ry miserable, and
it was as much for his sake as that of the immediate family, that Ethel
rejoiced that the suspense was to be short. Counsel of high reputation
had been retained; but as the day came nearer, without bringing any of
the disclosures on which the Doctor had so securely reckoned, more and
more stress was laid on the dislike to convict on circumstantial
evidence, and on the saying that the English law had rather acquit ten
criminals than condemn one innocent man.

CHAPTER XIV

Ah! I mind me now of thronging faces,
Mocking eyed, and eager, as for sport;
Hundreds looking up, and in high places
Men arrayed for judgment and a court.

And I heard, or seemed to hear, one seeking
Answer back from one he doomed to die,
Pitifully, sadly, sternly speaking
Unto one--and oh! that one, twas I.--Rev. G. E. Monsell

The 'Blewer Murder' was the case of the Assize week; and the court was
so crowded that, but for the favour of the sheriff, Mr. and Mrs.
Rivers, with Tom and Gertrude, could hardly have obtained seats. No
others of the family could endure to behold the scene, except from
necessity; and indeed Ethel and Mary had taken charge of the sisters at
home, for Henry could not remain at a distance from his brother, though
unable to bear the sight of the proceedings; he remained in a house at
hand.

Nearly the whole population of Stoneborough, Whitford, and Blewer was
striving to press into court, but before the day's work began, Edward
Anderson had piloted Mrs. Pugh to a commodious place, under the escort
of his brother Harvey, who was collecting materials for an article on
criminal jurisprudence.

Some of those who, like the widow and little Gertrude, had been wild to
be present, felt their hearts fail them when the last previous case had
been disposed of; and there was a brief pause of grave and solemn
suspense and silent breathless expectation within the court, unbroken,
except by increased sounds of crowding in all the avenues without.

Every one, except the mere loungers, who craved nothing but excitement,
looked awed and anxious; and the impression was deepened by the
perception that the same feeling, though restrained, affected the judge
himself, and was visible in the anxious attention with which he looked
at the papers before him, and the stern sadness that had come over the
features naturally full of kindness and benevolence.

The prisoner appeared in the dock. He h