CHAPTER V

INTRODUCING MR. DANIEL HARWOOD


On the day following the delivery to Andrew Kelton of the letter in
which money for Sylvia's education was offered by an unknown person, the
bearer of the message was to be seen at Indianapolis, in the law office
of Wright and Fitch, attorneys and counselors at law, on the fourth
floor of the White River Trust Company's building in Washington Street.
In that office young Mr. Harwood was one of half a dozen students, who
ran errands to the courts, kept the accounts, and otherwise made
themselves useful.

Wright and Fitch was the principal law firm in the state in the period
under scrutiny, as may readily be proved by an examination of the court
dockets. The firm's practice was, however, limited. Persons anxious to
mulct wicked corporations in damages for physical injuries did not
apply to Wright and Fitch, for the excellent reason that this capable
firm was retained by most of the public service corporations and had no
time to waste on the petty and vexatious claims of minor litigants. Mr.
Wright was a Republican, Mr. Fitch a Democrat, and each of these
gentlemen occasionally raised his voice loud enough in politics to
emphasize his party fealty. In the seventies Mr. Wright had served a
term as city attorney; on the other hand, Mr. Fitch had once declined
the Italian ambassadorship. Both had been mentioned at different times
for the governorship or for the United States Senate, and both had
declined to enter the lists for these offices.