The Trial of Charles Random de Berenger, Sir Thomas Cochrane Part 5

_A._ I went across to see who the gentleman was.

_Q._ Merely curiosity?

_A._ Mere curiosity.

_Q._ And from the same spirit of curiosity you lit two candles and brought them over to the Ship Inn?

_A._ I told a person to bring them over.

_Q._ Was it very beautiful moonlight that night?

_A._ No it was not moonlight.

_Q._ Was there any moon that night; had there been that night at all?

_A._ I did not pay that attention to the night to say.

_Q._ It was beautifully starlight I suppose.

_A._ I do not know, I did not pay that attention.

_Q._ Was it a foggy night?

_A._ That I did not look after.

_Q._ You will see by the Almanack it was new moon the night before; you did not observe whether it was moonlight, starlight, or foggy?

_A._ No.

_Q._ You found he had got into the pa.s.sage of the house when you got the candles?

_A._ Yes.

_Q._ Who let him in?

_A._ The boots.

_Q._ Did you see him?

_A._ Yes in the pa.s.sage.

_Q._ How long did you converse with him about the news that you say he said was greater than had ever been heard of for these twenty years from France? All that pa.s.sed in the pa.s.sage?

_A._ Yes.

_Q._ How long a time might you be in the pa.s.sage?

_A._ Not longer than five minutes before I went to call Mr. Wright.

_Q._ Do you mean you were with him only five minutes before you went up stairs to call Mr. Wright, or altogether?

_A._ Altogether I suppose about that, I cannot speak to a minute; but he was in great haste to get away.

_Q._ How long do you think this person was altogether at Mr. Wright's?

_A._ I should think not more than twenty minutes.

_Q._ Where were the candles all this time you were in the pa.s.sage with him?

_A._ I had them in my hand.

_Q._ What did you do with them when you went up to Mr. Wright?

_A._ I left them with him in the parlour; boots got me a candle.

_Q._ You held the candles in your own hand while you remained in the pa.s.sage?

_A._ Yes, while the boots unlocked the parlour door, and I went and put them on the table.

_Q._ Before you went up stairs?

_A._ Yes.

_Q._ Had the person who you say was this gentleman gone into the parlour before you went up stairs?

_A._ Yes he had.

_Q._ I take for granted when you came down stairs and Mr. Wright got the paper you did not go in again?

_A._ No; he wished me gone, and I did not go in again.

_Q._ Then altogether, except for seeing him for five minutes in the pa.s.sage, and you going into the parlour for the short time you did, and afterwards when you saw him in the post chaise, and when he offered the postboys a Napoleon each you did not see him?

_A._ No.

_Q._ You had nothing to do personally with this inn called the Ship?

_A._ No, I keep the Packet Boat opposite.

_Q._ Do you know whether there had been a large company at the Ship Inn that day?

_A._ I do not know.

_Q._ You had not seen Mr. Wright the innkeeper late in the evening of that day, had you?

_A._ No.

_Q._ Had you ever seen this person who you say is the gentleman sitting before me before that time?