aid before the fourteen days had elapsed. He
determined to go first to a solicitor: and launch
him against his enemies, while compelled to
shirk them in his own person. Curious position!
Now amongst his father's creditors was Mr.
Compton a solicitor, known for an eccentric,
but honourable man, and for success in litigation.
Mr. Compton used to do his own business in
Barkington, and employ an agent in London:
but Alfred remembered to have heard just before
his incarceration that he had reversed the parts,
and now lived in London. Alfred found him out
by the Directory, and called at his chambers in
Lincoln's Inn-fields. He had to wait some
time in the outer office listening to a fluent
earnest client preaching within: but presently a
sharp voice broke in upon the drone, and, after a
few sentences, Mr. Compton ushered out a
client with these remarkable words: "And as
for your invention, it has been invented four
times before you invented it, and never was worth
inventing at all. And you have borrowed two
hundred pounds of me in ninety loans, each of
which cost me an hour's invaluable time: I hold
ninety acknowledgments in your handwriting;
and I'll put them all in force for my protection;"
with this he turned to his head clerk; "Mr.
Colls take out a writ against this client; what
is your Christian name, sir? I forget."

"Simon," said the gaping client, off his guard.

"Thank you, sir," said Mr. Compton with
sudden politeness: then resuming hostilities.
"A writ in the Common Pleas against Simon
Macfarlane: keep it in your drawer, Colls, and if
ever the said Macfarlane does me the honour to
call on me again, serve him with it on the spot;
and, if not, not. Good morning, sir." And with
this he bolted into his own room and slammed
its door. The clerks opened the outer door to
Mr. Macfarlane with significant grins, and he
went out bewildered sorely, yea even like one
that walketh abroad in his sleep. "Now, sir,"
said Mr. Colls cheerfully to Alfred. But the
new client naturally hesitated now: he put on
his most fascinating smile, and said: "Well,
Mr. Colls, what do you advise? Is this a
moment to beard the lion in his den?"

At Alfred's smile and address, Colls fell in
love with him directly, and assured him, sotto
voce, and with friendly familiarity, that now was
his time. "Why, he'll be as sweet as honey now
he has got rid of a client." With this he took
Alfred's name, and ushered him into a room
piled with japanned tin boxes, where Mr. Compton
sat, looking all complacency, at a large desk
table, on which briefs, and drafts, and letters lay
in profusion and seeming confusion. He rose,
and with a benignant courtesy invited Alfred to
sit down and explain his business.

The reader is aware our Oxonian could make
a close and luminous statement. He began at
the beginning, but soon disposed of preliminaries
and came to his capture at Silverton. Then Mr.
Compton quietly rang the bell, and with a slight
apology to Alfred requested Colls to search for
the draft of Mrs. Holloway's will. Alfred
continued. Mr. Compton listened keenly, noted the
salient points on a sheet of brief-paper, and
demanded the exact dates of every important
event related.

The story finished, the attorney turned to
Colls, and said mighty coolly, "You may go.
The will is in my pocket: but I made sure he
was a madman. They generally are, these
ill-used clients." (Exit Colls.) "Got a copy of
the settlement, sir, under which you take this
ten thousand pounds?"

"No, sir."

"Any lawyer seen it?"

"Oh yes; Mr. Cranford down at Barkington."

"Good. Friend of mine. I'll write to him.
Names and addresses of your trustees?"

Alfred gave them.

"You have brought the order on which you
were confined, and the two certificates?"

"Not I," said Alfred. "I have begged and
prayed for a sight of them, and never could get
one. That is one of the galling iniquities of
the system; I call it 'THE DOUBLE SHUFFLE.'
Just bring your mind to bear on this, sir: The
prisoner whose wits and liberty have been signed
away behind his back is not allowed to see the
order and certificate on which he is confined—
until after his release: that release he is to
obtain by combating the statements in the order
and certificates. So to get out he must first see
and contradict the lies that put him in; but to
see the lies that put him in, he must first get
out. So runs the circle of Iniquity. Now, is
that the injustice of Earth, or the injustice of
Hell?"

Mr. Compton asked a moment to consider:
"Well, I think it is of the earth, earthy. There's
a mixture of idiocy in it the Devil might fairly
repudiate. Young gentleman, the English
Statutes of Lunacy are famous monuments of
legislatorial incapacity: and indeed, as a general
rule, if you want justice and wisdom, don't you
go to Acts of Parliament, but to the Common
Law of England."

Alfred did not appreciate this observation: he
made no reply to it, but inquired, with some
heat, "what he could do to punish the whole
gang; his father, the certifying doctors, and the
madhouse keepers?"

"Humph! You might indict them all for a
conspiracy," said Mr. Compton; "but you would
be defeated. As a rule, avoid criminal proceedings
where you have a civil remedy. A jury will
give a verdict and damages where they would
not convict on the same evidence. Yours is
just one of those cases where Temper says,
'indict!' but Prudence says, 'sue!' and Law,
through John Compton, its oracle in this square,
says, sue the defendant and no other. Now, who
is the true defendant here, or party liable in
law?"

"The keeper of the asylum, for one."

"No. If I remember right, all proceedings