ble that you should believe this
story. Had Lady Mason been a woman steeped in guilt from her infancy,
had she been noted for cunning and fraudulent ingenuity, had she been
known as an expert forger, you would not have convicted her on this
indictment, having had before you the malice and greed of Dockwrath,
the stupidity--I may almost call it idiocy, of Kenneby, and the
dogged resolution to conceal the truth evinced by the woman Bolster.
With strong evidence you could not have believed such a charge
against so excellent a lady. With such evidence as you have had
before you, you could not have believed the charge against a
previously convicted felon.

"And what has been the object of this terrible persecution,--of the
dreadful punishment which has been inflicted on this poor lady? For
remember, though you cannot pronounce her guilty, her sufferings have
been terribly severe. Think what it must have been for a woman with
habits such as hers, to have looked forward for long, long weeks
to such a martyrdom as this! Think what she must have suffered in
being dragged here and subjected to the gaze of all the county as a
suspected felon! Think what must have been her feelings when I told
her, not knowing how deep an ingenuity might be practised against
her, that I must counsel her to call to her aid the unequalled
talents of my friend Mr. Chaffanbrass"--"Unequalled no longer, but
far surpassed," whispered Chaffanbrass, in a voice that was audible
through all the centre of the court. "Her punishment has been
terrible," continued Mr. Furnival. "After what she has gone through,
it may well be doubted whether she can continue to reside at that
sweet spot which has aroused such a feeling of avarice in the bosom
of her kinsman. You have heard that Sir Joseph Mason had promised his
eldest son that Orley Farm should form a part of his inheritance. It
may be that the old man did make such a promise. If so, he thought
fit to break it. But is it not wonderful that a man wealthy as is Mr.
Mason--for his fortune is large; who has never wanted anything that
money can buy; a man for whom his father did so much,--that he should
be stirred up by disappointed avarice to carry in his bosom for
twenty years so bitter a feeling of rancour against those who are
nearest to him by blood and ties of family! Gentlemen, it has been
a fearful lesson; but it is one which neither you nor I will ever
forget!

"And now I shall leave my client's case in y