I now felt as convinced that the second man who had gone down Piccadilly
was the murdered man (so to speak), as if it had been borne into my
comprehension by his immediate testimony. But even this took place, and
in a manner for which I was not at all prepared.
On the fifth day of the trial, when the case for the prosecution was
drawing to a close, a miniature of the murdered man, missing from his
bedroom upon the discovery of the deed, and afterwards found in a
hiding-place where the Murderer had been seen digging, was put in
evidence. Having been identified by the witness under examination, it
was handed up to the Bench, and thence handed down to be inspected by the
Jury. As an officer in a black gown was making his way with it across to
me, the figure of the second man who had gone down Piccadilly impetuously
started from the crowd, caught the miniature from the officer, and gave
it to me with his own hands, at the same time saying, in a low and hollow
tone,—before I saw the miniature, which was in a locket,—“_I was younger
then_, _and my face was not then drained of blood_.” It also came
between me and the brother juryman to whom I would have given the
miniature, and between him and the brother juryman to whom he would have
given it, and so passed it on through the whole of our number, and back
into my possession. Not one of them, however, detected this.
At table, and generally when we were shut up together in Mr. Harker’s
custody, we had from the first naturally discussed the day’s proceedings
a good deal. On that fifth day, the case for the prosecution being
closed, and we having that side of the question in a completed shape
before us, our discussion was more animated and serious. Among our
number was a vestryman,—the densest idiot I have ever seen at large,—who
met the plainest evidence with the most preposterous objections, and who
was sided with by two flabby parochial parasites; all the three
impanelled from a district so delivered over to Fever that they ought to
have been upon their own trial for five hundred Murders. When these
mischievous blockheads were at their loudest, which was towards midnight,
while some of us were already preparing for bed, I again saw the murdered
man. He stood grimly behind them, beckoning to me. On my going towards
them, and striking into the conversation, he immediately retired. This
was the beginning of a separate series of appearances, confined to that
long room in which we were confined. Whenever a knot of my brother
jurymen laid their heads together, I saw the head of the murdered man
among theirs. Whenever their comparison of notes was going against him,
he would solemnly and irresistibly beckon to me.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account