electrical. He had brought out the last words of the
question slowly one by one, and then he suddenly hurled the final
word at the witness like a weapon.

John Lewis instantly realized the situation. The question was
tantamount to an accusation. The whole court took it in that sense,
and gazed at him in deadly earnestness. He turned livid. For a moment
he could hardly bring his lips to frame a syllable. At length he
recovered his self-command, and thundered out:

'No, sir. May God strike me dead if she did!'

The fierce earnestness of his denial produced a revulsion of feeling
in the court. The jury felt that the counsel had been guilty of
unfairness in making such a charge so suddenly, and, as it seemed,
with such absence of grounds. The Judge was annoyed, too. Sir Daniel
Buller hated sensationalism. In fact, he did not like anything which
threw his own dignity into the shade. He liked to feel that he was in
the star part, and that everybody else in court was merely playing up
to his grand effects. He therefore refrained from rebuking the
witness, and from this stage he showed himself less favourable to the
counsel for the defence.

But Tressamer had anticipated something of this sort, and he had a
card in reserve. He went on with his cross-examination as if nothing
had happened.

'You gave the prisoner into custody, I think?'

'I did.'

'You made up your mind that she was guilty, I suppose, without much
thinking?'

'I thought there was absolute proof of it.'

'That's what I mean. You were anxious that she should be convicted,
were you not?'

'I was anxious that she should be tried. I thought it my duty to see
that this crime was punished.'

'By the conviction of the prisoner?'

'If she was guilty.'

'But you felt sure she was guilty? You were the one to accuse her, you
know.'

Mr. Lewis was getting irritated again. He made no answer to this
suggestion, and the barrister forbore to press it, contenting himself
with a meaning glance at the jury.

'You were represented at the inquest, were you not, by Messrs.
Pollard?'

'Yes.'

'The gentlemen who are now conducting this prosecution--nominally on
behalf of the Crown?' And with this parting shot he resumed his seat.

Young Pollard instantly rose.

'My lord, the witness was anxious to explain one of his answers to my
learned friend. Would your lordship allow him to do so now?'

'Yes, yes,' was his lordship's answer.

The witness instantly took