y been a very fine one, sat down. As he did so he glanced at the
clock. He had been on his legs for nearly two hours, and yet it seemed to
him but a very little while. In another moment he was up again and had
called his first witness--Eustace Meeson.

Eustace's evidence was of a rather formal order, and was necessarily
limited to an account of the relations between his uncle and himself, and
between himself and Augusta. Such as it was, however, he gave it very
well, and with a complete openness that appeared to produce a favorable
impression on the Court.

Then Fiddlestick, Q.C., rose to cross-examine, devoting his efforts to
trying to make Eustace admit that his behaviour had been of a nature to
amply justify his uncle's behaviour. But there was not very much to be
made out of it. Eustace detailed all that had passed freely enough, and
it simply amounted to the fact that there had been angry words between
the two as regards the treatment that Augusta had met with at the hands
of the firm. In short, Fiddlestick could not do anything with him, and,
after ten minutes of it, sat down without having advanced the case to any
appreciable extent. Then several of the other counsel asked a question or
two apiece, after which Eustace was told to stand down, and Lady
Holmhurst was called. Lady Holmhurst's evidence was very short, merely
amounting to the fact that she had seen Augusta's shoulders on board the
Kangaroo, and that there was not then a sign of tattoo marks upon them,
and when she saw them again in London they were tattooed. No attempt was
made to cross-examine her, and on the termination of her evidence, the
Court adjourned for lunch. When it reassembled James Short called
Augusta, and a murmur of expectation arose from the densely crowded
audience, as--feeling very sick at heart, and looking more beautiful than
ever--she stepped towards the box.

As she did so the Attorney-General rose.

"I must object, my Lord," he said, "on behalf of the defendants, to this
witness being allowed to enter the box."

"Upon what grounds, Mr. Attorney?" said his Lordship.

"Upon the ground that her mouth is, _ipso facto_, closed. If we are to
believe the plaintiff's story, this young lady is herself the will of
Jonathan Meeson, and, being so, is certainly, I submit, not competent to
give evidence. There is no precedent for a document giving evidence, and
I presume that the witness must be looked upon as a document."

"But, Mr. A