"In 1873 this subject was fully discussed before the Court of Queen's Bench. It was held that a person who had been duly appointed under Charles II, Chap. 24, Sec. 8, by the will of the father to be guardian of his child, stands in loco parentis, and having, therefore, a legal right to the custody of the infant, may in order to obtain possession of such ward, claim a writ of habeas corpus which a common law court has no discretion to refuse, if the applicant be a fit person and the child too young to choose for itself.
"The court, therefore, gives the custody of the child to the guardian under the will, and counsel may draw a decree in accordance with the decision of the court."
For a full half minute there was silence in the court-room. Then, before Judge Kirtley could speak or put out a hand to stop her, Margaret De Jarnette stood up, white as the dead.
"The decision may be according to the law," she said in a low tense voice—"the law made by men for men. But it will not stand. Mark that!" her head was thrown back now and her eyes blazed. "For it is against Nature's law and that is God's very own. This child is mine! I bore him—through pain of body and anguish of soul. Does that give me no claim upon him?"
She stretched out her hands in an unconscious gesture of appeal. A silence like that of the grave was over the room. Men and women bent forward and held their breath in their eagerness to hear. The Judge did not stop her. The Probate Court is very patient with women.
"And that is not all," she went on. "Oh, no! no! that is not all. Through all those weary months—days of pain and sleepless nights—he lay, part of my body, his very life entwined with mine, his very soul fashioned by mine, his being absolutely dependent upon mine—he lay there, I say, close to my heart—and every throb was for him! You tell me that the man who gave him only life and a name and then deserted him—" the words were pouring out tumultuously now—"that this man has the right to will that child away from me, his mother, as he would his horse or his dog? I tell you it is a lie! a lie! He has no such right! The child is mine! There is no power in earth or heaven or hell that can take him from me! I'll have him!"
She stopped. The world grew black before her. She swayed backward; there was a sudden stir; and it was Richard De Jarnette springing forward that caught her as she fell.
CHAPTER XXIII
MOTHERS AND FOSTER MOTHERS
From the court-room she was carried straight to the hospital. The doctor, summoned hastily to attend her, told them gravely that it was probably the beginning of an attack of brain fever. There was never any telling where that would end. The strain of the last week had been very severe. She should have the most skilful and experienced nursing that could be secured, and constant medical attention.