothing, and had kept the
wolf from the door. To do this he had been constant at his work in
season and out of season, during the long hours of day and the long
hours of night. Throughout his term times he had toiled in court,
and during the vacations he had toiled out of court. He had reported
volumes of cases, having been himself his own short-hand writer,--as
it is well known to most young lawyers, who as a rule always fill
an upper shelf in their law libraries with Furnival and Staples'
seventeen volumes in calf. He had worked for the booksellers, and for
the newspapers, and for the attorneys,--always working, however, with
reference to the law; and though he had worked for years with the
lowest pay, no man had heard him complain. That no woman had heard
him do so, I will not say; as it is more than probable that into the
sympathising ears of Mrs. Furnival he did pour forth plaints as to
the small wages which the legal world meted out to him in return for
his labours. He was a constant, hard, patient man, and at last there
came to him the full reward of all his industry. What was the special
case by which Mr. Furnival obtained his great success no man could
say. In all probability there was no special case. Gradually it
began to be understood that he was a safe man, understanding his
trade, true to his clients, and very damaging as an opponent. Legal
gentlemen are, I believe, quite as often bought off as bought up. Sir
Richard and Mr. Furnival could not both be required on the same side,
seeing what a tower of strength each was in himself; but then Sir
Richard would be absolutely neutralized if Mr. Furnival were employed
on the other side. This is a system well understood by attorneys, and
has been found to be extremely lucrative by gentlemen leading at the
bar.

Mr. Furnival was now fifty-five years of age, and was beginning
to show in his face some traces of his hard work. Not that he was
becoming old, or weak, or worn; but his eye had lost its fire--except
the fire peculiar to his profession; and there were wrinkles in his
forehead and cheeks; and his upper lip, except when he was speaking,
hung heavily over the lower; and the loose skin