vidence against the prisoner
more in detail.' (Suppressed sighs from the gentlemen.) 'This is
one of those cases which depend entirely on what is commonly known
as circumstantial evidence. Well, gentlemen, the evidence of
circumstances is just as good as any other evidence, and very often it
is far more reliable and far less subject to be vitiated by improper
influences than ocular and oral testimony. In cases of this kind it
is seldom that we can get anything but circumstantial evidence. When
a man is going to do a wicked and criminal act he does not call
witnesses around him. No, he avoids all human sight, he perpetrates
his deed in secrecy, and all that we can do is to seek to penetrate
the mystery by such means as are at our disposal.'

Impression confirmed that judge is against the prisoner. Tressamer
looking slightly anxious.

'The question for us, therefore, or rather for you, gentlemen'--(the
jury look important)--'is not whether the evidence is circumstantial
or not, but whether it is sufficient to convict the prisoner.
Sufficient, that is, in your opinion, as men of intelligence and
firmness, bringing to bear on this case the same qualities of mind
which you bring to bear from day to day upon your ordinary avocations,
whatever those may be. That the evidence is sufficient in law I am
reluctantly compelled to decide. Whether the court which deals with
points of this description will confirm my judgment or overrule it I
cannot say. In the meantime, you must take it from me that you are
legally justified in convicting the prisoner. Whether you are really
justified on the facts is, of course, a very different question.'

Impression among many that judge is going for acquittal. Jury still in
doubt.

'This is one of those cases which make a judge congratulate himself
on the existence of trial by jury. It is one of those peculiarly
difficult cases in which the mind is perplexed between its desire
to mete out punishment for a singularly atrocious crime, and its
inability to disentangle the knotted skein of mystery which shrouds
the whole circumstances of the affair. I rejoice unaffectedly that the
responsibility of discharging this delicate and dangerous task is
thrown not upon my shoulders, but upon yours.'

Undisguised dismay of jury. They cast appealing looks round the court
and meet nothing but contempt. The general feeling now is that the
judge is in the prisoner's favour. By this time the majority of those