There is another moment of silence and then the High Bailiff says:
“Tell us.”
Mona takes hold of the rail of the witness-box, and it is seen that her fingers are trembling. She tries to begin, but at first the words will not come. At length, lifting her eyes as if saying to herself, “Oh, what matter about me?” she tells the story of the captain’s attempt at a criminal assault upon her; how, late at night, when she was alone and unprotected he had tried to force his way into her house and had almost overcome her resistance when Oskar Heine came up and laid hold of him by the throat and flung him back into the road.
“So if there’s any spite,” she says, “it’s not Heine’s against the captain, but the captain’s against Heine.”
There is a dead hush in the court-house until she has done. Then the High Bailiff looks down at Oskar, who is still standing by the witness-box, and says:
“Is this true?”
Oskar answers in a husky voice:
“I’m sorry the young lady has said it, sir, but it’s true, perfectly true.”
“It’s a lie,” shouts the captain, tossing up his red face defiantly.