The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1896-08-05
question which concerns Strickland OK.

question which concerns Strickland ex.
clusively.
He came back at The end of three weeks
and said quietly: "You spoke the truth,
Bel. The whole business is put up from
beginning to end. Jove, 1t almost aston.
ishes me- That Bronokhorst beast isn't
at to live"
There were uproar and shouting, and
Biel said: How are you going to prove it?
You can't say that you We been tresphssing
on Bronokhorst's compound in disguised"
"No," said Strickland. TELL your
lawyer fool, whoever he is, to get up some
thing strong about inherent Improbable
ties and discrepancies Of evidence He
won't have to speak, but it will make him
happy. I'm going to run this business"
Bel held his tongue, and the other men
waited to see what would happen. They
trusted Strickland as men trust quiet men.
When the case came off, the court was
crowded. Strickland hung about in the
veranda of the court till he met the Mo-
hammedan khitmatgar. Then he muir
INJURED fakirs blessing in his ear and
asked him how his second wife did. The
man spun round, and as he looked into
the eyes of Estreeken Sahib his jaw drop
ped. You must remember that before
Strickland was married he was, as l have
told you already, power among natives.
Strickland whispered a rather coarse YER
nacular proverb to the offoct that he was
abreast of all that was going on and went
into the court armed with trainers gut
whip.
Tho Mohammedan was tho first witness,
and Strickland beamed upon him from the
hoc1 Of Ia ,t-ta
his lips with his tongue, and, in his abject
fear Of Estreeken Sahib, the fakir, went
back on every detail of his evidence; said
he was a poor man, and God was his wit
ness that he had forgotten everything that
Bronckhorst Sahib had told him to say.
Between his terror of Strickland, the judge
and Bronckhorst no collapsed, weeping.
Then began tho panic among the wit
nesses. Janki, tho ayah, leering chastey
behind her veil, turned gray, and the
bearer left the court. He said that his
mamma was dying, and that it was not
wholesome for any man to lie unthriftily
in the presence of Estreeken Sahib.
Biel said politely to Bronckhcrst "Your
witnesses don't seem to work. Haven't
you any forged letters to produceF" But
Bronckhorst was swaying to and fro in his
chair, and there was q dead pause after
Biel had been called to order.
Bronckhorst's counsel saw tho look on
his client face and, without more ado,
pitched his papers on the little green baizo
table and mumbled something about hav-
ing been misipformed. The whole court
applauded wildly, like soldiers at theater,
and the judge began to say what he
thought
Biel camo out of the place, and Strick-
land dropped trainers gut whip in the
veranda. Ten minutes later Biel was cut
ting Bronckhorst into ribbons behind the
old court cells, quietly and without scan
dial. What was left Of Bronokhorst was
sent homo in carriage, and his wife wept
over it and nursed it into a man again.
Later on, after Biel had managed to
hush up the counterchargo against
Bronckhorst of fabricating false evidence,
Mrs. Bronokhorst, with her faint, watery
smile, said that there had been mistake,
but 1t wasn't her Teddy rs fault altogether.
She would wait till her Teddy came back
to her. Perhaps he had grown tired of
her. or she had tried his patience, and per-
haps we wouldn't cut her any moro, and
perhaps the mothers would let their chill
tren play with little Teddy" again. He
was so lonely. Then the station invited
Mrs. Bronckhorst everywhere, until
Bronckhorst was fit to appear in public
when he went home and took his wife
with him. According to the latest advices,
her Teddy did "oome back to her." and
they are moderately happy, though, of
course he can never forgive her the thrash
ing that she was tho indirect means of
getting for him.
What Biel wants to know is, "Why
didn't press home tho charge against the
Bronckhorst brute and have him run in?'
What Mrs. Strickland wants to know is:
'How did my husband bring such lovely,
lovely Waller from your station? know
all his money affairs, and I'm certain he
didn't buy it,
What / want to know is, GLOW do
women like Mrs. Bronckhorst como to
marry mon like Bronckhorst."
And my oonundrum is tho most unan-
swerabo of tho three. Rudyard kipling.