"At any rate, it may have some effect upon the verdict." And then
addressing himself to the bench, he exclaimed: "Your Honour, Mrs.
Challoner assures me that this charge is absolutely true." And finally
turning to Murgatroyd: "I should like to hear from Prosecutor Murgatroyd
as to the truth or falsity of this?"
As the two men faced each other, Shirley once more touched Miriam's arm,
and said affectionately:--
"Miriam, do you realise all that you are saying?--Look into my eyes,
dear, and tell me candidly is it true?..."
"Before God, I swear it." And a moment later she added: "And he never
kept his word."
"Well, Mr. Prosecutor, what have you got to say?" asked the Court, a
trifle apologetically.
During the pause that immediately ensued, Miriam Challoner wondered what
Murgatroyd would say; what he could say; what was left for him to say.
The prosecutor stood in the centre of an open space, and looking first
at Miriam, then at Thorne, and finally at the Court, he answered
gravely:--
"Your Honour, I have heard the charge. I don't see that it behooves me
to answer it at this time, nor indeed," bowing toward the Court, "before
this tribunal. If it be a charge made in earnest--as it seems to
be--then the only question that can possibly interest this Court, is
whether I have done my duty toward the people of the State. The charge
assumes the proportions of a bribe to free a guilty man. My answer is, I
have convicted Challoner. If there was a bribe, it was a bribe that
didn't work."
The Court stared with the rest. Peter Broderick gazed at Murgatroyd in
open-mouthed admiration; even Miriam felt baffled unaccountably.
"Mr. Thorne," said the Court, "if this charge be made in good faith, and
even assuming it to be literally true, isn't the prosecutor right? It
cannot be that this charge is true; but if Mrs. Challoner claims it to
be true, if you believe it to be true, her remedy, then, is to go to the
Grand Jury and indict, to the legislature and impeach." He paused
judicially, and added: "The fullest refutation, after all, is that the
prosecutor did convict."
Thorne considered for an instant.
"I agree entirely with your Honour," he assented, bowing.
"The incident is closed," went on the Court, rising. "You have your
remedy--Good afternoon!" And he left the court-room.
And still Murgatroyd stood his ground while the others stood aloof.
Presently two officers seized Challoner and disappeared with him through
the barred door. Graham Thorne then approached the prosecutor and
exclaimed:--
"Prosecutor, we have wondered all along just what your price might be.
Now we know."
"The last dollar that a woman has," sneered Peter Broderick.
And still Murgatroyd gave no sign. It was only when Shirley Bloodgood
approached him and he heard the tremor in her voice that the man
trembled imperceptibly.
"Mr. Murgatroyd," she declared, "I am forced to believe all that Miriam
has said. Oh, Billy, Billy, it is inconceivable that you are the man
that I have respected all these years! You have lost the one thing I
admired most in you." Her voice broke, and turning to Miriam, she cried:
"Come, Miriam, dear, we're going home."
Mrs. Challoner touched Thorne upon the arm, and said with a final look
at Murgatroyd:--
"I want you to take every legal measure to indict, to impeach this man,
and I want you to begin at once."
After all had gone, Murgatroyd remained for some time where they had
left him, imperturbable, inscrutable, gazing doggedly into space.