rent
tread, and a tread to which she was wholly unaccustomed--I say one
would naturally expect the witness to note the difference instantly,
to wonder who it was that had entered, to feel alarm when she heard
the unknown stranger proceeding upstairs and into the bedroom; and, in
short, one would expect her to get up and rouse the whole household to
discover the robber, as she would naturally assume him to be.'

The jury were much impressed. A feeling of gravity spread all over the
court. In the prisoner's mind there was a sensation as if the sun had
retired behind a cloud, leaving a leaden atmosphere all round her.

'Leaving you to attach much or little importance, as you please, to
that observation' (jury puzzled again), 'I will pass on to the point
about which so much has been said--namely, the latch.' (Jury bend
forward with straining ears. They have felt this to be the difficulty
all along, and are anxiously desiring to be told what it all means,
and what bearing it has on the case.) 'This latch, or rather lock,
appears to have been of peculiar, though not unusual, construction. As
you doubtless know, gentlemen, locks do differ very much from one
another, and it is essential to their usefulness that they should do
so. If all the locks on our doors were of the same pattern, one key
would open them all, and consequently the locks would be rendered
useless for the purpose for which they were designed. In ancient
times, before such articles had come into common use, it was no doubt
the custom to have a rude species of door-fastening, calculated rather
to keep the door fixed in its place as against the violence of the
weather, than to furnish any obstacle against the ingress of undesired
visitors. But, gentlemen, we are not living in those times, but in our
own; and we are here to administer justice, not with regard to the
ideas prevalent among our remote ancestors, but with regard to the
ordinary and reasonable practices of everyday life around us.'

This last part appeals to the jury. They nod their heads in approval,
and wait for further enlightenment.

'Law, gentlemen, it has often been said, is common-sense; and though
there may be a sense in which that maxim is not strictly verifiable,
yet in a broad and general way its applicability has never been and
cannot be disputed. And, therefore, gentlemen, your common-sense
will agree with me when I say that it is a lawful presumption--a
presumption which the law warra