Page 50
Legal matters
By this time it was almost morning, and we went to bed. (This diary seems very much like the beginning of the "Arabian Nights," because everything has to finish at dawn.)
12 May. Let me begin with facts, just the facts, without anything added. Facts proved by books and figures. There can be no doubt of these. I must not confuse facts with experiences which depend on what I have seen, or remembered. Last evening the Count came from his room. He began asking me questions about legal affairs and how certain kinds of business are done in England. I had spent the day wearily studying books. Just to keep my mind occupied, I had looked again at some of the questions I had been asked in my solicitor's exam. There was a certain direction in the Count's inquiries, so I shall try to put his questions down in order. The information may somehow or at some time be useful.
First, he asked if a man in England might have two solicitors or more. I told him he could have a dozen if he wanted. But it would not be wise to have more than one solicitor engaged in one item of business. Only one solicitor could work on that business at a time, and it was almost certainly a bad idea to change solicitors before the job was done.