"Deland, Margaret - Many Waters" - читать интересную книгу автора (Deland Margaret)

Many Waters, by Margaret Deland

The Naked Word electronic edition of
Many Waters
by Margaret Deland, 1905





I
WELL?"
"True bill; I'm awfully sorry."
Thomas Fleming took his cigar out of his mouth, and contemplated the lighted
end. He did not speak, the other man, his lawyer, who had brought him the
unwelcome news, began to make the best of it.
"Of course, it's an annoyance; but--"
"Well, yes. It's an annoyance," Fleming said, dryly.
Bates chuckled. "It strikes me, Tom, considering the difference between this and
the real thing, that 'annoyance' is just the right word to use!"
Fleming leaned over and knocked off the ashes from his cigar into his waste
basket. He was silent.
"As for Hammond, he won't have a leg to stand on. I don't know what Ellis & Grew
meant by letting him take the case before the Grand Jury. He won't have a leg to
stand on!"
"Give me a light, will you, Bates? This cigar has gone out again."
"What has Hammond got, anyhow?" Bates continued, pulling a box of wax matches
out of his waistcoat pocket; "what's he got to support his opinion that you
pinched $3,000 from the Hammond estate? His memory of something somebody said
twelve years ago, and an old check. Well, we won't do a thing to 'em!"
Fleming got up and began to pull down his desk top with a slow clatter.
"Hammond's a fool," he said; "and you'll punch a hole in his evidence in five
minutes. But it's--well, as you say, it's 'annoying.'"
The lawyer rose briskly and reached for his hat. "What we want now is to get the
case up near the head of the list as soon as we can. Get it over! Get it over!
Then, if you want revenge, we can turn round and hit back with 'malicious
prosecution'!" He laughed, good-naturedly, and shrugged himself into his
overcoat.
His client stood absently locking and unlocking his desk. "I suppose it will be
in the evening papers?" he said.
"Oh, I guess so," the younger man said, easily; "the findings of the Grand Jury
were reported at eleven this morning. Plenty of time for the first editions."
"Then I'll take an early train home," Thomas Fleming said, quickly; "my wife--"
he paused.
"Doesn't Mrs. Fleming know about it?" the lawyer said, with a surprised look.
"No," the other man said, gloomily; "I didn't want her to worry over it, so I
didn't say anything. But, of course, now she's got to know."
"Yes," Bates said, sympathetically; "but after all, Fleming, it's a small
matter, except for the nuisance of it. You tell her I say it's a sure thing."
Fleming let his key-ring drop, jingling, into his pocket. Except for the