Hyder Weekly Herald

(© by McClure Newspaper Syndicate.)
(WNU Service)

BIG Bill Collingsworth strode up the front steps of the Desmones home with the air of a conquering hero. He gave the door bell a sharp little punch and in a moment Betty herself had opened the door and stood before him, pink and radiant.
"I knew it was you by the way you rang," she said, when they had exchanged the usual greetings.
"You have good news, too."
By this time they were walking slowly toward the living room, his arm flung lightly about her shoulder.
"I have," he answered standing stock still, "The greatest news that anyone ever had in this whole world. Get your thrills ready, we're going to be married soon."
"Bill!" she exclaimed, giving his hand a little squeeze. "Tell me, do! I can't wait to hear. Let's sit down quick before I fall."
"You know old John Tollman? Mean old devil, but he's got the kale all right. Well, he was in a street car accident not long ago and he's engaged me to take the case and recover damages. Me! Can you believe it. We ought to be able to get married on the fee."
"Bill Collingsworth, you're the greatest lawyer in this whole city full of men. I've always known it and now the world's beginning to find it out," said Betty, looking adoringly at her fiance.
When old Tollman entered Bill Collingsworth's office the next day the young lawyer experienced a sudden revulsion of feeling as his swift glance took in the crabbed old face, the colorless lips, the diamond stickpin and the heavy fur coat of his prospective client.
"Well, young man," he began, throwing off his coat and dropping stiffly into a chair. "I hear you're a smart chap and that's the very kind I'm looking for. This is going to be a hard case, the company will contest it on the grounds that it was my fault, but I'm a good client. I'll do and say what my lawyer tells me." He winked at young Collingsworth and continued, "and I got a bunch o' witnesses who are willing to do the same." He ended laughing loudly and slapping his leg.
"I'm sorry," said Collingsworth rising, his face drawn and white. "but I'm afraid I'm not just the kind of an attorney you need. I don't believe I could handle your case."
"I guess I must have come to the wrong place," snarled Tollman, his jovial manner suddenly gone.
"I reckon you ain't a lawyer at all but a Sunday school teacher."
With that he walked out, and a moment later a very sad young man left the office building and made his way to the Desmones home.
"I'm proud of my Bill," said Betty after she had heard the story. "and what do you care? Something better may come along any day."
Disconsolately, he returned to his office. It poured all day and no client came near. The whole week was a nightmare. It seemed as if every one had forgotten him.
After days of silence the jangling of the telephone at his elbow made him start suddenly.
"This is Harrison of the Railway and Light company," said a hearty voice. "Could you come down to my office some time this afternoon?"
Collingsworth silently swallowed amazement and consulted a blank date book.
"Let's see," he said over the wire. "One o'clock . . . Two . . . I could see you for half an hour from three thirty to four. Will that do?"
"Fine!" answered Harrison. "I'll expect you then. Goodby."
"Now, what d'you suppose he wants with me?" muttered Collingsworth after he had hung up.
But he could not solve the problem, and it was nearly four o'clock before he found out.
"Heard something about you the other day," said Harrison when greetings were over. "Somebody told me that you had refused the Tollman case because you didn't think he was using honest methods."
"I didn't say anything of the sort," answered Collingsworth hotly. "I simply refused the case without explanation. My reasons for doing so are my own."
"That's all right, son. I understand," soothed the older man. "I just want to tell you that you've got a backbone and I like your business methods. Crookedness may get by for awhile but honesty stands the test of time.
Now, I've been enquiring about you and you seem to be a pretty smart young man. Mr. Eckel, our attorney for the past twenty years, is retiring the first of the year and going abroad to live. How'd you like to step into his shoes?"
Collingsworth gripped the arm of his chair and struggled to modify the ecstacy in his voice as he spoke.
"Frankly, I think I'd like it mighty well," he answered after a moment.
"That's the way for a man to talk no beating around the bush. All right, you can come around the first of the week and we'll fix up the papers."
Collingsworth rose abruptly.
"I have an important engagement," he said blushing.
"All right, young man, you run along and tell her," laughed Harrison, clapping him on the back. "I had just such an engagement once myself."