The Girl on the Boat - Penn State University

the Hotel Magnificent at Bingley-on-the-Sea. It was the
same spirit which has often moved other men in similar
circumstances to go off to the Rockies to shoot grizzlies.
To a certain extent the Hotel Magnificent had dulled
the pain. At any rate, the service and cooking there
had done much to take his mind off it. His heart still
ached, but he felt equal to going to London and seeing
his father, which of course he ought to have done seven
days before.
He rose from his bench—he had sat down on it directly
after breakfast—and went back to the hotel to
inquire about trains. An hour later he had begun his
journey and two hours after that he was at the door of
his father’s office.
<strong>The</strong> offices of the old-established firm of Marlowe,
Thorpe, Prescott, Winslow and Appleby are in
Ridgeway’s Inn, not far from Fleet Street. <strong>The</strong> brass
plate, let into the woodwork of the door, is misleading.
Reading it, you get the impression that on the other
side quite a covey of lawyers await your arrival. <strong>The</strong>
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> on the Boat
84
name of the firm leads you to suppose that there will
be barely standing-room in the office. You picture
Thorpe jostling you aside as he makes for Prescott to
discuss with him the latest case of demurrer, and
Winslow and Appleby treading on your toes, deep in
conversation on replevin. But these legal firms dwindle.
<strong>The</strong> years go by and take their toll, snatching away
here a Prescott, there an Appleby, till, before you know
where you are, you are down to your last lawyer. <strong>The</strong>
only surviving member of the firm of Marlowe,
Thorpe—what I said before—was, at the time with which
this story deals, Sir Mallaby Marlowe, son of the original
founder of the firm and father of the celebrated
black-face comedian, Samuel of that ilk; and the outer
office, where callers were received and parked till Sir
Mallaby could find time for them, was occupied by a
single clerk.
When Sam opened the door this clerk, John Peters
by name, was seated on a high stool, holding in one
hand a half-eaten sausage, in the other an extraordinarily
large and powerful-looking revolver. At the sight