"But you have excellent ability in your way, Sharp, excellent ability,"
he would say when in a good humor. "You are a capital executive officer--a very good lieutenant. Your ideas of what to do in any given case are not always good, but when I tell you what to do you do it, Sharp. I always know you will do what I tell you, and do it well too."
Mr. Sharp usually came to the office an hour earlier than Mr. Flint did, in order that he might have everything ready for Mr. Flint"s examination when that gentleman should arrive. He read the letters, drew up papers, and was prepared to give his partner in each case the facts upon which his opinion or advice was necessary.
On the morning of December 3d, Mr. Flint came softly into his office and, after hanging up his overcoat and warming his hands at the register, went into his inner den, saying, as he sat down:
"I"m ready for you now, Sharp."
Mr. Sharp arose from his desk and entered the private room, with his hands full of papers.
"What"s the first thing on docket, Sharp?"
"Well, here"s a collection to be made. Debtor, Robert Pagebrook, temporarily in the city. Boarding place not known. Writes for the newspapers, so I can easily find him. Creditor Edwin Pagebrook, of ---- Court House, Virginia. Debtor got creditor to cash draft for three hundred dollars. Draft protested. Debtor came away, and promised to take up paper by fifteenth November. Hasn"t done it. Instructions "push him.""
"Any limitations?"
"No."
"What have you done?"
"Nothing yet; I"ll look him up to-day and dun him."
"Yes, and let him get away from you. Sharp do you know that Julius Caesar is dead?"
"Certainly."
"I"m glad to hear that you do know something then. Don"t you see the point in this case? Go and make out affidavits on information. This fellow Robert what"s his name is a "transient," and we"ll get an order of arrest all ready and then you can dun him with some sense. Have your officer with you or convenient, and if he don"t pay up, chuck him in jail. That"s the way to do it. Never waste time dunning "transients"
when there"s a ghost of a chance to cage them."
"Well, but there don"t seem to be any fraud here. The man seems to have had funds in the bank, only the bank suspended."
"Sharp, you"ll learn a little law after awhile, I hope. Don"t you know the courts never look very sharply after cases where transients are concerned? How do we know he had money in the bank? Is there anything to show it?"
"No; I believe not."
"Well, then, don"t you go to making facts in the interest of the other side. Let him make that out if he can. You just draw your affidavits to suit our purposes, not his. Go on to state that he drew a certain bill of exchange, and represented that he had funds, and so fraudulently obtained money, and all that; and then go on to say that his draft upon presentation was protested, and that instead of making it good he absconded. Be sure to say absconded, Sharp, it"s half the battle. Courts haven"t much use for men that abscond and then turn up in New York. Make your case strong enough, though. We only swear on information, you know, so if we do put it a little strong it don"t matter. There. Go and fix it up right away, and then catch your man."
A few hours later, as Robert Pagebrook sat writing in his room, Mr.
Sharp and another man were shown in. Mr. Sharp opened the conversation.
"This is Mr. Pagebrook, I believe?"
"Yes, sir."
"Mr. _Robert_ Pagebrook?"
"Yes. That is my name."
"Thank you. My name is Sharp, of the firm of Steel, Flint & Sharp.
That"s our card, sir. I have called to solicit the payment, sir, of a small amount due Mr. Edwin Pagebrook, who has written asking us to collect it for him. The amount is three hundred dollars, I think.
Yes. Here is the draft. Can you let me have the money to-day, Mr.
Pagebrook?"
"I have already remitted one third the amount, sir," said Robert, "and I hope to send the remainder in installments very soon. At present it is simply impossible for me to pay anything more."
"Have you a receipt for the amount remitted?" asked the lawyer.
"No. It was sent only yesterday. But if you will hold the draft a week or ten days longer, I will be able, within that time, to earn the whole of the amount remaining due, and your client will advise you, I am sure, of the receipt of the hundred dollars already sent."
"We are not authorised to wait, sir," said Mr. Sharp. "On the contrary our instructions are positive to push the case."
"But what can I do?" asked Robert. "I have already sent every dollar I had, and until I earn more I can pay no more."
"The case is a peculiar one, sir. It has the appearance of a fraudulent debt and an attempt to run away from it. I must do my duty by my client, sir; and so this gentleman, who is a sheriff"s officer, has an order for your arrest, which I must ask him to serve if you do not pay the debt to day."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "LET HIM SERVE IT AT ONCE, THEN."]
"Let him serve it at once, then," said Robert. "I can not pay now."
CHAPTER XXIII.
_Mr. Pagebrook Takes a Lesson in the Law._
As Robert was unable to give bail without calling upon his friend Dudley, which he determined not to do in any case, he was taken to the jail and locked up. Upon his arrival there he employed a messenger to carry a note to a young lawyer with whom he happened to be slightly acquainted, asking him to come to the jail at once. When he arrived Robert said to him:
"Let me tell you in the outset, Mr. d.y.k.er, that I have no money and no friends; wherefore if you allow me to consult you at all, it must be with the understanding that I cannot possibly pay you for your services until I can make the money. If you are willing to trust me to that extent, we can proceed to business."
"You are very honorable, sir, to inform me, beforehand, of this fact.
Pray go on. I will do what I can for you."
"In the first place, then," said Robert, "I am a little puzzled to know how or why I am locked up. You have the papers, will you tell me how it is?"
"O it"s plain enough. You are held under an order of arrest."
"But I don"t understand. I thought imprisonment for debt was a thing of the past, in this country at least, and my only offense is indebtedness.
Is it possible that men may still be imprisoned for debt in America?"
"Well, that is about it," said the lawyer. "We have abolished the name but retain the thing in a slightly modified form--in New York at least.
Theoretically you are not imprisoned, but merely held to answer. The plaintiffs have made out a case of fraud and non-residence, and so they had plain sailing."
"But I always understood that our const.i.tution or our law or something else secured every man against imprisonment except by due process of law, and gave to every accused person the right to be confronted with his accusers, to cross-examine witnesses, and to have his guilt or innocence pa.s.sed upon by a jury of his countrymen."
"That is the theory; but there are some cla.s.ses of cases which are practically exceptions, and yours is one of them."