When Pate became conscious he was in bed, having been carried home by
some laborers, who found him in a sad condition, and thought at first
that he was a murdered man. A doctor sat by his side, who had bandaged
his wounds and bruises, and given proper attention to an arm which had
been broken. It was many weeks before he could leave his house; and when
he went abroad his bosom was boiling with indignation at the treatment
which he had received at the hands of the fair Juliet, who, he believed,
was a fiend or a fury in disguise.
So intense was his anger at the conduct of the beautiful Amazon that he
treated her with the greatest indignity, and, when he met her at church,
turned his back on her with a scornful curl of his lip. He publicly
accused her of an atrocious assault on his person, and said that she had
first knocked him down with her fist, and had then broken his arm, and
attempted to murder him with a heavy bludgeon.
The greatest enemy which a man may have is the little organ which lies
in his mouth just behind his teeth. The experience of M. T. Pate
unfolded this truth when, one morning, the sheriff of the county called
upon him with two interesting documents. The one was a writ of summons
in an action for slander, and the other a similar process in a suit for
breach of promise of marriage. He had accused the fair Juliet of an
assault on him with intent to murder, which accusation, if true, would
subject her to a criminal prosecution. The words spoken were therefore
actionable. He had also treated her with contempt; and the poet tells us
that
"Hell holds no fury like a woman scorned."
By the advice of her father, who was greatly enraged at the treatment
which his daughter had received, both suits had been instituted.
When the day of trial arrived, there was an immense crowd in the hall
of justice, all of whom sympathized with the young lady. In the action
for slander, Pate had pleaded the truth in justification. By the rules
of pleading, in so doing he admitted the speaking of the words
complained of, and undertook to prove that they were true. But to his
utter dismay he had no witnesses to establish the proof, as no one but
Juliet and himself were present when the assault was made upon him. To
put him in a worse position before the jury, the fair plaintiff
succeeded in proving an alibi, by calling several witnesses to the stand
who swore that, on the very evening when the assault was alleged to have
been committed at the fountain under the trees, Juliet was some ten
miles away at the house of her grandmother. Pate, when he heard this
testimony, was immeasurably shocked at the corruption and villainy of
mankind; for had he not sat by her side on the rustic bench? had he not
taken her fair hand in his own and lifted it to his lips? had he not
felt the blow from her fist which had knocked him from his seat? had he
not beheld her standing over him with her garments fluttering in his
face, and the terrible cudgel in her hand? had he not besought the
infuriated Amazon to have mercy on him, while she was ruthlessly beating
him, until he became insensible?--and now these false and perjured
witnesses, bribed, no doubt, by her father's money, had sworn that she
was some ten miles distant from the scene of the outrage!
Pate being unable to establish the truth in justification, the counsel
for the plaintiff took occasion to arouse the indignation of the jury
against the defendant. He traveled beyond the evidence, as zealous
advocates will often do, and told them that this man had basely
slandered a respectable young lady in order to extenuate his own
dishonorable conduct in trifling with her affections by shamefully
violating his promise of marriage. He called the attention of the jury
to the absurdity of the charge which Pate, by his plea, alleged to be
true. Could any sane person believe that a young lady, with a hand so
small and delicate, could double her fist and knock down a bulky man
like Pate, and then beat him unmercifully with a heavy bludgeon? And
where was the proof of the allegation in the defendant's plea? While he
had produced no evidence in support of his preposterous charge, the
plaintiff had demonstrated its falsity by establishing an alibi. In a
peroration, abounding in vituperation, he then demanded vindictive
damages as a punishment for this base and abominable slander. When he
had closed his argument, the feelings of the jury were so excited that
they retired, and in a few moments returned, with a verdict awarding
twelve thousand dollars to the plaintiff as damages for the injury which
she had sustained.
On the following day the suit for breach of promise of marriage was
tried. As men seldom make promises of marriage in the presence of
witnesses, in actions of this sort much of the proof is inferential. It
was proved that Pate was in constant attendance on the young lady; that
every evening he was seated by her side in her father's parlor, or
taking romantic walks in her company, by moonlight, with her arm locked
in his own; that in the morning he would walk with her to gather wild
flowers in the forest; that in the afternoon he would be seen riding
with her in lonely and unfrequented roads; and several witnesses swore
that they had seen him on his knees before her, apparently making a most
tender appeal. The Irishwoman testified to the scene in the
rocking-chair, and said that he was praying to her, and asking her "if
she had no heart at all, at all." The woman was asked if she could
recollect what day it was on which she had witnessed the scene in the
rocking-chair. She said it was the twenty-first day of May, because on
that day the bantam hen had hatched a brood of chickens, and she had
marked the date of the successful incubation on the top of the hen-coop.
A letter, from Pate to Juliet, was then produced, dated the twenty-fifth
of May, in which he spoke of the promise he had made her, and which he
would never forget. The nature of this promise was not explained by the
context; but so powerful was the impression made on the minds of the
jury, that, after the closing argument of the counsel for the plaintiff,
in which the character of M. T. Pate was torn to tatters, they retired,
and soon returned with a verdict awarding damages to the injured lady to
the amount of twenty thousand dollars.
In each case a motion for a new trial failed, and the judgments were
soon followed by executions, under which the whole of Pate's property
was seized and sold. He bore his reverses with fortitude until he saw
old Whitey under the auctioneer's hammer, when his firmness forsook him,
and he was seen to shed tears. When the judgments were satisfied but a
small sum remained. Pate was compelled to remove from his beautiful
residence, and obtained lodgings in the boarding-house where the
Professor and the five respectable maiden ladies had dwelt for many
months.
Not long afterwards he was informed by one of the respectable maiden
ladies that Juliet, with the proceeds arising from the sale of his real
and personal estate in her possession, had been married to Romeo, to
whom she had become reconciled. M. T. Pate had no ill feelings towards
this young man, and could not help pitying him. He predicted, in the
presence of the Professor and the five respectable maiden ladies, that
Romeo would be murdered by Juliet, in cold blood, before the end of the
honeymoon.
At the very moment when Pate was predicting this homicide, the young
wife was seated by Romeo's side on the rustic bench by the fountain. One
arm was around Romeo's neck and her head rested fondly against his
shoulder. And it so happened that their conversation was about M. T.
Pate.
"And he asserted," said Juliet, "that on this very spot he was
dreadfully beaten. How strange that a man, who reads the prayers from
the pulpit, should tell such a falsehood!"
"Dearest Juliet," said Romeo, "Mr. Pate did not tell a falsehood."
"Oh, Romeo! can you believe that man's story?"
"Indeed, I do."
"Believe that Mr. Pate was beaten?"
"Yes; dreadfully beaten."
"By me?"
"No; not by you."
"By whom?"
"By him who is now your loving husband."
"By you?"
"Yes; by me. When I heard that you had been suddenly called from home to
attend upon your grandmother, who was sick, I clothed myself in female
attire, and seated myself on this bench, to settle accounts with M. T.
Pate. It was this arm which dealt him the blow under the eye, and
afterwards wielded the cudgel which bruised his body and fractured his
limb."
"Oh, Romeo! you nearly murdered him."
"Had it not been for the approach of the laborers I would have murdered
him!"
"You would?"
"Dearest Juliet, I loved you so that I would have murdered twenty men
for your sake!"
Juliet threw her arms around Romeo's neck and kissed him a countless
multitude of times; and, strange as it may seem, she loved her husband
more deeply after he had confessed that he was capable of committing
twenty homicides for her sake.