Behind the President's Chair—I was the President—stood John Lax, bearing his halberd of office.
The Doors of the House were closed: the usual sounds of Laboratory work were silent: the Assistants, who usually at this hour would have been engaged in Research and Experiment, were crowded outside the Court.
I have been told, since, that there were omitted at the Trial many formalities which should have been observed at such a Trial. For instance, there should have been a Clerk or two to make notes of the proceedings: there should have been a Formal Indictment: and there should have been Witnesses. But these are idle forms. The guilt of the Prisoners was proved: we had seen it with our own eyes. We were both Judges and Witnesses.
I was once, however, in the old days, charged (and fined) before a magistrate in Bow Street for assaulting a Constable, and therefore I know something of how a Criminal Court should proceed. So, without any unnecessary formalities, I conducted the Trial according to Common Sense.
"What is your name?" I asked the Arch Physician.
"Harry Linister—once M.D. of Cambridge, and Fellow of the Royal Society."
"What are you by trade?"
"Physicist and Arch Physician of the Holy College of the Inner House."
"We shall see how long you will be able to describe yourself by those titles. Female Prisoner—you in the middle—what is your name?"
"I am the Lady Mildred Carera, daughter of the Earl of Thordisá."