‘Phoo! that there was. Didn’t you see how her counsel was fighting to keep it back? You may depend she knew all about them, and could tell us where they are now if she liked.’
‘You seem to have made up your mind,’ said another man, who had been talking aside to a little knot of three; ‘but for the life of me I couldn’t make it out one way or the other. What did you think he meant about that latchkey?’
This was offensive. It was reminding them of their weak point. It threw the whole room into confusion. Eight or nine of the jury all began to speak at once, and four or five could find no listeners.
When the hubbub had a little subsided, the foreman said:
‘Gentlemen, it’s no use talking it over in this way. We must argue it out one at a time. I propose that we all sit round the table, and the one that has anything to say stands up and says it properly.’
This suggestion was well received, but it had a fatal effect on three of the jury, who were wholly unable to attempt anything so much like a set speech as this course involved.
As soon as all were seated the foreman commenced:
‘Gentlemen this is a doubtful case, a very doubtful case. Talk of reasonable doubts, there’s nothing but reasonable doubts, so far as I can see, from beginning to end. Now, it would have been a great help to us if the judge had showed us which way he thought we ought to go, but I must confess I couldn’t tell which side he meant to lean. If any other gentleman thinks otherwise, we shall be glad to hear him.’
But no other gentleman thought otherwise. The man who had thrown out the suggestion about the latchkey, and who was a fishing-boat proprietor from a seaside suburb of Abertaff, murmured from his seat:
‘I call it a shame. I should like to know what a judge is for. We might as well try the case ourselves as this.’