"Acquitted? But the nurse-girl swore positively--did she not?--that that was the squaw who was at the house! And the ferry-boatmen corroborated what she said."
"Yes. The man swore that a squaw with a bundle, which he suspected might be a baby, crossed in the steamboat that afternoon, and he was inclined to swear to the identity of the blanket the prisoner wore, on account of its being torn at one corner. The girl Lisette was very positive about both the blanket and the wearer, and I fear her being so will materially prejudice any further attempts we may make, for the priest swore to the squaw's having been in Caughnawaga all day, and he produced the school roll of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart to show that she had not only been there, but had taken the medal of honour that day."
"Ah!" ejaculated Judith with emphasis, "what a system is Popery! So insidious! So soul-destroying!--capable of any subterfuge. I wonder you don't take out a warrant and have that convent searched."
Mr. Bunce opened his eyes, startled and shocked that one so much interested in works of beneficence should have so little charity.
Mr. Jordan, who knew the lady better, sniffed impatiently but not loud, as recognizing the ebullition to be constitutional and unworthy of notice. "The worst of it is," he said, "the girl has sworn so positively that it will weaken the value of her testimony when we bring her up by-and-by to identify the real offender, if found. And we have no other witness to produce. In my professional experience I have always found that too much zeal is dangerous--far worse than too little! How do you find it, Mr. Bunce in your profession? Zeal without knowledge, eh?" and he glanced with a sly smile from Miss Judy's face to the curate's.
The curate looked blankly before him. He was too slightly acquainted with the ladies to feel warranted in poking fun at their eccentricities; and he was too much of a cleric to welcome a layman's jest on subjects pertaining to his cloth. It was well, he thought, that the lady should have a zeal, whether wise or the reverse. The trouble he had found had oftener been to kindle a zeal than to direct it, and he doubted not but with judicious guidance this ardent lady might be brought right--that is, to take views like his own of most things.
The pause resulting from Mr. Jordan's wit and the curate's unresponsiveness was broken by Miss Susan, who was growing restless. Though no longer young, she retained some of the characteristics of her departed youth, and had what, to misquote the high-heeled dignitaries of literature, might be called "the modern spirit." Had she been thirty years younger than the family bible showed her to be she would assuredly have said that all men of the professions--especially successful ones--were prigs, and most of them bores into the bargain; and, as it was, she thought it. Foolish old woman! Her weakness, in days of old had been for the red coats, and though none of them had ever proposed, she was still loyal to her ancient ideal. Her roving eye descried her nephew Ralph on the other side of the way, and just as the pause incident to the curate's silence became notable, she called aloud, "Ralph!" and waved her parasol.
Ralph obeyed the signal, and joined the party on the curbstone, around the cab door.
"Ah, Ralph!" cried Mr. Jordan. "Going to call on your aunt, I daresay, and tell her the trial is over and that it is proved now we have been on a wrong scent these last three months, and must begin all over again from the beginning. Here, get in; we may as well go together--or, better still, I will yield you up the cab. You can explain it all, just as well as I could; it seems like a fresh disappointment to the poor lady, and the news will come better from a relative." Then, looking at his watch, "I have a meeting due in ten minutes from now; I shall still be in time; so good-bye! and thanks."
"No--you--don't! Mr. Jordan," responded Ralph. "I will not deny that I intended to call at Selby's; but, since you are so far on your way, just complete the trip. Take all the credit yourself and charge it in your bill. I can't do that, you know, being only a broker."