On his last visit at Gertrude’s house he had
told her that it was very improbable that the trial
should be finished that day. She had then said
nothing as to Alaric’s return to his own house;
it had indeed not occurred to her that he would be
at liberty to do so: Charley at once caught at
this, and strongly recommended his cousin to remain
where he was. ’You will gain nothing by
going home,’ said he; ’Gertrude does not
expect you; Mrs. Woodward is there; and it will be
better for all parties that you should remain.’
Mr. Gitemthruet strongly backed his advice, and Alaric,
so counselled, resolved to remain where he was.
Charley promised to stay with him, and the policeman
in mufti, without making any promise at all, silently
acquiesced in the arrangement. Charley made one
more visit to the West, saw Norman at his lodgings,
and Mrs. Woodward and Gertrude in Albany Place, and
then returned to make a night of it with Alaric.
We need hardly say that Charley made a night of it
in a very different manner from that to which he and
his brother navvies were so well accustomed.
CHAPTER XLI
THE OLD BAILEY
The next morning, at ten o’clock, the court
was again crowded. The judge was again on his
bench, prepared for patient endurance; and Lord Killtime
and Sir Gregory Hardlines were alongside of him.
The jury were again in their box, ready with pen and
paper to give their brightest attention—a
brightness which will be dim enough before the long
day be over; the counsel for the prosecution were
rummaging among their papers; the witnesses for the
defence were sitting there among the attorneys, with
the exception of the Honourable Undecimus Scott, who
was accommodated with a seat near the sheriff, and
whose heart, to tell the truth, was sinking somewhat
low within his breast, in spite of the glass of brandy
with which he had fortified himself. Alaric was
again present under the wings of Mr. Gitemthruet;
and the great Mr. Chaffanbrass was in his place.
He was leaning over a slip of paper which he held
in his hand, and with compressed lips was meditating
his attack upon his enemies; on this occasion his wig
was well over his eyes, and as he peered up from under
it to the judge’s face, he cocked his nose with
an air of supercilious contempt for all those who
were immediately around him.
It was for him to begin the day’s sport by making
a speech, not so much in defence of his client as
in accusation of the prosecutors. ‘It had
never,’ he said, ’been his fate, he might
say his misfortune, to hear a case against a man in
a respectable position, opened by the Crown with such
an amount of envenomed virulence.’ He was
then reminded that the prosecution was not carried
on by the Crown. ‘Then,’ said he,
’we may attribute this virulence to private
malice; that it is not to be attributed to any fear
that this English bride should lose her fortune, or
that her French husband should be deprived of any
Copyrights
The Three Clerks from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
