"Not till Wednesday!" said Mrs. Curtis, as if she thought the course of
justice very tardy. But the remembrance of Mr. Curtis's magisterial
days came to her aid, and she continued, "but you can take all the
examinations here at once, you know; and Grace can find you a summons
paper, if you will just go into the study."
"It might save the having the children over to-morrow, certainly," said
Mr. Grey, and he was inducted almost passively into the leathern chair
before the library table, where Mr. Curtis had been wont to administer
justice, and Grace was diving deep into a bureau for the printed forms
long treasured there, her mother directing her, though Mr. Grey vainly
protested that any foolscap would do as well. It was a curious scene.
Mrs. Grey with her daughters had the discretion to remove themselves,
but every one else was in a state of excitement, and pressed into the
room, the two boys disputing under their breath whether the civilians
called it a court martial, and, with some confusion between mutineers
and Englishwomen, hoping the woman would be blown from the mouth of a
cannon, for hadn't she gone and worn a cap like mamma's? They would have
referred the question to Miss Williams, but she had been deposited by
the Colonel on one of the chairs in the furthest corner of the room,
and he stood sheltering her agitation and watching the proceedings.
Lady Temple still held a hand of each of her rescued victims, as if
she feared they were still in danger, and all the time Rachel stood and
looked like a statue, unable to collect her convictions in the hubbub,
and the trust, that would have enabled her to defy all this, swept away
from her by the morning's transactions. Yet still there was a hope
that appearances might be delusive, and an habitual low estimate of Mr.
Grey's powers that made her set on looking with her own eyes, not with
his.
His first question was about the children's names and their friends, and
this led to the despatching of a message to the mother and aunt. He then
inquired about the terms on which they had been placed at St. Norbert's,
and Rachel, who was obliged to reply, felt under his clear, stringent
questions, keeping close to the point, a good deal more respect for his
powers than she had hitherto entertained. That dry way of his was rather
overwhelming. When it came to the children themselves, Rachel watched,
not without a hope that the clear masculine intellect would detect Fanny
in a more frightened woman's fancy, and bring the F. U. E. E. off with
flying colours.
Little Mary Morris stood forth valiant and excited. She was eleven years
old, and intelligent enough to make it evident that she knew what
she was about. The replies were full. The blows were described, with
terrible detail of the occasions and implements. Still Rachel remembered
the accusation of Mary's truth. She tried to doubt.