He told me the company had not a leg to stand upon, and at his
instigation I sat down and wrote an insulting letter to the
chairman.
The secretary replied that, having regard to the attitude I had
taken up, it would be incumbent upon themselves to treat it as a
test case, and presumed that my solicitors would accept service on
my behalf.
When I showed him this letter he was delighted.
"You leave it to me," he said, pocketing the correspondence, "and
we'll teach them a lesson."
I left it to him. My only excuse is that at the time I was
immersed in the writing of what in those days was termed a comedy-
drama. The little sense I possessed must, I suppose, have been
absorbed by the play.
The magistrate's decision somewhat damped my ardour, but only
inflamed his zeal. Magistrates, he said, were muddle-headed old
fogies. This was a matter for a judge.
The judge was a kindly old gentleman, and said that bearing in mind
the unsatisfactory wording of the sub-clause, he did not think he
could allow the company their costs, so that, all told, I got off
for something under fifty pounds, inclusive of the original
fourteen and tenpence.
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