It would be impossible to describe the effect of this terrible testimony on the minds of all who heard it.
The Bench, the Bar, and the Jury, whom, it would seem, nothing in this world had power to startle, astonish, or discompose, sat like statues.
Scarcely less immovable was the young Duke of Hereward, the subject of this awful charge, who sat back in his seat with an air of grave curiosity, and with the composure of a man who was master of the situation.
But the crowd which filled the court-room seemed utterly confounded by what they heard. Upon the whole, they either disbelieved this witness, or distrusted their own ears. Their young laird, as she called the present duke, was their model of all wisdom, goodness, magnanimity. Truly, they had heard a rumor of some little love-making between the young laird and a handsome shepherdess at Ben Lone, probably this same Rose Cameron; even these rumors they did not fully credit; but that the n.o.ble young Duke of Hereward should be the accomplice of thieves and murderers in the robbery at Castle Lone, and the a.s.sa.s.sination of Sir Lemuel Levison, on the very night preceding the morning appointed for his marriage with Sir Lemuel"s daughter!
Oh! the charge was too preposterous, as well as too horrible, to be entertained for an instant.
Finally the prevailing opinion settled into this: that the young laird had probably admired the handsome shepherdess a little, and had left her for the heiress; and that, from jealousy and for revenge, the girl was now perjuring herself to ruin her late lover.
Would her testimony be believed? Would it have weight enough to cause the arrest of the young duke?
"Eh, sirs! what an awfu" event the like o" that wad be!" whispered one gray-haired clansman to another.
And all bent eager ears to hear the remainder of the testimony which was still going on.
After relating the history of her journey to London, with the stolen treasure in charge, she proceeded to tell of the abrupt flight of "the duke," with the bulk of the treasure in his possession, and of her own subsequent arrest with the stolen jewels found in her apartments.
She was cross-examined by the defence, but without effect.
Her testimony, if it could be established, would ruin the Duke of Hereward, but could in no way affect the prisoner at the bar.
When the prosecution perceived this, they realized that they had been, in common parlance, "sold."
They were to be sold again.
"You may stand down," said Mr. Keir, sharply.
"Na, I hanna dune yet. I hae mair to say," persisted the witness.
"Say it, then."
"I ken it is nae lawfu" for a wife to gie testimony against her ain husband," said Rose Cameron, with a cunning leer that marred the beauty of her fine blue eyes.
"Certainly not. What has that to do with this case?"
"It hae a" things to do with it."
"Explain yourself, witness; and remember that you are on your oath."
"Ay, I weel ken the solemnity of an aith. And I hae telt the truth under aith; nathless, maybe my teestimony suld na be received."
"Why not?"
"Why no"? Why, gin a wife maunna teestify agin her ain husband, I suld na hae teestified agin the Duk" o" Harewood, who is my ain lawfu" husband!"
said Rose Cameron, purposely raising her voice to a clear, ringing tone that was distinctly heard all over the court-room.
Had a sh.e.l.l fallen and exploded in their midst, it could scarcely have caused greater consternation.
"What said the la.s.s?" questioned many.
"I dinna just ken," answered many others.
They certainly did not believe the report of their own ears on this occasion.
As for the Duke of Hereward, who was then engaged in writing a few lines on the fly-leaf of his note-book, he just looked up for a moment and was surprised into the first smile that had lighted his grave face since the opening of the trial.
The cool counsel who was conducting the examination of the witness, and whom nothing on earth could throw off his track, now proceeded to inquire:
"Witness! Do we understand you to say that you are the wife of his grace the Duke of Hereward?"
"Ay, just!" replied Rose Cameron, pertly. "Gin ye hae ony understanding at a", and gin ye are na the auld daft idiwat ye luke, ye"ll understand me to say I am the lawfu" wedded wife o" the Duk" o" Harewood. Him as was marrit o" Tuesday last to the heiress o" Lone! Gin ye dinna believe me, I hae my marriage lines, gie me by the minister o" St. Margaret"s Kirk, Weestminster, where he marrit me! Ou, ay! and I wad hae tell ye a"
this in the beginning, only I kenned weel, if I _did_, ye wad na hae let me gae on gie" ony teestimony agin me ain husband. De"il hae him! But noo, as ye hae heerd the truth anent the grand villainy up in Castle Lone, I dinna mind telling ye wha I am. Ay, and ye may set aside my witness, gin ye like! But the whole coort hae noo heard it. Ay, and the whole warld s"all hear it, or a" be dune! And noo I am thinking ye"ll een let the puir mon in the dock just gae free; and pit my laird, his greece, the nubble duk", intil the prisoner"s place. Ye"ll no hae to seek him far," added the woman, suddenly whisking around and facing the young Duke of Hereward, with a perfectly fiendish look of malice distorting her handsome face. "There he sits noo! he wha marrit me and afterwards marrit the heiress o" Lone! he wha betrayed me intil a prison, and wad hae betrayed me to the gallows, gin I had na been to canny for him! There he is noo, and he can na face me and deny it!"
The Duke of Hereward did not deign to deny anything. He pa.s.sed the fly leaf, upon which he had written some lines, on to the old lawyer, Guthrie, who looked over it, nodded, and then rising in his place, addressed the Bench:
"My lord, we desire that the witness, who is now transcending the duties and privileges of the stand, be ordered to sit down."
"Oh! I"ll sit down!" pertly interrupted Rose Cameron. "I hae had my ain way, and I hae said my ain say, and now I"ll e"en gae--gin this auld fule be done wi" me."
"We have done with you; you can stand down," replied Mr. Keir, in mortification and disgust.
Rose Cameron stepped down from the stand with the air of a queen descending from her throne. In look and motion she was graceful and majestic as the antelope. You had to hear her speak to learn how really low and vulgar she was.
She darted one baleful blast of hatred from her blue eyes, as she pa.s.sed the Duke of Hereward, and was then conducted back to the sheriff"s room, where she was to be detained in custody until the conclusion of the trial.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE VINDICATION.
Mr. Guthrie now requested that the witness Ferguson might be recalled.
The order was given. And the Lone saddler"s red-headed apprentice took the stand.
Mr. Guthrie referred to the notes that had been pa.s.sed to him by the Duke of Hereward, and then said:
"Witness, you told the jury that on the night before the murder of Sir Lemuel Levison, you were employed in your master"s service up to a late hour."
"Ay, your honor; but I waur fain to see the wedding decorations, for a"
that," said the boy.
"Precisely. But now tell the jury what was the service upon which you were employed to so late an hour that night."