Part 56 (2/2)
”Thank you?” she cried in a ringing voice ”I shall curse you Allyou in horror for aYou fool! Can you not see? You fool!”
He recoiled Being a man of position and importance, quick, fearless, and vindictive of temperament--and also, it would seem, extremely fortunate--it had never happened to hied She was by no means the first to account him a fool, but she was certainly the first to call hiht have proved her extre proof of her er and pity, ”you are ed, your vision's all distorted This fiend incarnate is become a poor victim of the evil of others; and I aht--a murderer and a fool God's Life! Bah! Anon when you are rested, when you are restored, I pray that things ain assume their proper aspect”
He turned, all aquiver still with indignation, and was barely in ti struck by the door which opened suddenly from without
Lord Henry Goade, dressed--as he tells us--entirely in black, and with his gold chain of office--an on could they have read it--upon his broad chest, stood in the doorway, silhouetted sharply against the flood of n face would, no doubt, be extrerave to htened so there by the table's edge
”I was overjoyed,” he writes, ”to find her so far recovered, and seeain, and I expressed my satisfaction”
”She were better abed,” snapped Sir John, two hectic spots burning still in his sallow cheeks ”She is distempered, quite”
”Sir John is mistaken, my lord,” was her cal as he conceives”
”I rejoice therein,eyes speeding fro the evidences of Sir John's te what could have passed ”It happens,” he added sorave matter that is toward” He turned to Sir John ”I have bidden the up the prisoner for sentence Is the ordeal too much for you, Rosamund?”
”Indeed, no, my lord,” she replied readily ”I welcome it” And threw back her head as one who braces herself for a trial of endurance
”No, no,” cut in Sir John, protesting fiercely ”Do not heed her, Harry
She”
”Considering,” she interrupted, ”that the chief count against the prisoner s with myself, surely the matter is one upon which I should be heard”
”Surely, indeed,” Lord Henry agreed, a little bewildered, he confesses, ”always provided you are certain it will not overtax your endurance and distress you overmuch We could perhaps dispense with your testimony”
”In that, my lord, I assure you that you are mistaken,” she answered
”You cannot dispense with it”
”Be it so, then,” said Sir John grimly, and he strode back to the table, prepared to take his place there
Lord Henry's twinkling blue eyes were still considering Rosahtfully at his short tuft of ashen-coloured beard Then he turned to the door ”Co up the prisoner”
Steps clanked upon the deck, and three of Sir John's officers made their appearance to coade corsair, a judgone
CHAPTER XXV THE ADVOCATE
Chairs were set at the long brown table ofthe open door and the blaze of sunshi+ne on the poop-deck, their backs to the other door and the horn hich opened upon the stern-gallery The middle place was assumed by Lord Henry Goade by virtue of his office of Queen's Lieutenant, and the reason for his chain of office became now apparent He was to preside over this surew, and beyond him an officer named Youldon The other those names have not survived, occupied his lordshi+p's left
A chair had been set for Rosaht and across the head of it, so as to detach her from the judicial bench She sat there now, her elbows on the polished board, her face resting in her half-clenched hands, her eyes scrutinizing the five gentlemen who formed this court