The Heart of a Mystery

by T. W. Speight

It is not needful that any detailed account should be given here of the progress of the trial. The evidence of the various witnesses was little more than a recapitulation of that given by them at the inquest. No fresh facts had come to light in the interim, neither did the cross-examination of the witnesses tend to elicit any further point which told materially either for or against the prisoner. As before, Brill, the man from whom the knife had been purchased by which Mr. Hazeldine had come by his death, would neither swear positively that the prisoner was the man to whom he had sold the weapon, nor that he was not. He, the prisoner, was like the man, and yet he wasn't like the man; he couldn't be positive, and he wouldn't take an oath one way or the other.

William Strong, the organ-blower, was still as positive as ever that he had not left home on the night of the murder, and that if the prisoner had knocked at the door of his cottage he could not have failed to hear him.

Ephraim Judd, Obed and Amanda Sweet, Doctor Barton and Mr. Mace, were each called upon in turn, and were each submitted to a cross-examination more or less severe, which, however, in no case brought to light anything of consequence tending to the exculpation of the prisoner.

Last of all, two people who had not been examined at the inquest were called and sworn. The first of them was a clerk from the Bank of England, who deposed to having changed notes for gold to the amount of twelve hundred pounds on the day of the murder, and who, on being shown a photograph of Mr. Hazeldine, recognized it as a likeness of the person for whom he had effected the exchange in question.

The second person who was called upon was Mr. Avison. He had no positive evidence to offer in the case, beyond the fact that the Bank had been robbed of an amount a little in excess of four thousand pounds; but what the Counsel for the Prosecution was desirous of eliciting from him was his opinion as to whether such a crime, considered in all its bearings, could have been perpetrated by anyone who was not well acquainted with the habits of the murdered man, as well as with the working of the inner machinery of the Bank. Mr. Avison was clearly of opinion that the crime was the result of a carefully arranged plan, the inception, if not the carrying out, of which was due to someone who had an intimate knowledge of certain details, such as it was next to impossible for any outsider to have.

The examination of Mr. Avison brought the evidence to an end. Then a number of witnesses were called to testify to the accused man's character, among the rest being Mr. Avison. This might have gone on for an indefinite time if the Judge had not at length expressed himself as being perfectly satisfied that it was impossible for any man's character to stand higher in the estimation of those who had known him intimately for years than that of the prisoner at the bar. Then, after the counsel on both sides had been heard, his Lordship proceeded to charge the jury.

This he did in a dispassionate and unbiassed manner, reviewing the evidence carefully, weighing each item in the judicial scales, and giving to each its just preponderance as it told for or against the prisoner. He was most careful in pointing out that the evidence was entirely of a circumstantial character. On the one hand, there was the certainty that the crime was committed some time between half-past ten o'clock and half-past eleven, and the fact that the prisoner entered the Bank by means of his pass-key about twenty minutes past ten and did not reach home till close upon midnight; and that the account he gave of having walked all the way to Strong's house during that interval of time, and of having knocked at his door, was, so far as regarded the latter part of the prisoner's assertion, emphatically denied by Strong himself.

Then there were the blood-smears in his private drawer at the office and on the floor, close by, for which he professed himself utterly unable to account. Then again, the facts of the case would seem clearly to indicate that the criminal was thoroughly acquainted both with the murdered man's habits as also with the interior economy of the Bank--that he knew where to look for the key of the strong-room, and on which day of the week the largest amount of gold was to be found there. He, the Judge, advised the jury not to attach too much importance to the evidence of Brill, the man who sold the knife. His experience had led him to the conclusion that it was impossible to be too cautious in accepting evidence as to personal identity, more especially after any considerable lapse of time; and Brill had very rightly declined to swear to a point as to which his memory was evidently at fault.

There were several points in the prisoner's favor, his Lordship went on to remark, to which the jury would not fail to give due weight in their deliberations. In the first place, there was the entire absence of any conceivable motive on the prisoner's part tending to the commission of such a crime. He and the murdered man had been friends and fellow-workers for years, and, as far as was known, they had always been on the best of terms towards each other. Further, none of the stolen property had been traced home to the prisoner; although, of course, it was no very difficult matter to hide away a large sum in notes and gold where it would be next to impossible for anyone to find it. Finally, the testimony they had heard given to the very high character borne by the prisoner, was a point which would doubtless receive due consideration at their hands.

It was five o'clock when the jury quitted the court, and it wanted twenty minutes to seven when they returned. As soon as Miss Brancker and Hermia heard that the jury had retired to consider their verdict, they left the house in Close Street, where they had been staying, and accompanied by Clement Hazeldine, made their way to the Court-house where, through Clem's influence, they were accommodated with seats in a private room. As the slow minutes passed without bringing any news, the strain upon them grew almost too intense to be endured.