"Better bring it along, then," said Geary.
The office of the notary adjoined those of the firm of Beale & Storey; in fact, he was in a sense an attache of the great firm and transacted a great deal of legal business for them.

Vandover and Geary fell upon him in an idle moment.

A man had come to regulate the water filter, which took the place of an ice cooler in a corner of one of the anterooms, and while he was engaged at his work the notary stood at his back, abusing him and exclaiming at the ineffectiveness of the contrivance.

The notary was a middle-aged man with a swollen, purple face; he had a toothpick behind each ear and wore an office coat of gray linen, ripped at the shoulders.
Then the transfer was made.

It was all settled in less than half an hour, unceremoniously, almost hastily.