"It was fortunate for you, my young friend, that nothing more serious occurred at this same hurling match," said the magistrate.
(Certainly he was no prig in his choice of language. He was of course much older than the chief and considered that he could carry a high hand with "a mere boy" without any experience.)
"I am extremely glad," replied the chief, "for both our sakes, that it was a mere trifle and an accident."
"For both our sakes! Oh, you know, my dear young friend, that, in the absence of sworn informations, I was not concerned in the matter at all. I conceive that the whole responsibility—if there be any—in a mere casual meeting of the kind, where there is admittedly no apprehension of a breach of the peace, rests entirely upon your own judgment and discretion. To be plain with you, except where a breach of the peace may be fairly anticipated, and sworn informations lodged to that effect, I do not think the magistrate's time should be interfered with. I might have lost a petty-sessions to-day, inquiring into a mere accident."
"But it might not have been one; and we could not have known until we saw the injured man and made inquiries. But the absence of sworn informations, and the fact that there was no apprehension of a row, would have exonerated me from all blame as well as you. Beside, I so far took the precaution of reporting the intended assembly to you, with its professed object, and I took your instructions upon the subject."
"No, you didn't; for I did not give you any."
"Well, I reported the meeting to you, and asked for instructions."
"That is the very thing which I object to—making reports without sufficient grounds. I should decline to act again under similar circumstances."
"That you would do so, I have no doubt; but that you should do so, I have some."
"I am right, young sir, as well in my grammar as in my view of the case; ought is the word you should have used, to have properly expressed what you intended."