The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1908-08-26

k IN tue hdhe VI buhSSAhSl'
= ~ w His office. on the top
- most floor of a dingy
building in the lower section of the
city, was not inviting On leaving tho
elevator one wound about through mar
row halls and finally peered with more
or less uncertainty and mlsgiving ut
the half obliterated sign which said
that James Bansemer held forth on the
other side of the glass panel.
1t was whispered in certain circles
and openly avowed in others that Ban
semer's business was not the kind
i which eevates the law. In plain
words his methods were construed to
ebase the good ana honest statutes
4 the land. Once inside the door of
lis office-and a heavy spring always
I Nosed ii behind one-there was qui, <
evidence that the lawyer lamentaby
disregarded the virtues of prosperity.
no matter how they had been courted
and won. Although his transactions
In and out of the courts of that great
city bore the mark of dishonor, he
was known to have made money dur
ing the ten years of his career as a
member of the bar.
Possibly he kept his office shabby
and unclean that it might be in touch
with the transactions which had their
morbid birth inside the grimy walls.
There was no spot or corner in the
two small rooms that comprised his
chambers" to which he could point
with pride. The floors were Uttered
with papers; the walls were greasy
and bedecked with malodorous nota-
lions. documents and pictures; the win
dows were smoky and useless; the
clerks desk bore every suggestion of
dissoluteness.
But little less appalling to ones aes-
thetic sense was the clerk himself.
SQuatting behind his wretched desk,
Elias broom peered across the litter
of papers and books with shaky but
polite eyes, almost as inviting as the
spider who with willy but insidiOus
decorum draws the guileless into his
web.
If one passed muster IN the estima-
ton Of the incomprehensible broom he
was permitted in due season to pass
through a second oppressive looking
door and into the private office of Mr..
James Bansemer, attorney at law and
solicitor. 1t may be remarked at this
early stage that, no matter how long
or how well one may have known
broom. one seldom fingered to engage
in commonplace with him. His was
the most repellent personality imagi-
nable. When he smiled one was con-
scious of a shock to the nervous sys-
TEN; when he so far forgot himself as
TO laugh aloud there was a distinct
Illustration Of the word "crunching;'
when he spoke one was almost sorry
that he had ears.
Bansemer knew but little Of this
freakish individuals history: no one
else had the temerity to inquire into
his past or to separate 1t from his flu
ture. for that matter Once Bansemer
Ironically asked him why he had never
married. 1t was a full minute before
the other lifted his eyes from the sheet
of legal cap. and by that time he was
I'm full control of his passion.
look at me! Would any woman
marry a thing like me-"
This was said with such terrible ear
nestness that Bansemer took care new
err to breach the subject again. He
saw that Droom's heart was not all
steel and brass.
broom was middle aged. His lank
body and cadaverous face were con
Btructed on principles not generally ac-
credited to nature as 1t applies to men.
When erect his body swayed as II 3.
were stubborn reed determined TO
maintain its dignity in the face Of the
wind. He did not walk; he glded.
His long, square chin, rarely clean
shaver, protruded far beyond its nat
rural orbit Indeed, the attitude Of the
chin gave one an insight to the greedy
character of the man. At first glance
one felt that broom was reaching forth
with his lower jaw to give greeting
with his teeth instead of his hand.
His neck was long and thin, and his
rundown collar was at least two sizes
too large. The nose was hooked AMI
of abnormal length, the tip coming
down over the short upper lip az
broad mouth His eyes were light blue
and so intense that he was never
known to blink the lashes. Topping
them were deep, wavering black eye
brows that met above the nose, form
ing an omlnous, cloudy line across the
base Of his thin, high forehead. The
crown of his head. covered by long,
scant strands of black hair, was of
the type known as "retreatlng and
pointed" The forehead ran upward
and back from the brows almost to
point, and down from the pinnacle
hung the veil Of hair, just as If he had
draped 1t there with the same care he
might have used in placing his best
hat upon peg. His back was stopped,
and the high, narrow shoulders were
hunched forward eagerly. Long arms
and ridiculously thin legs. with big
hands and feet, tell the story of his
axfremities When he was on his feet