he
humour of the situation may be said to have reached its climax. Yet Dr.
Kenealy at least proved his sincerity by not only insinuating charges
against the gentleman who disappeared with the "Bella," but by
actually calling witnesses to contradict point blank statements of his
own client which lay at the very foundation of the charges of perjury
against him. There were, it is true, many unthinking persons of the
kind that mistake sound for sense, who considered Dr. Kenealy a vastly
clever fellow. If he be so, then the world in general, and the
constitution of the English bar in particular, are wrong; but anyhow
one thing is certain, that the counsel damaged the case materially,
and showed himself eminently unfitted for the position of leader. Mr.
Hawkins' powerful address quickly disposed of Dr. Kenealy and his
crotchets. The inquiry was raised into a calmer height when the Lord
Chief-Justice commenced his memorable summing up, going minutely
through the vast mass of testimony--depicting the true character of
Roger Tichborne from the rich mine of materials before him,
contrasting it with that of the defendant as shown by the evidence,
and, while giving due weight to the testimony in his favour, exposing
hundreds of examples of the falsity of his statements made upon oath.
The verdict of Guilty had been anticipated by all who paid attention
to the evidence. The foreman publicly declared that there was no doubt
in the mind of any juryman that the man who has for eight years
assumed the name and title of the gentleman whose unhappy story is
recorded in these pages is an impostor who has added slander of the
wickedest kind to his many other crimes. But not only were they
satisfied of this; they were equally agreed as to his being Arthur
Orton. The sentence of fourteen years' penal servitude followed, and
was assuredly not too heavy a punishment for offences so enormous. Yet
there are others still at large, who, having aided the impostor with
advice and money, should not be allowed to escape, while the more
clumsy scoundrel suffers the award of detected infamy.

Thus ended the great Tichborne impersonation case, the most remarkable
feature in which was, not that a rude ignorant butcher should proclaim
himself a baronet, but that thousands of persons sane in every other
respect should have gone crazy about him, and should, despite the
evidence given--sufficient many hundreds of times told, or for any
reasonable being--even