Page:English laws for women in the nineteenth century.djvu/94

82 and I was prepared for the possibility of an adverse legal decision. What I was not prepared for, was the scene that followed.

My husband had resolved how to fight this battle. He entered the court attended by counsel. (I believe counsel had not been thought necessary on the other side, which was conducted by Mr Dod, Solicitor to the Society for the Protection of Trade.) When I first saw my husband, my courage sank; the horrible strangeness of my position oppressed me with anger and shame; my heart beat; the crowd of people swam before my eyes; and the answers I had begun to make, and the declarations I had intended to struggle through, choked in my throat, which felt as if it were full of dust. It would have been well for Mr Norton if he had not then eagerly seized an imaginary advantage. He rose, gathered up his papers, and saying with a sneer—"What does the witness say? Let her speak up; I cannot hear her;" he came and seated himself close to me; there was only the skirting board that divided the court between us.

heard. That which he did still further to abash and intimidate me, had precisely the contrary effect. I knew, as I listened, that he had come, with the resolution to crush me at all hazards. I felt, as I looked for an instant towards him, that he saw in me neither a woman to be spared public insult, nor a mother to be spared shameful sorrow,—^but simply a claimant to be non-suited; a creditor to be be evaded; a pecuniary incumbrance he was determined to be rid of. More than one of the professional gentlemen present appealed to the Judge, whether he should be "permitted" to sit where he had placed himself; but there he continued to sit; instructing his counsel in an under- tone what questions to put to me,—making written notes on the case,—and occasionally peremptorily addressing me himself. In my heart, scorn and desperation took the place of fear. The case was a claim for 47l., for repairs of a little carriage in use for