Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1912-05-16

way. 1 caught as much "a l could of
what they said. but was unable to
gather the slightest cause for divorce
from either.
"That'll do" said. You" address
ing the husband. have treated your
wife abominably. And YOU" to the
wife. have done u number Of things
you wouldn't have done had you been
older and more experienced. In order
to secure a divorce for you you must
act tremendously. for legally the
grounds for an action on either side
are very weak. You must throw off
this antagonism long enough to form
with me a plan for separation. I shall
be busy for about an hour. and mean
while | wish you to sit down on that
sofa side by side and try to get back
to the days when you were counting.
Think about the first kiss. the putting
IN of the engagement ring I see on
that round finger. Then the wedding
and all that. If you keep thinking
about these things till l get through
some other cases we can all act togeth-
er for a divorce"
They did as | told them to do, but
took seats as far apart as possible and
at first it looked as though nothing
would be gained. They sat thus, both
bolt upright for awhile. but l kept an
eye on them and saw that they were
trying to keep their minds on what I
had indicated. In about half an hour
l gathered up some papers and went
into another room. When | returned
half the distance between them had
been eliminated. Encouraged. l hunt
ed for a paper l had left on my table
and went out again. When l returned
the wife was wiping away tears. The
husband. judging from his expression.
was %endeavoring to steel himself
against a reconciliation.
I left the room again. telling them
that | would return in about forty min
utes, when I should expect them to
have got rid of enough a~ntagonism to
work together and with me to secure
the divorce. 81 fear" said to the
husband. that you. who are the more
at fault in this matter than your wife,
are nourishing the bitterness in you
and will spoil it ALL"
With this l made another trip and
was gone an hour. Then. returning, l
stood at the door listening. heard
the husband saying that it had been
all his fault and the wife saying that
it had been all her fault. and they
were calling each other "dearie" and
Sweetheart" and Il lot Of other pet
names. l entered the room suddenly
and found them locked in each others
arms.
"Well," l said. 1--WE come to a stop
ping place in other business and am
now ready for you two"
They arose from the sofa, and the
husband said they'd been talking the
matter over and if l didn't mind the
disappointment they would try to get
on together for awhile longer. Taking
out his pocketbook. he offered to pay
me what fee l asked for taking up my
time, but I told him there would be
no charge. l asked him if he couldn't
put the money back into his furniture.
and he said he thought he could. At
uAN AoICs LIZ "oulu L4t. DSlOAC IAOJ
left me I made them promise that if
they changed their minds and should
conclude. after all. to secure a divorce
they would give me the job. This they
promised to do as some compensation
for my disappointment" in not having
been employed already. for they were
too stupid to see through the ruse that
had prevented a permanent breach be-
tween them.
cts hard on you, Mr.. Lawyer, to *
pect you were going to get a good fee
and then not get it, but you'd ought
to have seen that a makeup in order
to get the divorce was the same as
making up regular"
"Just so. my boy" l replied. IF
you come back here again for a d.
vorce I won't be so tarnation stupid"
They never came back for a divorce.
but one day a prosperous looking young
man came into my Office and asked if
l remembered him. | said | did not,
and he told me that | was the lawyer
who had euchred myself out of a
fee by not moving quick enough. He
added that my stupidity had been a
godsend to him. and be wanted me to
come and dine with him and his wife.
l went and saw a happy family.
You can't make some people stay
turned down. so what's the use trying?