“You’re acquainted with Colonel Varney?” he inquired.

“Yes, Governor, I’ve met the Colonel,” I said.

“Well, I suppose your firm is getting its share of business these days,” Mr. Trulease observed.  I acknowledged it was, and after discussing for a few moments the remarkable growth of my native city the Governor tapped on his desk and inquired what he could do for me.  I produced the letter from the attorney for the Railroad.  The Governor read it gravely.

“Ah,” he said, “from Mr. Gorse.”  A copy of the proposed bill was enclosed, and the Governor read that also, hemmed and hawed a little, turned and handed it to Colonel Varney, who was sitting with a detached air, smoking contemplatively, a vacant expression on his face.  “What do you think of this, Colonel?”

Whereupon the Colonel tore himself away from his reflections.

“What’s that, Governor?”

“Mr. Gorse has called my attention to what seems to him a flaw in our statutes, an inability to obtain testimony from corporations whose books are elsewhere, and who may thus evade, he says, to a certain extent, the sovereign will of our state.”

The Colonel took the paper with an admirable air of surprise, adjusted his glasses, and became absorbed in reading, clearing his throat once or twice and emitting an exclamation.

“Well, if you ask me, Governor,” he said, at length, “all I can say is that I am astonished somebody didn’t think of this simple remedy before now.  Many times, sir, have I seen justice defeated because we had no such legislation as this.”

He handed it back.  The Governor studied it once more, and coughed.

“Does the penalty,” he inquired, “seem to you a little severe?”

“No, sir,” replied the Colonel, emphatically.  “Perhaps it is because I am anxious, as a citizen, to see an evil abated.  I have had an intimate knowledge of legislation, sir, for more than twenty years in this state, and in all that time I do not remember to have seen a bill more concisely drawn, or better calculated to accomplish the ends of justice.  Indeed, I often wondered why this very penalty was not imposed.  Foreign magistrates are notoriously indifferent as to affairs in another state than their own.  Rather than go into the hands of a receiver I venture to say that hereafter, if this bill is made a law, the necessary testimony will be forthcoming.”

The Governor read the bill through again.

“If it is introduced, Colonel,” he said, “the legislature and the people of the state ought to have it made clear to them that its aim is to remedy an injustice.  A misunderstanding on this point would be unfortunate.”

“Most unfortunate, Governor.”

“And of course,” added the Governor, now addressing me, “it would be improper for me to indicate what course I shall pursue in regard to it if it should come to me for my signature.  Yet I may go so far as to say that the defect it seeks to remedy seems to me a real one.  Come in and see me, Mr. Paret, when you are in town, and give my cordial regards to Mr. Watling.”