of it! All the big cities in Europe used to set the clocks by it.”
(Laughter, suppressed by the court.)
“How do you know? That is the question. Please answer it plainly and
squarely.”
“Don’t you talk to me like that, Sim Robinson–I won’t have it. How do
I know, indeed! How do you know what you know? Because somebody told
you. You didn’t invent it out of your own head, did you? Why, these
twins are the truthfulest people in the world; and I don’t think it
becomes you to sit up there and throw slurs at them when they haven’t
been doing anything to you. And they are orphans besides–both of them.
All–”
But Aunt Betsy was up again now, and both old ladies were talking at once
and with all their might; but as the house was weltering in a storm of
laughter, and the judge was hammering his desk with an iron paper-weight,
one could only see them talk, not hear them. At last, when quiet was
restored, the court said:
“Let the ladies retire.”
“But, your honor, I have the right, in the interest of my clients,–to
cross-exam–”
“You’ll not need to exercise it, Mr. Wilson–the evidence is thrown out.”
“Thrown out!” said Aunt Patsy, ruffled; “and what’s it thrown out for,
I’d like to know.”
“And so would I, Patsy Cooper. It seems to me that if we can save these
poor persecuted strangers, it is our bounden duty to stand up here and
talk for them till–”
“There, there, there, do sit down!”
It cost some trouble and a good deal of coaxing, but they were got into
their seats at last. The trial was soon ended now. The twins themselves
became witnesses in their own defense. They established the fact, upon
oath, that the leg-power passed from one to the other every Saturday
night at twelve o’clock sharp. But or cross-examination their counsel
would not allow them to tell whose week of power the current week was.
The judge insisted upon their answering, and proposed to compel them, but
even the prosecution took fright and came to the rescue then, and helped
stay the sturdy jurist’s revolutionary hand. So the case had to go to
the jury with that important point hanging in the air. They were out an
hour and brought in this verdict:
“We the jury do find: 1, that an assault was committed, as charged;
2, that it was committed by one of the persons accused, he having been
seen to do it by several credible witnesses; 3, but that his identity is
so merged in his brother’s that we have not been able to tell which was
him. We cannot convict both, for only one is guilty. We cannot acquit
both, for only one is innocent. Our verdict is that justice has been
defeated by the dispensation of God, and ask to be discharged from
further duty.”
This was read aloud in court and brought out a burst of hearty applause.
The old ladies made a spring at the twins, to shake and congratulate, but
were gently disengaged by Mr. Wilson and softly crowded back into their
places.
The judge rose in his little tribune, laid aside his silver-bowed
spectacles, roached his gray hair up with his fingers, and said, with
dignity and solemnity, and even with a certain pathos:
“In all my experience on the bench, I have not seen justice bow her head
in shame in this court until this day. You little realize what far-
reaching harm has just been wrought here under the fickle forms of law.
Imitation is the bane of courts–I thank God that this one is free from
the contamination of that vice–and in no long time you will see the
fatal work of this hour seized upon by profligate so-called guardians of
justice in all the wide circumstance of this planet and perpetuated in
their pernicious decisions. I wash my hands of this iniquity. I would
have compelled these culprits to expose their guilt, but support failed
me where I had most right to expect aid and encouragement. And I was
confronted by a law made in the interest of crime, which protects the