Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1914-12-03
CHAPTER XIII.
A DISTINGUISHED CALLER.

1T was shortly after I reached the Of
flee, next morning, that the office boy
came IN and handed me a card with an
awed and reverent air so at variance
with his usual demeanor that glanced
at the qua of ~pasteboard in some as
and reverent feeling crept over me,
also, for the card bore the name of
Serene HornbLower.
That name is quite unknown outside
the legal profession of the three great
cities of the east, New York, Boston
and Philadelphia; for Serene Horn
blower a never held a public office.
has V made a public speech, has
never responded to a toast, has never
served on a public committee. has new
er, SO far as l know. conducted a case
in court or addressed a jury-has; never,
in a word, figured in the il.
any way; n yet his income would
country look like 80 cents.
For Serene Hornblower is the
confidential attorney of most of
held that position for years, and it is
said that no case placed un~reservedly
in his lands ever resulted in a public
scandal. He accepts clients with great
care: he has steadfastly refused the
business Of Pittsburgh millionaires, re-
munerative as it was certain to be-;
but he seems to take a sort Of personal
pride in keeping intact the regulations
Of the old families, even when their
scions mbark in the most outrageous
escapades. 1t you are descended from
the Pilgrims Or the PATRONS, Mr..
Hornblower will ask no further recon-
mendation.
His reputation for tact and delicacy
Is tremendous; and yet those who have
found themselves pposed to him have
never been long in realizing that there
was a most ~redoubtable mailed fist
under the velvet glove. Altogether a
remarkable man, whose memoirs would
make absorbing reading, could he be
persuaded to write them-which Is
quite beyond the bonds Of possibility.
[ had never met him either profession
ally or personally, and it was with
some eagerness that I old the office
boy to show him in at once.
Serene Hornblower did not look the
part. His reputation led one to expect
Il sort of cross between Uriah Heep
and Sherlock Holmes. but there was
nothing secretive or insinuating about
his appearance. He was a bluff and
hearty man Of middle age, rather
heavy-set, fresh-faced and clean
shaver, and with very bright
blue eyes-evidently a mar with
good digestion and a comfortable
AieN l. ilSl LII vi IDIOdu-
way. I should have taken him for a
ripe and finished comedian. There was
about him an air which somehow re-
minded me of joseph J~efferson-per-
haps 1t was his bright blue eyes. 1t
may have been this very appearance
Of bluff sincerity and honest down.
Brightness which accounted for his sue
cess.
We shook hands. and he sat down
n plunged at once. without an in
stant's hesitation, into the business
which had brought him. Looking back
at it. understanding as I do now the
delicate nature of that business, I adj
mire more and more that bluff readi-
ness: though the more I think of it,
the more | am convinced that he had
thought out definitely beforehand pre-
cisely what he was going to say. The
mar who can carry through a care
fully premeditated scene with an air
of complete unpremeditation has an
immense advantage.
Nh. Lester" he began. II under
stand that o are the administrator
Of the estate of the late Philip Van
tine?"
Our firm is" ] corrected.
But you, personally, have been at
tending to his business"
Yes"
"He was a collector Of old furniture,
I believer"
Yes"
and on his last trip to Europe, from
which he returned only a few days ago,
he purchased of Armand & Son OF Paris
a Boule cabinet?"
] could not repress a start OF aston