He would show the world, yet, what was in him, and especially Solomon Mahaffy, who clearly had not taken his measure.
Turning away from the agreeable picture his mind had conjured up, he entered the county clerk's office.

He was already known to this official, whose name was Saul, and he now greeted him with a pleasant air of patronage.

Mr.Saul removed his feet from the top of his desk and motioned his visitor to a chair; at the same time he hospitably thrust forward a square box filled with sawdust.

It was plain he labored under the impression that the judge's call was of an unprofessional character.
"A little matter of business brings me here, sir," began the judge, with a swelling chest and mellow accents.

"No, sir, I'll not be seated--another time I'll share your leisure if I may--now I am in some haste to look up a title for my client, Mr.Norton." "What Norton ?" asked Mr.Saul, when he had somewhat recovered from the effect of this announcement.
"Mr.Charles Norton, of Thicket Point," said the judge.
"I reckon you mean that timber tract of old Joe Quaid's." Mr.Saul viewed the judge's ruinous exterior with a glance of respectful awe, for clearly a man who could triumph over such a handicap must possess uncommon merit of some sort.