"If so, it is proof of something else," cried Gell (he had leapt to his feet and was speaking in a thrilling voice), "that a strong man can find it in his heart to use his great forensic skill to crush a poor weak woman who is fighting for the life of her child. All his life through he has been doing the same thing—driving people into prison and dragging them to the gallows. He has made his name and grown rich and fat on it. God save me from a life like that! I am only a young lawyer and he is an old one, but may I live in poverty and die in the streets rather than outrage my humanity and degrade my profession by using the lures of the procurator and the arts of the hangman."
There was a sensation in Court. One of the younger advocates was heard to say, "My God, who thought Alick Gell was a fool?" And another who remembered the "Fanny" case in the Douglas police-courts, said, "He's got a bit of his own back, anyway."
When the commotion subsided, Hudgeon, with a face of scarlet, appealed to the Court:
"Your Honour, I ask your protection against this outrageous slander."
"Since you appeal to me," said the Deemster (whose own face was aflame), "I can only say that you deserved every word of it."
Hudgeon tried to speak, but could not, his voice being choked in his throat. And seeing that the Attorney-General had come back to Court (he had just returned with Cain the constable, who was carrying a parcel) he picked up his bag and fled.
Gell's time had come at last—the great moment he had been waiting for so long. Although he had been shaken for an instant by Mrs. Collister's silence he was not afraid now. He was going to play his last and greatest card—put the prisoner in the box to demolish for ever the monstrous accusation that had been intended to ruin the life of an innocent woman. The Deemster trembled as he saw Gell look round the Court with a confident smile before he called his witness.
Bessie, whose big eyes had flamed with fury during her mother's cross-examination, passed with a firm step from the dock to the witness-box. In answer to Gell's questions she repeated the evidence she had given before the High Bailiff, only more emphatically and with a certain note of defiance.
When the Attorney-General rose to cross-examine her, it was observed that he, too, had an air of confidence, as if something had become known to him since morning.
"Do you adhere to your plea?" he asked.