piece.
The night was so auspicious for this diversion that I could not resist
the temptation. Thus seduced, the time sped so quickly and the
intoxication of the enjoyment was so complete that two hours slipped
away before I awakened to a realization of my folly, which cost me
somewhat over a dollar and a half, and compelled me to postpone my
departure for home to the next day.

V

WE NEGOTIATE A MORTGAGE

Alice and I supposed that as soon as we made that first payment upon
the old Schmittheimer place we should take possession of it. We had
hastened negotiations because naturally enough we were anxious to share
the delights of the Eden which was to be ours. It transpired all too
early in the proceedings, however, that the processes of the law are
exceedingly exacting and provokingly tedious. With the one thousand
dollars which Mr. Black gave us we fancied that we should be able to
say to the widow Schmittheimer: "Here is your money; now let us move
in."

It seems that the business is not done in that business-like way. As
soon as the widow Schmittheimer contracted to part with her property at
a stated price and upon stated terms she awoke to a realization of the
fact that she ought to have the cooeperation and counsel of a
lawyer--although for the life of me I cannot see what there was left
for a lawyer to do. With a magnanimity and generosity which bespoke
the largeness of his nature, Mr. Denslow volunteered his services as
counsellor to the wary widow, and I confess that I should have
interposed no objection to having this versatile friend serve in this
capacity. But the widow chose to decline the gratuitous services of
Mr. Denslow, and to pay fifty dollars for the professional advice of a
certain Lawyer Meisterbaum, not a bad fellow, but one of those carping,
superficial people who pretend to a conscientiousness and a prudence
and a zeal which they actually do not possess.

After repeated meetings and the most annoying delays, Alice plainly
told this Lawyer Meisterbaum that he had more than earned his fee by
his puerile interferences with a prompt and amicable adjustment of the
affair. Alice and Mr. Denslow and I agreed that, if we had been left
to ourselves, we could have settled the business with the widow
Schmittheimer in half a day. However, I suppose that the lawyers must
have a chance to make a living, and I can readily understand how a
really conscientious lawyer might have the lingering r