Client number three laid his hand upon Mr. Gooch’s arm.  Deep emotion was written upon his careworn face.  “For Heaven’s sake”, he said fervently, “help me in this hour of trouble.  Seek out Mrs. Billings, and persuade her to abandon this distressing pursuit of her lamentable folly.  Tell her, Mr. Gooch, that her husband is willing to receive her back to his heart and home—­promise her anything that will induce her to return.  I have heard of your success in these matters.  Mrs. Billings cannot be very far away.  I am worn out with travel and weariness.  Twice during the pursuit I saw her, but various circumstances prevented our having an interview.  Will you undertake this mission for me, Mr. Gooch, and earn my everlasting gratitude?”

“It is true,” said Lawyer Gooch, frowning slightly at the other’s last words, but immediately calling up an expression of virtuous benevolence, “that on a number of occasions I have been successful in persuading couples who sought the severing of their matrimonial bonds to think better of their rash intentions and return to their homes reconciled.  But I assure you that the work is often exceedingly difficult.  The amount of argument, perseverance, and, if I may be allowed to say it, eloquence that it requires would astonish you.  But this is a case in which my sympathies would be wholly enlisted.  I feel deeply for you sir, and I would be most happy to see husband and wife reunited.  But my time,” concluded the lawyer, looking at his watch as if suddenly reminded of the fact, “is valuable.”

“I am aware of that,” said the client, “and if you will take the case and persuade Mrs. Billings to return home and leave the man alone that she is following—­on that day I will pay you the sum of one thousand dollars.  I have made a little money in real estate during the recent boom in Susanville, and I will not begrudge that amount.”

“Retain your seat for a few moments, please,” said Lawyer Gooch, arising, and again consulting his watch.  “I have another client waiting in an adjoining room whom I had very nearly forgotten.  I will return in the briefest possible space.”

The situation was now one that fully satisfied Lawyer Gooch’s love of intricacy and complication.  He revelled in cases that presented such subtle problems and possibilities.  It pleased him to think that he was master of the happiness and fate of the three individuals who sat, unconscious of one another’s presence, within his reach.  His old figure of the ship glided into his mind.  But now the figure failed, for to have filled every compartment of an actual vessel would have been to endanger her safety; with his compartments full, his ship of affairs could but sail on to the advantageous port of a fine, fat fee.  The thing for him to do, of course, was to wring the best bargain he could from some one of his anxious cargo.

First he called to the office boy:  “Lock the outer door, Archibald, and admit no one.”  Then he moved, with long, silent strides into the room in which client number one waited.  That gentleman sat, patiently scanning the pictures in the magazine, with a cigar in his mouth and his feet upon a table.