All the legal formalities are accomplished,
and the charge against the prisoners falls to the ground. I have
great pleasure in ordering the immediate discharge of both the
accused persons, and in declaring from this place that they leave
the court without the slightest stain on their characters."
He bowed low to my mistress as he said that, paused a moment, and
then looked inquiringly at Mr. James Smith.
"I have hitherto abstained from making any remark unconnected
with the immediate matter in hand," he went on. "But, now that my
duty is done, I cannot leave this chair without expressing my
strong sense of disapprobation of the conduct of Mr. James
Smith--conduct which, whatever may be the motives that occasioned
it, has given a false color of probability to a most horrible
charge against a lady of unspotted reputation, and against a
person in a lower rank of life whose good character ought not to
have been imperiled even for a moment. Mr. Smith may or may not
choose to explain his mysterious disappearance from Darrock Hall,
and the equally unaccountable change which he has chosen to make
in his personal appearance. There is no legal charge against him;
but, speaking morally, I should be unworthy of the place I hold
if I hesitated to declare my present conviction that his conduct
has been deceitful, inconsiderate, and unfeeling in the highest
degree.
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