Again, like a flash of light, the Judge Advocate had leapt up to protest against an inference which the Court alone was entitled to draw, and again the objection was upheld and the inference was expunged.
Amid obvious excitement among the soldiers in Court, the Defender then rose to cross-examine the second witness, and in a moment Macdonald's freckled face had become scarlet, as he was compelled to admit that, at the instant before he was assaulted, he had ordered the shooting of a boy (who fell dead from the walls of El Azhar) and was then swearing at the boy's mother who was weeping over her son.
"Ah, his rage will be at the end of his nose now," whispered the Princess.
Finally, the Prosecutor called the officer who was temporarily commanding the Army of Occupation to show that the accused, after disobeying the order of his late General, had disappeared from Cairo and had not been seen since the riot at El Azhar until his capture two days before.
The evidence for the prosecution being now finished, the Court prepared itself for the defence. There was a certain appearance of anxious curiosity on the faces of the Judges, and a tingling atmosphere of expectancy among the spectators.
Then came a surprise. The young Defender, who had been holding a whispered conference with Gordon, turned to the President and said—
"I regret to say that the accused has decided not to call any witnesses in defence."
"But perhaps," said the President, turning to Gordon, "you wish to give evidence for yourself. Do you?"
There was another moment of breathless silence, and then Gordon, after looking slowly round the room, in the direction of the place in which Helena sat with her head down, said calmly—
"No."