lays his hand on the Judge's head._]
I 'll sit here. [_He sits down on the floor._]

_Judge._ You desire to present a case?

_Sansthanaka._ Of courshe.

_Judge._ Then state the case.

_Sansthanaka._ I 'll whishper it. I was born in the great family of
a man as glorioush as a wine-glass.

My father's father of the king--in law;
The king, he is my daddy's son-in-law;
And I am brother to the king--in law;
And the husband of my shishter is the king. 6

[140.1. S.

_Judge._ All this we know.

Why should you boast of this your noble birth?
'T is character that makes the man of worth;
But thorns and weeds grow rank in fertile earth. 7

State your case.

_Sansthanaka._ I will, but even if I was guilty, he wouldn't do
anything to me. Well, my shishter's husband liked me, and gave
me the besht garden there is, the old garden Pushpakaranda, to
play in and look after. And there I go every day to look at it, to
keep it dry, to keep it clean, to keep it blosshoming, to keep it
trimmed. But fate decreed that I shaw--or rather, I didn't _shee_--the
proshtrate body of a woman.

_Judge._ Do you know who the unfortunate woman was?

_Sansthanaka._ Hello, magishtrates! Why shouldn't I know? A
woman like that! the pearl of the city! adorned with a hundred
golden ornaments! Shomebody's unworthy shon enticed her into
the old garden Pushpakaranda when it was empty, and for a
mere trifle--for her money!--shtrangled Vasantasena and killed
her. But _I_ didn't--[_He breaks off, and puts his hand over his
mouth._]

_Judge._ What carelessness on the part of the city police! Gild-warden
and clerk, write down the words "I didn't," as the first
article in the case.

_Clerk._ Yes, sir. [_He does so._] Sir, it is written.

_Sansthanaka._ [_Aside._] Goodnessh! Now I've ruined myshelf, like
a man that shwallows a cake of rice and milk in a hurry. Well,
I'll get out of it thish way. [_Aloud._] Well, well, magishtrates! I
was jusht remarking that I didn't shee it happen. What are you
making thish hullabaloo about? [_He wipes out the written words
with his foot._]

P. 233.3]

_Judge._ How do you know that she was strangled--and for her
money?

_Sansthanaka._ Hello! Why shouldn't I think sho, when her neck
was shwollen and bare, and the places where you wear jewels
did n't have any gold on them?

_Gild-warden and Clerk._ That seems plausible.

_Sansthanaka._ [_Aside._] Tha