“Nevertheless,” and Mizzlemist dropt the pen, “there is no evidence in all this; no evidence that Solomon Jericho, Esq., M.P., is of unsound mind and incapable of managing his own affairs.”
As Doctor Mizzlemist delivered this opinion, a crash was heard in an adjoining room. Another and another; and then a loud, triumphant laugh from the throat of Jericho.
Wife and daughters, with jury of friends, started to their feet. Candituft, ere he was aware—for had he reflected a moment, he would as soon have unbarred a lion’s cage—opened the door. And there stood Jericho, laden with spoil! The girls shrieked when they beheld their jewel cases in the gripe of the Man of Money; and Mrs. Jericho, when she saw all her diamonds repossessed by their donor, felt as a mother must feel, beholding her cherished little one—her only treasure—crunched between the teeth of a royal tiger. Jericho said not a word; but stood, and leered upon the company, and with a savage chuckle, the while shaking the iron implement—the burglarious poker with which he had broken up cases and cabinets—rejoicingly exhibited his plunder. Then, about to ascend to his garret, he roared to the felonious familiar that grinned at his elbow—“See all these robbers into the street—the street; and then come to me;” and still hugging the spoil, Jericho, with another laugh, flitted up the staircase.
“Surely, Dr. Mizzlemist,” cried the impulsive Agatha, “this must satisfy anybody? This is madness—to steal my pearls!”
“My amethysts!” sobbed Monica.
“And my diamonds!” cried Mrs. Jericho, with so deep an utterance of wrong, that every other injury was lost in it—straws in a whirlpool.
Doctor Mizzlemist shook his head. “Very violent; very selfish; nevertheless, the fact would by no means satisfy a jury that Solomon Jericho is incapable of looking after his own property.”
And the sheet of paper provided to contain a crowd of evidence against the sanity of Jericho, remained without a mark; a virgin page. Its whiteness went to the very heart of Mrs. Jericho, as her listless eye fell upon it. Life itself seemed a blank.