The Magistrate Part 53

I am!

CIS.

You! [_Seizing MR. POSKET by the collar and shaking him._] You dare to lock up my mother! Come with me and get her out!

[_He is dragging MR. POSKET towards the door, when MR. BULLAMY enters breathlessly._

MR. BULLAMY.

My dear Posket!

CIS.

[_Seizing MR. BULLAMY and dragging him with MR. POSKET to the door._]

Come with me and get my mother out.

MR. BULLAMY.

Leave me alone, sir! She _is_ out! I managed it.

MR. POSKET AND CIS.

[_Together._] How?

MR. BULLAMY.

Wormington sent to me when you were taken ill. When I arrived at the Court, he had discovered, from your man-servant, Mrs. Posket's awful position.

CIS.

You leave my mother alone! Go on!

MR. BULLAMY.

Said I to myself, "This won't do, I must extricate these people somehow!" [_To MR. POSKET._] I'm not so d.a.m.ned conscientious as you are, Posket.

CIS.

Bravo! Go on!

MR. BULLAMY.

[_Producing his jujube box._] The first thing I did was to take a jujube.

CIS.

[_s.n.a.t.c.hing the jujube box from him._] Will you make haste?

MR. BULLAMY.

Then said I to Wormington, "Posket was _non compos mentis_ when he heard this case--I'm going to re-open the matter!"

CIS.

Hurrah!

MR. BULLAMY.

And I did! And what do you think I found out from the proprietor of the hotel!

MR. POSKET AND CIS.

What?

MR. BULLAMY.

That this young scamp, Mr. Cecil Farringdon, hires a room at the "Hotel des Princes."

CIS.

I know that.

MR. BULLAMY.

And that Mr. Farringdon was there last night with some low stockbroker of the name of Skinner.

CIS.

Go on--go on! [_Offering him the jujube box._] Take a jujube!

MR. BULLAMY.

[_Taking a jujube._] Now the law, which seems to me quite perfect, allows a man who rents a little apartment at an inn to eat and drink with his friends all night long.

CIS.

Well?

MR. BULLAMY.

So said I from the bench, "These ladies and gentlemen appear to be friends or relatives of a certain lodger in the 'Hotel des Princes.' "

CIS.

So they are!

MR. BULLAMY.