Nodding his whiskers as if my not saying anything was another exhibition of good judgment, he continued:

“I may say, in all justice, that you will find it the invariable part of sound judgment to follow the dictates of my counsel in all cases. I may say this, my dear sir, without false modesty, appreciating with both fitting humility and a deep sense of true and lasting values, my responsibilities as well as my prerogatives as a⁠—and why should I stoop to conceal the fact that there are those who feel justified in preferring to substitute the definite article for the indefinite?⁠—recognized and accepted leader of the bar in this thriving state.”

He knew a lot of sentences like those, and he didn’t mind using them on me. Finally he got along to: