“Yes, perhaps both.”
“Pray tell my lords and the jury what you know concerning them.”
The woman tried to speak and stopped, tried again and stopped.
Counsel, coming to her relief, said,—
“It was in Wythburn you saw them; when was that?”
“I passed through it with my two children at Martinmas,” the witness began falteringly.
“Tell my lords and the jury what happened then.”
“I had passed by the village, and had come to a cottage that stood at the angle of two roads. The morning was cold, and my poor babies were crying. Then it came on to rain. So I knocked at the cottage, and an old man opened the door.”
“Do you see the old man in this court?”
“Yes—there,” pointing to where Sim stood in the dock with downcast eyes.