CHAPTER XVIII

AUGUSTA FLIES

Of course, Augusta's story, so far as it was publicly known, had created no small stir, which was considerably emphasised when pictures of her appeared in the illustrated papers, and it was discovered that she was young and charming. But the excitement was as nothing compared to that which arose when the first whispers of the tale of the will, said to be tattooed upon her neck, began to get about. Endless para

graphs and stories about this will appeared in the papers, but of course she took no notice of these.

On the fourth day after she had been photographed for the purposes of the Registry, however, things came to a climax. It so happened that on this morning Lady Holmhurst asked Augusta to go to a certain shop in Regent Street to get some lace which she required to trim her widow's dresses, and accordingly at about half-past twelve o'clock she started, accompanied by the lady's-maid. As soon as they shut the front door of the house in Hanover Square she noticed

two or three doubtful-looking men who were loitering about, and who instantly followed them, staring at her with all their eyes. She made her way along, however, without taking any notice until she reached Regent Street, by which time there were quite a score of people walking after her whispering excitedly to each other. In Regent Street itself, the first thing that she saw was a man selling photographs. Evidently he was doing a roaring trade, for a considerable crowd had gathered round him, and he was shouting something which she could not catch. Presently a gentleman, who had bought one of the photographs, stopped just in front of her to look at it, and as he was short and Augusta was tall, she could see over his shoulder, and the next second started back with an indignant exclamation. No wonder, for the photograph was one of herself taken in the low dress in the Registry. There could be no mistake about it-there was the picture of the tattooed will.

Nor did her troubles end there, for at that moment a man came bawling down the street carrying a number of the first edition of an evening paper

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'Description and picture of the lovely 'eroine of the Cockatoo," he yelled, "with the will tattooed upon

'er! Taken from the original photograph! Facsimile picture!"

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Oh, dear me," said Augusta to the maid, "this is really too bad. Let us go home."

But meanwhile the crowd at her back had gathered and increased to an extraordinary extent, and was slowly enclosing her in a circle. The fact was, that the man who had followed her from Hanover Square had identified her, and told the good news to the others who joined him.

"Why, the Miss Smithers as escaped from the Kangaroo and has the will on her, in course.'

There was a howl of exultation from the mob, and in another second the wretched Augusta was pressed right up against a lamp-post, together with the lady'smaid, who began to scream with fright, while a crowd of eager faces, mostly unwashed, were pushed almost into her own. Indeed, so fierce was the crowd in its attempt to get a glimpse of the latest curiosity, that she began to think she would be thrown down and trampled under foot, when timely relief arrived in the shape of two policemen and a gentleman volunteer, who managed to rescue her and lead her to a hansom cab, which started for Hanover

Square, pursued by a shouting mob of nondescript individuals.

Now, Augusta was a woman of good nerve and resolution; but this sort of thing was too trying, and, accordingly, that very day, accompanied by Lady Holmhurst, she went to some rooms in a little riverside hotel on the Thames.

When Eustace, walking down the Strand that afternoon, found every photograph-shop full of accurate pictures of the shoulders of his beloved, he was simply furious; and, rushing to the photographer who had taken the picture in the Registry, threatened him with proceedings of every sort and kind. The man admitted outright that he had put the photographs upon the market, saying that he had never stipulated not to do so, and that he could not afford to throw away five or six hundred pounds when a chance of making them came in his way.

Thereon Eustace departed, still vowing vengeance, to consult the legal twins. As a result of this, within a week Mr. James Short made a motion for an injunction against the photographer, restraining the sale of the photographs in question, on the ground that such sale, being of copies of a document vital to a cause now pending in the Court, those copies having been obtained through the instrumentality of an officer of the Court, Dr. Probate, the sale thereof amounted to a contempt, inasmuch as, if for no other reason,

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the photographer who obtained them became technically, and for that purpose only, an officer of the Court, and had, therefore, no right to part with them, or any reproductions of them, without the leave of the Court.

It will be remembered that this motion gave rise to some very delicate questions connected with the powers of the Court in such a matter, and also incidentally with the law of photographic copyright. It is also memorable for the unanimous and luminous judgment finally delivered by the Lords Justices of Appeal, whereby the sale of the photographs was stopped, and the photographer was held to have been guilty of a technical contempt. That judgment contained perhaps the most searching and learned definition of constructive contempt that has yet been formulated; but for the text of this I must refer the student to the law reports, because, as it took two hours to deliver, I fear that, notwithstanding its many beauties, it would be thought too long for the purpose of this history. Unfortunately, however, it did not greatly benefit Augusta, the victim of the unlawful dissemination of photographs, inasmuch as the judgment was not delivered till a week after the great case of Meeson v. Addison and Another had been settled.