ot
yet come in from his summer home in the mountains."

"Then the next Mr. Barrett?"

"Mr. David Barrett, junior, sir; he also is out of the city."

"Have you any more Barretts?"

"There's young Mr. Barrett, but he seldom comes down in the forenoon,
sir."

Grant suppressed a grin. "The Barretts are a somewhat leisurely family,
I take it," he remarked.

"They have been very successful," said the clerk, with a touch of
reserve.

"Apparently; but who does the work?"

"Mr. Jones is in his office. Would you care to send in your card?"

"No, I think I'll just take it in." He pressed through a counter-gate
and opened a door upon which was emblazoned the name of Mr. Jones.

Mr. Jones proved to be a man with thin, iron-grey hair and a stubby,
pugnacious moustache. He sat at a desk at the end of a long, narrow
room, down both sides of which were rows of cases filled with
impressive-looking books. He did not raise his eyes when Grant entered,
but continued poring over a file of correspondence.

"What an existence!" Grant commented to himself. "And yet I suppose this
man thinks he's alive."

Grant remained standing for a moment, but as the lawyer showed no
disposition to divide his attention he presently advanced to the desk.
Mr. Jones looked up.

"You are Mr. Jones, I believe?"

"I am, but you have the better of me--"

"Only for the moment. You are a lawyer. You will take care of that. I
understand the firm of Barrett, Jones, Barrett, Deacon & Barrett have
somewhat leisurely methods?"

"Is the firm on trial?" inquired Mr. Jones, sharply.

"In a sense, yes. I also understand that although all the Barretts, and
also Mr. Deacon, share in the name plate, Mr. Jones does the work?"

The lawyer laid down his papers. "Who the dickens are you, anyway, and
what do you want?"

"That's better. With undivided attention we shall get there much
quicker. I have a certain amount of legal business which requires
attention, and in connection with which I am willing to pay what the
service is worth. But I'm not going to pay two generations of Barretts
which are out of the city, and a third which doesn't come down in the
forenoon. If I have to buy name plates, I'll buy name plates of my own,
and that is what I've decided to do. Do you mind saying how much this
job here is worth?"

"Of course I do, sir. I don't understand you at all--"

"Then I'll make myself understood. I am Dennison Grant. By force of
circumstances I find