“Becos such a mort o’ things happened, sir, that night.”
“Will you tell his lordship what happened?”
“Certainly, my lord. Mr. Toopny gave us a supper, us himps, my lord, at the Hilarity; for he said—”
“Never mind what he said, tell us what happened as you were coming home.”
“Well, sir, it was about eleven o’clock at night, and I was turning the lane into the Hit or Miss, when I heard an awful flapping and hissing and whirring, like wings working by steam, in the waste ground at the side of the lane. And, as I was listening—oh, it frightens me now to think of it—oh, sir—”
“Well, don’t be alarmed, my good child! What occurred?”
“A great thing like a bird, sir, bigger than a man, flew up over my head, higher than the houses. And then—did you ever see them Japanese toys, my lord, them things with two feathers and a bit of India-rubber as you twist round and round and toss them up and they fly—”
“Well, my girl, I have seen them.”
“Well, just as if it had been one of them things settling down, the bird’s wings turned round and fluttered and shook, and at last it all lighted, quite soft like, on the roof of our house, the Hit or Miss. And there I saw it crouching when I went to bed, and looked out o’ the window, but they wouldn’t none o’ them believe me, my lord.”
There was a dead silence in the Court as Eliza finished this extraordinary confirmation of Winter’s evidence, and wove the net inextricably round the prisoner.