atter had been concerted between them,
he stepped forward and took up the ball.

'Sir George,' he said, puffing out his cheeks, 'her ladyship is quite
right. I--I am sorry to interfere, but you know me, and what my position
is on the Rota. And I do not think I can stand by any longer--which
might be _adaerere culpae_. This is a serious case, and I doubt I shall
not be justified in allowing you to depart without some more definite
explanation. Abduction, you know, is not bailable. You are a Justice
yourself, Sir George, and must know that. If this person therefore--who
I understand is an attorney--desires to lay a sworn information, I
must take it.'

'In heaven's name, sir,' Soane cried desperately, 'take it! Take what
you please, but let me take the road.'

'Ah, but that is what I doubt, sir, I cannot do,' the Justice answered.
'Mark you, there is motive, Sir George, and _praesentia in loco_,' he
continued, swelling with his own learning. 'And you have a _partem
delicti_ on you. And, moreover, abduction is a special kind of case,
seeing that if the _participes criminis_ are free the _femme sole_,
sometimes called the _femina capta_, is in greater danger. In fact, it
is a continuing crime. An information being sworn therefore--'

'It has not been sworn yet!' Sir George retorted fiercely. 'And I warn
you that any one who lays a hand on me shall rue it. God, man!' he
continued, horror in his voice, 'cannot you understand that while you
prate here they are carrying her off, and that time is everything?'

'Some persons have gone in pursuit,' the landlord answered with intent
to soothe.

'Just so; some persons have gone in pursuit,' the Justice echoed with
dull satisfaction. 'And you, if you went, could do no more than they can
do. Besides, Sir George, the law must be obeyed. The sole point is'--he
turned to Mr. Fishwick, who through all had stood by, his face distorted
by grief and perplexity--'do you wish, sir, to swear the information?'

Mrs. Masterson had fainted at the first alarm and been carried to her
room. Apart from her, it is probable that only Sir George and Mr.
Fishwick really entered into the horror of the girl's position, realised
the possible value of minutes, or felt genuine and poignant grief at
what had occurred. On the decision of one of these two the freedom of
the other now depended, and the conclusion seemed foregone. Ten minutes
earlier Mr. Fishwick, carried away by the first sight of Sir George