It was very unusual for counsel to interrupt the judge in the delivery of his opinion, but at this point the attorney for Martin arose.
“If your honor please,” he said, “this court is taking away the remedy of the plaintiff, and permitting the wrong to stand. Does this court reverse the ancient doctrine upon which the theory of human justice has its eternal basis, the ancient doctrine that the law will always provide a remedy for a wrong?”
The faintest shadow of a smile flitted over the judicial face.
“That sage maxim: 'lex semper debit remédiant,'” answered the judge, “is a gigantic error couched in very good law Latin. The motion to exclude the evidence is sustained, and the jury will find a verdict for the defendants.”
X
THE Governor's machine marched gravely out of the Circuit Court of the United States and down the wide steps, the Major leading, the Executive following second, and the Honorable Ambercrombie Hergan bringing up the rear, every man as silent and as solemn as a Japanese diplomat. The machine passed through the great arched doorway and directly across the street to “The Happy Maria” saloon, an institution with a variegated past. The machine filed in through the door and lined up before the bar as mysteriously as a country delegation in a caucus.
The Bartender of “The Happy Maria” was a lame actor from St. Louis. When he turned and beheld the solemn array, he stepped back and tapped his forehead tragically with his fingers.
“Ha!” he muttered, “it is Ulfius and Brastias and Sir Bedivere.”