h was exhibited, but the
testimony was unshaken in every important point; and save when pushing
the witness as to his own early life and habits, not a single admission
could be extorted to his discredit. But even here his careless easy
manner rescued him; and when he alleged that he never very well knew
where he was born, or who were his parents, nor had he any very great
misgivings about having served on board a slaver, and "even worse," the
jury only smiled at what seemed the frank indifference of an old sailor.
Noonan had given him a few scraps of Mr. Dalton's writing. He had lost
most of them, he said; but of those which remained, although unsigned,
the authenticity was easily established. Old Peter's handwriting was
familiar to many, and several witnesses swore to their being genuine. In
other respects, they were of little importance. One alone bore any real
significance, and it was the concluding passage of a letter, and ran
thus: "So that if I 'm driven to it at last, Godfrey himself is more to
blame than _me_." Vague as this menacing sentence was, it bore too home
upon the allegations of the witness not to produce a strong effect,
nor could any dexterity of the counsel succeed in obliterating its
impression.

Seeing that the counsel for the prosecution had not elicited the
testimony he promised, respecting the attempted subornation of Meekins,
the defence rashly adventured upon that dangerous ground, and too late
discovered his error, for the witness detailed various conversations
between Grounsell and himself, and gave with terrible effect a scene
that he swore had occurred between young Dalton and him in the jail.
It was in vain to remind the jury that he who alone could refute this
evidence was stretched on a bed of sickness. The effect was already
made.

When questioned as to the reasons Dalton might have had for conspiring
against his brother-in-law, he confessed that Noonan only knew that
Godfrey had refused him all assistance, and that he believed that after
his death he, Dalton, would inherit the property. His own impression
was, however, that it was more vengeance than anything else. The Daltons
were living in great poverty abroad; there was scarcely a privation
which they had not experienced; and the embittering stings of their
misery were adduced as the mainspring of old Peter's guilt. This
allusion to the private life of the Dalton family was eagerly seized on
by Mr. Wallace, who now "begged to asc