sufficient reason that a breach of confidence would as certainly involve the professional ruin of an attorney as the commission of a an able but eccentric mr was desirous that should be compelled to disclose on oath whatever guilty secrets might be confided to them by their the only objection to which ingenious device for the conviction of being that if such a power existed there would be no secrets to disclose and as a necessary consequence that the attorney would be unable to render his the justice to which every person however criminal is clearly entitled � that of having his or her case presented before the court appointed to decide upon it in the best and most j the life policy manner possible let it not be forgotten either that the attorney is the only real practical of the humble and against the of the rich and powerful � the shrewd agent who gives reality to the eloquence of old when he says that the lightning may flash through the thunder shake the tempest beat upon the english peasant s hut but the king of england with all his army cannot lift the latch to enter in the of course that in this country violence cannot defy or put itself in the place of the law this is quite true and why chiefly because the attorney is ready in all cases of with his potent strip of the great man before her sovereign lady the queen there to answer for his acts and the richer the the more keen and eager mr attorney to the suit however his own for he is then sure of his costs if he succeed again i cheerfully admit the extreme vulgarity of the motive but its effect in protecting the legal rights of the humble is not i contend lessened because the reward of exertion and success is counted out in good honest sovereigns or notes of the governor and company of the bank of england thus much by way of to the narrative of a few incidents revealed in the attorney s privileged throughout which i have of course in order to avoid any possible recognition of those events or incidents changed the name of every person concerned our old city firm then which i am happy to say still under the able direction of our active i will call � the appropriated to us by imaginative ladies and gentlemen who favor the world with the life fancy pen and ink portraits of the lawyer tribe � that of flint and sharp sharp being myself and flint the silver haired old bachelor we buried a few weeks since in green mr said a clerk as he threw open the door of the inner office one afternoon mr good day mr was my prompt and civil greeting i have good news for you take a chair the good rather intelligent and somewhat clouded countenance of the new comer brightened up at these words news from my cousin he asked as he seated himself yes he your late failure and the changed position and prospects of your wife and boy little his you he has not much compassion for inasmuch as he attributes your misfortunes entirely to and the want of common prudence candid certainly grumbled out mr but an odd sort of good news his deeds are kinder than his words he will allow till his majority let me see � how old is that boy of yours now ten he was two years old when his went to india well then you will receive two hundred pounds per half yearly in advance for the next ten years � that is of course if your son lives � in order to enable you to bring him up and him properly that period has elapsed your cousin that he will place the young man and i do not doubt will do something for you should you not by that time have conquered a fair position for yourself � i � � b the life policy is that all said mr all why what did you expect two or three thousand pounds to set me afloat again i know of a safe speculation that with say three thousand pounds capital would realize a handsome fortune in no time mr i may observe was one of that numerous class of persons who are always on the threshold of millions � the only and constant obstacle being the want of a sufficient capital i with him upon his disappointment but as words however civil avail little in the way of capital mr having the first half yearly of the made his exit in by no means a gracious or frame of mind two other half yearly were duly paid him when he handed me the receipt on the last occasion he said in a sort of off hand careless way i suppose if were to die these would cease perhaps not i replied at all events not i should say till you and your wife were in some way provided for but your son is not ill i added no no not at present replied and with a confusion of manner which surprised me not a little it flashed across my mind that the boy was dead and that in order not to risk the or of the had concealed the fact from us let me see i resumed we have your present address � i think yes you have i shall very likely call in a day or two to see mrs and your son t i f the man smiled in a reassured half manner do be answered is alive and very well thank god this confidence the suspicion i had entertained and five or six weeks passed away during which and his affairs were almost as entirely absent from my thoughts as if no such man existed about the of that time mr 