She bowed her head, and was silent.
“Would you like to know what the sentence will be?”
“Yes, if you like.”
“You will be hanged, as you deserve.”
“Really.”
“And you will be hanged, sir, as sure as two and two make four.”
“Then, sir, I shall have a chance,” said the phlegmatic Maston. “If you were only the least bit of a mathematician you would not say as sure as two and two make four. What is it that proves that all mathematicians up to now have not been mad in asserting that the sum of two numbers is equal to that of their parts, that two and two make exactly four?”
“Sir!” exclaimed the president, completely puzzled.
“Ah!” continued Maston. “If you had said as sure as one and one make two, all right! That is absolutely evident, for it is no longer a theorem, it is a definition.”
At this lesson in arithmetic, the president of the Commission retired, while Mrs. Scorbitt’s eyes were ablaze with admiration for the extraordinary abilities of her beloved calculator.