The old fellow had a large amount of property, however, and I was willing to take a loss if it meant future business.

Yet the time involved and the trifling character of the suit annoyed me and I resolved to take it upon myself to settle the matter over my client's head.
On my way home I stopped in at the tailor's and told him to take his three dollars and discontinue his action, which he was glad enough to do.

The next day I wrote Mr.Wimbleton that I had forced his enemy to capitulate--horse, foot, and dragoons--and that the suit had been withdrawn.

My embarrassment may be imagined when my client arrived at the office in a state of delirious excitement and insisted not only on inviting me to dinner, but on paying me fifty dollars for services in giving him the satisfaction of beating the tailor.

Instantly I saw a means of entirely satisfying the old man and earning some good fees without the slightest exertion.
The same method--although for another purpose--will be recalled by my readers as having been invoked by the unjust steward who called his lord's debtors to him and inquired how much they owed.