“Hush, hush, dear child! We are in the presence of the judge. Wait. I will deal with him later,” murmured young Bayard.
“Rosemary Hedge! tell Roland Bayard if he don’t kick that man out and lash him, you will never marry him!” hissed Wynnette, through her clenched teeth.
“He never asked me to,” replied Rosemary, in her tiny voice.
“Silence,” said the judge, noticing for the first time the excited whispering in the corner.
“There! I told you so! Next thing we’ll be kicked out,” muttered Wynnette, most unreasonably, since she herself had caused all the disturbance.
A dead silence fell among the group of girls while Anglesea went on with his statement:
“I applied for, and obtained, the writ of habeas corpus from your honor, ordering the abductor of my wife to bring her before you. So armed with the power of the law, I went to the house of Abel Force last night and entered it, and not a moment too soon. I found my wife standing with a young man whom I at once recognized as Mr. Midshipman Force, before a minister of the Gospel who had just pronounced the marriage benediction. I saw the writ served, and then left the house. I have no more to say but this, that I might have brought a criminal charge against her!”
CHAPTER XVIII
THE OTHER SIDE
The venerable judge now turned his face, impassive as that of the Sphinx, toward Abel Force, who throughout the trying ordeal of Anglesea’s false testimony and insulting demeanor had maintained his self-possession and commanded his temper.
He now arose and came forward, took the prescribed oath, and began his statement: