The Shadow of a Crime Part 61

"Perhaps both?"

"Yes, perhaps both."

"Pray tell my lords and the jury what you know concerning them."

The woman tried to speak and stopped, tried again and stopped.

Counsel, coming to her relief, said,--

"It was in Wythburn you saw them; when was that?"

"I pa.s.sed through it with my two children at Martinmas," the witness began falteringly.

"Tell my lords and the jury what happened then."

"I had pa.s.sed by the village, and had come to a cottage that stood at the angle of two roads. The morning was cold, and my poor babies were crying. Then it came on to rain. So I knocked at the cottage, and an old man opened the door."

"Do you see the old man in this court?"

"Yes--there," pointing to where Sim stood in the dock with downcast eyes.

There was a pause.

"Come, good woman, let my lords and the jury hear what further you know of this matter. You went into the cottage!"

"He said I might warm the children at the fire; their little limbs were as cold as stone."

"Well, well?"

"He seemed half crazed, I thought; but he was very kind to me and my little ones. He gave them some warm milk, and said we might stay till the weather cleared. It did not clear all day. Towards nightfall the old man's daughter came home. She was a dear fine girl, G.o.d bless her!"

The silence of the court was only disturbed by a stifled groan from the bar, where Sim still stood with downcast eyes. Ralph gazed through a blinding mist at the rafters overhead.

"She nursed the little ones, and gave them oaten cake and barley bread. The good people were poor themselves; I could see they were. It rained heavier than ever, so the young woman made a bed for us in a little room, and we slept in the cottage until morning."

"Was anything said concerning the room you slept in?" "They said it was their lodger's room; but he was away, and would not return until the night following."

"Next day you took the road towards the North?"

"Yes, towards Carlisle. They told me that if my husband were ever taken he would be brought to Carlisle. That was why I wished to get here. But I had scarce walked a mile--I had a baby at the breast and a little boy who could just toddle beside me--I had scarce walked a mile before the boy became ill, and could not walk. I first thought to go back to the cottage, but I was too weak to carry both children. So I sat with my little ones by the roadside."

The witness paused again. Ralph was listening with intense eagerness.

He was leaning over the rail before him to catch every syllable. When the woman had regained some composure he said quietly,--

"There is a bridge thereabouts that spans a river. Which side of the bridge were you then?"

"The Carlisle side; that is to say, the north."

The voice of counsel interrupted a further inquiry.

"Pray tell my lords and the jury what else you know, good woman."

"We should have perished of cold where we sat, but looking up I saw that there was a barn in a field close by. It was open to the front, but it seemed to be sheltered on three sides, and had some hay in it.

So I made my way to it through a gate, and carried the children."

"What happened while you were there?--quick, woman, let us get to the wicked fact itself."

"We stayed there all day, and when the night came on I covered the little ones in the hay, and they cried themselves to sleep."

The tears were standing in the woman's eyes. The eyes of others were wet.

"Yes, yes, but what _occurred?_" said counsel, to whom the weeping of outcast babes was obviously less than an occurrence.

"_I_ could not sleep," said the woman hoa.r.s.ely; and lifting her voice to a defiant pitch, she said, "Would that the dear G.o.d had let me sleep that night of all nights of my life!"

"Come, good woman," said counsel more soothingly, "what next?"

"I listened to the footsteps that went by on the road, and so the weary hours trailed on. At last they had ceased to come and go. It was then that I heard a horse's canter far away to the north."

The witness was speaking in a voice so low as to be scarcely audible to the people, who stood on tiptoe and held their breath to hear.

"My little boy cried in his sleep. Then all was quiet again."

Sim shuddered perceptibly. He felt his flesh creep.

"The thought came to me that perhaps the man on the horse could give me something to do the boy good. If he came from a distance, he would surely carry brandy. So I labored out of the barn and trudged through the gra.s.s to the hedge. Then I heard footsteps on the road. They were coming towards me."

"Was it dark?"

"Yes, but not very dark. I could see the hedge across the way. The man on foot and the man on the horse came together near where I stood."

"How near--twenty paces?"

"Less. I was about to call, when I heard the man on foot speak to the other, who was riding past him."

"You saw both men clearly?"

"No," replied the woman firmly; "not clearly. I saw the one on the road. He was a little man, and he limped in his walk."

In the stillness of the court Ralph could almost hear the woman breathe.

"They were quarrelling, the two men; you heard what they said?" said counsel, breaking silence.

"It's not true," cried the witness, in a hurried manner, "_I_ heard nothing."

"This is no suborned witness, my lords," said counsel in a cold voice, and with a freezing smile. "Well, woman?"

"The tall man leapt off his horse, and there was a struggle. The little man was swearing. There was a heavy fall, and all was quiet once more."