Toppleton's Client; Or, A Spirit in Exile

r, perhaps you found yourself infamous, eh? I don't know how it is here in England, but in America a lawyer who

o means the case. The judge himself succumbed to nervous prostration a week later, the jurors vanished like a pack of frightened hares immediately they were discharged, and even my client shook like a leaf when he felt my eyes resti

got back into yourself again, or did he break his

was very much amused to see how utterly unnerved poor Baskins was by the strange events of the day. Several times he muttered to himself remarks like, 'I didn't know he had it in him,' and 'If I'd thought he was that kind of a man I'd have kept blessed clear of him. I wonder what he'll charge.' And then every time there was a step or noise of any kind out

er saw in all my experience a man so thoroughly frightened as Baskins was when the sound for which he could not account greeted his ear. He went on his knees and shook like a leaf, clasping his hands, as if in prayer, before his face, which turned a blue white. The pistol fell from his hands to the floor,

the floor, flung it out through the window into the court, where it exploded, the jar of contact with the stone walk being sufficient to discharge it. As the sharp report of the pistol echoed through the court my client threw himself flat on his face, and prostrate there at m

within me. 'Murder or suicide? If you cont

ent. 'Your power was so terrible; the

do in case we should not agree, and the power of my eye should chance to

lient. 'It was but the natural instinc

ow which would place you in far worse estate than your poor brother is in. If you had your pistol in your hand, aimed at my heart, you would still be powerless to do me an injury, for with one glance of my eye I could force you to turn the muzzle to your own head, and with another compel you to empty its leaden load into your own brains. Your suspicions are insulting, but an insult from one of your calibre to one of mine is as the sting of a f

ge?' queried my client, lashed into a sho

for I have the power to make you so,'

ndignation, "that you sat there like a zero on a pedestal, and kept

banknotes. The struggle he went through was terrible to witness, and as the notes passed from his hands into mine he sighed like one who was heart-broken. The fiend dictated the letter commending my efforts, and expressing surprise that the amount asked for my se

t of this or any other world you may be, you must forever be within

es upon the corner wherein I sat aghast with the mortification of having my name i

lcome. It's lucky for you I have the power I have. If I hadn't,

ocation than I have, and considering the terror with which you have managed to inspi

u do, because as I drove down the Strand just now even the omnibus horses shied, and the driver of my cab had all he could do to keep his ramshackl

ces I am going to return all but five hundred pounds to that poo

rily in the grate, he said. 'My friend, I exact from you an oath that you will not return one penny of this sum to Mr. Baskins. If you refuse, I shall cast

Toppleton?" asked the spirit earnestly. "Cou

creature as he could have distinguished between a bible and a

nkee. I never thought of the substitution of the directory for the bible, and the consequent elimination of moral responsibility from the oath. I simply swore as he desired me to, and in an hour I was alone in my office, the

harity; subscribed all but your just due to the House for Imbeciles

at the close of a first interview, at having found me so much less great than they had been led to believe by the public estimate of my abilities. Nevertheless, cases of the most intricate sort were fairly dumped into my hands by the cart-load, and, worst of all, I found that eminence brought with it other responsibilities which I was ill-prepared to meet. I was constantly in receipt of requests to lecture on subjects of a variety that would have appalled the fiend himself, and worse than all I was called into consultation by the Crown in certain litigation of international impor

icient to bring him into my presence, and time and time again did I subjec

sical strength which detracted materially from my happiness; and yet when day after day I saw my name in print, and noted that I was regarded as one of the most marvellous intellectual products of the day, I could not bring myself to the point where I could reno

ne profession was too small to hold the boundless qualities of my genius, I startled the English reading public with a novel, the depth and power of which stirred the soul of the most blasé of novel-readers, and the presses of my publisher were taxed to the utmost to supply the demand for my work; then came a volume of poems which caused my name to be mentioned as a possible successor to the laureateship; then a series of essays on scientific and philosophical subjects which were nearly my undoing, since my omniscient self, as I came to call the fiend w

o hear you," said Hopkins with a laug

ng a tête-à-tête with dishonour. Damocles had a sword suspended over his head, held in

of it?" queried Hopki

look doubtful at the tenth and say I didn't know about that; my inherent love of compromise and my ingenuity in that direction stood me in good stead upon that occasion. It was a narrow squeak, but I got through all right. The savants went back to Edinburgh somewhat disappointed, I presume, with the new sun on the scientific h

p, and one day after an absence of a week from my body, during which period of time I was utterly in the da

pon me? Am I to make my mark now as an inebriate, or is this simply a little practical jo

gh. It is because I find it much harder to manage your body under these present circumstances. When one leg wants to go dancing down Pall Mall, and the other evinces a strange desire to walk gravely off in the direction of Scotland Yard, it is a most difficult thing for a mind not thoroughly in sympathy with either of them

the new honour which was being thrust upon

by your constituency, and take a little something at your own expense with a few rounds of doubtful voters. You were nearly defeated, my boy, because of your disgusting inability to cope with th

to my old neighbours in the light of a dissipated politician

get it. In forgetfulness of what you have been, and in consideration of w

for fear of what was coming. 'You have

indignant because I failed to recognize her-that cost you some votes, but not enough to change the result. She didn

'that when my mother came to my political headquarters to s

eyes of the world. I hate an ingrate. You couldn't expect me to know a lady whom I never even saw before, and when I have a big scheme on foot I do not intend to have it spoiled for want of caution. If I made you seem an undutiful son, I am sorry for it, and will strive to make amends next time I meet your mother. I'll write

least four hundred doubtful voters. Credited with a seat in Parliament, I found my name debited with the crime of intemperance, lack of self-respect, and a gross affront to my own mot

on the Sepoys in '57 would be mild punishment for that Nile-green brute that got you into this. To tell you the truth, Sallie, the fearful justice of y