"
"Could it be revived?" Shiel asked, a sudden wild hope surging through
him.
"For all I know to the contrary, it could," his friend--who, by the
way, was a barrister--replied. "Of course no one could be burned or
hanged under it, but they might be fined or imprisoned."
"Then I wish to goodness you would file a case against the Modern
Sorcery Company! I'd move heaven and earth to get the scoundrels sent
to prison!" And he told his friend how matters stood between Gladys
and Hamar.
The barrister--whose name was Sevenning--H.V. Sevenning, of T.C.D. and
Cheltenham College renown--was keenly interested. It was not only that
his sense of chivalry was stirred, but he saw sport. Consequently, the
foregoing conversation resulted in a prosecution which, taking place
some four weeks later, was reported in the London Herald as follows--
EXTRAORDINARY CHARGE HEARD AT THE OLD BAILEY.
REVIVAL OF AN ANCIENT STATUTE.
Yesterday, at the Old Bailey, before His Honour Judge Rosher, Leon
Hamar, Edward Curtis and Matthew Kelson, of the Modern Sorcery
Company Ltd., were indicted under the 23rd of Henry the Fifth, C.
15, which makes it a capital offence to practise and administer
spells. The case for the prosecution promises to be a lengthy one.
An enormous number of witnesses, who are most anxious to make
statements, will be called; and it is anticipated that much of
their evidence will be of a most extraordinary nature.
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