A Lawyer’s Courtship

by Melville Dorano, Esq.

I had only a short time previously graduated from the law-school, and opened an office in the city of P——. Clients did not flock to me all at once. One or two small suits had fallen into my hands, but they had been disposed of and forgotten, and I was again inclined to wish that I had accepted a partnership in the large shoe business of my father, instead of adopting the profession of the law.

I was sitting in my office ruminating on the difficulty of getting a start in the practice, when the door opened softly, and a young woman entered and sank down on the first chair she came to.

“Oh! sir, are you an attorney?” she asked, faintly.

I barely had time to reply when her eyes closed, and she fainted dead away.

I was a bachelor, and not a physician, and this situation was anything but agreeable to me.

What was to be done?

I seized a glass of ice-water which stood near my hand, and rushing to the place where she sat, sprinkled it copiously on her face. In a few minutes consciousness returned.

“Oh! save me from him, do save me from him, kind sir,” she said, “and God will bless you for it, indeed He will.”

“Yes, I will save you from him,” I said, assuringly. “Who is he?”

“Why, Ole,” she said, in a wild way, which showed that she had not fully come to her senses.

In those days I was very fond of French brandy, and generally had a flask of it in my office, though I am glad to say I have long since abandoned its use. I thought a little of it might revive my mysterious client; and mixing some with water and presenting it to her lips, she swallowed it without resistance, and seemed to be… Read More