The Shadow of the Rope

already been told in greater detail than could be extracted even by the urbane but deadly cross-examiner who led for the Crown. A change had come over the manner in which Rachel was

white-haired gentleman who had followed every word of the case. On the whole, however, her story bore the stamp of tr

husband might coolly proceed to pack her trunk, and thereafter fetch the cab which was to remove herself and her effects from the scene of the tragedy. But was it credible that a woman of so much presence of mind, to whom every minute might make the difference between life and death, would, having found her cab, actually drive out of her way to inquire after a sick friend, or even a dying love

gh of concentration on its more obvious weaknesses, or of respect for its undoubted strength. For the prisoner's proceedings on the night of the murder, however, supposing she had committed it, and still more on the morning after, it would have been d

anced their effect, after the unbridled rhetoric of the defence-"on the other hand, gentlemen, if criminals never made mistakes

shell, but with hardly a hint of the judge's own opinion upon any one of them. The expression of that opinion was reserved for a point of even greater import than the value of any separate piece of evidence. If, said the judge, the inferences and theory of the prosecution were correct; if this unhappy woman, driven to desperation by her husband, and knowing where he kept his pistols, had taken his life with one of them, and afterwards manufactured the traces of a supposititious burglary; then there was no c

behind the man with the white hair, the gesture was but one m

e of these wiseacres to another, "she

or the jury to bear in mind that the story was one which admitted of no corroboration, save in unimportant details. More than that he would not say. It was for them to judge of that story as they had heard it for themselves, on its own merits, but also in relation to the other evidence. If the jury believed it, there was an end of the case. If they had any reasonable doubt at all,

, and the prisoner disappeared down the dock stairs for the last time in ignorance of her fate. Next moment there was the buzz of talk that you expect in a theatre between the acts, rather than in a court of justice at the solemn crisis of a solemn trial. It was like a class-room with the master called away. Hats were put on again in the bulging galleries; hardly a tongue was still. On the bench a red-robed magnate and another in knee-breeches exchanged views upon t

tward distinction than any one of them, the unknown man with t

y dear man. N

so sure

you

ou are! But I thought the wo

on? No, they ought never to have let her go into the box

Then it show

arily her innoc

e. Others had already

it down at West

isfi

depends so muc

tor-manag

I must be off

o wait for the end

ate as it

but he knew the reason for his sudden retreat. A hush had fallen, and some one had whispered, "They're coming!" The light-hearted chatter had died away on the

is over," whispered one of the pa

, too, old man!" r

very voice. Within earshot a perspiring young pressman was informing his friends that to come there comfortably you should commit the murder yourself, then they gave you the Royal Box; but his teeth could be heard chattering through the feeble felicity. The white-headed listener curled a contemptuous nostril. They could joke, and yet they could feel

warder upon either hand. The lightning pencil of the new journalist had its will of her at last. For Mrs. Minchin had dispensed not only with the chair which she had occupied all the week, but also with the heavy veil which she had but partially lifted during her brief sojourn in the witness-box, and never once in the dock. The veil was n

was not what they had pictured beneath the proud, defiant carriage

still lovely at its worst. The face was a thin but perfect oval, lengthened a little by depth of chin and height of forehead, as now also by unnatural

covered face, in the cruel glare of gas. But it became plainer still as, with sad, unflinching

of the last dread pause, the crowded court felt hotter and lighter than ever. It

you greed upon

ar

prisoner guilty

gui

the Clerk of Arraigns was seen to be leaning forward, a hand to his ear, for the for

s had a different effect

y!" he alm

n, while the clo

the verdict

ry one

gesture to strike the personal note which had been suppressed with such admirable impartiali

e said it at once gruffly, angrily, thankfully, disgustedly, with emotion, a

od a verdict which had filled most faces with incredulity, but none with an astonishment to equal her own. Her white face had leaped alight, but not with gladness. The pent-up emotion of the week had broken forth in an agony of tears; and

s any other theatre when the curtain is down and the house empty. But there was clamor in the corridors, and hooting already in the street. Nor was the house really empty after all. One white-haired gentleman had not l

. "Ah, you're the man I want to see," said

ard," said the a

ve it him quick. I'll wait u

he attendant's palm, with a co

er," explained the attendant

ek," mused the constable a

entleman advanced up the steps toward them, the gaslight gleaming i

for him," said the c