"I have thought it best, sir, to select a divorce case, lest you should sleep, overcome by the ozone and eloquence in these places." "Ah!" said the Angel: "I am ready." The Court was crowded, and they took their seats with difficulty, and a lady sitting on the Angel's left wing. "The public _will_ frequent this class of case," whispered his dragoman. "How different when you were here in 1910!" The Angel collected himself: "Tell me," he murmured, "which of the grey-haired ones is the judge?" "He in the bag-wig, sir," returned his dragoman; "and that little lot is the jury," he added, indicating twelve gentlemen seated in two rows. "What is their private life?" asked the Angel. "No better than it should be, perhaps," responded his dragoman facetiously; "but no one can tell that from their words and manner, as you will presently see. These are special ones," he added, "and pay income tax, so that their judgment in matters of morality is of considerable value." "They have wise faces," said the Angel. "Which is the prosecutor?" "No, no!" his dragoman answered, vividly: "This is a civil case. That is the plaintiff with a little mourning about her eyes and a touch of red about her lips, in the black hat with the aigrette, the pearls, and the fashionably sober clothes." "I see her," said the Angel: "an attractive woman. Will she win?" "We do not call it winning, sir; for this, as you must know, is a sad matter, and implies the breaking-up of a home. She will most unwillingly receive a decree, at least, I think so," he added; "though whether it will stand the scrutiny of the King's Proctor we may wonder a little, from her appearance." "King's Proctor?" said the Angel. "What is that?" "A celestial Die-hard, sir, paid to join together again those whom man have put asunder." "I do not follow," said the Angel fretfully. "I perceive," whispered his dragoman, "that I must make clear to you the spirit which animates our justice in these matters. You know, of course, that the intention of our law is ever to penalise the wrong-doer. It therefore requires the innocent party, like that lady there, to be exceptionally innocent, not only before she secures her divorce, but for six months afterwards." "Oh!" said the Angel. "And where is the guilty party?" "Probably in the south of France," returned his dragoman, "with the new partner of his affections. They have a place in the sun; this one a place in the Law Courts." "Dear me!" said the Angel. "Does she prefer that?" "There are ladies," his dragoman replied, "who find it a pleasure to appear, no matter where, so long as people can see them in a pretty hat. But the great majority would rather sink into the earth than do this thing." "The face of this one is most agreeable to me; I should not wish her to sink," said the Angel warmly.