Hills of the Shatemuc Part 119

"I am almost certain Miss Elizabeth is right. I am sure Mr.

Landholm would not do what you suspect him of. He _could_ not do it."

"He is mortal, I suppose," said Rose sourly, "and so he _would_ do what other mortals do."

"He is better than some other mortals," said Mr.

Satterthwaite. "I am not a religious man myself; but if anything would make me believe in it, it would be that man."

"Don't you 'believe in it,' Mr. Satterthwaite?" asked Elizabeth.

"In a sort of way, yes, I do; -- I suppose it's a thing one must come to at last."

"If you want to come to it at last, I should think you would at first," said Elizabeth, "_I_ would. I shouldn't think it was a very safe way to put it off."

Mr. Satterthwaite mused over his tea and made no answer; clearly the conversation had got upon the wrong tack.

"Are you going to be in court to-morrow again, Mr.

Satterthwaite?" asked the lady of the house.

"I don't know -- not for my own affairs -- I don't know but I shall go in to hear Winthrop's cause come on against Mr.

Ryle."

"I never was in court in my life," said Elizabeth.

"Suppose you go, Miss Elizabeth -- If you'll allow me to have the honour of taking care of you, I shall be very happy.

There'll be something to hear, between Chancellor Justice and my friend Winthrop and Mr. Brick."

"Is Mr. Brick going to speak to-morrow?" said Rose.

"Yes -- he is on the other side."

"Let's go, Lizzie," said her cousin. "Will you take me too, Mr. Brick? -- Mr. Satterthwaite, I mean."

Mr. Satterthwaite declared himself honoured, prospectively; Elizabeth put no objection of her own in the way; and the scheme was agreed on.

The morrow came, and at the proper hour the trio repaired to the City Hall and mounted its high white steps.

"Don't you feel afraid, Lizzie, to be coming here?" said her cousin. "I do."

"Afraid of what, Mrs. Haye?" inquired their attendant.

"O I don't know, -- it looks so; -- it makes me think of prisoners and judges and all such awful things!"

Mr. Satterthwaite laughed, and stole a glance beyond Mrs. Haye to see what the other lady was thinking of. But Elizabeth said nothing and looked nothing; she marched on like an automaton beside her two companions, through the great halls, one after another, till the room was reached and they had secured their seats. Then certainly no one who had looked at her face would have taken it for an automaton. Though she was as still as a piece of machine-work, except the face. Rose was in a fidget of business, and the tip of her bonnet's white feather executed all manner of arcs and curves in the air, within imminent distance of Mr. Satterthwaite's face.

"Who's who? -- and where's anybody, Mr. Satterthwaite," she inquired.

"That's the Chancellor, sitting up there at the end, do you see? -- Sitting alone, and leaning back in his chair."

"_That?_" said Rose. "I see. Is that Chancellor Justice? A fine- looking man, very, isn't he?"

"Well -- I suppose he is," said Mr. Satterthwaite. "He's a _strong_ man."

"Strong?" said Rose; -- "is he? Lizzie! -- isn't Chancellor Justice a fine-looking man?"

"Fine-looking?" -- said Elizabeth, bringing her eyes in the Chancellor's direction. "No, I should think not."

"Is there _anybody_ that is fine-looking here?" whispered Rose in Elizabeth's bonnet.

"Our tastes are so different, it is impossible for one to tell what will please the other," replied Elizabeth coolly.

"Where's Mr. Landholm, Mr. Satterthwaite?"

"Winthrop? -- He is down there -- don't you see him?"

"'Down there?'" said Rose, -- "There are a great many people down there --"

"There's Mr. Herder shaking hands with him now --"

"Mr. Herder? -- Lizzie, do you see them?"

"Who?"

"Winthrop Landholm and Mr. Herder."

"Yes."

"Where are they?"

"Hush --"

For just then proceedings began, and Rose's tongue for a few minutes gave way in favour of her ears. And by the time she had found out that she could not make anything of what was going on, Mr. Herder had found his way to their side.

"Miss Elisabet'!" he said, -- "and Mistress Haye! what has made you to come here to-day?"

"Mr. Satterthwaite wanted us to hear your favourite Mr.

Landholm," said Rose, -- "so I came. Lizzie didn't come for that."

Elizabeth shook hands with her friend smilingly, but said never a word as to why she was there.

"Winthrop is good to hear," said Mr. Herder, "when you can understand him. He knows how to speak. I can understand _him_ -- but I cannot understand Mr. Brick -- I cannot make nozing of him when he speaks."

"What are they doing to-day, Mr. Herder?" said Elizabeth.

"It is the cause of my brother-in-law, Jean Lansing, against Mr. Ryle, -- he thinks that Mr. Ryle has got some of his money, and I think so too, and so Winthrop thinks; but n.o.body _knows_, except Mr. Ryle -- he knows all of it. Winthrop has been asking some questions about it, to Mr. Ryle and Mr. Brick" --

"When?"

"O a little while ago -- a few weeks; -- and they say no, -- they do not choose to make answer to his questions. Now Winthrop is going to see if the Chancellor will not make that they must tell what he wants to know; and Mr. Brick will fight so hard as he can not to tell. But Winthrop will get what he wants."