The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-01-01
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In the hall itself the air was thick
and sitting. 1t smelled of sheepskins,
peasants, eau-de-vie, and the leaden
ventilators in the upper glasses of the
skylight turned slowly and slothfully.
The jurors, too, leaned YEARLY
against the backs of their chairs One
of them had closed his eyes and let his
hand fall inert, lulled to somnolence by
the monotonous scratching of the
clerks pen. Another tapped and softly
beat the rataplan with his pencil on the
table
The president pushed his spectacles
to the tip of his nose and mopped his
damp brow, his stern gray eyes, with a
glacial stare, bent fxedly upon the
door whence would issue the culprits
in course of trial and on whom they
waited to pronounce sentence.
"Is there not still another oneT" de
manded he presently of the sleepy look
ing tipstaff at his elbow in harsh, res
| onant voice.
"One," responded the other; girl"
"Eh, bien! Bring her in then" said
the president.
The crier called, the door opened, the
girl entered.
A current Of fresh air glided in with
her and softly famed the faces and tic
killed. the lashes of the curious assist
ants. At the same moment a ray of
sunlight pierced the shrouding fog and
danced between the frosty etchings of
the panes across the dusty walls and
furniture of the Hall of Audience.
"a girl" said the tipstaff-a child,
rather, scarcely more than on the verge
of maidenhood and so pretty in her lit
tie furred jacket embroidered with
wreaths and blossoms and fitting like
the skin the rounded waist, straight
and slender as the stem of young
palm. Her black eyes were lowered to
the floor, but her white brow was clear
and unclouded.
What is it that you have done, my
child?" questioned the president indif-
ferently.
The girl nervously rearranged the
handkerchief that covered her head,
caught her breath heavily, then an
swered, signing:
my affair is sad, M. President; very,
very sad"
Her voice, soft and dolorous, went to
the heart like good music that even
when one hears it no longer seems still
to vibrate IN the air and change every
thing by its mysterious influence.
The faces of the jurors were no lon
ger so morose. The portrait of the
king and farther away still of the Jul
dex Curie appeared to make to her
from the silent wall benignant signs,
encouraging her to bravely recount the
affair, 80 very, very sad"
"But see you," said she, "this writ
ing. 1t will tell you better than can"
Only she had first to seek it, to I'M
clasp the buttons of her corsage and
draw it from her bosom, piece Of
cracking parchment stamped and clos
ed with the ponderous official seal.
"a Judgment" murmured the presi-
dent, running his eye over the paper,
"a Judgment against Anne Bede, as
signed to begin today punishment Of
six months imprisonment.
The girl nodded sorrowfully; the
handwriting, loosened by the move
ment, fell from her hand, and a heavy
tress of her long black hair all unbound
yelled her features 1t sought perhaps
to shield them from the gaze of the
people, for if she was white as a lily
awhile ago she was purple with shame
at this moment
ut is a week since we received 1t,
stammered she In broken voice. 1.-THE
court officer brought it himself and ex-
planned what it wished to tell us, and
my poor mother said to me: Thou must
90, my child The law Is the law, and
one should not take it as pleasantly.
I have come, therefore, toto begin the
six months~
The president wiped his glasses, then
wiped again, his cold. stern gaze seek
ing the faces Of his colleagues, the win
dows, the floor. the great iron stove,
through whose grated door fiery eyes
seemed to sparkle and threateningly re-
gard him.
"The law" murmured he, 1.-THE law is
the laww
And he read anew the summary be-
fore him, the black. serawling scratch
es across the white page. declaring,
"Anne Bede condemned to six months
Imprisonment for the receiving of stol-
en- goods"
Meanwhile the leaden ventilator had
quickened its pace and spun furiously.
Outside the wind had risen. and now 1t
shook the WINDOWS, whistled through
the crevices and seemed to hiss re-
morselessly about the ears of the gap
ing crowd
'9The law; yes, the law is the law!'
The head of the president bent af-
nrmatively before this lmportunate
voice. He dropped his eyes and touch
ed the bell for the tipstaff.
accompany Anne Bede, said he. Ito
the house Of the inspector of prisons"
The man bowed. the child turned ODE
diently but her little rose red lips OPEN
ed and shook TREMENDOUSLY, as if words
were on them that she could not speak.
perhaps, my child" said the presi-
dent, noticing her distress, perhaps
you still have something to say to u.s."
"Only that l am Lizette-Lizette
Bede, M. lie President. Anne Bede was
my sister and we buried her. poor girl,
a week ago"
"'Twas not you then that was con-
demned and sentenced?" cried the pres
ident, surprised.
"Ah, bon Dieu, MOI Why should l
have been condemned who have never
done harm to fiyT'
"Then why are you here, mad child
that you areY
Because, If you please, II is because
Anne died while this business was be-
fore the royal table dhe lower court of
Hungary 1T was when she was lying
in her coffin all cold and white that this
order concerning the six months ar
rived certifying that she must submit.
Oh how she had waited and prayed for
1t and tried so hard to live to receive 1t!
She had never dreamed of this, Nj. lie
President, and when they had taken
her away with closed eyes, mute and
deaf forever, my mother and | told our
selves that we must repair the wrong
she had done because of her fiance, Ga
brIel Karloney. 1t was for him and
without knowing 1t that she sinned,
and we thought
what, my child"
"That to let her rest peacefully in her
mortal ashes and that no one should
say she owed them anything, that we
must do as | said, repair the wrong
done by her. My mother has paid the
amende for the goods, and have come,
NJ lie President, to serve In her place