“Oh, quite so!” Mr. Somershall took his hand from his ear and nodded, satisfied with having made his point.

“Wounding?” echoed the Collector, addressing the Chairman.  “To be frank with you, sir, I had not heard of this—­though it scarcely affects my plea.”

Mr. Bellingham smiled indulgently.  “Say no more, Captain Vyell—­pray say no more!  This is not the first time an inclination to deem us severe has been corrected by a fuller acquaintance with the facts. . . .  Yes, yes—­chivalrous feeling—­I quite understand; but you see—­” He concluded his sentence with a gentle wave of the hand.  “You will be glad to hear, since you take an interest in the girl, that Providence overruled her aim and Shadbolt escaped with a mere graze of the jaw—­so slight, indeed, that, taking a merciful view, we decided not to consider it an actual wound, and convicted her only of the attempt.  By the way, Mr. Leemy, where is the weapon?”

The Clerk produced it from his bag and laid it on the table.  Captain Vyell drew a sharp breath.

“It is my pistol.”

“Eh?”

“I have the fellow to it here.”  He pulled out the other and handed it by the muzzle.

“To be sure—­to be sure; the pattern is identical,” murmured Mr. Bellingham, examining it and for the moment completely puzzled.  “You—­er—­suggest that she stole it?”

“Certainly not.  I lent it to her.”

There followed a slow pause.  It was broken by the grating voice of Mr. Trask—­

“You remember, Mr. Chairman, that the prisoner stubbornly refused to tell how the pistol came in her possession?  Does Captain Vyell give us to understand that his interest in this young woman is of older date than this morning’s encounter?”

“My interest in her—­such as it is—­dates, sir, from the evening before last, when she was dismissed from the Bowling Green Inn.  The hour was late; her home, as you know, lies at some distance—­though doubtless within the ambit of your authority.  I lent her this small weapon to protect herself should she be molested.”

“And she used it next day upon the Beadle!  Dismissed, you say?  Why was she dismissed?”

“I regret that I was not more curious at the time,” answered the Collector with the politest touch of weariness.  “I believe it was for saving the house from fire—­something of that sort.  As told to me, it sounded rather heroical.  But, sir—­” he turned again to the Chairman—­” I suggest that all this does not affect my plea.  Whatever her offence, she has suffered cruelly.  She is physically unfit to bear this second punishment; and when I tell you on my word as a gentleman—­or on oath, if you will—­that on Saturday I found her grandparent starving and that her second offence was committed presumably to supply the household wants, surely I shall not entreat your mercy in vain?”

The Chief Magistrate hesitated, and a frown showed his annoyance.  “To tell you the truth, Captain Vyell, you put me in a quandary.  I do not like to refuse you—­” Here he glanced right and left.