He waited patiently, on the pretext of business, until Mr.Bradshaw got up and left the office.

As soon as he and the senior partner were alone, Master Gridley took a lazy look at some of the books in his library.
There stood in the book-shelves a copy of the Corpus Juris Civilis,--the fine Elzevir edition of 1664.

It was bound in parchment, and thus readily distinguishable at a glance from all the books round it.

Now Mr.Penhallow was not much of a Latin scholar, and knew and cared very little about the civil law.

He had fallen in with this book at an auction, and bought it to place in his shelves with the other "properties" of the office, because it would look respectable.