We
met in Judge Aldrich's office, Colonel Lee and myself and
Judge Aldrich and some of the Town officers, to make up the
statement. But Mr. Aldrich had not had time to look very
deeply into the law of the case, and made some difficulties in
agreeing upon the facts, which we thought rather unreasonable.
We sat up to a late hour in a hot summer evening trying to
get at a statement. At last Lee's patience gave out. He
had had one or two hot passages at arms with Mr. Aldrich
in the course of the discussion already. He rose to his feet
and said in a very loud and angry tone--his voice was always
something like that of a bull of Basham--"This is a farce."
Aldrich rose from his seat and to the occasion and said very
angrily, "What's that you say, Sir?" Lee clenched both fists
by his side, thrust his own angry countenance close up to
that of his antagonist, and said, "A farce, Sir--F-A-R-S-
E, Farce." Aldrich caught my eye as I was sitting behind
my client and noticed my look of infinite amusement. His
anger yielded to the comedy of the occasion. He burst into
a roar of laughter and peace was saved.
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