ng
his features, and begins to deliver his sentence before he can sit down,
but the solemn effect is much marred by the passing of a steam ploughing
engine. The audience, too, tend away towards the windows to see whose
engine it is.

'Silence!' cries the Clerk, who has himself been looking out of window;
the shuffling of feet ceases, and it is found that after this long
consultation the Bench have dismissed both charges. The next case on the
list is poaching; and at the call of his name one of the gipsy-looking
men advances, and is ordered to stand before that part of the table
which by consent represents the bar.

'Oby Bottleton,' says the Clerk, half reading, half extemporizing, and
shuffling his papers to conceal certain slips of technicality; 'you are
charged with trespassing in pursuit of game at Essant Hill--that you did
use a wire on the estate--on land in the occupation of Johnson.'--'It's
a lie!' cries a good-looking, dark-complexioned woman, who has come up
behind the defendant (the whilome navvy), and carries a child so wrapped
in a shawl as to be invisible. 'Silence! or you'll have to go outside
the court. Mr. Dalton Dessant will leave the Bench during the hearing of
this case.' Mr. Dalton Dessant, one of the silent magistrates already
alluded to, bows to the chairman, and wriggles his chair back about two
feet from the table. There he gazes at the ceiling. He is one of the
trustees of the Essant Hill property; and the Bench are very careful to
consult public opinion in L---- borough.

The first witness is an assistant keeper: the head keeper stands behind
him--a fine man, still upright and hearty-looking, but evidently at the
beginning of the vale of years; he holds his hat in his hand; the
sunlight falls through the casement on his worn velveteen jacket. The
assistant, with the aid of a few questions from the Clerk, gives his
evidence very clear and fairly. 'I saw the defendant's van go down the
lane,' he says:

'It bean't my van,' interrupts the defendant; 'it's my brother's.'

'You'll have an opportunity of speaking presently,' says the Clerk. 'Go
on' (to the witness).

'After the van went down the lane, it stopped by the highway-road, and
the horse was taken out. The women left the van with baskets, and went
towards the village.'

'Yes, yes; come to the point. Did you hide yourself by order of the head
keeper?'

'I did--in the nutwood hedge by Three Corner Piece; after a bit I saw
the defenda