. If he did not seek the recognitions
of his acquaintances throughout the Court, he never avoided them,
returning the salutations of the "swells," as he called them, with the
easy indifference he would have accorded them at Newmarket.

I have no pretension to delay my reader by any details of the trial
itself. It was a case where all the evidence was purely circumstantial,
but wherein the most deliberate and deep-laid scheme could be distinctly
traced. With all the force of that consummate skill in narrative which a
criminal lawyer possesses, Davis was tracked from his leaving London
to his arrival at Chester. Of his two hours spent there the most exact
account was given, and although some difficulty existed in proving the
identity of the traveller who had taken his place at that station with
the prisoner, there was the strongest presumption to believe they were
one and the same. As to the dreadful events of the crime itself, all
must be inferred from the condition in which the murdered man was found
and the nature of the wounds that caused his death. Of these, none could
entertain a doubt; the medical witnesses agreed in declaring that life
must have been immediately extinguished. Lastly, as to the motive of
the crime,--although not essential in a legal point of view,--the
prosecutor, in suggesting some possible cause, took occasion to dwell
upon the character of the prisoner, and even allude to some early
events in his life. Davis abruptly stopped this train of argument, by
exclaiming, "None of these are in the indictment, sir. I am here on a
charge of murder, and not for having horsewhipped _you_ at Ascot, the
year Comas won the Queen's Cup."

An interruption so insulting, uttered in a voice that resounded
throughout the Court, now led to a passionate appeal from the counsel
to the bench, and a rebuke from the Judge to Davis, who reminded him
how unbecoming such an outrage was, from one standing in the solemn
situation that he did.

"Solemn enough if guilty, my Lord, but only irksome and unpleasant to a
man with as easy a conscience as mine," was the quick reply of Grog,
who now eyed the Court in every part with an expression of insolent
defiance.

The evidence for the prosecution having closed, Davis arose, and with a
calm self-possession addressed the Court:--

"I believe," said he, "that if I followed the approved method in cases
like the present, I'd begin by expressing the great confidence and
satisfaction