When business did not come to
his office, Bates sometimes went after it. If a woman lost a husband
in a railway wreck or was knocked off the track where he had no right
to be, Bates called as early as possible and offered to direct a suit
against the corporation for damages at half the usual price--that is,
as Bill Stone once put it, the widow got half and Bates half, which
nobody seemed to think exorbitant, because it cost a lawyer a good deal
to get his education, and court convened but twice a year. He was
among the first to call on Westerfelt that morning, and with a
mysterious nod and crooking of his fingers in the air he induced the
young man to follow him into one of the vacant stalls in the back part
of the long building.
"Thar's something that has jest struck me, Westerfelt," he began, in
the low voice of an electioneering candidate, and he possessed himself
of one of Westerfelt's lapels and began to rub his thick, red fingers
over it. "I wouldn't have you mention me in the matter, for really I
hain't got a thing ag'in any of these mountain men, but I thought I'd
say to you as a friend that this is a damageable case.
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