"You think you will not feel the suspense as much if you are in the court as you would outside Ruth? Is that what you mean?"
"That's it, partly, sir. Anyhow, I feel that I must be there."
"Very well, Ruth, if you see it in that way, I will do what I can for you. I will ask Captain Hendricks to speak to the policemen in the court, and tell them to let you remain there after you have given your evidence. There will be a great crowd, you know, and it will be very close, and altogether I think it is foolish and wrong of you."
"I am sorry you think so, sir; but I do want to be there, whatever happens to me afterwards."
"Of course you can do as you like, Ruth; but the probability is that you will faint before you have been there five minutes."
"I will try not to, sir, and I don't think I shall. It is only when I get a sudden shock that I faint, and I don't think I can get one there."
CHAPTER VII.
THE VERDICT.
The trial of Ronald Mervyn for the murder of Margaret Carne was marked by none of the unexpected turns or sudden surprises that not unfrequently give such a dramatic interest to the proceedings. All the efforts of the police had failed in unearthing any facts that could throw a new light upon the subject, and the evidence brought forward was almost identical with that given at the coroner's inquest; the counsel asked a great many questions, but elicited no new facts of importance; the only witnesses called for the defence were those as to character, and one after another the officers of Mervyn's regiment came forward to testify that he was eminently popular, and that they had never observed in him any signs of madness.