? ? ? ? 'Well, sir,' returned the waiter, 'probably he has, sir; but I am not aware of it myself.'
? ? ? ? This waiter, who was middle-aged and spare, looked for help to a waiter of more authority - a stout, potential old man, with a double chin, in black breeches and stockings, who came out of a place like a churchwarden's pew, at the end of the coffee-room, where he kept company with a cash-box, a Directory, a Law-list, and other books and papers.
? ? ? ? 'Mr. Traddles,' said the spare waiter. 'Number two in the Court.'
? ? ? ? The potential waiter waved him away, and turned, gravely, to me.
? ? ? ? 'I was inquiring,' said I, 'whether Mr. Traddles, at number two in the Court, has not a rising reputation among the lawyers?'
? ? ? ? 'Never heard his name,' said the waiter, in a rich husky voice.
? ? ? ? I felt quite apologetic for Traddles.
? ? ? ? 'He's a young man, sure?' said the portentous waiter, fixing his eyes severely on me. 'How long has he been in the Inn?'
? ? ? ? 'Not above three years,' said I.
? ? ? ? The waiter, who I supposed had lived in his churchwarden's pew for forty years, could not pursue such an insignificant subject. He asked me what I would have for dinner?
? ? ? ? I felt I was in England again, and really was quite cast down on Traddles's account.
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