MR. TAUNTON'S EVIDENCE.
"Call Alexander Taunton!"
He came not, though they called.
Instead there was an interval for refreshment. A buzz of talking rose
in the court. With one hand the judge pressed his spectacles more
firmly in their place. He took a bird's-eye view of the proceedings.
"I think," he observed, "that before taking the evidence of the next
witness, it might be convenient if we were to adjourn for luncheon."
So we adjourned. At least, some of us did. The prisoner was taken away.
I heard them removing him behind me. Most of the counsel removed
themselves, and some of the people. The greater part of us who stayed
set to eating. Sandwiches were produced and other things. Mysterious
refreshments were brought in from without. I had my own little store.
Everybody chattered. It was quite a festive scene.
"Call Alexander Taunton!"
Proceedings recommenced by a repetition of the words. But again he did
not come.
"Alexander Taunton!"
One heard the name shouted by different voices, apparently in different
passages and at different doors. Still none answered. The delay ruffled
the judge's feelings.
"What does this witness mean by keeping the court waiting? Where is
he?"
Sir Haselton Jardine's colleague rose with the apparent intention of
personally assisting in the search.
"Here he is," said some one.
And there he was. I almost dropped from my seat.
Who should get into the box but Reginald Townsend's Corsican brother,
Jack Haines's private detective, who had told me that his name was
Stewart Trevannion.
I could scarcely believe my own eyes at first. But it was the man--if
one had seen him once, there was no mistaking him. To me he seemed to
be peculiarly ill at ease--an uneasiness which was not by any means
concealed by an attempt to carry things off with a flourish. He bowed
to the judge, he bowed to the jury; I believe he was going to bow to
the lawyers too, only at the last moment he changed his mind. He placed
his silk hat on the rail at his side. He took off one of his brand-new
gloves. Unbuttoning his overcoat, he opened it so as to display his
chest. There was something about him which destroyed the effect he
evidently intended to produce--it made the people smile.
The judge was serious enough.
"What do you mean by keeping the court waiting?"
Alexander Taunton--or whatever his name was--pressed the finger-tips of
his left hand against his chest.
"I beg your lordship's pardon. I had just that moment stepped outside."
I could have wagered he had stepped outside to drink just another drop
to help him to keep his courage up. The more I looked at him the
plainer I saw that there was quite a hunted look about his eyes.
The story he told in response to Sir Haselton Jardine's questions
filled me with something more than amazement. Of course he was the
Taunton whose evidence at the examination before the magistrates one
had read in the papers, but I had never for an instant suspected--who
would have done?--that the two men were, or could be, one and the same.
By the time he had finished he had hammered every nail in Tommy's
coffin. And the strangest part about it was that--as none knew better
than I--certainly the larger portion of what he said was true.
He had travelled from Brighton in the next compartment to Tommy and I.
Think of it! On that fateful Sunday night I had journeyed with one
brother half the way and with the other brother the rest of the way to
town.
He had heard us having our little discussion. He had heard some of the
things we had said to each other--especially some of the very
strongest. He had heard the banging of the door as I fell. According to
him, the sound had so agitated him that he had not known what to do. He
suspected that something had happened, but he had not known what. He
owned now that he ought to have given the alarm and stopped the train,
but at the moment he lost his presence of mind. On reaching Victoria he
found Tommy sitting in the next compartment alone. Blood was flowing
from a wound in his cheek. Prisoner's own handkerchief being soaked
with blood, witness lent him one of his own--a silk one. On which
prisoner threw his bloodstained handkerchief out of the window.
At this point, altogether unexpectedly, Sir Haselton Jardine sat down.
Mr. Bates got up. As he did so, the witness looked over his shoulder as
if he would have liked to have turned tail and run.
I saw that Mr. Bates was going to do something to earn his money at
last.
The witness saw it too.
"My learned brother, Mr. Taunton, has brought your story to a point at
which it reminds one of those sensational tales which are to be
continued in our next. With your permission we will continue it
together. You have told us of your charitable loan of a handkerchief--a
silk handkerchief. May I take it that you then communicated with the
police?"
"No."
"Then what did you do?"
"I had no actual knowledge that a crime had been committed."
"I ask you, Mr. Taunton, when you had lent the silk handkerchief, what
you did."
"I saw the prisoner to a cab."
"Then did you communicate with the police?"
"I did not."
"Then what did you do?"
"I accompanied him a short distance in the cab."
"Did he give you anything when you parted?"
"He gave me his address."
"Did he give you anything else?"
"He gave me a deposit on my silk handkerchief."
"He gave you a deposit on your silk handkerchief. I see. What was the
amount of the deposit?"
The witness hesitated.
"Ten shillings."
"Do you swear it was not more than ten shillings?"
"It might have been a pound."
"Do you swear it was not more than a pound?"
"It might have been thirty shillings. I don't exactly remember."
"I see. For the first time your memory begins to fail you. Then did you
communicate with the police?"
"I did not."
"What did you do?"
"The next day I called on the prisoner at his office at Austin Friars."
"Yes. And then?"
"I charged him with the murder."
"You charged him with the murder. Of course, then, you did communicate
with the police?"
The witness seemed to find the reiteration trying. He looked around
him, as if seeking shelter.
"Unfortunately, I did not."
"Unfortunately? I see. Unfortunately, what did you do?"
"At that time I was very pressed for money. I yielded to the pressure
of my necessities."
"By which you mean?"
"That I accepted a small loan."
"You accepted a small loan. Did you not levy blackmail? Did you not
extort blood-money, sir? Did you not demand a sum of money in exchange
for your silence?"
Mr. Bates raised his voice very considerably. The witness quivered.
"I believe I did suggest that a small loan should be made to me."
"And you got it?"
"I did."
"What was the amount of this small loan?"
"A hundred pounds."
"A hundred pounds?" This from the judge.
The witness, "Yes, my lord."
"You call that a small loan? Well, go on."
Mr. Bates went on.
"Then what did you do?"
"I called again at the prisoner's office. When I found he was not there
on this Friday I called at his private house."
"On which occasion you found him ill in bed?"
"I found him in bed."
"In the presence of Mrs. Tennant you suggested that another small loan
should be made you?"
"I might have done."
"You did not get it?"
"I did not."
"You were shown to the door instead?"
"I left the house, resolving to tamper no more with my conscience."
"Having been refused another small loan?"
"I went at once to the police, and told them everything."
"Including the incident of the small loan?"
"I don't know that I told them about that."
"I think it probable that you did not. Mr. Taunton, what is your
profession?"
The witness gripped the rail in front of him.
"I have none."
"May I ask, then, how you earn your living?"
"As best I can."
Mr. Bates turned to the judge.
"I think it possible, my lord, that I may be able to throw a flood of
light upon what the witness means by saying that he earns his living as
best he can. Mr. Taunton, when did you last come out of gaol?"
Obviously the witness gripped the rail in front of him still tighter.
The moisture gleamed upon his forehead.
"That has nothing to do with it."
The judge interposed. "Answer the question, sir."
The witness turned his twitching countenance towards the judge.
"I would respectfully suggest, my lord, that it has nothing to do with
the present case."
Mr. Bates struck in.
"With your lordship's permission, I may be able to render the witness
material assistance. Mr. Taunton, at York Assizes, five years ago this
month, under the name of Arthur Stewart, were you not sentenced to five
years' penal servitude by Mr. Justice Hunter?"
The judge pressed his spectacles into their place.
"I thought I had seen the man before. I remember him very well. Was it
a case of bigamous intermarriage?"
"The man--this man--was found guilty of having married four women, one
after the other, of robbing them of all they had, and then deserting
them. Possibly, also, your lordship will remember that no less than
three previous convictions were proved against him."
"I remember the case very well. And I remember the man. It was one of
the worst cases of the kind I had ever encountered. I believe I said so
at the time."
"Your lordship did. Strangely enough, while your lordship was judge, I
was for the prosecution. I recognised the man directly he stepped into
the box. I have no doubt that he recognised me."
Mr. Bates sat down.
"When did this man come out of prison?"
Some one spoke from the side of the court.
"He was released on ticket-of-leave, my lord. The ticket has just run
out."
"Was there any police supervision?"
"I believe not, my lord."
"Then I hope that the police will keep their eyes upon him." He turned
to the witness. "According to your own statement, you appear to have
been guilty of an offence as heinous as any of your previous ones. Your
conduct has been as bad as it could have been. I may consider it to be
my duty to recommend your prosecution. As I have said, I hope the
police will keep their eyes on you. Go down!"
The witness went down--all the flourish gone clean out of him. He
looked more dead than alive.
It may seem queer, but I felt quite sorry for the wretch.