tist so intensely egotistical as to be quite
unconscious of his egotism; forever thinking of himself--forever
oblivious of others except as they ministered to his self-interest;
filled up to the lips with the feeling of his rights and privileges; but
entirely empty of any notion of his duties and responsibilities. With
him it was always "I," "mine," "me"; never "we," "ours," "us."

Ishmael listened under protest to this story that was forced upon his
unwilling ears. At its end, when the narrator was waiting to see what
impression he had made upon his young hearer, and what comment the
latter would make, Ishmael calmly arose, took the brief from the table
and put it into the hands of Mr. Walsh, saying, with a dignity--aye,
even a majesty of mien rarely found in so young a man:

"Take your brief, sir; nothing on earth could induce me to touch it!"

"What! not after the full explanation I have given you?" exclaimed the
man in naive surprise.

"If I had entertained a single doubt about the propriety of refusing
your brief before hearing your explanation, that doubt would have been
set at rest after hearing it," said the young barrister sternly.

"What do you mean, sir?" questioned the other, bristling up.

"I mean that the case, even by your own plausible showing, is one of the
greatest cruelty and injustice," replied Ishmael firmly.

"Cruelty and injustice!" exclaimed Mr. Walsh, in even more astonishment
than anger. "Why, what the deuce do you mean by that? The woman is my
wife! the children are my own children! And I have a lawful right to the
possession of them. I wonder what the deuce you mean by cruelty and
injustice!"

"By your own account, you left your wife nine years ago without
provocation, and without making the slightest provision for herself and
her children; you totally neglected them from that time to this; leaving
her to struggle alone and unaided through all the privations and perils
of such an unnatural position; during all these years she has worked for
the support and education of her children; and now, at last, when it
suits you to live with her again, you come back, and finding that you
have irrecoverably lost her confidence and estranged her affections, you
would call in the aid of the law to tear her children from her arms, and
coerce her, through her love for them, to become your slave and victim
again. Sir, sir, I am amazed that any man of--I will not say honor or
honesty, but common sense