A SENSATIONAL CASE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9156, 1 August 1908, Page 2

A SENSATIONAL CASE.

By FLORENCE WARDEN.

Author of " r lhe Lady in Black," "An Infamous Fraud," "For Love o£ Jack," "A Terrible Family," "T'.ic House on the i\Lirsh, " etc. etc.

CHAPTER I.—Continued

"One of the creditors, whom Dax has 'done' in his time," thought the other man, who had been one of the prisoner's tradesmen, "and he's gloating over the poor devil's chance of the gallows." At this moment the prisoner's counsel, with all the more fervour that he felt the weakness of certain portions of his case, dashed into a moving appeal to the sympathies of the jury, dwelling on the dismay with which the prisoner's young wife returning in haste to her husband's side on learning the calamity which had befallen them both, had heard that over the head of her husband there hung the fearful charge of murder! As he came to this point in his speech, the lady, who, closely veiled, had kept her head bent and had never once exchanged glances with her husband, looked up at him. V.'hat the meaning of that look was no one would tell, for the black lace veil was the safest of masks. But the women in the court looked at each other and whispered that she might well be sorry for him, since but for her he would never have been charged with such a serious crime. . And a thrill passed through the feminine' breasts and found vent in gentle sighs, until counsel felt the very atmosphere warming towarc| his client, who sat with his head bene, motionless except for the nervous twitching of his small white hands. It was, therefore, with more and ever more confidenca he went on, growing more eloquent with every sentence, painting the distress of the delicately nurtured woman who loved and honoured the prisoner above aught else in the world, and the joy, the overflowing happiness, it would give her if—or rather, he would say, when—they gave their verdict in his favour and let him go bacK a free and innocent man, to the loving arms of the wife he worshipped. For they were both young; the world was all before them; their happy life together had but begun; there were, so he'hoped and believed, many years of life and joy bef jre thorn, years in which they would remember the terrible trial through but as a nightmare past and gone, though, by its awful nature, by the life-and-death issues it involved,, it could never be forgotten. When the speech for the defence cime to an end, ther'd was an instinctive attempt at applause; this, though quickly suppresstd, the direction in which popular sympathy lay. And when the piisoner's wife threw back her veil, the better to scan the jurors' faced and to se- j cure if possible an anticipatory j assurance of a favourable verdict, a i murmur ran round the court, as the | well informed among the crowd coi - trasted her handsome, vivacious face, with its intelligent, eager expression, with the colourless, delicate little womanish features, and general .air of feebleness whicn characterised the prisoner. The spiteful, feminine whisper ran that they had got the wrong person on trial. The judge's summing up Jvas short, and was n consicered to be, en the whole, favourable to the prisoner. He dwelt upon the. fact that the evidence against Dax, although there was a good deal of it, came chiefly from source 3 which could not be called unimpeachable; while the motive, suggesting a quarrel about money-matteis, seemed neither strong nor well established. In conclusion, he urged the jury 1o dismiss from their minds, anything they might have heard concerning the prisoner which had no bearing on the case. Tho jury then retired to consider their verdict; and the prisoner having been removed from the coutt into the cells below, the pent-up emotions of the crowd immediately found vei.t in a buzz of excited comment, which.. in spite of the officers of the court grew louder every moment. The Jew""" turned triumphantly to the tradesman by his side. "He'll get off, sure enough!" cried he. The other man stared. "Why," he exclaimed in astonishment, "I thought you didn't want! him to! 1 beg your pardon, sir; but I couldn't help thinking you must I have some grudge against the poor fellow." The Jew stroked his thick black moustache, in the endeavour to hide a smile. "I never saw the man before in my life/' he said quietly.

CHAPTER 11.

THE VERDICT,

It was one of those occasions upon which every man feels the need of expansion. Everybody's business is nobodv's business in a double sense, for the isjue of events, exciting though it is, affects nobody personally. All fe.l tnat Ihey can give free vent to opinions whi'di can no longer affect in any way the fate of tru accused, while they still possess all the zest of prophecy. The Jewish gentleman, therefore, ani the Christian tradesman grew confident! il; or perhaps it would be more correct to say that the tradesman grew confidential, while the Jew appeared to do so. "Do you know him, than?" asljed the latter. "Know him! I should think I do!" answered the other, not unconscious of the distinction the acquaintance conferred upon him. "Why he's been iu my shoo twice a week at least for the last .ten months. And Mrs Dux, Loo," he added in a lower tone, although the lady was no longer in court to hear him. the Jew, significantly,

"she looks to be twice the man he is!" "Why, so she is,"replied the other promptly. "To see them come into my shop together, as I've seen them time and again, the one pale, limp, complaining even the warmest days of spring that it was so cold, the other full of life and spirits, it was like frost and sunshine." "And people say, don't they, that she was the moving spirit in " "Well, people can't help forming their own conclusions, sir; can they? And servants will talk, you know, sir; and so things pass from lip to lip until there's a pretty story made out that would hang a whole family." "Hang, eh?" "If you liked to believe it all. But of course the story grows." "And how much of it do you believe?" asked the Jew "Come now, you're an intelligent man not likely to be carried away by prejudice. What's your private opinion?" I "I prefer not to have one, sir." "H'm! that sounds uncharitable. You may speak out freely to me, you know, for I'don't belong to this part of the world; I'm a Londoner." "Come up on purpose for the trial, sir?" asked the man, cautiously. "Bless your heart, no. I'm here on business and dropped in by accident, just out ofcurios'ty. And I remained because I was interested in the lady, from what I'd heard and from what 1 could see. She's a very handsome woman," he went on, critically. "Lots of style and dash, and knows how to dress. Look at her get-up to day—stops just short of being theatrically mournful and sombre, don't it? She knows how to make the money fly, I'll warrant!" The other man grinned. "I believe you!" said he. "She's got some diamonds that would make your mouth water, and dresses—well, there, you should see her at Aintree | on a race day! Nothing gaudy, and yet with something about her that makea all, the other 'women look dowdy. You know what I mean, sir, I d3re say?" 'Yes, I know the sort," nodded the Jew knowingly. "And they say, I suppose, that it was on her account that her husband ran into debtvto this man Landon'" "Why, yes, sir, that's just what they do say," assented the tradesman. "Everybody wants to know where all the money went to, if „it isn't on her clothes, and her jewellery, and the stylish turnout she used to drive about in." The Jew seemed to be ticking off in his mind the various items of the lady's extravagance with an interest exceedingly strong. He scarcely noticed, so deeply absorbed was he, the hush that suddenly came upon the court as the curtain which hung before the door of the room where the jury were sitting was drawn back, and every eye was turned in that direction in the expectation of seeing the jury file in. It was only the sergeant at arms, however, with a message to the judge; and a rumour began to circulate to the effect that the jury were unable to agree. Everybody felt this as a personal affront, a mean trick to rob him of a legitimate climax to his excitement. And the murmur of tongues rosa again immediately. (To be continued.)