examined it, was handed to the jury. It represented a woman, very
plain, with a face which seemed to lack intelligence.)
Witness. "It is very like her."
The Attorney-general. "Was she strong-minded?"
Witness. "No, she was not but she was very obstinate when she took it
into her head."
The Attorney-general. "How old was she at the time of her engagement
with the prisoner?"
Witness. "Twenty-eight."
The Attorney-general. "Do you know the prisoner's age at the time?"
Witness. "My mistress told me he was twenty-four."
The Attorney-general. "Was she well-formed?"
Witness. "No."
The Attorney-general. "Had she a good figure?"
Witness. "No."
The Attorney-general. "Many plain women have some peculiar attraction,
either in manners or features. Had she anything of this kind to
distinguish her?"
Witness. "I cannot say she had."
The Attorney-general. "But there might have been other attractions. Was
she brilliant in conversation?"
Witness. "On the contrary. She had very little to say for herself upon
general subjects."
The Attorney-general. "But she was passionately in love with the
prisoner?"
Witness. "Passionately."
The Attorney-general. "Did she limp?"
Witness. "Yes. One leg was shorter than the other."
The Attorney-general. "Had she known the prisoner for any length of
time before the engagement?"
Witness. "For a few weeks only, I believe."
The Attorney-general. "In what way did he make her acquaintance?"
Witness. "He came to the house."
The Attorney-general. "In a friendly way?"
Witness. "He came first upon business."
The Attorney-general. "To see whom?"
Witness. "My mistress's father, Mr. Beach."
The Attorney-general. "Upon what business?"
Witness. "Upon betting business, my mistress said."
The Attorney-general. "What was Mr. Beach's occupation?"
Witness. "He was a book-maker."
The Attorney-general. "A betting man?"
Witness. "Yes. He used to make large books."
The Attorney-general. "On racing?"
Witness. "Yes."
The Attorney-general. "Was he an educated man?"
Witness. "No."
The Attorney-general. "Would you call him a vulgar man?"
Witness. "Yes."
The Attorney-general. "Did he move in good society?"
Witness. "He did not."
The Attorney-general. "But he was rich?"
Witness. "Very rich. He drank a great deal of champagne."
The Attorney-general. "You say the prisoner first came to the house
upon business. Do you know upon what particular business?"
Witness. "It was something about horses, and bets he had made upon
them."
The Attorney-general. "Bets which he had lost?"
Witness. "Yes."
The Attorney-general. "How was it that your mistress became acquainted
with him on that occasion, when the fact was that he came upon
business?"
Witness. "He was asked by Mr. Beach to stay to dinner, and he stayed."
The Attorney-general. "Mr. Beach, you say, was not in good society. Had
he any desire to get into it?"
Witness: "He was crazy about it."
The Attorney-general. "Upon the first occasion of the prisoner dining
at Mr. Beach's house, did your mistress make any remark with reference
to the prisoner?"
Witness. "She never ceased speaking about him. She said she had seen
the handsomest man in the world."
The Attorney-general. "Narrate as briefly as you can what occurred
between your mistress and the prisoner up to the time they were
engaged."
Witness. "He came five or six times to the house, and every time he
came my mistress was more and more in love with him. I understood from
what she told me that he was in difficulties, and that he had lost a
great deal of money at horse-racing."
The Attorney-general. "Did he keep racing horses?"
Witness. "I did not understand that, but that he had been betting
upon horses. There was money owing not only to Mr. Beach, but to
other book-makers as well, and the prisoner wished Mr. Beach to
arrange the whole matter. 'Those things are easily arranged,' I said
to my mistress; 'all you have to do is to pay.' 'But supposing you
haven't the money to pay?' asked my mistress. 'I thought Mr. Layton
was a gentleman,' I said. 'There are poor gentlemen as well as rich
gentlemen,' my mistress said, 'and my papa gets a lot of money out of
all sorts of people.' That was true enough; I have heard him and his
friends chuckling over it many times, and Mr. Beach used to call them
a lot of something fools. I heard a great deal about 'swells,' as Mr.
Beach called them, being ruined by backing horses, and I knew that that
was the way he had grown rich. He used to say that he had got a lot of
stuck-up swells under his thumb. '_I_ can arrange Mr. Layton's business
with papa,' my mistress said; and when I found her practising songs at
the piano, out of time and out of tune--for she had no ear for music--I
knew that she was making up to him. It came about as she wished, and
one night she told me she was the happiest woman in the world--that Mr.
Layton had proposed and she had accepted him."
The Attorney-general. "Were there rejoicings in the house?"
Witness. "A good many big dinners were given, but I can't say much for
the company. My mistress was sometimes very happy, and sometimes very
miserable. To-day she complained that he was cold to her, to-morrow she
would go on in the most ridiculous way because he gave her a flower, as
though it was better than a big diamond."
The Attorney-general. "Did he seem to be wanting in attention to her
during the courtship?"
Witness. "He wasn't a very warm lover, as far as I could see. But my
mistress was so much in love that she put up with anything. He had only
to give her a smile or a pleasant word, and you would think she was in
heaven."
The Attorney-general. "How did the prisoner get along with Mr. Beach?"
Witness. "I know they had words on two or three occasions."
The Attorney-general. "About what?"
Witness. "About the settlements. My mistress told me, and she said her
father was a screw."
The Attorney-general. "A screw! What was meant by the word?"
Witness. "That he was mean and sharp, that was what she meant."
The Attorney-general. "Go on. That her father was a screw--"
Witness. "And wanted to bind Mr. Layton down too tight. He had
conversations with her about it."
The Attorney-general. "He! Who?"
Witness. "Mr. Layton."
The Attorney-general. "Did he seek these conversations?"
Witness. "Oh no; they were of her seeking. She was afraid that
something might occur to break off the engagement. She said to me more
than once, 'If anything goes wrong, I sha'n't care to live.' I never in
all my life saw a woman so madly in love as she was."
The Attorney-general. "Do you know the result of those conversations
about the settlements between the prisoner and your mistress?"
Witness. "Both Mr. Beach and Mr. Layton stood out, and I don't believe
either of them would have given way if my mistress had not taken it up.
She and her father had some warm scenes."
The Attorney-general. "By 'warm' do you mean 'angry?'"
Witness. "Yes."
The Attorney-general. "Whose money was it that was in dispute?"
Witness. "Mr. Beach's. He was rich; Mr. Layton had no money to settle.
My mistress used to say, 'I know that I am not very handsome, but I can
make Mr. Layton comfortable all his life, and I am sure we shall get
along very well together. Papa shall do whatever I want.'"
The Attorney-general. "Then is it your impression that the prisoner
paid court to her for her money?"
Witness. "I don't think he would have looked at her else."
The Attorney-general. "And that your mistress was aware of it?"
Witness. "She must have had some notion of it, but it couldn't have
been a pleasant thing for her to talk much about, and it seemed to me
that she was glad to avoid it. She didn't think she was as plain as she
was. No woman does."
The Attorney-general. "How was the matter finally arranged?"
Witness. "The money was settled upon my mistress, and after her death
it was to go to Mr. Layton."
The Attorney-general. "Do you know what the amount was?"
Witness. "My mistress told me it was £20,000."
The Attorney-general. "Which would come absolutely into the prisoner's
possession when his wife died?"
Witness. "I understood so. My mistress did say something else about the
settlement. 'There's one thing I would like put in about the money,'
she said, 'and that is, that it shouldn't be his if he married again;
but I would not dare to mention it.'"
The Attorney-general. "Did she give you a reason for not daring to
mention it?"
Witness. "Yes; that he would break the engagement."
The Attorney-general. "Now, about the wedding. Was it a private or
public wedding?"
Witness. "Not private--oh no, not at all! there were at least a hundred
at the wedding breakfast, and any amount of champagne was opened."
The Attorney-general. "What kind of company?"
Witness. "Mixed--very much mixed."
The Attorney-general. "Be more explicit. Were there many of Mr. Beach's
set there?"
Witness. "They were all of his set."
The Attorney-general. "But some of the prisoner's friends were there as
well?"
Witness. "Not one. There were words about it."
The Attorney-general. "On the wedding-day?"
Witness. "Yes."
The Attorney-general. "Words between whom?"
Witness. "Between Mr. Beach and Mr. Layton. I heard Mr. Beach say, I
gave you thirty invitations to fill up and Mr. Layton answered, didn't
fill up one of them. I didn't intend that a friend of mine should meet
such a crew as I knew you would get together.' 'Not good enough for
you, I suppose?' said Mr. Beach. 'No,' said Mr. Layton, 'decidedly not
good enough,' and then he walked away."
The Attorney-general. "Did your mistress make any remark on the
subject?"
Witness. "No she was too happy to find fault with anything. She was
delighted, too, with the wedding presents. There was nearly a room full
of them."
The Attorney-general. "Many of them from the prisoner's friends?"
Witness. "Not one."
The Attorney-general. "Do you mean to inform the court that not a
single friend or relative of the prisoner's was present, and that among
the wedding presents there was not a single token from his connections?"
Witness. "Not a single one."
The Attorney-general. "Well, they were married, and they went away?"
Witness. "Yes; they took the night train to Paris."
The Attorney-general. "Did you accompany them?"
Witness. "No."
The Attorney-general. "Did your mistress's mother die before they left?"
Witness. "No; some hours afterwards, and a telegram was sent on to them
in Paris, at the Hotel Bristol."
The Attorney-general. "What is the next thing you remember?"
Witness. "A telegram arrived from Mr. Layton, requesting me to come to
Paris immediately. We received the telegram at about two o'clock on the
day after the wedding, and I went by the night train."
The Attorney-general. "Did any person meet you?"
Witness. "Yes; Mr. Layton. He said my mistress was very ill, and he
took me to the hotel. She was in bed, and she remained there for
several weeks. I attended her the whole of the time."
The Attorney-general. "Did she have good doctors?"
Witness. "The best that could be got."
The Attorney-general. "Was the prisoner attentive to her?"
Witness. "Pretty well; _I_ shouldn't have liked it."
The Attorney-general. "What do you mean by that?"
Witness. "Well, he never sat by her bedside for any length of time; he
never held her hand; he never kissed her. Oh, it is easy to tell when a
man loves a woman!"
The Attorney-general. "How long was it before she was able to get
about?"
Witness. "Quite three months."
The Attorney-general. "Did she then return to England with her husband?"
Witness. "Not for another month. They went to Italy, and I went with
them."
The Attorney-general. "Did the prisoner's attentions to his wife
undergo any marked change after her convalescence? Was he more
affectionate--more lovingly attentive?"
Witness. "Not that I saw. All he seemed to crave for was excitement.
It was nothing but rushing here and rushing there. Every night some
theatre or entertainment to go to; every day riding about, and dining
out at different places."
The Attorney-general. "So that there was not much of home life?"
Witness. "None at all."
The Attorney-general. "Was this state of things agreeable to your
mistress?"
Witness. "I am not sure. Sometimes she suggested to her husband that
they should spend a quiet evening at home, but he always replied that
he had tickets, or had taken seats, for some place of entertainment.
When she spoke to me of the life they were leading, she used to say
how attentive her husband was to her, and how he was always looking
out for something to amuse her. But I did not regard it in that light;
I thought it was more for himself than for her that he kept up such a
round of excitement. It helped him to forget."
The Attorney-general. "To forget what?"
Witness. "That he was a married man."
The Attorney-general. "During those early days were there any quarrels
between them?"
Witness. "No, not what you can call quarrels. Sometimes she complained,
or found fault, but he seldom at that time answered her in any way to
cause a quarrel--that is, so far as he was concerned. It was different
afterwards. There were occasions during their honey-moon--if you can
call it a honey-moon--and at first when they were settled at home, when
his silence provoked my mistress, and made her madder than an open
row would have done. But the more she stormed the quieter he was, and
these scenes always ended in one way: Mr. Layton would leave the house,
and remain absent for a good many hours. Then my poor mistress would
torment herself dreadfully, and would cry her eyes out, and rave and
stamp about like a distracted creature. 'He will never come back!' she
would say. 'I have driven him from me! He will make away with himself!
What a wretch I am!' A ring at the bell or a knock at the door would
send her flying down-stairs to see if it was her husband. I was really
afraid sometimes that she would go quite out of her mind. Then, when he
came back, she would rush up to him and throw her arms round his neck,
and sob, and fall upon her knees to ask forgiveness. It was a dreadful
life to lead."
The Attorney-general. "In what way would the prisoner receive these
tokens of penitence on the part of your mistress?"
Witness. "In just the same way as he received her scoldings. The
one remark I heard him make to her in those days--not always in the
same words, but always to the same effect--was, 'You should have
more control over yourself.' I used to wonder that a man could be so
provoked and keep so cool. But a person may be cold outside and hot
inside."
The Attorney-general. "Do you think that was the case with the
prisoner?"
Witness. "Yes, I do think so."
The Attorney-general. "Well, they came home and settled down?"
Witness. "Yes."
The Attorney-general. "Now about the home they occupied? Did they rent
it, or was it their own property?"
Witness. "It was their own property. My mistress said it was purchased
partly with her own money, and that it was included in the settlements."
The Attorney-general. "What do you mean by 'partly with her own money?'
money she had saved or inherited?"
Witness. "No money she won upon races."
The Attorney-general. "Was she, then, in the habit of betting?"
Witness. "She used often to put money on a horse. She would say, 'Papa
has given me a good tip, and I am going to put twenty or thirty pounds
on. If you like, Ida, you can have half a sovereign with me.'"
The Attorney-general. "And did you?"
Witness. "Yes, because she wished me, and because I knew I was safe.
Mr. Beach was a very knowing man. My mistress would back a tip he
gave her at twenty-five to one. I have known her back it at fifty to
one. She would do this sometimes before the weights appeared. Then
her father would say, 'Aggie' (that is what he called her)--'Aggie,
your horse is at ten or twelve to one. I am going to hedge part of
your money for you.' As my half-sovereign was in my mistress's bet, of
course I went with her and I more often won than lost."
The Attorney-general. "Without going minutely into the technicalities
of horse racing and betting, may we take it that the principle of the
hedging you have spoken of is wise, from a gambling point of view?"
Witness. "Oh yes. By backing a likely horse at a long price, as my
mistress had the opportunity of doing through her father, and by laying
against it if it comes to a short price, you reduce the chances of
losing. That is good hedging."
The Attorney-general. "Can anybody do that?"
Witness. "Well, not exactly. Those who are behind the scenes have the
best advantage. As a rule the people who back horses are gulls. That
is why the book-makers make fortunes. They are playing at a game they
know nine out of ten who bet with them are playing at a game they don't
know. That is how it is. I have heard Mr. Beach say, 'The devil is on
our side.'"
The Attorney-general. "Meaning on the side of the book-makers?"
Witness. "Yes."
The Attorney-general. "Were you fond of betting yourself?"
Witness. "I hated it. I only did what my mistress advised me to do, to
please her."
The Attorney-general. "To return to the house which was partly paid for
with the money your mistress won. Did the prisoner take an active part
in the selection of the furniture?"
Witness. "He did nothing whatever. Everything was done by my mistress,
and she was disappointed because he would not go with her to the
different establishments she visited. But in the end she argued as she
always did when he was in question. He was quite right, she said; she
could not expect him to trouble himself about such things; it was a
woman's business, and, by leaving everything to her, it showed that he
believed she had good taste."
The Attorney-general. "When they were settled in London what kind of
society did they keep?"
Witness. "At first the same as used to come to Mr. Beach's house. Mr.
Beach brought them, but Mr. Layton was rude and uncivil to them, and
after a time they stopped away. I must say, if he was rude and uncivil
to them, they were quite as rude and uncivil to him, and if he had met
them with the temper they displayed, nothing could have prevented the
occurrence of disgraceful scenes. He behaved to them in exactly the
same way he behaved to my mistress when they disagreed. He left the
house, and did not return till they were all gone."
The Attorney-general. "Were they in the habit of coming to the house
without receiving an invitation from its master?"
Witness. "I believe so. My mistress would say, 'Papa is going to bring
three or four friends to dinner.' He would look at her and say nothing;
and when the dinner was served Mr. Layton would be absent. Mr. Beach
would then take the head of the table, and I have heard him, when he
was filled with champagne--he scarcely ever drank anything else but
champagne and whiskey--speak very angrily about 'the stuck-up pride of
his fine gentleman son-in-law.' The other guests were not behindhand in
abusing him."
The Attorney-general. "Although they were eating at his table and
drinking his wine?"
Witness. "Yes. At other times in the evening, when Mr. Layton was at
home with my mistress, Mr. Beach would make his appearance unexpectedly
with his friends but Mr. Layton would never remain in their company.
It seemed to me that Mr. Beach did these things to vex Mr. Layton, and
that it was a kind of battle between them as to who should be master."
The Attorney-general. "A battle, however, in which the prisoner did not
take any violent part?"
Witness. "But it ended in his being left the master of the field."
The Attorney-general. "Explain."
Witness. "After twelve months or so Mr. Beach's friends ceased entirely
to come to the house. Then, when Mr. Beach came, he came alone."
The Attorney-general. "On those occasions did the prisoner remain at
home?"
Witness. "Yes, whenever Mr. Beach was alone Mr. Layton remained in."
The Attorney-general. "How did they pass the time?"
Witness. "Playing billiards generally."
The Attorney-general. "Now, in all the questions I have asked and
you have answered, there are two subjects upon which no definite
information has been forth-coming. Give your best attention to them.
Are you aware that before or at the time of the prisoner's engagement
with your mistress he had been or was engaged to another lady? Take
time. You have said that you were in the confidence of your mistress,
and that she used to speak freely to you. At any period during these
communications did she refer to another engagement?"
Witness. "It was in this way, and I can't answer the question in any
other."
The Attorney-general. "Answer it as best you can."
Witness. "At one time my mistress said, 'I wonder if Mr. Layton, before
he saw me, was ever in love?' That was the way it was first introduced.
I did not know how to answer her without running the risk of hurting
her feelings, but she pressed me, and I was forced to say I thought
it very unlikely that a gentleman as good-looking as he was should
not have had his fancies. She pressed me further until I said there
were very few men of his age who had not been in love. She appeared
distressed at this, but soon brightened up, and said, 'What is that
to me so long as he is mine?' But it weighed upon her mind, as was
proved by her telling me at another time that she had asked Mr. Layton
whether he had ever been in love, and that he would not give her any
satisfaction--which, to my mind, was quite as good as his confessing
that he had been. These conversations between my mistress and me took
place in the early days, and for some time after her marriage she did
not say anything more about it. But when she was laid on a sick-bed--I
mean within a few months of her being murdered--"
The Attorney-general. "Do not say that. It is for the jury to decide.
Say within a few months of her death."
Witness. "Well, within a few months of her death she told me at least
half a dozen times that she had discovered he had been in love with
another lady, and that she believed he was so when he married her. She
said it was wicked and abominable, and that if she saw 'the creature'
she would kill her."
The Attorney-general. "Supposing this to be true, your mistress never
discovered who this other lady was?"
Witness. "Never to my knowledge."
The Attorney-general. "As to your mistress's attachment to her husband,
did it ever, in your knowledge, grow weaker?"
Witness. "I don't exactly know how to describe it. She loved and hated
him all at once. She was torn to pieces with love and jealousy."
The Attorney-general. "Is that all you can tell us upon this subject?"
Witness. "That is all."
The Attorney-general. "I come now to the second subject. It is
concerning the prisoner's family. You have informed us that not one
was present at the wedding, and that not one recognized the union by
sending a wedding present. Now, are you aware whether he had parents,
or brothers or sisters?"
Witness. "All that I heard was that he had a father living. But I did
not hear that till more than a year after the marriage."
The Attorney-general. "Who told you then?"
Witness. "My mistress. Although she confided nearly everything to me,
she kept this to herself for a long time."
The Attorney-general. "Did not her father, Mr. Beach, speak about it?"
Witness. "I never heard him; I had very little to do with him. I had
understood, at the time of the marriage, that Mr. Layton's father
was abroad, but I had reason to believe afterwards that this was not
so--that he was in England."
The Attorney-general. "Did the prisoner ever speak of it?"
Witness. "I never heard him."
The Attorney-general. "Did the prisoner's father never come to the
house?"
Witness. "Never."
The Attorney-general. "Do you know whether he is alive at the present
time?"
Witness. "I heard that he was dead. My mistress said so."
The Attorney-general. "Did the prisoner go into mourning?"
Witness. "He wore crape upon his hat for several weeks."
The Attorney-general. "Now, concentrate your attention upon the day and
the night of the 25th of March. I wish you to narrate, concisely, all
that passed, within your own knowledge, concerning the prisoner and his
wife from the morning of the 25th of March until the morning of the
26th."