Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock
page 127 of 213 (59%)
page 127 of 213 (59%)
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Mariposa House all evening when the other boys had to stay at home
and study. Such a powerful looking fellow, too! Everybody in Mariposa remembers how Neil Pepperleigh smashed in the face of Peter McGinnis, the Liberal organizer, at the big election--you recall it--when the old Macdonald Government went out. Judge Pepperleigh had to try him for it the next morning--his own son. They say there never was such a scene even in the Mariposa court. There was, I believe, something like it on a smaller scale in Roman history, but it wasn't half as dramatic. I remember Judge Pepperleigh leaning forward to pass the sentence,--for a judge is bound, you know, by his oath,--and how grave he looked and yet so proud and happy, like a man doing his duty and sustained by it, and he said: "My boy, you are innocent. You smashed in Peter McGinnis's face, but you did it without criminal intent. You put a face on him, by Jehoshaphat! that he won't lose for six months, but you did it without evil purpose or malign design. My boy, look up! Give me your hand! You leave this court without a stain upon your name." They said it was one of the most moving scenes ever enacted in the Mariposa Court. But the strangest thing is that if the judge had known what every one else in Mariposa knew, it would have broken his heart. If he could have seen Neil with the drunken flush on his face in the billiard room of the Mariposa House,--if he had known, as every one else did, that Neil was crazed with drink the night he struck the Liberal |
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