THE HOUSE OF WHITE SHADOWS

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2710, 14 December 1882, Page 4

THE HOUSE OF WHITE SHADOWS

BY B. L. FARJEON. Author of " Blades-o'-Grass," " Joshua Marvel," "Bread and Cheese .and Kisses," " Grif," " London's Heart," &c, &c. (Continued.) "Will the day be fine?" asked Arthur ZBalcombe. "Yes," said the peasant, " but there will "be a change in the evening. The little ones Trill know ; you can trust to them/' Young as they were they could read the signs of nature's face, and could teach him ■wise things, great and rich as he was. " Come," he said. Their road lay up the heights, higher and ever higher, towards the forests where the fir trees stretched their feathery tips to the clouds, and over glaciers, in the crevices of which grew lovely flowers, lobelias, and gentians, the Marguerite and the Alpine lose, and sweeter than all, the forget-me-not, in profusion. " Like bits of heaven dropped down," thought Arthur Balcombe. They found the flower they -were in search of, the edelweiss, and the children were delighted. The sun was setting when they returned to the hut, tired, and gratified with their day's wandering. The peasant's wife smiled a 3 she saw the edelweiss. " A lucky love-flower," she said to Arthur Baleombe.

These simple words proved to him how "hard was the lesson of forgctfulness he was striving to learn; he was profoundly agitated by them. Night fell, and the clouds grew black. " The wind is rising," said the peasant; ** a bad night for travellers. Here is one coming to the hut." It proved to be a guide who lived in the ■nearest post-village, and who, duly commissioned for the service, brought to Arthur Balconibo the letters of the Advocate and his wife. " A storm is gathering," said the guide; "I must find shelter on the heights tonight." In his lonely room Arthur Balcombe "broke the seals, and by the dull light of a single candle read the words written by friend to friend, by lover to lover. The thunder rolled over the mountain; the lightning flashed through the window panes; the storm was upon him. the letters tightly in his hand lie went out into the open, and staggered almost blindly onwards until he stood upon a narrow and perilous bridge, from which the few travellers who passed that way could obtain a fair view of a torrent which dashed with sublime and terrible force over a precipice upon the rocks below, a thousand feet down. "If I were to grow dizzy aiow ! " he muttered, with a reckless laugh; and he tempted fate by leaning over the marrow bridge, and gazing downwards into the dark depths. Suddenly he straightened "himself, and, tearing Adelaide's letter into a thousand pieces, flung the evidence of a treacherous love into the furious torrent of waters ; and as he did so he thought that there were times in a man's life when death were the best blessing that God could bestow upon him.

Chapter VIII. THE TRIAL OP GATJTEAN.

The trial of Gautran was proceeding, and the courthouse was thronged hy an excited auditory, upon whom not a point in the tragic drama was thrown away. Impressed "by the gTeat powers of the Advocate who had undertaken to appear for the accused, the most effective measures were adopted to prove Gautran's guilt and obtain a conviction. It was a legal batble, fought with all the subtle weapons at the disposal ■of the law. Gautran's prosecutors fought with faces unmasked and with their hands displayed; the Advocate, on the contrary, in the course he pursued, appeared to be as deeply impressed as those Arrayed against him, not only with the Mdeousness of the crime, but with a strong "belief in the guilt of the man he was defending. The spectators looked at each other in doubt and wonder, and long before the case' for the prosecution was at an end the jury were ready to deliver their verdict; but, calm and unmoved, the Advocate, with amazing patience, followed out his secret theory, the revelation of ■which was awaited, by those who knew him 'best and feared him most, with intense and painful curiosity. Not one of these observers doubted that the Advocate had an •engine hidden which at the proper time he "would launch with fatal effect against the prosecution. What was the nature of his argument -was at present an impenetrable mystery. Jt was understood that not more than two -witnesses would be called for the defence, "but no one knew the names of the witnesses, nor the evidence they would be asked to supply in favour of the prisoner. It was not to be disputed that the prosecution had taken every possible precaution in their conduct of the case, and if by some inexplicable chance a crevice had been left open in which the Advocate could fix a deadly arrow, it was visible only to himself. Every disreputable circumstance in Gautran's life was raked up to display the odiousness of his character ; his infamous career was tracked from his childhood to the hour of his arrest, and every detail of his connection with the murdered girl which "bore relation to the tragic deed Was brought forward to prevent a miscarriage of justice. A creature more degraded, with features more hideous, it would have been difficult to find in the worst haunts of crime and shame _; and his physical presentment was the visible embodiment of his moral nature. "Simple pleasures, a virtuous thought, a sweet and innocent impulse, had never found a home in his heart. Degraded he -was born, degraded he had lived, degraded be now stood before his judges. His perilous position excited no feeling of compassion ; ■were his conviction to have carried with it the most barbarous tortures no pity would have been exhibited for him. It was a horror to gaze upon his face, and as he stood in the dock, convulsively clutching the rails, with beads of perspiration on his features, every person who beheld him was ready to proclaim him guilty, and as ready to assist in tearing him to pieces for his terrible crime.

For eight days had he stood, execrated and condemned by all. For eight days had lis endured the anguish of a thousand deaths, of a myriad agonising fears. By day and by night his soul had been harxowed by the most awful visions—visions of •which no one but himself had any conception. In his cell, with his gaolers watching Ida every movement, in the court with the glare of daylight upon him, in the dusky corridors he traversed morning and even.ing, he saw the phantom of the girl with whose murder he was charged, and by her side the phantom of himself standing on the threshold of a future in which there was no mercy or pity. No communication passed between him and the Advocate who -was fighting for him; not once did the -Advocate turn to the prisoner or address a single word to him; it was as though he were battling for a victory in which Gautran was in no wise concerned. Not a question he asked the witnesses, not an observation he made to the judges, was lost •upon Gautran, and gradually there stole into the heart of the prisoner a deadly hatred and animosity against him. For every word he uttered strengthened and deepened the blackness of Gautran's character ; nothing was elicited in the man's favor.

A witness who knew Gautran intimately, and was well acquainted with Madeline,' was cross - examined in this fashion :

" You and the prisoner were comrades for a time?" " We were." " For how long ?" *' For three years." " Was the association a pleasant one ?" ** It was not." ** Were there special reasons for disagreement between you ?"

" There were." ** Eelate them." "I am a hard-working man; ho is an indolent one. When we worked together on a task, the profits of which were to be shared between us, he shirked his. work, and left me to perform it." ** Why did you not break with him ?" " I was afraid, I was in terror of my life." "'Did you never make an effort to separate yourself from him ?" " I did, and he threatened me. He did snore ; he marked me for life." " In what way ?" "He gave me this scar on my foreiead." *' Did he use a weapon against you ?" ** Yes, a knife." "He is a man of violent passions, then?" "He is." "And of great strength?"

" He is very powerful." "Possessed with an idea which, ho was determined to carry out, would it he likely that anything' could soften him f"

" Nothing could soften him." " Opposition would infuriate him ?" "It would. 1 have seen him, when crossed, behave as if he were a wild beast." " You have never observed anything gentle in his manner ?"

" Never." " His passion was uncontrollable ?" "Yes." , , " You know him when he was a lad r " I did." " Was his disposition cruel then r"

" It was." "Did he take a delight in inflicting physical pain upon those weaker than himself ?"

" He did." " And in prolonging that pain ?"

" Yes." "In his paroxysms of fury would not an appeal to Ms humanity have an effect tipon him ?"

" He has no humanity." " And his actions at those times would be characterised by great violence ?"

" Yes." "You were acquainted with Madeline, the flower girl ?" " I was." " You have already deposed that she was very gentle in her manners? " " She was so." . " Do you mean she was incapaole of being aroused ? " " I do not understand you." " I will explain myself. Madeline was a human being ? " " Why, of course." " And although of a gentle nature, had the ordinary feelings of a human being ? " " Why, of course." . " Therefore was capable of being aroused ? "

" I suppose so." " She had many admirers ? " " I have heard so." " Do you know so ? " " Yes " " You yourself admired her ? " I did." " And would have married her ? " " Yes." " You made love to her ? " " I suppose I did." " Is it, or is it not a fact. You made love to her ? " " Yes." " Did she encourageyou ? " " I cannot say she did." " She repulsed your attentions ? " " Yes." " In words? " " Yes." " And in her actions ?" " I do not know that." " You must know it, if it were so. Did you ever attempt to embrace her?" The witness did not reply to this question, and upon its being repeated, still preserved silence. Admonished by the judges, and instructed to reply without hesitation, he said —

" Yes, I have attempted to embrace her." " On more than one occasion ?" " Yes." " Did she permit it?" " No." " She resisted you ?" " Yes." " In her actions, then I" "Yes." " She repulsed your attentions in word and actions?" " Yes." "Did she strike you?" " She scratched my face." " She resisted you successfully ?" " Yes." " Despite her gentleness of manner she possessed strength f" "O, yes, more strength than one would have supposed." " Strength which she would exert to defend herself from insult ?" " Yes."

" And which she would exert to protect herself from physical injury ?" "Of course she would, like any other woman."

" Her disposition was a happy one ?" " Yes." " Her face generally wore a smiling expression?" " It did." " And you have often heard her singing to herself ?" " Often." " Do you think she was fond of life ?" " Why, yes. Who is not ?" "Do you suppose that she would have welcomed a violent and sudden death ?" " Certainly not." " She would have resisted ?"

" Yes." " With all her strength ?" " That would be natural."

" This was the line adopted by the Advocate in his examination of the witnesses brought forward by the prosecution. His aim appeared to be to fix upon the minds of the jury, beyond the possibility of a doubt, not only the lawlessness of Gautran's character, but his irredeemable ferocity and brutality. He succeeded in his purpose, and never did lawyer so completely establish the blackness of the character of a man charged with an awful crime as did the Advocate of the man he was defending. How he was to turn this to the advantage of the accused was a mystery which the subtlest legal mind of those arrayed against him could not fathom, and Gautran appeared to have good reason to curse the chance which had given him such a defender. At length the case for the prosecution was concluded, with an expression of regret on the part of* the prosecuting counsel at the absence of Pauline, who might have been able to afford additional evidence, if any were needed, of the guilt of the prisoner.

"Every effort has been made," said the leader of the prosecution, " to trace and produce this woman, but when she parted from the murdered girl no person knew whither she was directing her steps; the victim ot this foul and horrible crime could most likely have told us, but her lips are closed by the murderer's hand. We may accept it as a certainty that up to this moment she is ignorant of the fate of Madeline ; for otherwise, so devoted was her love, and so strong the attachment which existed between them, it is difficult to imagine the cause that would prevent her from appearing in this Court, and adding her evidence to evidence already sufficiently overwhelming to secure the ends of justice. Let me warn you not to bo diverted by sophistry or specious reasoning from the duty which you are here to perform, and which God and man demand of you. A most vile and horrible crime has been committed; the life of an innocent and amiable girl—of a girl almost a child, who was gifted with graces which might have adorned a higher sphere —has been cruelly, remorselessly sacrificed; her blood calls for justice upon her nmrderer; and upon you rests the solemn responsibility of not permitting the escape of a wretch whose guilt has been established by evidence so convincing as to leave no room to doubt in the mind of any human being of calm and reasonable judgment. It is not in my power to make you acquainted with the nature of the defence which will be set up on behalf of the prisoner ; it will be laid before you in due time by the able Advocate who defends him; but I cannot refrain from impressing upon you the stern necessity of allowing no other considerations than those supplied by a clear judgment to guide you in the delivery of your verdict. I should be wanting in my duty if I did not warn you that there have been cases in which the guilty have escaped by the raising of side issues which have but the remotest bearing upon the crimes of which they have been accused. It is not by specious logic that a guilty man can be proved to be innocent ; guilt and innocence can only be established by facts, and the facts we have laid before you are fatal in the conclusion to be deducted from them. Bear these facts in mind, and do not allow your reason to be clouded even by the highest efforts of masterly eloquence. I know of no greater reproach from which men of sensibility can suffer than that they have been turned from the performance of a solemn duty by arguments opposed to common sense, by arguments which cannot stand the test of calm examination. May you have no cause for such a reproach! May you have no cause to lament that your judgment lias been warped by passionate and fevered oratory ! I do not appeal to yo c r humanity ; I appeal to your sense of justice. Let that, and that alone, be your guide. Justice we all desire, nothing more and nothing less, and you are here to dispense it. The law demands it of you ; society demands of you. The safety of your fellow citizens, the honor of young girls, your sisters, your daughters, and others dear to you, are in your keeping; I may even say they depend upon your i verdict. For if wretches like the prisoner are permitted to walk in our midst, to pursue their evil courses unpunished, to live their evil lives unchecked, life and honor are in fatal peril. The duty you have to perform is a sacred duty—see that you perform it righteously and conscientiously. The eye 3 of the Eternal are upon you S" This appeal, delivered with passionate earnestness, made a profound impression. In the faces of the jury was written the fate of Gautran. Under these circumstances, when the result of the trial seemed to be a foregone conclusion, it might have been expected that the rising of the Advo-

cate would have boon received with but mild interest. It was not so. At that moment the excitement rose to a painful pitch, and every person in the Court-house leant forward with eager and absorbed attention. (To be continued on Monday.)