"Don't you see, Aunt Lin, it isn't victory; it's defeat," he finished. "It's a travesty of justice. It isn't a verdict we're fighting for; it's justice. And we have no hope of getting it. Not a ghost of a hope!"
"But why didn't you tell me all this, dear? Did you think I would not understand, or agree, or something?"
"Well, you didn't feel as I did about—"
"Just because I didn't much like the look of those people at The Franchise-and I must confess, dear, even now, that they aren't the kind of people I naturally take to-just because I didn't much like them doesn't mean that I am indifferent to seeing justice done, surely?"
"No, of course not; but you said quite frankly that you found Betty Kane's story believable, and so—"
"That," said Aunt Lin calmly, "was before the police court."
"The court? But you weren't at the court."
"No, dear, but Colonel Whittaker was, and he didn't like the girl at all."
"Didn't he, indeed."
"No. He was quite eloquent about it. He said he had once had a-a what-do-you-call-it-a lance-corporal in his regiment, or battalion or something, who was exactly like Betty Kane. He said he was an injured innocent who set the whole battalion by the ears and was more trouble than a dozen hard-cases. Such a nice expression: hard-cases, isn't it. He finished up in the greenhouse, Colonel Whittaker said."