A Whim, and Its Consequences / Collection of British Authors Vol. CXIV

by G. P. R. James

"I am a woman, and alone;" she answered, "you would not do anything unmanly, I am sure. But hear me, Lockwood," she continued, more vehemently; "hear me, and I will tell you what you are going to do. You wish to save him, and you are going to ruin him. If you set your foot in that court, he is lost. Nay, hear me! hear me!" she repeated, as he strove to push his way past her; "you must, you shall--for your own sake--for his sake--for my sake. I will beseech you--I will kneel to you, to hear me but a few words;" and casting herself down before him, she clasped his knees with her arms.

"I will not hear you," he answered, bitterly; "every moment is precious. You have detained me shamefully two days, and there is nothing to be told me that I could not tell you. I know all, girl--I know you, Susan Grey--I know your motives--I know that you are fool enough still to love him who ruined, betrayed, abandoned you--who left you to misery, starvation, and death, for aught he knew; and I know that to save him from the punishment of his crimes, you would sacrifice one who was kind and good to you, when there was none other to befriend you. Let me go, girl! for I will pass!" and, forcing himself from her grasp, he walked hastily onward towards S----.

"Oh God! Oh God!" cried the woman, "he will destroy him he seeks to save!"

This took place, let the reader remember, on the tenth of the month; the second day of the trial of Chandos Winslow; and to that trial and the court in which it was taking place, we must now return.

CHAPTER XXXII.

In many cases the inhabitants of an assize town are very little affected by what is taking place in their courts. They see lawyers flock in and juries assemble, witnesses moving about in troops, and a rich crop of blue bags growing up. But with the causes or the prisoners, they very little trouble their heads. The host of the inn rubs his hands and rejoices: a heavy calendar to him is a God-send. His waiters, probably increased in number, bustle about to feed those classes which are proverbially ravenous; and the chamber-maids are in great request. The pastrycook becomes a person of importance; the cookshop has its share of business, and red tape and parchment rise in value; while the ladies of the place think a good deal of the young barristers, and very little of those whose causes brought them to the town.

But there are occasions, on the contrary, when, either from the intrinsic interest of the case, or from adventitious circumstances connected with it, the people even of the town in which the trial takes place become almost universally excited by what is occurring in the courts; and upon every turn of the trial as it proceeds hangs a world of emotions in the bosoms of men only linked to the transaction by the tie of sympathy.

Such was the case in regard to the trial of Chandos Winslow. Not a drawing-room, not a tea-table, not a chamber in a tavern, not even a coffee-room did not hear discussed during the whole evening of the ninth the various events which had taken place in the court-house during the day, while calculations were formed, and even bets made, on the probable result of the trial. The prisoner had become quite a hero of romance to all the youth and much of the age of the place. He was so young, so handsome, so noble-looking, that the women of S---- of course felt interest in his favour; and the men declared he bore it stoutly, struck by his firm and calm demeanour, and his resolute and gallant bearing. Nevertheless, at the close of the case for the prosecution, a very general impression prevailed that he would be found guilty. So many startling facts had been proved against him: his absence from his house precisely at the time of the murder; the exact correspondence of his shoes with the footsteps to and from the spot where the crime was committed; the bloody hands and coat; and the terribly agitated demeanour which had been witnessed by the boy and the old woman on his return, would almost have been enough for conviction, even without the terrible and seemingly conclusive fact, that the fatal deed had evidently been committed with the very hoe which he had carried out in his hand.

Under such circumstances, the rush at the doors of the court-house on the morning of the tenth was tremendous, and it was as much as the officers on duty could do, aided by a strong body of police, to prevent the multitude from crushing each other to death in the passages and in the very court itself. Several of the magnates of the county were accommodated with seats on the bench to hear the defence; and the voice of the judge himself was raised to its very highest tones to suppress the disorder that occurred when the prisoner appeared in the dock.

Wearing anxiety will have its effect on every frame, and Chandos Winslow looked paler and thinner than on the first day of the trial; but still the magnificent head, the fine person, the tranquil and undaunted bearing, and the firm, strong step had their effect upon those who beheld them, and the impression was that though the jury might and would say "Guilty," the man was innocent.