Then the
horror of him--the double horror of confronting him, in the first
place, and afterward of seeing that he was an old man--overcame
me, and I turned away, faint, sick, and shuddering. I never faced
him again; and, at the end of my evidence, Robert considerately
took me out.
When we met once more at the end of the examination, Robert told
me that the prisoner never spoke and never changed his position.
He was either fortified by the cruel composure of a savage, or
his faculties had not yet thoroughly recovered from the disease
that had so lately shaken them. The magistrate seemed to doubt if
he was in his right mind; but the evidence of the medical man
relieved this uncertainty, and the prisoner was committed for
trial on a charge of manslaughter.
Why not on a charge of murder? Robert explained the law to me
when I asked that question. I accepted the explanation, but it
did not satisfy me. Mary Mallinson was killed by a blow from the
hand of Noah Truscott. That is murder in the sight of God. Why
not murder in the sight of the law also?
* * * * * * *
June 18th. To-morrow is the day appointed for the trial at the
Old Bailey.
Before sunset this evening I went to look at Mary's grave. The
turf has grown so green since I saw it last, and the flowers are
springing up so prettily.
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