Tutt and Mr. Tutt | Page 8

them. This evidence was plain. He had come into the shop, accused Crocedoro of making his wife's life unbearable and--shot him.
Yet Mr. Tutt did not lose any of his equanimity. With the tips of his long fingers held lightly together in front of him, and swaying slightly backward and forward upon the balls of his feet, he smiled benignly down upon the customer and the barber's assistant as if these witnesses were merely unfortunate in not being able to disclose to the jury all the facts. His manner indicated that a mysterious and untold tragedy lay behind what they had heard, a tragedy pregnant with primordial vital passions, involving the most sacred of human relationships, which when known would rouse the spirit of chivalry of the entire panel.
On cross-examination the barber testified that Angelo had said: "You maka small of my wife long enough!"
"Ah!" murmured Mr. Tutt, waving an arm in the direction of Rosalina. Did the witness recognize the defendant's young wife? The jury showed interest and examined the sobbing Rosalina with approval. Yes, the witness recognized her. Did the witness know to what incident or incidents the defendant had referred by his remark--what the deceased Crocedoro had done to Rosalina--if anything? No, the witness did not. Mr. Tutt looked significantly at the row of faces in the jury box.
Then leaning forward he asked significantly: "Did you see Crocedoro threaten the defendant with his razor?"
"I object!" shouted O'Brien, springing to his feet. "The question is improper. There is no suggestion that Crocedoro did anything. The defendant can testify to that if he wants to!"
"Oh, let him answer!" drawled the judge.
"No--" began the witness.
"Ah!" cried Mr. Tutt. "You did not see Crocedoro threaten the defendant with his razor! That will do!"
But forewarned by this trifling experience, Mr. O'Brien induced the customer, the next witness, to swear that Crocedoro had not in fact made any move whatever with his razor toward Angelo, who had deliberately raised his pistol and shot him.
Mr. Tutt rose to the cross-examination with the same urbanity as before. Where was the witness standing? The witness said he wasn't standing. Well, where was he sitting, then? In the chair.
"Ah!" exclaimed Mr. Tutt triumphantly. "Then you had your back to the shooting!"
In a moment O'Brien had the witness practically rescued by the explanation that he had seen the whole thing in the glass in front of him. The firm of Tutt & Tutt uttered in chorus a groan of outraged incredulity. Several jurymen were seen to wrinkle their foreheads in meditation. Mr. Tutt had sown a tiny--infinitesimally tiny, to be sure--seed of doubt, not as to the killing at all but as to the complete veracity of the witness.
And then O'Brien made his coup.
"Rosalina Serafino--take the witness stand!" he ordered.
He would get from her own lips the admission that she bought the pistol and gave it to Angelo!
But with an outburst of indignation that would have done credit to the elder Booth Mr. Tutt was immediately on his feet protesting against the outrage, the barbarity, the heartlessness, the illegality of making a wife testify against her husband! His eyes flashed, his disordered locks waved in picturesque synchronization with his impassioned gestures Rosalina, her beautiful golden cross rising and falling hysterically upon her bosom, took her seat in the witness chair like a frightened, furtive creature of the woods, gazed for one brief instant upon the twelve men in the jury box with those great black eyes of hers, and then with burning cheeks buried her face in her handkerchief.
"I protest against this piece of cruelty!" cried Mr. Tutt in a voice vibrating with indignation. "This is worthy of the Inquisition. Will not even the cross upon her breast protect her from being compelled to reveal those secrets that are sacred to wife and motherhood? Can the law thus indirectly tear the seal of confidence from the Confessional? Mr. O'Brien, you go too far! There are some things that even you--brilliant as you are--may not trifle with."
A juryman nodded. The eleven others, being more intelligent, failed to understand what he was talking about.
"Mr. Tutt's objection is sound--if he wishes to press it," remarked the judge satirically. "You may step down, madam. The law will not compel a wife to testify against her husband. Have you any more witnesses, Mister District Attorney?"
"The People rest," said Mr. O'Brien. "The case is with the defense."
Mr. Tutt rose with solemnity.
"The court will, I suppose, grant me a moment or two to confer with my client?" he inquired. Babson bowed and the jury saw the lawyer lean across the defendant and engage his partner in what seemed to be a weighty deliberation.
"I killa him! I say so!" muttered Angelo feebly to Mr. Tutt.
"Shut up, you fool!" hissed Tutt, grabbing him by the leg. "Keep still