"Is it too late, then, my Lord, for me to address a few words to the
jury?" asked Roland, calmly.

"What say you, Mr. Attorney-General?" asked the judge.

"Your Lordship knows far better than I, that to address the Court
at this stage of the proceedings, would be to concede the right of
reply--and, in fact, of speaking twice; since the prisoner's not having
availed himself of the fitting occasion to comment on the evidence,
gives him not the slightest pretension to usurp another one."

"Such is the law of the case," said the judge, solemnly.

"I have nothing to observe against it, my Lord," said Cashel. "If I have
not availed myself of the privilege accorded to men placed as I am, I
must only submit to the penalty my pride has brought upon me,--for it
was pride, my Lord. Since that, however, another, and I hope a higher
pride has animated me, to vindicate my character and my fame; so that,
at some future day--a long future, it may be--when the true facts of
this dark mystery shall be brought to light, a more cautious spirit will
pervade men's minds as to the guilt of him assailed by circumstantial
evidence. It might be, my Lord, that all I could adduce in my own behalf
would weigh little against the weight of accusations which even to
myself appear terribly consistent. I know, for I feel, how hard it would
be to accept the cold unsupported narrative of a prisoner, in which many
passages might occur of doubtful probability, some of even less credit,
and some again of an obscurity to which even he himself could not afford
the clew; and yet, with all these difficulties, enhanced tenfold by my
little knowledge of the forms of a court, and my slender capacity,
I regret, my Lord, that I am unable to address the few words I had
intended to the jury,--less, believe me, to avert the shipwreck that
awaits myself, than to be a beacon to some other who may be as solitary
and unfriended as I am."

These words, delivered with much feeling, but in a spirit of calm
determination, seemed to thrill through the entire assemblage; and even
the senior judge stopped to confer for some minutes with his brother
on the bench, in evident hesitation what course to adopt. At length he
said,--

"However we may regret the course you have followed in thus depriving
yourself of that legitimate defence the constitution of our country
provides, we see no sufficient reason to deviate from the common order
of proceeding in like cases. I will now, t