XXIX
THE VERDICT
It was a quarter-past seven by the time Mr.
Justice Brudenell had concluded his summing-up.
Long before he had reached the end, a prediction
of the result had formed in every mind. This case
which in the beginning had been as clear and strong
as the sun at noon had become so vitiated by contact
with these legal wits, that by now even its
most salient points had become obscure. No jury
in the frame of mind of this present one, each
component of which had been played upon like the
strings of a harp by the hand of a master performer,
was in the least likely to convict. There
were those who even inclined to the belief that they
would not leave the box.
This, however, proved to be an extreme view. They did leave the box, but in exactly nine minutes had returned into court. As slowly they defiled back again into the court with their verdict, the excitement depicted in their looks was painful to observe. Their drawn faces were livid and perspiring; they kept down their heads without glancing to the right or to the left. The foreman, a coal dealer in a small way of business in the Commercial Road, was seized with a violent twitching of the body.
"Are you agreed upon your verdict, gentlemen?" whispered the Clerk of the Arraigns.
