The court was crowded to excess, and it is perhaps needless to say that it was about as inconvenient and ill-ventilated one as it is well possible to conceive.
Every eye was directed towards the prisoner as he entered the dock. Low murmurs arose from the crowd.
“Silence—order!” shouted out the usher. “Hoosh! less noise if you plase.”
Mr. Wrench was called.
He gave a brief but circumstantial account of the arrest of the prisoner, Giles Chudley, together with a number of other immaterial matters relative to the case.
The worthy host of the “Carved Lion” was the next witness.
He deposed to all the facts which had come to his knowledge on the night of the murder.
Mr. Slapperton, the prisoner’s legal adviser, rose to cross-examine this witness.
“Pray, Mr.—For the moment I forget your name.”
“Brickett.”