"
"Mine is advice which may be money in your pocket, monsieur," remarked
the Clerk of the Court with meaning. "Money saved is money earned."
"How do you mean to save me money--by getting the Judge to give decisions
in my favour? That would be money in my pocket for sure. The Court has
been running against my interests this year. When I think I was never so
right in my life--bang goes the judgment of the Court against me, and
into my pocket goes my hand. I don't only need to save money, I need to
make it; so if you can help me in that way I'm your man, M'sieu' la
Fillette?"
The little man bristled at the misuse of his name, and he flushed
slightly also; but there was always something engaging in the pleasure-
loving master-carpenter. He had such an eloquent and warm temperament,
the atmosphere of his personality was so genial, that his impertinence
was insulated. Certainly the master-carpenter was not unpopular, and
people could not easily resist the grip of his physical influence, while
mentally he was far indeed from being deficient. He looked as little
like a villain as a man could, and yet--and yet--a nature like that of
George Masson (even the little Clerk could see that) was not capable of
being true beyond the minute in which he took his oath of fidelity.
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