“The deceased James Wilson was your brother?”
“He was.”
“Tell my lords and the jury what you know of this matter.”
“My brother was a zealous agent of our gracious King,” said the witness, speaking in a tone of great humility. “He even left his home—his wife and family—in the King's good cause.”
At this moment Sim was overtaken by faintness. He staggered, and would have fallen. Ralph held him up, and appealed to the judges for a seat and some water to be given to his friend. The request was granted, and the examination continued.
The witness was on the point of being dismissed when the sheriff re-entered, and, making his way to the bench, handed a book to Justice Hide. At the same instant Sim's attention seemed to be arrested to the most feverish alertness. Jumping up from the seat on which Ralph had placed him, he cried out in a thin shrill voice, calling on the witness to remain. There was breathless silence in the court.
“You say that your brother,” cried Sim,—“God in heaven, what a monster he was!—you say that he left his wife and family. Tell us, did he ever go back to them?”
“No.”
“Did you ever hear of money that your brother's wife came into after he'd deserted her—that was what he did, your lordships, deserted her and her poor babby—did you ever hear of it?”
“What if I did?” replied the witness, who was apparently too much taken by surprise to fabricate a politic falsehood.