way the police nurse this business!" murmured Lord
Rattley, our somewhat disreputable local peer. "They're wanted at
Tregarrick to-day, and, what's more, they want the fun of the Show.
So they take excellent care to keep the charge-list light. But since
Petty Sessions must be held, whether or no, they pounce on some poor
devil of a tramp to put a face on the business."

"H'm, h'm." The Admiral, friend of law and order, dreaded Lord
Rattley's tongue, which was irresponsible and incisive. "Well, if
this is our only business, gentlemen--"

"There _is_ another case, sir," put in Mr. Batty. "Wife--Trudgian by
name--wants separation order. Application reached me too late to be
included in the list."

"Trudgian?" queried Parson Voisey. "Not Selina Magor, I hope, that
married young Trudgian a year or so back? Husband a clay-labourer,
living somewhere outside Tregarrick."

"That's the woman. Young married couple--first quarrel. The wife,
on her own admission, had used her tongue pretty sharply, and, I
don't doubt, drove the man off to the public-house, where he sat
until sulky-drunk. A talking-to by the Chairman, if I might
suggest--"

"Yes, yes," agreed Parson Voisey. "And I'll have a word with Selina
afterwards. She used to attend my Young Women's Class--one of my
most satisfactory girls."

"We'll see--we'll see," said the Admiral. "Are we ready, gentlemen?"

He led the way into Court, where all rose in sign of respect--Mr.
Batty's confidential clerk, the Inspector, a solitary constable, a
tattered old man in the constable's charge, and the two Trudgians.
These last occupied extreme ends of the same form; the husband
sullen, with set jaw and eyes obstinately fixed on his boots, the
young wife flushed of face and tearful, stealing from time to time a
defiant glance at her spouse.

In face of this scanty audience the six Justices solemnly took their
seats.

"Thomas Edwards!" called the Clerk.

The tattered old man cringed up to the table, with an embarrassed
smile, which yet had a touch of impudence about the corners of the
mouth.

"Thomas Edwards, you stand charged for that on a certain date, to
wit, June 6th, you, not having any visible means of subsistence, and
not giving a good account of yourself, were found lodging in a
certain outhouse known as Lobb's Barn, in the Parish of Gantick,
contrary, etc. Do you plead Guilty or Not Guilty?"

"Guilty, y'r Worships."

The constable, on a nod from t