John Potts looked like a man without a hope in the world. We have already seen that an awful change had come over him since the day of his arrest, three months before. Now, as he leaned forward where he sat, and rested his head upon his skeleton hands, that clasped the top of the railing of the dock, his face, or what could be seen of it, was ghastly pale with agony, while his emaciated frame trembled from head to foot. _He looked like a guilty man._ And his looks were now, as they had been from the moment in which the dead body of his master had been discovered, the strongest testimony against him.
For all that, you know, they cannot hang a man merely because he looks as if he ought to be hung.
After an absence of about fifteen minutes, the jury, led by a bailiff, returned to the court-room.
The prisoner looked up, shivered, and dropped his head upon his clasped hands again.
The dead silence of breathless expectation in the court-room was now broken by the solemn voice of the Clerk of Arraigns, inquiring, in measured tones:
"Gentlemen of the jury, have you agreed upon your verdict?"
"We have," answered the foreman, a jolly, red-headed, round bodied Banff baker.
"Prisoner at the bar, stand up and look upon the jury," ordered the clerk.
The poor, abject, and terrified wretch tottered to his feet and stood, pallid, shaking, and grasping the front rails of the dock for support.
"Gentlemen of the jury, look upon the prisoner. How say you, is the prisoner at the bar guilty or not guilty of the felony herewith he stands charged?" demanded the clerk.
"We find the charge against the prisoner to be--NOT PROVEN,"[A]
answered the foreman, speaking for the whole in a strong, distinct voice, that was heard all over the court-room.
[Footnote A: "Not Proven"--a Scotch verdict in uncertain cases.]
On hearing the verdict which saved him from death, even if it did not vindicate him, John Potts let go the rails of the dock and fell back in his chair in a half-fainting condition.
"The prisoner is discharged from custody. The Court is adjourned," said the presiding baron, rising and leaving his seat.
While one of the bailiffs was kindly supporting the faltering steps of the released prisoner, in taking him from the dock, and while the crowd in the court-room were pouring out of the front doors, the presiding judge, Baron Stairs, came down to the place where the young Duke of Hereward still sat. He had known the duke"s father, and had also known the duke himself from boyhood. He now held out his hand cordially, saying:
"I am very glad to see your grace, though the occasion is a painful one.
Let me congratulate you on your marriage, I wish you every good thing in life. You have already got the _best_ thing--a good wife. I knew Miss Levison. A finer young woman never lived. I congratulate you with all my heart, Duke!"
"I thank you very much, Lord Stairs," said the bridegroom, warmly returning the greeting of the judge.
"But I fear I must condole with you also. It was really too bad to have your honeymoon eclipsed at its rising, by a summons to attend as a witness on a criminal trial!--too bad! However, fortunately, the trial was a short one. And you are now at liberty to fly to your bride! I hope the d.u.c.h.ess is well," added his lordship.
"She has never been quite well, I grieve to say, since the catastrophe at Lone," answered the duke, evasively.
"Ah, no! ah no! It cannot be expected that she should be so yet. It will take time! It will take time! By the way, where are you stopping, my dear Duke? I am at the "Prince Consort!" Will you come home with me and dine?"
heartily inquired the baron.
"Many thanks, my lord. But I am not staying in town. I must hurry back to Lone this evening in order to secure the midnight express to London. The most important business demands my immediate presence there," gravely replied the young duke.
"Ah, of course! of course! the bride! the d.u.c.h.ess! Certainly, my dear duke. I will not press you further," said the baron, laughing cordially.
Neither of the gentlemen made the slightest allusion to the testimony given by the crown"s evidence which had cast so foul and false an aspersion on the character of the duke.
By this time the court-room was nearly emptied.
The duke and the baron walked out together.
The crowd had dispersed from before the court-house.
The duke and the baron shook hands and parted on the sidewalk.
"Give my warm respects to the d.u.c.h.ess. Tell her grace that I shall hope to meet her and present my congratulations in person, on her return from the Continent. That will be in time for the meeting of Parliament, I presume," said his lordship, as he was about to step into his carriage.
"Thanks, my lord. Yes, I hope so," answered his grace, as he lifted his hat and turned away.
The baron"s carriage drove off to his hotel.
The duke walked rapidly to the inn, where he had ordered his post-chaise to be put up.
He partook of a light luncheon while his horses were being harnessed, and then entered the chaise, attended by his valet, and ordered the coachman to drive as fast as possible, without hurting the horses, to Lone.
He was most anxious to reach the "Arondelle Arms," to see if any telegram from Detective Setter had reached the office for him.
So long as the road ran through the Firwood, and was comparatively smooth and level, the coachman kept his horses at their best speed; but when it entered the mountain pa.s.s of the chain running around Loch Lone, he was compelled to drive slowly and carefully.
The sun set before they emerged from the pa.s.s, and it was nearly dark when the chaise drew up before the Arondelle Arms.
The duke got out of the chaise, and pa.s.sed through the little a.s.semblage of villagers who were standing there discussing the verdict of the jury.
He hurried at once to the bar-room to inquire if any letter or telegram had come for him.
"Na, naething o" the sort," replied the landlord, who, seeing the disappointment expressed upon the duke"s face, added: "But, under favor, your grace, there"s time eneuch yet. Your grace hae na been twenty-four hours awa" fra Lunnun."
Without waiting to answer the host, the young duke hurried out, and walked rapidly off to the telegraph office, which was at the railway station.
"Ye see yon lad?" said the landlord to his wife. "He hanna been a day fra his bride, and yet he expects to hae a letter or a message frae her every minute. Aweel we hae a" been fules in our time!"
So saying the philosophical host of the Arondelle Arms gave his mind to the service of his numerous customers, who had come from the trial at Banff very hungry and thirsty, and now filled the bar-room with their persons, and all the air with their complaints.
They were not at all satisfied with the verdict. They had had a murder, and they had a right to have a hanging. They had been defrauded of their prospect of this second entertainment, and they were not well pleased.
Meanwhile, the duke hurried off to the telegraph office, to see if by any chance a telegram had been received there for him and detained.
When he entered the little den, he found the operator at work. He forebore to interrupt the man until the clicking of the wires ceased.
Then he asked:
"Can you tell if there is any message here for me?--the Duke of Hereward," added his grace, seeing the puzzled look of the operator, who was a stranger in the country.
"Yes, your grace. It has only just now come," respectfully answered the young man, as he drew out a long, narrow strip of thick, white paper, upon which the message had been stamped by the instrument, and proceeded to select an official envelope in which to inclose it.
"Never mind that. Give it to me at once," said the duke, taking the strip from the hand of the operator and hastily perusing it.
The message ran thus: