Page:The Rejuvenation Of Miss Semaphore.pdf/231

 Sal vehemently protested from the dock.

"Your worship," said her counsel, "I emphatically deny that that is the child. The witness has already shown herself unworthy of belief, and has tried to palm off a ridiculous cock-and-bull story on the court. As men of the world, we can all see her motive for that, but what her reason for insisting that this child, which is quite two years older than the other, is hers, I confess I do not understand."

"Is this the child that was placed in your care?" asked the magistrate of the work-*house matron.

"Yes, your worship. They was all identified wen they was brought into the 'ouse, and I put a kyard on each with its given name. This 'ere child is Augusta, or some such name. She 'as never been out of my keeping since."

"How old was she supposed to be at the time ?"

"Three weeks or a month, I b'lieve, yer wusshup, though I do think now"—doubtfully—"she looks a deal older than that; but the light wasn't, so to say, good when she was brought in."

"This is very extraordinary," said the