As it befell, Perkins did not prove a disappointment, and by five o’clock Kent was in the lobby of the Mid-Continent, sending his card up to the judge’s room.  Word came back that the judge was in the cafe fortifying the inner man in preparation for his journey, and Kent did not stand upon ceremony.  From the archway of the dining-room he marked down his man at a small table in the corner, and went to him at once, plunging promptly into the matter in hand.

“The exigencies of the case must plead my excuse for intruding upon you here, Judge MacFarlane,” he began courteously.  “But I have been told that you were leaving town——­”

The judge waved him down with a deprecatory fork.

“Court is adjourned, Mr. Kent, and I must decline to discuss the case ex parte.  Why did you allow it to go by default?”

“That is precisely what I am here to explain,” said Kent, suavely.  “The time allowed us was very short; and a series of accidents——­”

Again the judge interrupted.

“A court can hardly take cognizance of accidents, Mr. Kent.  Your local attorney was on the ground and he had the full benefit of the delay.”

“I know,” was the patient rejoinder.  “Technically, your order is unassailable.  None the less, a great injustice has been done, as we are prepared to prove.  I am not here to ask you to reopen the case at your dinner-table, but if you will glance over these papers I am sure you will set an early day for the hearing upon the merits.”

Judge MacFarlane forced a gray smile.

“You vote yea and nay in the same breath, Mr. Kent.  If I should examine your papers, I should be reopening the case at my dinner-table.  You shall have your hearing in due course.”

“At chambers?” said Kent.  “We shall be ready at any moment; we are ready now, in point of fact.”

“I can not say as to that.  My health is very precarious, and I am under a physician’s orders to take a complete rest for a time.  I am sorry if the delay shall work a hardship to the company you represent; but under the circumstances, with not even an affidavit offered by your side, it is your misfortune.  And now I shall have to ask you to excuse me.  It lacks but a few minutes of my train time.”

The hotel porter was droning out the call for the east-bound Flyer, and Kent effaced himself while Judge MacFarlane was paying his bill and making ready for his departure.  But when the judge set out to walk to the station, Kent walked with him.  There were five squares to be measured, and for five squares he hung at MacFarlane’s elbow and the plea he made should have won him a hearing.  Yet the judge remained impassible, and at the end of the argument turned him back in a word to his starting point.

“I can not recall the order at this time, if I would, Mr. Kent; neither can I set a day for the hearing on the merits.  What has been done was done in open court and in the presence of your attorney, who offered no evidence in contradiction of the allegations set forth in the plaintiff’s amended petition, although they were supported by more than a dozen affidavits; and it can not be undone in the streets.  Since you have not improved your opportunities, you must abide the consequences.  The law can not be hurried.”