Miscellanea | Page 9

the truth, and that they will find accordingly. And God defend the right!"
Eleanor!--they found him Guilty.
* * * * *
I have asked Dr. Penn to permit me to make an extract from his journal in this place. It is less harrowing to copy than to recall. I omit the pious observations and reflections which grace the original. Comforting as they are to me, it seems a profanity to make them public; besides, it is his wish that I should withhold them, which is sufficient.
_From the Diary of the Rev. Arthur Penn, D.D., Rector of Crossdale, Middlesex._
"When he came into the dock he looked (so it seemed to me) altered since I had last seen him; more anxious and worn, that is, but yet composed and dignified. Doubtless I am but a prejudiced witness; but his face to me lacks both the confusion and the effrontery of guilt. He looks like one pressed by a heavy affliction, but enduring it with fortitude. I think his appearance affected and astonished many in the court. Those who were prepared to see a hardened ruffian, or, at best, a cowering criminal, must have been startled by the intellectual and noble style of his beauty, the grace and dignity of his carriage, and the modest simplicity of his behaviour. I am but a doting old man; for I think on no evidence could I convict him in the face of those good eyes of his, to which sorrow has given a wistful look that at times is terrible; as if now and then the agony within showed its face at the windows of the soul. Once only every trace of composure vanished--it was when sweet Mistress Dorothy was called; then he looked simply mad. I wonder--but no! no!--he did not commit this great crime,--not even in a fit of insanity.
"Mr. A---- is a very able advocate, and, in his cross-examination of the man Crosby and of Mistress Dorothy, did his best to atone for the cruel law which keeps the prisoner's counsel at such disadvantage. The counsel for the prosecution had pressed hard on my dear lady, especially in reference to those farewell words overheard by her, which seem to give the only (though that, I say, an incredible) clue to what remains the standing mystery of the event--the missing hand. Then Mr. A---- rose to cross-examine. He said--
"'During that part of the quarrel when you were present, did the prisoner use any threats or suggestions of personal violence?'
"'No.'
"'In the fragment of conversation that you overheard at the last, did you at the time understand the prisoner to be conveying taunts or threats?'
"'No.'
"'How did you interpret the unaccountable anxiety on the prisoner's part to shake hands with a man by whom he believed himself to be injured, and with whom he was quarrelling!'
"'Mr. Manners' tone was such as one uses to a spoilt child. I believed that he was determined to avoid a quarrel at any price, in deference to my brother's infirmity and his own promise to me. He was very angry before Edmund came in; but I believe that afterwards he was shocked and sobered at the obviously irresponsible condition of my poor brother when enraged. He had never seen him so before.'
"'Is it true that Mr. Manners' pocket-knife was in your possession at the time of the murder?'
"'It is.'
"'Does your window look upon the "Honeysuckle Walk," where the prisoner says that he spent the time between leaving your house and the finding of the body?'
"'Yes.'
"'Was the prisoner likely to have any attractive associations connected with it, in reference to yourself?'
"'We had often been there together before we were engaged. It was a favourite walk of mine.'
"'Do you suppose that any one in this walk could hear cries proceeding from the low gate?'
"'Certainly not.'
"The cross-examination of Crosby was as follows:--
"Mr. A.---- 'Were the prisoner's clothes much disordered, as if he had been struggling?'
"'No; he looked much as usual; but he was covered with blood.'
"'So we have heard you say. Do you think that a man, in perfectly clean clothes, could have lifted the body out of the ditch without being covered with blood?'
"'No: perhaps not.'
"'Was there any means by which so much blood could have been accumulated in the ditch, unless the body had been thrown there?'
"'I think not. The pool were too big.'
"'I have two more questions to ask, and I beg the special attention of the jury to the answers. Is the ditch, or is it not, very thickly overgrown with brambles and brushwood?'
"'Yes; there be a many brambles.'
"'Do you think that any single man could drag a heavy body from the bottom of the ditch on to the bank, without severely scratching his hands?'
"'No; I don't suppose he could.'
"'That is all I wish to ask.'
"Not being permitted to address the