"Where is Otto Kromek?"
"He didn't show up," the bailiff reported.
No case, then. But Judge Barton did not so state. She leaned forward a little toward the girl whose face was blotched and swollen with weeping.
"What's the trouble, Jennie?"
Jennie set her jaw. She looked down, looked up again. The brown eyes were still upon her, questioningly. "I——"
The shawled woman plucked at the girl's skirt and whispered fiercely in her own tongue.
"Le' me alone," hissed the girl, and jerked away.
Judge Barton turned toward the woman. "Mrs. Kromek, just stand away from Jennie. Let her talk to me. Afterward you can talk."
The two separated, glaring.
"Now then, Jennie, how did it all happen?"