Inheritance and succession -- Fiction; Marriage -- Fiction
Dechemal and Auguste, the Chefs aides, were both there. So also was the
Mere Cliquelle and her husband, appearing terribly frightened, and
imagining that they were going to be guillotined at the least. A bust
of Napoleon the Third looked down from a niche in the wall, facing the
judge, sternly on all, giving an air of dignity to the whole
proceedings. The judge was taking notes, his clerk following suit; the
_mouchards_ contemplating the impassable physiognomy of the "Man of
Destiny;" the Mere Cliquelle and her small better-half awaiting their
turn for examination in the background. There was no crowd, no troops
of friends and spectators and idlers, such as you would see in a
disorderly English court-room; no, they manage these things very
differently in France. There were only those persons present who were
absolutely necessary for conducting the enquiry; all was silent and
quiet, although the machinery of the law Gallic was in rapid motion.
The wheels of justice run in greased grooves on the other side of the
Channel.
The arrival of the Chef and his important witness, Miss Kingscott,
accelerated movements.
The governess deposed, on oath, as follows:--That on the previous day
she had crossed over from Southampton, Angleterre, to Havre, _par la
vapeur_; her object was to see a certain Monsieur Anglais, by name
Allynne Markworth (the judge had some difficulty in arriving at the
exact etymology of the name, being inclined more than persistently to
call it "Makervorts;" so Miss Kingscott had to spell it succinctly, and
afterwards write it down for the correct information of the clerk).
This gentleman lived, when at Havre, at the house Numero 7, Rue
Montmartre; he had lived there for the last three months, she believed,
with his wife--that is a lady whom he had married in England, after
abducting her from her home; it was not yet settled whether she was
legally his wife or not--there was a law-suit, or _proces civil_, at
present pending in England on the subject. She (Miss Kingscott) knew
this lady--Markworth's wife--very well; she had, indeed, been her
_gouvernante_ at her mother's house for some months; she had reason to
know her, she should think, and would not have any difficulty in
recognising her. Her name was Susan Hartshorne. This Susan Hartshorne
came from the _departement de Sussex, au sud de l'Angleterre_; her
mother was _une veuve_, and a large _proprietaire_; her address was The
Poplars, Sussex, England (direction given by the judge, and note taken
by clerk to forward information to said address); she (Miss Kingscott)
had crossed in the boat, as she had said, yesterday, and arrived at
Havre about mid-day. Perhaps it was before that time, she could not be
certain, and, at all events, it did not matter. (Witness was here
cautioned by the judge not to make any irrelevant observations. Nothing
was too insignificant to be taken note of; the eye of justice was wide,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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