mforted her with its suggestion of home and Watchbell Street, and her
trap waiting in the sunshine outside the ancient door of the Huxtable
dwelling.

Her Appeal was not heard till the afternoon, and in the luncheon
interval he took her to some decorous dining-rooms--such as Joanna had
never conceived could exist in London, so reminiscent were they of the
George and the Ship and the New and the Crown and other of her
market-day haunts. They ate beef and cabbage and jam roly poly, and
discussed the chances of the day. Huxtable said he had "a pretty case--a
very pretty case--you'll be surprised, Miss Joanna, to see what I've
made of it."

And so she was. Indeed, if she hadn't heard the opening she would never
have known it was her case at all. She listened in ever-increasing
bewilderment and dismay. In spite of her disappointment in the matter of
the Commissioners and their Referee, she had always looked upon her
cause as one so glaringly righteous that it had only to be pleaded
before any just judge to be at once established. But now ... the horror
was, that it was no longer her cause at all. This was not Joanna Godden
coming boldly to the Law of England to obtain redress from her grievous
oppression by pettifogging clerks--it was just a miserable dispute
between the Commissioners of Inland Revenue and the Lessor of Property
under the Act. It was full of incomprehensible jargon about Increment
Value, Original Site Value, Assessable Site Value, Land Value Duty,
Estate Duty, Redemption of Land Tax, and many more such terms among
which the names of Donkey Street and Little Ansdore appeared
occasionally and almost frivolously, just to show Joanna that the matter
was her concern. In his efforts to substantiate an almost hopeless case
Edward Huxtable had coiled most of the 1910 Finance Act round himself,
and the day's proceedings consisted of the same being uncoiled and
stripped off him, exposing his utter nakedness in the eyes of the law.
When the last remnant of protective jargon had been torn away, Joanna
knew that her Appeal had been dismissed--and she would have to pay the
Duty and also the expenses of the action.

The only comfort that remained was the thought of what she would say to
Edward Huxtable when she could get hold of him. They had a brief,
eruptive interview in the passage.

"You take my money for making a mess like that," stormed Joanna. "I tell
you, you shan't have it--you can amuse yourself bringing anot