‘He ought not to have gone. Your brother managed the case wretchedly. I wasn’t allowed to say the most important thing of all.’
‘My brother did the best he could. No one could dream that Prescott would desert us like this. I shall never give him another brief, I promise you.’
By this time they had got outside the door of the court-house. They turned towards a hotel close by, where a general luncheon was put on the table for the convenience of people having business in the assize-courts. The civil court had risen a few minutes before the other, and the place was crowded with solicitors, witnesses, jurymen, and the general public.
‘Look here, Mr. Pollard,’ Lewis said, as they fought their way into the room, ‘I could have proved that about the jewels up to the hilt if I had been allowed. Why, my aunt was speaking to me about them that very night, and she said Miss Owen knew of them.’
‘And why on earth didn’t you tell me all this before?’ retorted the solicitor.
‘I thought I had.’
‘Thought you had! Goodness me! that’s just like you laymen. You keep back the chief points in a case, and then you’re angry with us because we don’t guess them by instinct. Why didn’t you tell the judge this when he was examining you?’
‘Because it wasn’t said in the prisoner’s presence.’
‘Pooh! Why, it was evidence of motive. But there, it’s no good trying to explain the law of evidence to you. If any thing’s gone wrong, you have yourself to thank for it—a good deal, that’s all. What shall you take?’