Plot
The curtain rises on the Court of the Exchequer, where a jury is assembling to hear a case of breach of promise of marriage ("Hark, the hour of ten is sounding"). It soon becomes clear that the jurymen's sympathies are predisposed to be with the plaintiff, Angela, and when the defendant, Edwin, enters, he is treated with great hostility; he tries to persuade them that his is a reasonable position ("When first my old, old love I knew"), but being respectable middle-aged gentlemen they refuse to make any allowances for the fickleness of youth ("Oh, I was like that when a lad"). At this point the Judge enters with great pomp ("All hail, great Judge", and decides to begin proceedings by giving a description of how he came to hold his position ("When I, good friends, was called to the Bar"). Preliminaries dispensed with, the jury is sworn in and the plaintiff summoned into court: she arrives in full wedding dress accompanied by all her bridesmaids ("Comes the broken flower") and instantly captures the heart of all the jury, and particularly the Judge. Counsel for the plaintiff makes a moving speech in aria detailing Edwin's betrayal of Angelina ("With a sense of deep emotion"), and Angelina sobs in the arms first of the foreman of the jury, and then the Judge. Edwin suggests that he will marry both women ("Oh gentlemen, listen, I pray"), but the counsel for the plaintiff points out that this will be "Burglaree". Perplexed, the court ponders a resolution to the situation ("A nice dilemma we have here"), until the Judge, impatient with all the objections and counter-objections, resolves the situation by proposing to marry Angelina himself. This is quite satisfactory, and the case is concluded happily ("With joy unbounded").
