“Order!” cried an officer, horrified.
“Order! order!” shouted the equally horrified clerk.
“No, I’ll not come to order,” she cried, raising her voice to a scream of rage. “It’s God’s truth, that I’m innocent, and that yonder woman tried to buy me to do murder; and she ought to be here instead of me. You let her swear me into prison, and won’t let me swear what a lie it is. You’re in league against me, every one of you,” and she glared around on the court like a wild beast. “Justice! You call this justice! The devils themselves are more just—”
She was proceeding in this mad way, when the police-officer, rushing up to her, actually dashed his hand over her mouth, crying, “This can’t be. Respect the court. Will you be silent, you jail-bird? We’ll gag you completely if you don’t hush up.”
Exhausted by her frantic rage, not less than by her struggle with the officer, Jane soon fell back, panting and exhausted, in the prisoners’ seat. When the decorum of the court had been restored, the case went on again; and as the girl had no testimony to offer, the magistrate committed her, and in default of bail meantime, sent her back to the Tombs again.
In due time, her case came up for trial, when the same testimony was repeated against her. But on this occasion, no such scene of disorder occurred as had marked the preliminary examination. Jane, finding how useless were her recriminations, had now sunk into a sullen silence. Only, when asked what she had to say in her defence, she repeated her charge against Madame De Marke, adding,—
“It’s as true as there’s a God in heaven, whether you believe it or not. You take that woman’s oath, and won’t take mine; because she’s rich, I suppose, and I’m poor. She had nobody by to certify to her story any more than I had. I don’t wonder, with such laws, that your State’s prison is full.”
The judge, however, was not convinced. He charged the jury that the jewel was found in her possession; that she was a character well known to the police; and that the story she told was inconsistent in itself. “Still,” he added, “you are the judges of the fact, gentlemen; and if you disbelieve Madame De Marke, you must acquit.”
The jury did not even leave the box. They had unanimously come to the conclusion that the prisoner was guilty, and immediately rendered a verdict to that effect. Yet in after-days, more than one of them had occasion to remember that trial, and their share in it, with something more than doubt.
Jane was sentenced to prison for the full period that the law allowed. Madame De Marke’s serpent-like eyes watched her victim closely, while the judge was pronouncing this severe sentence; and the momentary spasm which passed over the prisoner’s face was a welcome sight to her selfish heart.