Counsel.--"Out with it, young man; we must have the whole."
"Why, I told him," said the witness, after having looked at the stern face of the judge, and the impatient face of the leader for the prosecution, "that all the servants thought that Mr. Acton had done it; and that he ought to go before the coroner."
"What made you and the servants think the head-gardener had done it?" asked the barrister.
Witness.--"Because he was in the grounds the last; and because we all thought him so Eugene Aram like. He kept by himself, and talked Latin and all that."
Counsel.--"I am afraid we of the bar are in great danger of accusation of murder. This is the best reason ever given for having the pleadings in English. You say, witness, that Mr. Acton, or the prisoner at the bar, was the last person in the grounds; how did the servants know that?"
Witness, in a whimpering tone.--"I cannot tell."
Counsel.--"I must have some answer. Will you swear that you yourself did not see some person in the grounds after you saw Mr. Roberts cross the lawn?"
Witness.--"No, I won't swear, because I did."
Counsel.--"Who did you see; and when?"
Witness.--"I don't well know who it was; but about ten minutes after Mr. Roberts went across, I saw some one come up the dark walk--I was shutting the dining-room window-shutters at the time--and he went in by the door of the green-house."