Agnes, or, Beauty and Pleasure — page 86: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

78 The first witness who was called was the senior of the two policemen who had discovered the dead body. He commenced by ‘stating that he was on duty in the immediate neighbourhood, when he was relieved by a comrade: and they walked a little way together, in conversation. At the bend in the lane they beheld a female form lying upon the grass which bordered the road; and they found that the woman was dead. The constable explained that a young gentleman, whose name was De Vere, almost immediately afterwards came up to the spot, and that in consequence of certain intelli- gence which he gave, he (the constable) followed up the elue which terminated in the arrest of the prisoner in the dock. *‘ T produce a ring,” continued the police-oflicer, * which I found upon the table.at the prisoner’s lodging. ‘this ring I have reason to believe be- longed to the deceased. When I took it from the table, the prisoner was very much excited; and she exclaimed, ‘ You know not what it has cost me to obtain it /’ or words to that effect.” “ Did she protest her innocence of the crime imputed to her P”. asked Mr. Wardour. “She did,” was the response. ‘‘ Perhaps she protested it vehemently P” asked the learned gentleman. “‘ Yes,”’ replied the constable : “ehe was greatly excited. But we are too much accustomed to protestations of that sort i * Stop !” ejaculated Mr. Wardour: “ this is not evidence—and you must not make such remarks.” The constable stood down from the witness-box ; and his comrade who was with him at the time the murder was discovered, was next gxamined. His testimony was however merely corroborative of that given by the preceding witness. “The lane is a very lonely one, I believe?” said Mr. Wardour. ‘“‘Tt is, sir,” answered the constable. “And thus,” continued Mr. Wardour, “it was quite possible for any other person besides the pri- soner in the dock to have passed that way, about the time the murder must have been committed, without being noticed by the constable upon that beat P” “‘ Quite possible, sir,” answered the policeman. He was now directed to stand down; and the Clerk of the Court inguired if Mr. Meadowbank, the surgeon who had examined the body, was in attendance. The reply was in the negative,—ac- companied however with an assurance on the part of the Inspector that he would shortly be present. “We will in the meanwhile put Mr, De Vere into the witness-box, your worship,” added the Inspector. Charles was accordingly now introduced; and as he entered the Court, Winifred recognised in him the young gentleman who had so kindly in- terfered in her behalf when she was disputing with the old woman. The unhappy gir! was how- ever too much agitated at the time—and her mind was now too much benumbed by the awful sense of her position—to be enabled to recollect with clearness every detail to which Charles De Vere might possibly depose, As for the young man himself, he looked pale and care-worn; and he forbore from glancing towards the prisoner—tor his suspicivns amounted almost tu convictions C1 AGNES; Of, BEAUTY AND PLEASURE, against her, and in the natural generosity of his heart he could not bear to think that one so yeung and of such prepossessing appearance had been capable of so foul a crime. It was with clearness and precision that he gave his evidence—but yet with the unmistakable - air of one who only came forward in the discharge of a melancholy duty, Winifred shivered to the very confines of her entire being when she dis- covered how damnatory De Vere’s testimony was against her. Step by step, as he proceeded, was an impulse given to her memory; and she now recalled to wind each successive detail which he specified. She knew that he was exaggerating nothing—misrepresenting nothing—that he was telling the exactest truth without swerving a hair's: breadth on the side of augmentation or sup- pression. She perceived likewise that he tuld what he knew in the fewest possible words—s» that he gave no false colour, either of a deepeneilt or of a mitigated shade, to the particulars of his testimony. Wher in the first instance he stated that his ear had caught those words—“ There is the feeling of the tigress within me !” Winifred felt that sie was lost; and there was a powerful though sub- dued sensation in the Court. When he spoke of the ring which he had beheld upon the right hand of the deceased, and then pronounced. the ring which had been found at the prisoner’s lodz- ings to be tho self-same one, there was a still deeper sensation: but Winifred made a sudden and abrupt movement as if about to speak. Whether it were, however, that she thought better of it—or that the words to which she would have given utterance, died away in her throat—the spectators could not tell: but certain it was that she remained silent—her head drooped lower than hitherto upon her bosom—and she did not again raise her eyes while Charles De Vere was in the witness-box. Mr. Wardour asked him but very few questions in cross-examination; and thega were put with a most gentlemanly courtesy—for every one present admired the straightforward, honest manner in which our hero had given bis evidence, and appreciated the feelings of mournful reluectanes against which he had been compelled to struggle in the performance of his duty, The next witness was Mrs. Slater; and thio worthy woman was in tears when she entered the box; so that her appearance greatly affected the already sufficiently distressed Winifred. Indeed, the tears now bevan to trickle down the prisoner’s cheeks; and there was a moment when she clung to the dock as if to save herself from falling A glass of water was handed to her: but she only just touched it with her lips; and then by a strong voluntary effort she conquered her emotions—or at least the outward betrayal of them in the same intenseness as for the few preceding minutes. Mrs. Slater deposed to the effect that Miss Bar- rington had lodged at’ her house for about two years—indeed ever since the death of an aunt with whom she had previously dwelt. The good woman, wiping away her tears, burst forth in a warm eulogy upon Winifred’s character: she had suddenly become armed with a courage which sur- prised herself, when expatiating upon this point. Many a compassionating luok was now turned upon the prisoncr ; and it seemed as if for a mae Comlelooolxs —_—_————— OOOO a _ LE CO LE LLL LLL LLL LL LL LLL LLL a er “ (2) ©)