Page:The Rejuvenation Of Miss Semaphore.pdf/235

 "Don't you see I'm trying to?" replied Augusta, suddenly and sharply, in a clear, childish treble. "Of course what you said is true, though, as usual, you have said a great many things you were not called on to tell. I did take an overdose of that dreadful stuff, and now the effect is passing off, I am in great agony, as anyone might see, and will you please take me away at once? This is a most disagreeable position for a lady. Call a cab and take me away; what I have suffered in that woman's clutches no tongue can tell."

The magistrate turned pale, Sal Brown shrank into the farthest corner of the prisoner's dock, and, with a scared face, listened to the words of her rapidly-developing protegée. Beneath the matron's ample cloak the form of Augusta was waxing ever longer and wider, like the melon plant beneath the cloth of an Eastern juggler.

"I think, madam," said the magistrate in broken accents, "you had better take the—it home."

"Your worship," hastily interposed the counsel for the prosecution, "this child, I mean lady, is a valuable witness for us. I propose that before she is permitted to