Chapter 23

⁠​​​‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​​‌​‌​​​​​​​​​​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌‌‌‌‌‌‌​​​‌​​​​⁠In two of the gloomiest and dirtiest little rooms in the dirtiest and gloomiest of little streets that dangle at loose ends from the courthouse yard, Mr. Gooch had his office. It was a small dark place that suggested nothing so much as an overflowing scrap-basket. Papers littered the table, and spilled out of every pigeon-hole of the old secretary; papers lay in stacks along the book-shelves, and