"WELL?"
"True bill; I'm awfully sorry."
Thomas Fleming took his cigar out of his mouth, and contemplated the lighted end. He did not speak, the other man, his lawyer, who had brought him the unwelcome news, began to make the best of it.
"Of course, it's an annoyance; but—"
"Well, yes. It's an annoyance," Fleming said, dryly.
Bates chuckled. "It strikes me, Tom, considering the difference between this and the real thing, that 'annoyance' is just the right word to use!"
Fleming leaned over and knocked off the ashes from his cigar into his waste basket. He was silent.
"As for Hammond, he won't have a leg to stand on. I don't know what Ellis & Grew meant by letting him take the case before the Grand Jury. He won't have a leg to stand on!"
"Give me a light, will you, Bates? This cigar has gone out again."