'I thought he was against her,' was the answer. 'Didn't you hear him say, "The prisoner must suffer by that line of defence"? And then he didn't say nothing about reasonable doubts.' 'No; but the young barrister did--the one that prosecuted,' observed a tall, thin man, a tailor by trade. 'He's got nothing to do with it,' said the farmer. 'I thought him a fool all along. I know his whole family, and they're all alike.' 'What a terrible speech Mr. Tressamer made!' ventured a fifth juryman, a short, stumpy watchmaker from Porthstone itself. 'I believe he's her lover.' 'What!' cried the foreman, losing his calm demeanour in the presence of this interesting revelation. 'How d'ye know that?' 'Oh, it was common talk in Porthstone,' was the answer. 'They knew each other ever since they was children, and he used to come down every summer and go about with her. That's what made him so fierce against Mr. Lewis, you may depend.' 'And did you know her?' 'What was she like, really?' 'What do you think of her?' broke from several voices as the whole jury clustered round the little man. But he drew in his horns at once. 'Don't ask me anything,' he said. 'I've mended her watch, and I always thought she was all right up to this, but the Lord only knows whether she did it.' He paused, and then, as if there were some vague connection in his mind between this charge and a general disposition towards acts of dishonesty, he added: 'She always paid me regular.' Perhaps the jury scented an underlying distrust in this. At any rate, one of them said: 'I watched the judge carefully all through, and I saw him frown at her several times. To my mind he meant us to say guilty.' The word came with a little shock to the men. They instinctively realized its terrible gravity as falling from their lips. The tall, thin tailor put in his word again: 'Anyhow, he said there was no evidence of motive.' 'Except they jewels,' corrected the farmer. 'Ah, but there was nothing came out about them.' 'Phoo! that there was. Didn't you see how her counsel was fighting to keep it back? You may depend she knew all about them, and could tell us where they are now if she liked.' 'You seem to have made up your mind,' said another man, who had been talking aside to a little knot of three; 'but for the life of me I couldn't make it out one way or the other. What did you think he meant about that latchkey?' This was offensive. It was reminding them of their weak point. It threw the whole room into confusion. Eight or nine of the jury all began to speak at once, and four or five could find no listeners. When the hubbub had a little subsided, the foreman said: 'Gentlemen, it's no use talking it over in this way. We must argue it out one at a time. I propose that we all sit round the table, and the one that has anything to say stands up and says it properly.'