ing draught, until the suspense from which
Mrs. Linley was suffering might be relieved, and a reasonable hope be
entertained that the medicine would produce the right effect. With that
explanation he left the room.

While the doctor was speaking, Mrs. Presty was drawing her own
conclusions from a close scrutiny of Mr. Sarrazin's face.

"I am going to make a disagreeable remark," she announced. "You look ten
years older, sir, than you did when you left us this morning to go to
the Court. Do me a favor--come to the sideboard." The lawyer having
obeyed, she poured out a glass of wine. "There is the remedy," she
resumed, "when something has happened to worry you."

"'Worry' isn't the right word," Mr. Sarrazin declared. "I'm furious!
It's a most improper thing for a person in my position to say of a
person in the Lord President's position; but I do say it--he ought to be
ashamed of himself."

"After giving us our Divorce!" Mrs. Presty exclaimed. "What has he
done?"

Mr. Sarrazin repeated what the judge had said of Mrs. Linley. "In
my opinion," he added, "such language as that is an insult to your
daughter."

"And yet," Mrs. Presty repeated, "he has given us our Divorce." She
returned to the sideboard, poured out a second dose of the remedy
against worry, and took it herself. "What sort of character does the
Lord President bear?" she asked when she had emptied her glass.

This seemed to be an extraordinary question to put, under the
circumstances. Mr. Sarrazin answered it, however, to the best of his
ability. "An excellent character," he said--"that's the unaccountable
part of it. I hear that he is one of the most careful and considerate
men who ever sat on the bench. Excuse me, Mrs. Presty, I didn't intend
to produce that impression on you."

"What impression, Mr. Sarrazin?"

"You look as if you thought there was some excuse for the judge."

"That's exactly what I do think."

"You find an excuse for him?"

"I do."

"What is it, ma'am?"

"Constitutional infirmity, sir."

"May I ask of what nature?"

"You may. Gout."

Mr. Sarrazin thought he understood her at last. "You know the Lord
President," he said.

Mrs. Presty denied it positively. "No, Mr. Sarrazin, I don't get at it
in that way. I merely consult my experience of another official person
of high rank, and apply it to the Lord President. You know that my first
husband was a Cabinet Minister?"

"I have heard you say so, Mrs. Presty, on more than