Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

30 AND XA
"Yes, two."
i you remember giving him two articles -which he had
ting grass edgings.
" To whom did you sell that instrument on that Saturday
night?"
There was sudden'y a noise a confusion in the court. Some
one had forced a way in ; the judge was being spoken to.
" Never mind the noise. Did you sell that to any one that
night? Don't be afraid."
"
I sold it to Peter Sands."
"That is, you sold him two articles, rs you have answered
on oath, and quite correctly this instrument and a claspknife."
The judge was speaking to some one by his side, but the at-
tention of tha jury was riveted on Mr. Monitor.
" Do you wish to correct yourself ? Will you now repeat
on oath, mind that you sold two knives and this instrument
to the prisoner ?"
" N of sir."
There was now a considerable stir with those who conducted
the prosecution and among the jury; the judge rose.
Bto y that is, the prisoner's story revived. The stained
knife was not his knife; and it was a fact that he had picked it
up, as he said he had done. After that there was no case
against him. As to returning Peter Sands to prison and dethe
idea was monstrous. Mr. Monitor said he
; the trial,
cam! nothing about the telegram. It might be all a hoax, a
i-'al joke he cared nothing about it. He had concluded
his i use, aud he demanded a verdict; he was sure that there
i.iul f r a verdict aga.nst the prisoner. No jury
\ ict him.
s more said, with considerable confusion and much
consultation. Bat at last Mr. Monitor got his way.
The judge addressed a few words to the jury, and a verdict
of "JXuf i/ni !.ti/" was brought in immediately.
One woman, unseen and uuno iced, burst into sudden t< ars.
th:i* ni lit purchased?"
V.
" On your oath, remember, Now take time to consider.
no oulj, not three, nor four. Don't hurry yourself I
:io wish to confusj you. I depend on you for the simple
truth as you know how to tell it."
" I sold him two articles I ; gave two articles into hia hands.
"
They were two knives.
"Did any one else in the shop serve him with anything ?"
"No, tir."
" Are yon sure?"
"
Quite sure. I saw him come in, and I watched him out."
Mr. Monit r made a sign to some She hid herself away, choked her sobs as well as she coul.l,
and begged pardon
one, who placed on the
tabb before him a piece of iron like a half-moon, used for cut-
in her lit art for judgment whi h, if not
rash, had certainly been harsh for she had been quick to forget
the evidence of a g >od life, and ready to believe evil and
this woman was Miss Lance's Hannah.
"
I will never judge another as long as I live," she said in
her heart, as she harried home. "May no one evei judge me
as I judged him !"
And yet Hannah loved Peter, and only to the ladies whom
she served had she ever uttered her judgment. But she had
been quick to believe evil because her feelings had been excited
and her heart troubled, an 1 because as James Gardener was
dead she could not help jumping at the conclusion that gome-
body had killed him !
CHAPTER VII.
" Don't talk, Miss Lance. Can't you order dianer? I am
exceedingly hungry. "
"Keally, Mr. Monitor, you aro provoking. You were BO
gentle, so vexatiously quiet."
" O, no; not at Jast. Why, I scolded everybody, Miss
Lance. That is what makes me hungry."
'
I can't help wishing for Peter."
" He is best where he is. Father Joseph carried him off.
Mrs. Beauchamp was watching
for him as if he were her natu-
ral prey; and Dr. BeaucLrk and that grand old la y are gone
after him. You kiiow the is his grandmother."
" For shame ! But there is our nephew. Dinner will make
you hold your tongue."
They were 1 11 so i xcited after get ing
back from the court
A telegram from the Home Secretary, accompanying the
copy of a telegram he had received from Kio Janeiro. The
captain of the vessel Fair Lady, sailing from Treddington,
telegraphed that one of his crew had given himself up as the
man who had caused the death of James Gardener by an untoward
accident, which he had not expected to end fatally. The
coming trial of a man for Gardener's murder having been seen
in a newspaper, he telegraphed to stop the trial, and to know
what was to be done with the sailor, whose name was Boper.
There was now some talk as to the trial being delayed but
;
this was even angrily contested by Mr. Monitor.
He s id he had two witnesses to bring forward to prove that
the instrument before them had been brought home by the
prisoner on that Saturday, and with that his case would then
be over. T e case for the prosecution had broken down. No
doubt, two knives had been sold to some young man who looked
mare like a gardener, and was more likely to buy an edgingcutter,
than the prisoner. The salesman, with his head full < f
Peter's singing, and the chorus of some favorite song probably
ringing in his ears, had confused the two persons, and believed
that he had sold the two knives to Peter, and the knife and
edge-cutter to the other customer. He had given his evidence
with houes'y of purpose, and had made no more than a natural
m.stake. He had not been thinking of what he was about. Th 3
two customeis had very probably stood side that they
by side. Now
that the salesman himself abandoned his own story, the true
could not t.ilk sense. Such, at least, was tha account
the Miss Lances gave of thems Ives.
'- We felt," said Miss Jane, speaking the next day to Mr.
Breward, " as if we must either lau h or cry. I would rather
have cried. But we had asked people to dinner, and we could
not cry before comp-iuy. We laughed, therefore, instead ; but
we made up for it a.terwards. We ciie.l all night."
" Are you always ai glad as you are now when you have won
a cause ?" Miss Lance had asked this of Mr. Monitor, and he
had answered h r :
"
I always feel the thing a good deal. But I have not always
old founds by me with whom 1 can grow young and play
the boy, by way of gentle refreshment. / like my line of
practice ; but 1 have had enough of work, a 1 d would rest if I
could. I still say that my line of practice suits me. I like to
save a man's life. "
"Whether he be guilty or not ?"
' Yes ; quite regardless of innocence. I ask myself this
question, if the man is guilty Who made me to differ ? have
I ever had his temptations ? was he ever instructed as to the
end for which a man is bom ? was he ever told what that end
is?" Miss Lance bowed her
"
head. If Peter Sands had been
hanged h-i would have gone to heaven " Aga n Miss Lance
bowed her head. "You can guess all I m.an, I think." She
looked at her old friend with her eyes full of tears. He got up
and walked away.
B..t thi.t night at supper, Mr. Monitor's health was pro-
posed by Mr. Br> ward, and he returned thanks in a lively
Little speech, asking to give a triple
toast in return. '
" Gossiping Newspapers, Ladies' Gardening, and The
Electric Tclfftrap/i."
This gave rise to many questions. Miss Lance in a walk
round the garden had mentioned the instrument for cutting
the grass edging, and the probuble
Monitor's iniud immediately.
mis ake had cro sed Mr.
"
O, you should have told us," Cried Miss Jane ; "it would
have be n such a comfort."
T.IO b.irrist. r's fa. e was " too bad ;" all prasent saw it, and
answered with a laugh.