“I think that’s evidence.”
Clerk whispered, behind his hand, “Can hardly exclude that.”
“Can hardly exclude that,” repeats his Lordship; then—turning to the Learned Counsel—“Can’t shut that out, Mr. Nimble.”
“You seldom can shut a church clock out, my Lord,” replies the Counsel.
At this answer his Lordship smiled and the Court was convulsed with laughter for several minutes.
“Now, then,” said Mr. Keepimstraight, “we must have order in Court.”
“We must have order in Court,” says his Lordship.
“Order in Court,” says the Junior Clerk, and “Order!” shouts the Policeman on duty.
Then Mr. Bumpkin stated in clear and intelligible
language how the man came up and took his watch and ran away. Foolishly enough he said nothing about the woman with the baby, and wisely enough Mr. Nimble asked nothing about it. But what an opportunity this would have been for an unskilful Counsel to lay the foundation for a conviction. Knowing, as he probably would from the prisoner but from no other possible source about the circumstance, he might have shown by a question or two that it was a conspiracy between the prisoner and the young woman. Not so Mr. Nimble, he knew how to make an investment of this circumstance for future profit: indeed Mr. Bumpkin had invested it for him by not mentioning it. Beautiful is Advocacy if you do not mar it by unskilful handling.