how manifestly and how plainly it is so.

And even if one granted it were not a jest, it is a fault so small that e’en the grimmest penalty it could call forth would be but a rebuke and warning from the judge’s lips.”

Hendon replied with a solemnity which chilled the air about him —

“This jest of thine hath a name, in law, — wot you what it is?”

“I knew it not! Peradventure I have been unwise. I never dreamed it had a name — ah, sweet heaven, I thought it was original.”

“Yes, it hath a name. In the law this crime is called Non compos mentis lex talionis sic transit gloria mundi.”