"It is not necessary, sir, that I should waste time and words in
referring to the wicked and preposterous charge against my
clients," said the lawyer, addressing Mr. Robert Nicholson. "The
one sufficient justification for discharging them immediately is
before you at this moment in the person of that gentleman. There,
sir, stands the murdered Mr. James Smith, of Darrock Hall, alive
and well, to answer for himself."
"That is not the man!" cried Josephine, her shrill voice just as
high, clear, and steady as ever, "I denounce that man as an
impostor. Of my own knowledge, I deny that he is Mr. James
Smith."
"No doubt you do," said the lawyer; "but we will prove his
identity for all that."
The first witness called was Mr. Philip Nicholson. He could swear
that he had seen Mr. James Smith, and spoken to him at least a
dozen times. The person now before h im was Mr. James Smith,
altered as to personal appearance by having his hair cut short
and his whiskers shaved off, but still unmistakably the man he
assumed to be.
"Conspiracy!" interrupted the prisoner, hissing the word out
viciously between her teeth.
"If you are not silent," said Mr. Robert Nicholson, "you will be
removed from the room. It will sooner meet the ends of justice,"
he went on, addressing the lawyer, "if you prove the question of
identity by witnesses who have been in habits of daily
communication with Mr.
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