"Tell him, my dear, that I quite forgot it. I fancied I was at a play, and enjoyed it much."
I believe Cary did n't translate me honestly, for the old fellow seemed appeased, and the case continued. I could now perceive that my atrocious conduct had evoked a very strong sentiment in the auditory, for there was a great rush forward to get a look at me, and they who were fortunate enough to succeed complimented me by a string of the most abusive and insulting epithets.
My advocate was now called on, and, seeing him rise, I just whispered to Cary, "Ask the judge if we may see the wound?"
"What does that question mean?" said the chief judge, imperiously. "Would the prisoner dare to insinuate that the wound has no existence?"
"You've hit it," said I. "Tell him, Cary, that's exactly what I mean."
"Has not the prisoner sworn to his sufferings," repeated he, "and the doctor made oath to the treatment?"
"They 're both a pair of lying scoundrels. Tell him so, Cary."
"You see him now. There is the man himself in his true colors, most illustrious and most ornate judges," exclaimed Giacomo, pointing to me with his finger, as I nearly burst with rage.
"Ah! che diavolo! che demonio infernale!" rang out amidst the waving crowd; and the looks bestowed on me from the bench seemed to give hearty concurrence to the opinion.
Now, Tom, a court of justice, be its locale ever so humble, and its procedure ever so simple, has always struck me as the very finest evidence of homage to civilization. There is something in the fact of men submitting, not only their worldly interests and their characters, but even their very passions, to the arbitration of their fellow-men, that is indescribably fine and noble, and shows—if we even wanted such a proof—that this corrupt nature of ours, in the midst of all its worst influences, has still some of that divine essence within, unsullied and untarnished. And just as I reverence this, do I execrate, with all my heart's indignation, a corrupt judicature. The governments who employ, and the people who tolerate them, are well worthy of each other.