Page 67 (1/1)

The offices of the old-established firm of Marlowe, Thorpe, Prescott, Winslow and Appleby are in Ridgeway's Inn, not far from Fleet Street If you are a millionaire beset by blackal advice is essential, and have decided to put your affairs in the hands of the ablest and discreetest firri felt your way along a dark and gririeway's Inn, but nowhere is it so plentiful, so rich in alluvial deposits, as on the exterior of the offices of Marlowe, Thorpe, Prescott, Winslow and Appleby As you tap on the toplass of the door, a sense of relief and security floods your being For in London grubbiness is the gauge of a lawyer's respectability

The brass plate, let into the ork of this door, is et the impression that on the other side quite a covey of lawyers await your arrival The name of the fir-roo you aside as he makes for Prescott to discuss with him the latest case of de on your toes, deep in conversation on replevin But these legal fir away here a Prescott, there an Appleby, till before you knohere you are, you are down to your last lawyer The only surviving member of the firm of Marlowe, Thorpe--what I said before--was, at the time hich this story deals, Sir Mallaby Marlowe, son of the original founder of the firm and father of the celebrated black-faced comedian, Samuel of that ilk; and the outer office, where callers were received and parked till Sir Mallaby could find tile clerk

When Sa the office after his journey, opened the door, this clerk, John Peters by na in one hand a half-eaten sausage, in the other an extraordinary large and powerful revolver At the sight of Saines of destruction and bea haave him a truculent and sinister look; but those who knew hiold and were not intimidated by his repellent face Between Sam and hi from the time when the former was a small boy, and it had been Jno Peters' mission to take him now to the Zoo, now to the train back to school