Mr. Belcher groaned, and tore up the little check that seemed so large when he drew it, and had shrunk to such contemptible dimensions in the hands of the lawyer.

“You lawyers put the lancet in pretty deep.”

“Our clients never do!” said Mr. Cavendish through his sneering lips.

Then the boy knocked, and came in.  There was another gentleman who wished to see the lawyer.

“I shall go to Washington to-day, and see you on my return,” said Mr. Belcher.

Then, bidding the lawyer a good-morning, he went out, ran down the stairs, jumped into Mr. Talbot’s waiting coupe, and ordered himself driven home.  Arriving there, he hurriedly packed a satchel, and, announcing to Mrs. Belcher that he had been unexpectedly called to Washington, went out, and made the quickest passage possible to Jersey City.  As he had Government contracts on hand, his wife asked no questions, and gave the matter no thought.

The moment Mr. Belcher found himself on the train, and in motion, he became feverishly excited.  He cursed himself that he had not attended to this matter before.  He had wondered why Balfour was so quiet.  With Benedict alive and in communication, or with Benedict dead, and his heir in charge, why had he made no claim upon rights which were the basis of his own fortune?  There could be but one answer to these questions, and Cavendish had given it!

He talked to himself, and attracted the attention of those around him.  He walked the platforms at all the stations where the train stopped.  He asked the conductor a dozen times at what hour the train would arrive in Washington, apparently forgetting that he had already received his information.  He did not reach his destination until evening, and then, of course, all the public offices were closed.  He met men whom he knew, but he would not be tempted by them into a debauch.  He went to bed early, and, after a weary night of sleeplessness, found himself at the Patent Office before a clerk was in his place.

When the offices were opened, he sought his man, and revealed his business.  He prepared a list of the patents in which he was interested, and secured a search of the records of assignment.  It was a long time since the patents had been issued, and the inquisition was a tedious one; but it resulted, to his unspeakable relief, in the official statement that no one of them had ever been assigned.  Then he brought out his paper, and, with a blushing declaration that he had not known the necessity of its record until the previous day, saw the assignment placed upon the books.