The amended line
An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.
Josiah Bell copied the magistrate’s decisions into the court ledger. He took pride in leaving neither blot nor correction on its cream pages. Mr Vane, the magistrate, had once remarked that a clerk who worked neatly and without delay might soon find a place in the county office. Since then, Josiah had trained his hand to continue even when his attention wished to hesitate.
The final case that morning concerned Mrs Hale, a laundress accused of taking a sack of coal from a merchant’s yard. When Mr Vane asked for her answer, the clock above the court began striking twelve. Mrs Hale leaned forwards, one hand cupped behind her ear. “I did not hear the charge, sir,” she said. The magistrate closed his watch and dictated, “The accused made no answer when charged.” Josiah wrote the sentence before looking back at the woman, who was still waiting for the question to be repeated.
His pen rested above the next line. Then he drew it through the words made no answer. The nib’s dry scratching seemed louder than the clock. In their place, he wrote, stated that she had not heard the charge. Mr Vane stopped arranging his papers. “That is not the form I gave you.” Josiah felt the eyes of the other clerks turn towards him. “It is what was said, sir,” he replied.
The charge was read again, and the hearing was postponed while the constable searched for another witness. Mrs Hale was not released, and Mr Vane gave Josiah no sign that his position was secure. After the room had emptied, the senior clerk advised him to copy the page afresh so that no correction could be seen. Josiah looked at the crossed-out words. The page was ugly. For the first time, he considered that ugliness might be the shape taken by accuracy when it arrived late.
“Josiah’s crossed-out line, not a place in the county office, becomes the true measure of his success.”
Evaluate how successfully the writer presents this idea. Support your judgement with detailed references to the passage.