The judge stared. Tressamer started to his feet in a transport of fury.
"My lord, my friend is deliberately leading the witness. In a case of murder it is disgraceful!"
"I agree with you, Mr. Tressamer. Don"t answer that question, sir."
Thus the judge. Poor young Pollard turned as red as the judge"s robe, and stammered out some apology. His brother mentally swore at him, and every solicitor in court resolved never to give him another brief.
"Go on, Mr. Pollard; you mustn"t keep us waiting."
The wretched young man gave a last look at his brief, and closed the examination.
"And you left about ten o"clock?"
("Leading again!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed his opponent.)
"Yes. My lord, may I say----"
"No!" snapped the judge. "Say nothing unless you"re asked."
The witness looked angry, and frowned savagely at his counsel. But the latter had now sat down, and the cross-examination was about to begin.
Tressamer had been studying the witness, with a view of ascertaining his weak point. This was evidently his temper. Accordingly he avoided irritating him till he had obtained as much as he could from him. He began:
"Had you any other relatives living besides Miss Lewis?"
The witness was thoroughly thrown out. He could not see what was coming. In a sullen voice he responded:
"Yes, I"ve a sister in the North."
"Did you go to see her before your aunt?"
"No.--My lord, may I explain?"
The Judge: "You had better confine yourself to the questions now. You will have an opportunity of explaining afterwards."
"You went straight to your aunt. Was she pleased to see you?"
"Yes, she seemed very pleased."
"And yet she let you stay at a hotel?"
"That was only the first night. It was arranged that I was to occupy a bedroom in her house afterwards."
"Oh!"
Type cannot do justice to the peculiar intonation with which the barrister uttered this exclamation. The whole court was aroused to suspect something beneath the surface. Then he turned round to the jury with a mysterious expression, and slowly repeated the answer:
"It was arranged that you were to occupy a room in her house after that night?"
The jury roused themselves for a grand effort, and succeeded in imparting a distinct air of suspicion to their countenances.
At last Mr. Lewis"s temper came into play. He cried out:
"Yes; and if I had been there the first night, I might have prevented this murder."
"Silence, sir!" said the Judge.
And now Tressamer brought out the question for which he had been preparing the way all along:
"When this arrangement was made about your living in the house, did your aunt (remember you are on your oath, sir!)--_did she happen--to--furnish--you--with--a--LATCHKEY?"_
The effect was electrical. He had brought out the last words of the question slowly one by one, and then he suddenly hurled the final word at the witness like a weapon.
John Lewis instantly realized the situation. The question was tantamount to an accusation. The whole court took it in that sense, and gazed at him in deadly earnestness. He turned livid. For a moment he could hardly bring his lips to frame a syllable. At length he recovered his self-command, and thundered out:
"No, sir. May G.o.d strike me dead if she did!"
The fierce earnestness of his denial produced a revulsion of feeling in the court. The jury felt that the counsel had been guilty of unfairness in making such a charge so suddenly, and, as it seemed, with such absence of grounds. The Judge was annoyed, too. Sir Daniel Buller hated sensationalism. In fact, he did not like anything which threw his own dignity into the shade. He liked to feel that he was in the star part, and that everybody else in court was merely playing up to his grand effects. He therefore refrained from rebuking the witness, and from this stage he showed himself less favourable to the counsel for the defence.
But Tressamer had antic.i.p.ated something of this sort, and he had a card in reserve. He went on with his cross-examination as if nothing had happened.
"You gave the prisoner into custody, I think?"
"I did."
"You made up your mind that she was guilty, I suppose, without much thinking?"
"I thought there was absolute proof of it."
"That"s what I mean. You were anxious that she should be convicted, were you not?"
"I was anxious that she should be tried. I thought it my duty to see that this crime was punished."
"By the conviction of the prisoner?"
"If she was guilty."
"But you felt sure she was guilty? You were the one to accuse her, you know."
Mr. Lewis was getting irritated again. He made no answer to this suggestion, and the barrister forbore to press it, contenting himself with a meaning glance at the jury.
"You were represented at the inquest, were you not, by Messrs.
Pollard?"
"Yes."
"The gentlemen who are now conducting this prosecution--nominally on behalf of the Crown?" And with this parting shot he resumed his seat.
Young Pollard instantly rose.