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Counsel for the Defense

Chapter 6 KATHERINE PREPARES FOR BATTLE

Word Count: 3548    |    Released on: 01/12/2017

ly, caressingly. Her words tumbled hotly from her lips-words of love of him-of resentment of the injustice which he suffered-and, fier

d show those lawyers who had been reduced to cowards by Bruce's d

ly accepted. An uneasiness for the future crept upon her. As she had told Mr. Blake, she had never handled a case in court. True, she had been a member of the bar for two years, but her duties with the Municipal Leagu

r champion; and even in this hour of emotion, when tears were so plenteous and every

he said. "One of the things I must see to at once is to get admi

ver to the Septemb

es me fou

ow, I am inclined to agree with you that the situation has arisen from a misunderstanding-that the a

t's how it is,"

the agent, have them repeat their testimony and try to search ou

he reached the Wabash Avenue Church, whose rather ponderous pile of Bedford stone was the most ambitious and most fre

ront was covered with a wide-spreading rose vine, a tapestry of rich green which June would gorgeously em

whose eyes were the colour of faith and loyalty. A

of us, but-but--" She could stammer out no more,

her arms. "Elsie!" Instantly the two

sobbed Mrs. Sherman, "for thin

er has happened, I lo

at her in tearful gratitude. "I can't tell you how we h

gh suffering herself. "I am certain Doctor Sherman acted from the hi

ilty," Katherine went on. "And though I honour your husband, why, even the noblest man can be mistaken. My hope of proving my father's inno

rmon, though he's too worn to

to an ordinary person; doubly so was it to such a hyper-sensitive nature. The young clergyman stood hesitant just within the doorway,

decision to take the action he did only after days of agony. You know, Katherine, Doctor West was always as kind to me as another father, and I

ng wanly at her, "for the instrument that struck the blow t

know it to do you justice, dear! It seemed at first dislo

"Doctor Sherman, I have not come to utter one single word of recriminati

be glad t

o talk with Mr.

ty, and will not re

Doctor West, which charges he would later have to repeat upon the witness stand. Also he recounted Mr. Marcy's story. Katherine scrutinized every point in

Doctor Sherman was telling the indubitable truth-yet her father was indubitably in

d-fashioned parlour, fresh and tasteful despite the stiff black walnut that, in the days of her mother's marria

with a chubby and very serious pink face that sat in a glossy high c

ember me? I'm

rawberry-marks, Katherine glanced at his hands. But they were clean, and the warts

ent. "Since you knew me," he added a little gra

t was kind of you to

iness. I suppose you have se

nctively

ave

and pointed a plump, pinkish forefinger at t

ays you are going to b

d bare, but between the lines she read the contemptuous disapproval of the "new woman" tha

rlie Horn announced, striving not to appear

she cried in dis

first woman lawyer that's ever been in Westville. It's almost

lawyer's prospects are in Westville. And about what you think will be woman's status in future society. And you might tell me," concluded young C

m they had visited over Sunday, and who was "Sundaying" with them, and what beauties had impressed them most at Niagara Falls; and so that confident young ambassador from the Cl

dered-how was Westville going to take to a woman lawyer being in its midst? She realized, with a chill of apprehension, how profoundly this question concerned her next few months. Dear, bustling, respectable Westville, she well knew, clung to its own idea of woman's sph

etting that she had not a mother. But since she had not settled in Westville, and since she had not been actively practising in Ne

d till the dawn began to edge in and crowd the shadows from her room. But w

e asked gaily. "Do you realize, daddy, th

be charging me somethi

kissing him on the ear

will win my case." He sm

ul of

About

f your counsel's questions. Have you been

orks has been practically completed, I

work was i

on the verge of discovering

your attorney is, just as soon as you have finished your co

ine, with th

f upon your eminent counsel. Work will keep you

hty good, d

she added "as I may have to be seeing a lot of people, and as having peo

ared

an o

a few other cases. If I do,

t it be a little more unpleasant--" He paused doubtfull

d, but smi

is one reason why I'm g

es

m going to be the whole thing. And what's more, I'm going to act as though I were doing the most ord

aren't yo

ust exactly the thing for me to do. Oh, don't look so worried, dear"-she leaned across and kissed him-"for I'm going to be t

hat had the rare qualities of simplicity and grace. Her colour was perhaps a little warmer than was usual, but she walked along beneath the maples with tranquil mie

n unprecedented concern in trying to resuscitate, with aid of sprinkling-cans, bunches of expiring radishes and young onions. Owners of amiable steeds that dozed beside the curb hurried out of cavernous doors, the fear of run-away writ large upon their countenances, to see if a buckle was not loose or a tug perchance unfasten

ion." Above this alluring pageant were two floors of offices; and up the narrow stairway leading thereunto Katherine mounted. She entered a door marked "Hosea Hollingsworth. Attorney-at-Law. Mortgages. Loans. Farms." In the room were a ta

d in a rusty and wrinkled "Prince Albert" coat, and with a countenance that looked a rank plagiarism

therine. The question was purely formal, for h

," he returned in a

med his place at his desk and peered at her through his spectacles, and a dry,

est-our lady lawyer," he remarked.

ot restrain a sudden flare of temper

an," the old lawyer admitted. "At least, I never heard of his exe

ow him,

. He's my

I rem

ho saves us work by stealing things we'd otherwise have to take care of. We scrap most of the time. I make fun of him, and he gets sore. The trouble with the editor of the

lyzed from her childhood, when old Hosie Hollingsworth had been the chief scandal of the town-an infidel, who had dared challenge the creation of the ea

hat you have an

e. Like t

what I ca

me along

the floor above and into a room furni

d got money to study law with. He tried law for a while." The old man's thin prehensile lips shifted his cigar to the

furniture?" a

t in part payment. You c

ings about"-pointing ginge

Westville without 'em." He bent over and took them in his hands. "I

an have posses

er you

e old lawyer looked her over. He slowly grinned

r smiled till after I was twenty; wore a halo, size too large, that slipped down and made my ears stick out. My grandfather's name was Elijah, my father's Elisha. My father had twelve sons, and

iently, not seeing the perti

on. "And you can take it as the word that came unto Hosea, that a woman lawy

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