The prisoner having done so, Mr. Barham, the Queen's Sergeant, opened the contents of the indictment.
"Whereas it is said that on the fourteenth day of October thou didst unlawfully kill Don Miguel, Marquis de Suarez, grandee of Spain and envoy extraordinary of His Most Catholic Majesty the King of Spain, thou art therefore to make answer to this charge of murder. I therefore charge thee once again: art thou guilty of this crime, whereof thou art indicted, yea or nay?"
"I am guilty," replied Wessex firmly, "and I have confessed."
"By whom wilt thou be tried?"
"By God and by my peers."
"Before we proceed," continued the Sergeant, "what sayest thou, Robert, Duke of Wessex, is that which thou hast confessed true?"
"It is true."
"And didst thou confess it willingly and freely of thyself, or was there any extortion or unfair means to draw it from thee?"
"Surely I made that confession freely," replied the prisoner, "without any constraint, and that is all true."
"And hast thou read the depositions of those who were witness of thy crime, and who have added their testimony to that which thine accusers, the Queen's Commissioners, already know?"