The lady in the dock gave such a merry laugh at this, that she infected the whole court. Ranulf went into such fits, that his wig slipped down to his chin, and an usher had to come up to the bench and slap him on the back to bring him round. Norval recovered first, and putting on as grave a face as he could, said to Jaques and Ranulf, “Don’t be silly; judges are always stern and grumpy, so we must be too;” and turning to John Doe, said, “What is your complaint against her? Did she steal your heart?”
“No, my Lord; it was her own heart.”
O’ER ME STEELING.
“Her own heart! How can that be? How could her own heart be stolen by her?”
“I never said it was stolen, my Lord, I only said she steeled it.”
“Surely that’s bad grammar, again,” whispered Jaques.
“But I want to know,” said Norval, “how could she steal what was her own?”
“Well, my Lord, you see I gave her my whole heart.”
“Gave it her? I thought you charged her with stealing it?”
“No, my Lord, never! It was her own she steeled.”