AT THE BAR

BY THE AUTHOR OF "A CRUISE UPON WHEELS,"            &C. &C.

    CHAPTER XXXIV. CORNELIUS VAMPI.

We advance yet another stage in the history
of this strange trial, approaching very fast that
point which may be looked upon as its climax.
The witnesses for the defence are now about to
be examined, and one of them has a tale to tell
which will make a great change in this remarkable
case.

The first witness examined was that lady who
has already been alluded to in these pages, who
had been governess for many years in the
Descartes family, and who had thus enjoyed
many opportunities of studying Gabrielle's
character from childhood upwards. Miss Curtis
came to bear her testimony to the kindness and
gentleness of her late pupil's character. She
had lived with her nine years, she said, and
during that time had had every opportunity of
watching her, and had seen her tried in all sorts
of ways. Never, however, under any circumstances,
had anything come out which betrayed
a nature capable of entertaining even the thought
of committing such an act as this with which
she was charged. The mere idea of such a
charge being brought against her would appear
to any one who had known the accused, as
witness had known her, almost ridiculous. The
accused was humane and kind, even in a marked
degree, to everybody with whom she came in
contact. Her behaviour to servants and people
of colour—a class generally treated with
considerable hauteur by the European inhabitants
of the West India Islands—had been such as to
win the hearts of all the dependents who came
in her way.

The prosecution had some questions to put in
cross-examination, and Mr. Pry stood up:

Mr. Pry. In your position—that which you
formerly occupied with regard to the prisoner—
you must have had many opportunities of judging
of her temper?

Witness. I had.

Mr. Pry. You had; just so. And how should
you describe it?

Witness. I should call it a very good one.

Mr. Pry. A temper invariably unruffled and
serene?

Witness. I do not mean that entirely. That
would imply, under most circumstances, a nature
that would be cold and phlegmatic. When I
speak of a good temper, I mean one that may be
startled into temporary irritation, but is quickly appeased.

Mr. Pry. Ah, I see. A good temper, in your
estimation, means an irritable temper—liable to
fits of passion, for instance?

Witness. No, that is very far from my meaning.
Liable, I meant, to be provoked for a moment
to irritation, but very forgiving, and anxious for
reconciliation afterwards. That is what I call a
good temper, and that was my pupil's temper
pre-eminently.

Mr. Pry. Have you ever seen any indications
of jealousy, now, appearing in the nature of the
prisoner?

Witness. Not more than is almost inseparable
from a warm and affectionate disposition.

Mr. Pry. You have observed such indications
then?

Witness. I have already remarked——

Mr. Pry. I must trouble you for a direct
answer to a direct question. Have you, or have
you not?

Witness. I have, in a trifling degree.

The witness was going on to explain that she
meant that some small childish indications—
fears lest she should be superseded in the
affections of those to whom she was greatly attached,
were the only signs of jealousy which she
remembered observing in her pupil, but the
ingenious Mr. Pry would not allow these explanations,
and would insist on a "yes" or "no"
answer to everything. He was, however, put
down himself shortly afterwards, when, trying to
lead the witness on to a condemnation of the
conduct of the accused in having married
contrary to the wish of her parents, the court ruled
that this was not evidence in the present trial;
which it certainly was not.

The examination of this witness was to be
followed immediately by that of Cornelius
Vampi. This, since the allusion which had been
made to its great importance in the speech of
the counsel for the defence, was looked for by
every one in court with the most eager anxiety,
and so strong a feeling for that poor forlorn
little figure in the dock had begun to lay hold of
the spectators assembled to witness the trial,
that men and women alike came to be touched
with a feeling of partisanship as they looked at
her, and were ready almost to offer up a prayer