“I extort nothing, my lord. Mr. Berryl, it is quite a voluntary act, take notice, on your part; sign or not, witness or not, as you please, gentlemen,” said Mordicai, sticking his hands in his pockets, and recovering his look of black and fixed determination.
“Witness it, witness it, my dear lord,” said Mr. Berryl, looking at his mother and weeping sisters; “witness it, quick!”
“Mr. Berryl must just run over his name again in your presence, my lord, with a dry pen,” said Mordicai, putting the pen into Mr. Berryl’s hand.
“No, sir,” said Lord Colambre, “my friend shall never sign it.”
“As you please, my lord—the bond or the body, before I quit this house,” said Mordicai.
“Neither, sir, shall you have: and you quit this house directly.”
“How! how!—my lord, how’s this?”
“Sir, the arrest you have made is as illegal as it is inhuman.”
“Illegal, my lord!” said Mordicai, startled.
“Illegal, sir. I came into this house at the moment when your bailiff asked and was refused admittance. Afterwards, in the confusion of the family above stairs, he forced open the house-door with an iron bar—I saw him—I am ready to give evidence of the fact. Now proceed at your peril.”