Part 40 (1/2)
”Did you not go on with him very quietly and submissively, after a moment or two?”
”Yes, sir,” and her face now was downcast, and she began to tremble.
”Did you not enter a covered alley-way, that led to tenements in the rear?”
”Yes, sir,” with increasing agitation.
”Well, what did you do there?”
”Has he told on me, your Honor?” she gasped, with a sudden flood of tears.
”What he has done is no concern of yours. You are under oath to tell the whole truth. There was a single gas-jet burning in the covered pa.s.sage-way, was there not?”
”Yes, sir,” sobbing violently.
”Has Miss Mildred Jocelyn ever wronged you?”
”N--no, sir, not that I know of.”
”Now tell me just what occurred under that gas-jet.”
”I'll tell your Honor the whole truth,” the girl burst out, ”if your Honor'll let me off this time. It's my first offence, and we're poor, and I was driven to it by need, and he promised me that Miss Jocelyn wouldn't suffer anything worse than a warning to find another place.”
Believing that her accomplice had betrayed her, she told the whole story without any concealment, fully exonerating Mildred. Although the judge maintained his stern, impa.s.sive aspect throughout the scene, he hugely enjoyed the floor-walker's dismay and confusion, and his tortured inability to warn the girl to deny everything.
”Please, your Honor, forgive me this time,” sobbed the trembling witness in conclusion, ”and I'll never do wrong again.”
”I have no right or power to punish you,” replied the judge; ”it rests wholly with your employers whether they will prosecute you or not. Send that floor-walker here” (to an officer). ”Well, sir, what have you to say to this testimony?” he asked, as the fellow shuffled forward, pale and irresolute. ”Remember, you are still under oath.”
The wily villain, caught in his own trap, hesitated. He was tempted to deny that the plot against Mildred was at his instigation; but, like the girl, he saw that the judge had mysterious information on the subject, and he could not tell how far this knowledge went. If he entered on a series of denials he might be confronted by another witness. The young man who had been sent to identify the girl, and whose unexpected presence had brought such disaster, might have been concealed in the pa.s.sage-way, and so have seen and heard all.
With the fear of an indictment for perjury before his eyes the fellow began to whine.
”I was only trying to protect the interests of my employers. I had suspected the Jocelyn girl--” At this there arose from the court-room a loud and general hiss, Which the judge repressed, as he sternly interposed,
”We have nothing to do with your suspicions. Do you deny the testimony?”
”No, sir; but--”
”That's enough. No words; step down.” Then turning to Mildred, he said kindly and courteously, ”Miss Jocelyn, it gives me pleasure to inform you that your innocence has been clearly shown. I should also inform you that this man Bissel has made himself liable to suit for damages, and I hope that you will prosecute him. I am sorry that you have been subjected to so painful an ordeal. You are now at liberty.”
”I thank--oh, I thank and bless your Honor,” said Mildred, with such a depth of grat.i.tude and gladness in her face that the judge smiled to himself several times that day. It was like a burst of June suns.h.i.+ne after a storm. While the witness was admitting the facts which would prove her guiltless, Mildred was scarcely less agitated than the wretched girl herself; but her strong excitement showed itself not by tears, but rather in her dilated eyes, nervously trembling form, and quickly throbbing bosom. Now that the tension was over she sank on a bench near, and covering her eyes, from which gushed a torrent of tears, with her hands, murmured audibly, ”Thank G.o.d! oh, thank G.o.d! He has not deserted me after all.”
Looks of strong sympathy were bent upon her from all parts of the room, and even the judge himself was so much affected that he took prompt refuge in the duties of his office, and summoning the foreman of the shop, said, ”You may inform your employers how matters stand.” This functionary had been regarding the later stage of the proceedings in undisguised astonishment, and now hastened to depart with his tidings, the floor-walker following him with the aspect of a whipped cur, and amid the suppressed groans and hisses of the spectators. The girl, too, slunk away after them in the hope of making peace with her employers.
The judge now observed that Roger had b.u.t.tonholed a reporter, who had been das.h.i.+ng off hieroglyphics that meant a spicy paragraph the following day. Summoning the young man, he said, as if the affair were of slight importance, ”Since the girl has been proved innocent, and will have no further relation to the case, I would suggest that, out of deference to her friends and her own feelings, there be no mention of her name,” and the news-gatherer good-naturedly acceded to the request.
A new case was called, and new interests, hopes, and fears agitated the hearts of other groups, that had been drawn to the judgment-seat by the misfortunes or crimes of those bound to them by various ties.
Mrs. Jocelyn would not leave the place, which she had so dreaded, until Roger could accompany them, and they chafed at every moment of delay that prevented their pouring out their thanks. But Mildred's heart was too full for words. She fully understood how great a service he had rendered her. She bitterly reproached herself for all her prejudice in the past, and was in a mood for any self-sacrifice that he would ask. Tears of deep and mingled feeling fell fast, and she longed to escape from the staring crowd. Not before such witnesses could she speak and look the grat.i.tude she felt.
With downcast eyes and quivering lips she followed her mother--to whom Roger had given his arm--from the court-room. A carriage stood at the door, into which Mrs. Jocelyn was hurried before she could speak; then turning so promptly that there was no chance even for exuberant Belle or the effervescing Mrs. Wheaton to utter a syllable, Roger seized Mildred's hand, and said earnestly, ”Thanks for your aid, Miss Jocelyn. I thought you were the bravest girl in the world, and you have proved it. I am as glad as you are, and this is the happiest moment in my life. I've just one favor to ask--please rest, and don't worry about anything--not ANYTHING. That's all. Good-by, for I must be off to business;” and before she or any of them could speak he caught a swiftly pa.s.sing street-car and disappeared.