MR. WALTERS: I will not press the point. I will ask you, Mr.
Crisparkle, have you any influence?
WITNESS: Is that proper, my Lord?
JUDGE: Quite proper.
WITNESS: I should say I have done my best. I have talked to
him from time to time and found him very anxious to profit by any
words I was able to say.
MR. WALTERS: You said he was impetuous. Perhaps he has one
or two little faults of that sort. Would you regard them as dangerous?
WITNESS: No, no; oh no. The faults of an undisciplined boy.
MR. WALTERS: Has he any good qualities?
WITNESS: Many, which appear to me to far outweigh the others.
MR. WALTERS: Suppose Neville Landless had a little quarrel
with another young man. Would you attach much importance to it?
WITNESS: No, I think not: very little, I think. Hot-tempered
youth—soon over. He would be the first to regret it.
MR. WALTERS: Did you know Edwin Drood?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: And you heard of a quarrel between him and
Neville Landless?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Who told you about that quarrel?
WITNESS: Well, in the first instance, Neville Landless
mentioned it to me when he came back to my house. He said he had made
a bad beginning and was sorry. But immediately afterwards John Jasper
came to the house, and gave me what I am bound to say was a very
different account indeed.
MR. WALTERS: This is the John Jasper who had already
deceived you?
WITNESS: Who had perhaps misled me by suppression.
MR. WALTERS: He was the John Jasper who was Edwin Drood’s
rival for Rosa Bud?
WITNESS: It would appear so.
MR. WALTERS: You say he gave a strong account of the
quarrel—Is that correct?
WITNESS: It is more than correct. He said, when he came into
the room, that he had had an awful time with him. I said, “Surely not
as bad as that!” and he said “Murderous—murderous!”
MR. WALTERS: Are you sure he used the word “Murderous”?
WITNESS: I am absolutely certain.
MR. WALTERS: What did you say to that?
WITNESS: I said, “I must beg you not to use quite such
strong language.” He continued to use even stronger terms. He said
there was something tigerish in Neville’s blood. He was afraid he
would have struck his dear boy, as he called him, down at his feet.
MR. WALTERS: You are quite sure those were his words?
WITNESS: Absolutely.
MR. WALTERS: And I suppose, following on that, you asked for
an explanation from Neville? Did you have any conversation with him?
WITNESS: Yes, a long conversation with him in company with
his sister.
MR. WALTERS: Was Jasper satisfied with the explanation given
to him?
WITNESS: No, I’m afraid not. A few days afterwards, when
I was endeavouring to make peace between the two combatants, and
arranged a meeting, Jasper took the opportunity to show me his diary,
in which he had written his fears and suspicions in regard to his
dear boy’s safety.
MR. WALTERS: Fears and suspicions?
WITNESS: That was the phrase.
MR. WALTERS: May we take it then, that this man was always
harping on danger and using the word “Murder,” and influencing your
mind against Neville Landless?
WITNESS: I am afraid that was the impression which I derived.
MR. WALTERS: Was that the impression left in your mind after
the conversation with John Jasper?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: I think you know that on the Christmas Eve
following, there was a friendly little party?
WITNESS: Yes; I was instrumental in arranging it.
MR. WALTERS: Following on that, Neville Landless was, on the
following day, to start on a walking expedition?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Did he tell you all about it?
WITNESS: Oh, yes.
MR. WALTERS: He was quite frank?
WITNESS: Quite frank.
MR. WALTERS: Did he start to carry out his plans?
WITNESS: He started.
MR. WALTERS: On the Christmas morning, early?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Do you remember that Christmas Eve?
WITNESS: Perfectly.
MR. WALTERS: Why?
WITNESS: Especially because of the beauty of Evensong that
day. John Jasper was in splendid voice that day, and I congratulated
him when he came out of the Cathedral. I said he must be in very good
health.
MR. WALTERS: Very good health: did he say anything?
WITNESS: He said he _was_ in very good health, and that the
black humours were passing from him, and that he would have to burn
his diary—consign it to the flames—that was the phrase.
MR. WALTERS: He also laughed?
WITNESS: He went laughing up the postern gate.
MR. WALTERS: Do you mind telling us whether laughing was
common with John Jasper.
WITNESS: No.
MR. WALTERS: In short, you thought it an exceptional piece
of good humour?
WITNESS: Yes; he made that impression on me.
MR. WALTERS: Do you remember what sort of night it was?
WITNESS: A terrible night of storm.
MR. WALTERS: Let us get on to the next morning. The next
morning what happened?
WITNESS: Before I was about, while I was still in my
dressing room, I was aware of a great noise at my gate, and there I
saw John Jasper, insufficiently attired, crying very loudly to me in
the house. I looked out, and asked what was the matter, and he said,
“Where is my nephew?” Naturally, I said to him, “Why should you ask
me?” and he said, “Last evening, very late, he went down to the river
to see the storm, in company with Mr. Neville Landless,” since when
nothing had been heard of him. And then he said, “Call Mr. Neville.”
I told him Neville had already started.
MR. WALTERS: When this conversation took place between
you and John Jasper, did it occur to you that he was dazed, as if
suffering from the effect of drugs?
WITNESS: No.
MR. WALTERS: Did it strike you that he was particularly
clear-headed?
WITNESS: I think so. Yes: he was very clear-headed.
MR. WALTERS: Was he concise and clear in his remarks?
WITNESS: Yes, perfectly clear.
MR. WALTERS: If anybody told you he was suffering from the
effect of drugs, or was dazed or bewildered, would your observation
bear that out?
WITNESS: No, indeed.
MR. WALTERS: What did you do in respect of Mr. Neville?
WITNESS: We sent some men after him, and Mr. Jasper and I
followed. Directly we came up with him, Jasper said, “Where is my
nephew?” and Neville said, “Why do you ask me?”
MR. WALTERS: What did Jasper say?
WITNESS: He said, “He was last seen in your company”—or
words to that effect.
MR. WALTERS: When he said that, what sort of impression did
it cause on you? What did you think it meant?
WITNESS: I am sorry to say I had the unpleasant impression
that he meant to suggest that Neville Landless was in some way
responsible for Drood’s disappearance.
MR. WALTERS: Once more he was suggesting murder?
WITNESS: Yes, that was the impression.
MR. WALTERS: And once more suggesting that Neville Landless
was the murderer?
WITNESS: That was so, undoubtedly.
MR. WALTERS: This man, Neville Landless, with this terrible
charge hanging over him; did he come back readily?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Did he answer any questions put to him?
WITNESS: Quite frankly.
MR. WALTERS: Some time afterwards, you made a discovery, I
think. Would you mind telling the Court what it was?
WITNESS: I was walking along by the river, some two miles
above where these young men had gone for their walk—by the weir, in
fact,—when I saw something shining brightly. Looking more closely,
I thought it was a jewel. I immediately dived in, being fortunately
a good swimmer, and found that it was a gold watch and chain. The
chain was hanging on the timbers. Later I found in the mud a gold
scarf-pin. The watch had the initials E. D. engraved on it.
MR. WALTERS: Did you tell Jasper you had discovered these
things?
WITNESS: At once.
MR. WALTERS: Did he say anything about it?
WITNESS: Nothing at the time, but a few days later, when we
were disrobing in the vestry, he showed me the diary to which I have
alluded.
MR. WALTERS: Did it contain any reference to it?
WITNESS: I cannot charge my memory with the exact words,
but something to this effect—“My poor boy is certainly murdered. The
discovery of the watch and scarf-pin leaves that beyond doubt. They
were no doubt thrown away to prevent identification of the body”—or
words to that effect.
MR. WALTERS: One moment, Mr. Crisparkle. Am I right in
saying that once more Murder was suggested to you?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: And that Neville Landless was pointed to as the
murderer?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: And so that would be the impression left on
your mind by your conversation with Jasper?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Whether it was right or wrong, that would be
the impression left?
WITNESS: Whether right or wrong, that would undoubtedly be
the impression.
MR. WALTERS: Thank you, Mr. Crisparkle.
THE FOREMAN: May I ask one question, my Lord?
JUDGE: Certainly.
THE FOREMAN: Do I understand the witness to say that the
prisoner was a musician?
WITNESS: He was, my Lord.
FOREMAN: His case looks black indeed.
[CANON CRISPARKLE CROSS-EXAMINED.]
MR. CROTCH: Canon Crisparkle, you referred to the night of
the preliminary quarrel and the return of Neville Landless. Do you
remember accusing Neville of intoxication?
WITNESS: Quite well.
MR. CROTCH: You said, “You are not sober”?
WITNESS: I did so.
MR. CROTCH: Do you remember his reply?
WITNESS: He said, “Yes; I am afraid that is true, although I
took very little to drink.”
MR. CROTCH: “Although I can satisfy you at another time that
I had very little to drink.” I put it, those were the words he used?
WITNESS: Doubtless.
MR. CROTCH: You said you went down to the weir, which is two
miles from the river?
WITNESS: No; two miles from the point at which Edwin Drood
and Neville Landless went down to watch the storm. It is two miles
higher up.
MR. CROTCH: And it was there you found the articles you have
described?
WITNESS: That is so.
MR. CROTCH: What was the position of the watch and chain?
WITNESS: It was adhering to the timbers. Where two timbers
crossed, it had become fixed.
MR. CROTCH: As though somebody had gone down with a hammer
and nail and hung it up deliberately?
WITNESS: No, that I would not say.
MR. CROTCH: Was the pin in the mud?
WITNESS: In the mud.
MR. CROTCH: This was ordinary loose mud?
WITNESS: Yes, a kind of sludge.
MR. CROTCH: Did you find anything else?
WITNESS: No.
MR. CROTCH: Nothing else at all?
WITNESS: No.
MR. CROTCH: Now, Canon Crisparkle, I have just one question
of some delicacy to ask. I hope you won’t be offended. Is it not a
fact that you are in love with Helena Landless?
MR. WALTERS: My lord, my lord, I must object. I think this
is a secret to a man’s breast, and my friend has no right to try to
get it out.
WITNESS: My Lord, I have no objection to answer the
question. The lady will appear before you shortly, and when you see
her you will not be surprised that my heart is a little affected.
MR. CROTCH: Thank you, Canon Crisparkle.
MR. WALTERS: Canon Crisparkle, one word please, as to the
exact position of the weir. I think you have not been carefully
examining the exact position lately? You could not testify whether
it was two miles, one mile, or one and a half miles, and would not
commit yourself to an actual distance?
WITNESS: No; we are not in mathematics.
MR. WALTERS: If I told you it was a little nearer the
Cathedral, you would not dispute it?
WITNESS: Not for a moment.
MR. WALTERS: Thank you, Canon Crisparkle. That will do.
[EVIDENCE OF HELENA LANDLESS.]
MR. WALTERS: Call Helena Landless.
USHER: Helena Landless!
[That lady was conducted to the witness-box, and duly sworn.]
MR. WALTERS: What is your name, please?
WITNESS: Helena Landless.
MR. WALTERS: And you have a brother named Neville?
WITNESS: Yes; a twin brother.
MR. WALTERS: Is there a great bond of sympathy between you
and your brother?
WITNESS: A very great bond.
MR. WALTERS: Is it so strong that you have an intimate
understanding of each other?
WITNESS: We almost know each other’s thoughts.
MR. WALTERS: And I think you are accustomed to exercise
influence on him—perhaps to lead him?
WITNESS: It always has been so.
MR. WALTERS: Where did you live when young?
WITNESS: In Ceylon.
MR. WALTERS: With your parents?
WITNESS: No. My parents died when we were young, and a
step-father brought us up.
MR. WALTERS: How did he treat you?
WITNESS: Very badly indeed. He was always cruel and harsh to
us.
MR. WALTERS: Ever beat you?
WITNESS: We were whipped like dogs, and we ran away.
MR. WALTERS: How old were you when you first ran away?
WITNESS: Seven.
MR. WALTERS: Who suggested running away?
WITNESS: I did.
MR. WALTERS: And did your brother follow you?
WITNESS: He always followed me.
MR. WALTERS: You planned everything?
WITNESS: I always planned.
MR. WALTERS: Weren’t you afraid to run away?
WITNESS: I was afraid of nothing to be free.
MR. WALTERS: What did you do in order to make a flight
successful?
WITNESS: I cut off my hair, and dressed myself as a boy.
MR. WALTERS: That needed a great amount of daring?
WITNESS: Well, the occasion needed all the daring I could
command.
MR. WALTERS: And when it needs all the daring you can
command, you don’t mind daring?
WITNESS: No.
MR. WALTERS: As a matter of fact, you did it, I think, not
only for yourself, but for your brother?
WITNESS: I think more for him than for myself.
MR. WALTERS: And you love your brother very much?
WITNESS: Dearly.
MR. WALTERS: Still?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Would you do as much again, Miss Landless?
WITNESS: I would; and more.
MR. WALTERS: As much for anybody else you love?
WITNESS: If I loved them dearly enough.
MR. WALTERS: You have lately come to England. When you came,
tell us where you resided.
WITNESS: I went to Miss Twinkleton’s at the Nun’s House, and
my brother went to Mr. Crisparkle’s.
MR. WALTERS: I believe the Nun’s House is an Academy?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Other girls there?
WITNESS: Yes, several.
MR. WALTERS: Miss Rosa Bud there?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Ever meet her?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Ever become friends with her?
WITNESS: Yes; very great friends.
MR. WALTERS: Did you form an estimate of her character?
WITNESS: I thought she was a sweet, lovable girl, but shy
and timid.
MR. WALTERS: Not got your daring?
WITNESS: No.
MR. WALTERS: She was learning music, I think? Who was her
tutor?
WITNESS: John Jasper.
MR. WALTERS: Do you remember a party at Canon Crisparkle’s
shortly after your arrival?
WITNESS: On the night of our arrival.
MR. WALTERS: Who was there?
WITNESS: Myself, Miss Twinkleton, and Rosa Bud, and Edwin
Drood, and John Jasper.
MR. WALTERS: You are sure John Jasper was there?
WITNESS: Yes; I noticed him particularly.
MR. WALTERS: Why?
WITNESS: Because of his strange manner towards Rosa Bud.
MR. WALTERS: How?
WITNESS: He watched her closely. During the evening she sang
to his accompaniment, and his eyes were fixed on her the whole time
with a most peculiar expression, and this seemed to trouble Rosa,
although she was not looking at him. Suddenly she covered her face
with her hands, burst into tears, and said she was frightened and
wanted to be taken away.
MR. WALTERS: You don’t think it was pure imagination on her
part? She was frightened?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: When people are frightened there is danger
about generally. Did you think there was any danger in his looking at
her?
WITNESS: I thought there was danger in his looks.
MR. WALTERS: Did you ever speak to her about it?
WITNESS: Yes. She said she was terrified at him; that he
haunted her like a ghost, and that he made secret love to her.
MR. WALTERS: And she didn’t like it?
WITNESS: She begged me to take care of her, and stay with
her.
MR. WALTERS: Did you promise to do so?
WITNESS: I said I would protect her.
MR. WALTERS: Be very careful. If this man frightened her,
would he not equally frighten you?
WITNESS: In no circumstances.
MR. WALTERS: That is because you are a woman of daring?
WITNESS: I suppose so.
MR. WALTERS: If you promised to shield and protect her, you
did not content yourself with words. Did you take any action?
WITNESS: I kept a sort of watch on John Jasper.
MR. WALTERS: Why on Jasper?
WITNESS: Because I felt that he menaced Rosa’s peace and
happiness.
MR. WALTERS: You thought he was the source of the danger?
WITNESS: No one but Jasper.
MR. WALTERS: Had she any enemies?
WITNESS: No; she was too sweet and lovable.
MR. WALTERS: And you thought it was John Jasper, and John
Jasper alone?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: We will leave that for a moment, and come
to your brother. You are very intimate with your brother, and he
confides in you. Were he and Drood friendly?
WITNESS: Yes, but they had a little misunderstanding.
MR. WALTERS: Misunderstanding?
WITNESS: Only a difference of opinion.
MR. WALTERS: Did you think it would lead your brother to
make an attack on him?
WITNESS: The idea is preposterous.
MR. WALTERS: They had a quarrel at the outset?
WITNESS: My brother did not like the way in which Edwin
Drood spoke of Rosa Bud. He thought he was too patronising. John
Jasper came up, made a great deal more of it than it warranted, and
then insisted on the young men going back with him to have a glass of
wine—stirrup-cup, he called it.
MR. WALTERS: What was the effect on your brother?
WITNESS: Both became flushed and excited.
MR. WALTERS: Was it very usual with your brother?
WITNESS: No.
MR. WALTERS: Yet a small quantity had this effect on him.
Did you suspect anything of the wine?
WITNESS: I am morally certain the wine was drugged.
MR. WALTERS: I believe after that there was to be a little
patching up?
WITNESS: That was owing to Canon Crisparkle. They were all
to meet and shake hands.
MR. WALTERS: Was it to be a large party, or confined to
themselves?
WITNESS: Only my brother and Edwin Drood and John Jasper,
who had invited them to his house.
MR. WALTERS: That was on the Christmas Eve?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Did you know anything about your brother’s
plans for the next day?
WITNESS: He had planned to go on a walking tour.
MR. WALTERS: You knew all about it?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: All arranged?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: No secret?
WITNESS: No.
MR. WALTERS: And to the best of your knowledge, he started
on that tour next morning?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Now, to get back to the party: you saw your
brother just before he went?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Was he happy and jolly going to the party?
WITNESS: No. He was ready to shake hands with Edwin Drood,
but he had a strange dread of the gatehouse.
MR. WALTERS: He did not object to going?
WITNESS: No; because he wanted to shake hands with Edwin
Drood.
MR. WALTERS: Then the main object of his going was, not to
enjoy himself, but to shake hands with Edwin Drood?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: And you think that was practically the only
motive?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: We are told that Neville was fetched back after
starting on his journey.
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Was it a surprise he was fetched back after
Drood’s extraordinary disappearance was mentioned?
WITNESS: It was.
MR. WALTERS: But when you heard who had fetched him back,
was that a surprise?
WITNESS: No; because Jasper had always been his enemy from
the first.
MR. WALTERS: You thought he had cast suspicion on him?
WITNESS: Jasper had hinted in Cloisterham to many people
that if anything ever happened to his nephew my brother would be
responsible for it.
MR. WALTERS: And so you knew that your brother was under
deep suspicion when brought back to Cloisterham?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Did you take that very much to heart?
WITNESS: I did, indeed, seeing it concerned the one I loved
best in the world.
MR. WALTERS: There were two persons you wanted to protect?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Who were they?
WITNESS: My brother, and Rosa Bud.
MR. WALTERS: You had a double motive, and you thought the
danger came from one and the same man?
WITNESS: I certainly did.
MR. WALTERS: Who was that?
WITNESS: John Jasper.
MR. WALTERS: What did your brother do after all this?
WITNESS: He was so sad and unhappy that he left Cloisterham,
and took lodgings in London.
MR. WALTERS: You went with him?
WITNESS: No, I stopped there to live it down.
MR. WALTERS: That is where your courage came in again?—But
you need not reply. I shall leave it to the Jury to draw their own
conclusions. And now, all this time you were watching Jasper? Did you
discover anything about his actions?
WITNESS: Nothing definite.
MR. WALTERS: Did you hear of his going here and there?
WITNESS: Yes; there were periodical disappearances.
MR. WALTERS: Did you know where he went on those occasions?
WITNESS: Yes, he went to London.
MR. WALTERS: And when in Cloisterham, how did he behave?
WITNESS: He went about always throwing out hints that he had
thought my brother so hot tempered that he was afraid for his nephew
to meet him.
MR. WALTERS: Did he meet Rosa Bud again?
WITNESS: He made love to her.
MR. WALTERS: Did she receive him kindly?
WITNESS: Hated him, loathed him, was terrified at him.
MR. WALTERS: Did he say anything to her when he discovered
what her attitude was?
WITNESS: He told her that nothing should prevent him from
having her himself. No one should stand against him.
MR. WALTERS: Did he threaten anyone who did stand against
him?
WITNESS: Yes; he threatened my brother’s life.
MR. WALTERS: You mean, he said to Rosa Bud something which
amounted to a threat against your brother’s life?
WITNESS: He said he could place him in the greatest jeopardy
and danger.
MR. WALTERS: Then you thought his danger would increase?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: I suppose you went to London occasionally to
see your brother?
WITNESS: Not often.
MR. WALTERS: Did you ever see Rosa Bud in London?
WITNESS: Yes. She fled to London, so terrified was she at
Jasper with his desperate love-making. She went to Mr. Grewgious, her
guardian.
MR. WALTERS: And you determined to shield her as much as
possible?
WITNESS: More than ever.
MR. WALTERS: Did you ever recall those words, that you would
not, in any circumstances, be afraid of Jasper?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Not a mere idle boast?
WITNESS: No.
MR. WALTERS: You meant it?
WITNESS: I did.
MR. WALTERS: Six months went by, and no progress made?
WITNESS: I found out nothing.
MR. WALTERS: Yet the danger remained, and increased?
WITNESS: I grew more and more anxious.
MR. WALTERS: It was the woman against the man, and the woman
was making no headway?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Did you think it was about time to change your
course of action?
WITNESS: I did.
MR. WALTERS: What did you do?
WITNESS: I remembered how, as a little girl, I dressed
myself as a boy, and now I determined to dress myself as a man.
MR. WALTERS: That was the result of recalling what you had
done as a girl?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: What you had done in the past you could do
again?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: It was difficult, you realised?
WITNESS: Yes, it was difficult, but I determined to overcome
every difficulty.
MR. WALTERS: You did not shrink?
WITNESS: Naturally I shrank, but the end was worth all the
sacrifice.
MR. WALTERS: You determined to go through with it?
WITNESS: I did.
MR. WALTERS: Because you had this double motive?
WITNESS: That is so.
MR. WALTERS: The overpowering motive which overcame
everything else?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Very well, now; if you could have avoided
dressing yourself as a man, if some other course had been open to
you, would you have taken it?
WITNESS: If I could have felt sure of success.
MR. WALTERS: But you felt this was the last resource, and
determined to do it?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: In order to appear as a man, you had to adopt a
very complete disguise indeed. Did you remember what you did when you
were a little girl? Did you cut off your hair again?
WITNESS: No, I thought I could manage.
MR. WALTERS: Miss Landless, I don’t want to press you, but
was there any particular, personal reason why you didn’t wish to
sacrifice your hair?
WITNESS: Am I obliged to answer that question?
JUDGE: No.
MR. WALTERS: His Lordship says you need not answer that
question. I think we may leave it to the Jury, as human beings, to
give their own answer. But, at all events, we understand that you did
not cut off your hair. Did you whiten your eyebrows?
WITNESS: No.
MR. WALTERS: You thought you could manage?
WITNESS: I did.
MR. WALTERS: How did you disguise yourself effectively?
WITNESS: I put on a large wig of white hair.
MR. WALTERS: To conceal your own luxuriant tresses?
WITNESS: I bound them well down underneath.
MR. WALTERS: What else?
WITNESS: I thought, in keeping with a large head of white
hair, I had better assume the free and easy manners of an elderly
man, and I tried to put a little dash of swagger, and I wore a blue
coat and buff waistcoat.
MR. WALTERS: It was not so difficult, after all, in some
respects, for you are a rapid and fluent talker—you need not be shy,
you are—and therefore, as Dick Datchery, the affable old gentleman, a
bit garrulous, you did not find much difficulty?
WITNESS: No: I did not find it very difficult.
MR. WALTERS: What did you do in Cloisterham?
WITNESS: I put up at the Crozier Inn.
MR. WALTERS: Where is that?
WITNESS: In the High Street.
MR. WALTERS: Far from the Gate House?
WITNESS: No.
MR. WALTERS: Did you try the effect of your disguise on the
people in the neighbourhood?
WITNESS: Yes, at the Crozier I walked in, asked a few
questions, and ordered a man’s dinner.
MR. WALTERS: You ordered a man’s dinner?
WITNESS: You would not have had me ask for a glass of milk
and a Sally Lunn!
JUDGE: What is a man’s dinner?
WITNESS: I called for a fried sole, and a veal cutlet, and a
pint of sherry. Something like a man’s dinner!
MR. WALTERS: And did you consume this gargantuan feast?
WITNESS: I think you are an intelligent gentleman, and I
will leave it to you.
MR. WALTERS: You may. Now let us come to your inquiries. I
suppose you wanted lodgings?
WITNESS: I asked the waiter if he could direct me to any.
MR. WALTERS: And did he?
WITNESS: I asked for something old, architectural, and
inconvenient.
MR. WALTERS: And he directed you?
WITNESS: He did.
MR. WALTERS: Very far?
WITNESS: No; not far: Mrs. Tope’s house.
MR. WALTERS: Did you find it easily?
WITNESS: No. That would not have done. I wandered about a
bit in the wrong direction, and inquired, and at last found it.
MR. WALTERS: The reason for all that?
WITNESS: I wanted to put everybody off the scent, and tried
to act as to the manner born, so that if anybody were watching me
they would really take me for the man I wanted to be.
MR. WALTERS: You thought it best to take every precaution,
in case you were watched?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: And they would think you had lost your way, and
were a stranger?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: As a matter of fact, you were not a stranger.
Did you meet Mr. Jasper?
WITNESS: I made an excuse, and I went up and asked him if he
could tell me anything as to the respectability of the Tope family.
MR. WALTERS: So that you bearded the lion in his den. Did he
recognise you?
WITNESS: No; he did not know the mouse.
MR. WALTERS: There are other ways of detecting people than
by appearance. Jasper is a musician with a very delicate ear. What
about your voice?
WITNESS: Mr. Jasper had only heard it once, and that
was months ago, and, besides, I can change it (_changing her
voice_)—change the tone of my voice, and speak like a man.
MR. WALTERS: You can disguise it, Miss Landless, so that
people would really think it was a man’s voice?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Tell us what you discovered as to Mr. Jasper’s
movements at this time.
WITNESS: He absented himself from the Cathedral every now
and then, and made periodical disappearances.
MR. WALTERS: Where did he go?
WITNESS: To London.
MR. WALTERS: Were you in correspondence with Mr. Grewgious,
the family solicitor, in London?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Did he tell you he had seen Jasper?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: So that, between you, you knew all about him?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: In the character of Datchery, did you meet
people?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Durdles?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: The old opium woman?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Mr. Sapsea, the Mayor?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Did you talk to them familiarly?
WITNESS: Yes. I really knew their idiosyncrasies—everyone of
them—so I fooled them to the top of their bent, and got everything
out of them.
MR. WALTERS: I have no doubt but that you asked the old
opium woman some questions?
WITNESS: She had been following Jasper to the Gate House,
and she asked me, in a whisper, would I mind telling her who he was,
his name, and where he lived.
MR. WALTERS: And you said it was John Jasper?
WITNESS: Yes. She asked, would I give her three-and-sixpence
to buy some opium. She said that on Christmas Eve a young gentleman
gave her three-and-sixpence, and he said that his name was Edwin. And
she said where could she see Jasper? And I told her in the Cathedral.
MR. WALTERS: Did she go to the Cathedral next morning?
WITNESS: Yes; I saw her behind a pillar, shaking her fist at
him.
MR. WALTERS: You think she knew something about him?
WITNESS: Yes; that she knew more about his character than
anybody else suspected.
MR. WALTERS: May I take it that the results of your
investigations led you to the conclusions about John Jasper—that they
increased your suspicions?
WITNESS: I had my suspicions from the first.
MR. WALTERS: Did you keep a record of your successes at the
time?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: How?
WITNESS: In chalk marks.
MR. WALTERS: Why in chalk marks?
WITNESS: I like the old tavern way of keeping scores. You
may make a little mark, and nobody but the scorer knows what it
means: a small mark for a small success, and a big mark for a big one.
MR. WALTERS: Was another reason that you did not wish your
woman’s handwriting to be discovered?
WITNESS: That would never have done.
MR. WALTERS: Did you adopt any device to bring Jasper into
your presence, or not?
WITNESS: Yes; Mr. Grewgious had told me that he had given a
ring to Edwin Drood.
MR. WALTERS: And did you use that ring in any way?
WITNESS: Yes; it was this ring that I used to lure him.
MR. WALTERS: And then, when you confronted Jasper, you felt
that you had sufficient to go upon to accuse him openly of murder?
WITNESS: I did. His appearance and agitation were sufficient.
MR. WALTERS: And so he was accused of murder; and your
motives throughout were disinterested motives for the protection of
Rosa Bud and your brother?
WITNESS: That is so.
MR. WALTERS: You knew Edwin Drood?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: Do you think that if he had voluntarily
disappeared while all this trouble was going on, he would have
communicated with his friends?
WITNESS: Yes, he was a kind-hearted lad.
MR. WALTERS: You cannot understand him being silent while
Rosa was in danger?
WITNESS: I am sure he would not be.
MR. WALTERS: You think that, wherever he was, he would have
spoken, if alive?
WITNESS: I do.
MR. WALTERS: Thank you, that will do.
[HELENA LANDLESS CROSS-EXAMINED.]
MR. CHESTERTON: Miss Landless, you say you knew the prisoner
to some extent before the disappearance of Edwin Drood?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: When did you learn that the prisoner was
addicted to opium smoking—or have you learned it?
WITNESS: Mr. Tope told me of a seizure he had in the
Cathedral.
MR. CHESTERTON: When was that, approximately?
WITNESS: As far as I can remember, about a few weeks after
I came to Cloisterham as Dick Datchery. Rosa told me how frightened
she was of him after he had had a dream; that he used to go into a
peculiar kind of dream, and a film came over his eyes, and then she
was more terrified of him than before.
MR. CHESTERTON: But you are putting two very different
dates. I want to know when you realised he was addicted to opium
smoking.
WITNESS: It takes a little time to realise anything. We hear
this and that, and we put two and two together.
MR. CHESTERTON: When Rosa gave you that information, did you
suspect opium smoking?
WITNESS: I had a faint suspicion.
MR. CHESTERTON: It occurred to you that it was probably
opium. You knew Edwin Drood, Miss Landless?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: Was he a conspicuous person—a person to
notice very much?
WITNESS: Not very much, with the exception of this: that he
was rather patronising, and had the air of a lad who was very much at
home with himself.
MR. CHESTERTON: He dressed like ordinary young men?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: Wore trousers?
WITNESS: Yes, certainly, I believe so.
MR. CHESTERTON: Do you understand that the ring was found in
the quicklime?
WITNESS: I believe so.
MR. CHESTERTON: Oh! you believe so!
WITNESS: It was found there.
MR. CHESTERTON: Were any buttons found there?
WITNESS: No, I believe not.
MR. CHESTERTON: I suppose Mr. Drood would presumably have on
either a belt or braces. Was a buckle or a belt or braces found in
the quicklime?
WITNESS: No.
MR. CHESTERTON: Nothing was found in the lime except this
ring?
WITNESS: No.
MR. CHESTERTON: Thank you.
WITNESS: I could throw some light on that.
MR. CHESTERTON: Your Counsel will no doubt re-examine you.
Now, I want to know about this disguise of yours. You told us that
it was no new thing to disguise yourself, because you dressed up as
a boy in Ceylon. Would you kindly tell me how old you were the last
time you did it?
WITNESS: Thirteen.
MR. CHESTERTON: Do you really suggest that a little girl
of thirteen dressing up as a little boy—dressing up as a boy of
thirteen—is any sort of qualification for a young lady of 21 dressing
up as an “old buffer living idly on his means”?
WITNESS: Yes; the girl is mother to the woman, as the boy is
father to the man.
MR. CHESTERTON: Well, now, you have told us, Miss Landless,
that in dressing up as Datchery, you wore a white wig, blue coat,
buff waistcoat, and so on. Did you do anything to your face?
WITNESS: No.
MR. CHESTERTON: You did not paint your face at all?
WITNESS: I always have enough colour in my face without
paint.
MR. CHESTERTON: You did not make up your face in any way?
WITNESS: No.
MR. CHESTERTON: Do you ask the Jury to believe that you had
been going about Cloisterham as Helena Landless for more than six
months—ever since you came to Canon Crisparkle’s—that you had been
going about as Miss Helena Landless; that you did not alter your face
in any way, and went about as Dick Datchery, seeing the same people?
Do you ask the Jury to believe that you were not recognised?
WITNESS: I ask them to believe it, because it is the truth.
MR. CHESTERTON: Very well; the Jury will decide that for
themselves. You say you went to Cloisterham and put up at the Crozier?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: You also told us that you ordered a certain
meal—a fried sole, a veal cutlet, and a pint of sherry. When my
learned friend asked you, you said you would leave it to us. I must
ask you: did you consume that meal?
WITNESS: I am a healthy young woman, but I did not eat it
all. I had a little of the fish, some of the cutlet, and some of the
sherry.
MR. CHESTERTON: How much sherry?
WITNESS: I had a glass.
JUDGE: It is important to insist whether the glasses were
ordinary wine glasses.
A JURYMAN (Mr. EDWIN PUGH): I think it is not a
fair question.
JUDGE: Any question is fair that tends to bring out the
truth. We have no reason to suppose that all the people in the Court
are not lying—nay, even are not supporting fictitious characters!
THE JURYMAN: But a sherry glass might be a tumbler.
MR. CHESTERTON: Miss Landless, I press you. You say you only
drank one glass. The remainder of the pint you left in the bottle.
WITNESS: I did not say that.
MR. CHESTERTON: What did you do?
WITNESS: If I must say, there were receptacles in the room
used by smokers. Some went that way, some I left in the bottle, and
some I drank.
MR. CHESTERTON: Were not people present?
WITNESS: Not all the time. Only part of the time.
MR. CHESTERTON: They retired simultaneously?
WITNESS: No; there were not many there when I went in. Some
left at once; some finished their dinners and went away.
MR. CHESTERTON: And the fortunate moment arrived when you
could pour out the sherry?
WITNESS: There are such things as fortunate moments.
MR. CHESTERTON: Your taste in food and drink interests me a
little. I shall return to the Crozier. But later on, when staying at
Tope’s, you used to have an evening meal prepared for you, consisting
of bread and cheese and salad and ale?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: Was that the sort of meal you were
accustomed to at Miss Twinkleton’s?
WITNESS: But, you see, I was not at Miss Twinkleton’s.
MR. CHESTERTON: But there would not have been anything
eccentric about coffee or tea?
WITNESS: I think it would be a very feminine beverage.
MR. CHESTERTON: Very well. You told my learned friend that
you did not really lose your way from the Crozier to Tope’s?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: The truth of your story you are prepared to
stake on that being so?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: Will the Jury look at page 191 of the
book?[2] There it states “he soon became bewildered, and went
boggling about and about the Cathedral tower, whenever he could catch
a glimpse of it....” (_To the witness._) You could catch a glimpse of
it when you liked?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: There was no question of catching a glimpse
of it. You could go straight to it if you wanted to?
WITNESS: If you are quoting from the book.
MR. CHESTERTON: We are quoting from something that is
admitted as evidence. Every statement made here must be taken as
being true.
WITNESS: But that was a blind.
MR. CHESTERTON: I want to carry you further, Miss
Landless—“with a general impression on his mind that Mrs. Tope’s was
somewhere very near it.” Is that the general impression on your mind?
WITNESS: I knew exactly where to go to Mrs. Tope’s.
MR. CHESTERTON: And this “general impression on your mind”
goes on—“and that, like the children in the game of hot boiled
beans and very good butter, he was warm in his search when he saw
the tower, and cold when he didn’t see it.” Is not that a definite
statement as to the condition of your mind, and not as to your
external actions, and does it not assert that you did not know where
Tope’s lodgings were?
WITNESS: I take it as a blind.
JUDGE: I draw the attention of the Court to the fact that
the conditions of anybody’s frame of mind have been paid perhaps too
little attention to, and if Miss Landless chooses to say that the
original literary person from whom I believe we procured most of this
information was not quite accurate, one can only say she has probably
gone outside the rules.
MR. CHESTERTON: My Lord, I would direct your attention to
the third paragraph of the “Conditions.”
JUDGE (_after perusing the paragraph referred to_): Yes, I
see: that is, on the face of it, it is quite clear that a statement
does appear to be made to that effect. The rest falls into the
deplorable abyss of literature.
MR. CHESTERTON (_to witness_): Now, after you had been
“boggling about” in search of a place which you knew perfectly well
already, you met a small boy, I think?
WITNESS: I did.
MR. CHESTERTON: I need not trouble you with the
conversation, but that boy agreed to conduct you to Tope’s?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: Now he brought you to a place from which the
arched passage was visible?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: And you said, “That’s Tope’s”?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: And he answered, “Yer lie; it ain’t. That’s
Jarsper’s.” Is that so?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: And you said, “Indeed?” And you gave a
“second look, of some interest.” What was the meaning of that?
WITNESS: Well, of course, I knew it was Jasper’s, but when
Jasper’s house or anything connected with him, was brought to my
mind, I always thought it was interesting, and gave a look for that
reason.
MR. CHESTERTON: But you knew you were going to Jasper’s
house?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: But why did you give it a second look?
WITNESS: Because I was so interested.
MR. CHESTERTON: You knew it was Jasper’s, because the boy
said it was Jasper’s, and you gave it “a look of some interest”!
WITNESS: We know that dinner is ready, but we look with
interest at it before we sit down to it.
MR. CHESTERTON: You knew it was Jasper’s, and gave “a second
look of some interest” when told it was Jasper’s. Now you went to
Tope’s, and you met, as you told us, Jasper and Mr. Sapsea, and other
people. Now you kept your record, you told us, in chalk, and you
told us that one of your reasons for doing that was that you must
evade discovery of your handwriting?
WITNESS: That is so.
MR. CHESTERTON: Had it not been for the fact that you were a
woman, I take it you ask us to believe that you would have written up
in ordinary writing all that you thought and speculated about Jasper
on the cupboard door?
WITNESS: I do not ask you to believe anything of the kind,
for I should not have been so foolish. I could have written some
words if I had wished to, but I would not write at all.
MR. CHESTERTON: You used the old tavern way of keeping
scores. Where did you learn that?
WITNESS: In Ceylon.
MR. CHESTERTON: What is the Cingalese tavern way?
WITNESS: I have not been brought up in a drawing-room, but
among a very rough set of people. My step-father was a low, common
man, and frequented taverns, and we children could go inside and
outside or anywhere.
MR. CHESTERTON: Are there taverns in Ceylon?
WITNESS: I don’t know that they call them taverns.
MR. CHESTERTON: Do you suggest that the phrase “old tavern
way of keeping scores” refers to Ceylon?
WITNESS: My chalk marks revert to the time when I was there.
MR. CHESTERTON: How did you keep scores in Ceylon?
WITNESS: I did not keep scores there, but I saw other people.
MR. CHESTERTON: How do you know how they were kept?
WITNESS: I did not say I did know exactly, but I learned
that a little mark meant a certain quantity, a bigger mark more, and
so on.
MR. CHESTERTON: You like the old tavern way of keeping
scores, but do not know how it is done?
WITNESS: I know that a man that had quarts had large
strokes, and a man that had pints smaller ones.
MR. CHESTERTON: You swear that was done in Ceylon?
WITNESS: I swear that sort of thing was done there.
MR. CHESTERTON: What sort of drinks do they have there?
WITNESS: I never had their drinks. I saw them drinking, but
I did not know what it was. But I saw the scores being kept on the
back of the door.
MR. CHESTERTON: Do you know what they were drinking at all?
WITNESS: I took it for spirits, and beer, and so on.
MR. CHESTERTON: So you knew little about the drinking, but a
great deal about the scoring?
WITNESS: That interested me as a child. My brother and I
used to talk about it.
MR. CHESTERTON: What was the purpose of the scores?
WITNESS: The tavern keepers would do it to know what was due
from Tom Scott, or Jim Price.
MR. CHESTERTON: You told us that you undertook the Datchery
impersonation, so to speak, in collaboration with Mr. Grewgious?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: May I take it you know him well?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: Frequently correspond with him?
WITNESS: I correspond with him.
MR. CHESTERTON: Receive letters from him?
WITNESS: I have had letters from him.
MR. CHESTERTON: You know his profession?
WITNESS: A lawyer.
MR. CHESTERTON: What sort?
WITNESS: I don’t know.
JUDGE: He is a lawyer, and I think that covers it. He is,
indeed, a particular kind of solicitor, but I think a lady might well
be excused for not knowing that.
MR. WALTERS: A lawyer covers everything.
JUDGE: I think that is fair.
MR. CHESTERTON: What is he?
WITNESS: A lawyer.
MR. CHESTERTON: What sort of business does he carry on?
MR. WALTERS: She doesn’t know.
MR. CHESTERTON: I submit she knows nothing about Mr.
Grewgious, and that she has not had correspondence with him.
MR. WALTERS: The official record says she did know Mr.
Grewgious, and saw him in his Chambers.
MR. CHESTERTON: She might know Mr. Grewgious, but have no
correspondence with him. I am asking what sort of business he carries
on.
WITNESS: I know he is a lawyer.
MR. CHESTERTON: And nothing more?
WITNESS: Women don’t interest themselves very much in these
things.
JUDGE: No, I think that’s fair.
MR. CHESTERTON: Now, the next time we hear anything of the
official records, Miss Landless, you were back again in London. How
was that?—in your own proper person, and ceased to be Datchery.
WITNESS: I went up in the evening.
MR. CHESTERTON: In the evening?
WITNESS: By the last ’bus and train.
MR. CHESTERTON: What time?
WITNESS: The ’bus that leaves the Crozier.
MR. CHESTERTON: What time?
WITNESS: I forget exactly, but I think about six.
MR. CHESTERTON: Had you any reason for going up?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: What was it?
WITNESS: I wanted to see my brother.
MR. CHESTERTON: There was no particular reason why that day
more than any other day?
WITNESS: No, I think not.
MR. CHESTERTON: I suppose you will admit you were running a
certain risk of discovery?
WITNESS: Yes, there was some, but I thought I should be able
to avoid it.
MR. CHESTERTON: Anybody might follow you?
WITNESS: Might.
MR. CHESTERTON: You were a stranger in Cloisterham. Anybody
might have followed you to London. You were running that risk for no
particular reason at all?
WITNESS: Oh! but I knew my brother was very, very unhappy,
and I knew I could cheer him and comfort him, and he was very, very
dear to me.
MR. CHESTERTON: Your visit had nothing to do with Rosa’s
visit to London?
WITNESS: I did not know she was there.
MR. CHESTERTON: Mr. Grewgious had not written and asked you
to go?
WITNESS: No.
MR. CHESTERTON: No reason?
WITNESS: Yes; the reason I have given you.
MR. CHESTERTON: But there was no particular reason?
WITNESS: Is it not particular to go and cheer one who is
closely bound to you?
JUDGE: I think the witness’s remark is quite clear. She says
she had an impulse in an avowedly emotional atmosphere to go and see
somebody.
MR. CHESTERTON: Very well. (_To witness._) You met, you have
told us, an opium woman?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: And you had a conversation with her, and
afterwards made a mark on your score—your Cingalese score?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: A moderate mark; then you saw her, in the
Cathedral, shake her fist at Jasper?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: Then you made a big mark. What was the
meaning of that?
MR. WALTERS: I am not sure that she is bound to answer that
question. It is sufficient that she made the mark.
MR. CHESTERTON: I am endeavouring to show that this story is
not true, as I shall represent to the Jury, and my motive for asking
the question is, that I suggest it was not Miss Landless who made the
mark. The witness who did make the mark will be summoned later, and
asked why he made it.
WITNESS: You ask why I made the long mark?
MR. CHESTERTON: Yes.
WITNESS: Because I thought, when she shook her fist at
Jasper, and putting with that the fact that she had followed him, I
concluded that she knew something against him, and I thought I had
scored, and scored heavily.
MR. CHESTERTON: Is that all?
WITNESS: I had learned more than that. I had learned that
Edwin Drood had given her money for opium on Christmas Eve.
MR. CHESTERTON: What did that prove?
JUDGE: We must not go into what that could prove. The
witness has given a perfectly clear and definite account of her
proceedings, and I strongly suggest that unless there is some
particular point to be made, she should now be released from the
witness-box, because the other point whether she knows anything about
the scoring at inns, or whether such practices are common in Ceylon,
must be left to later discussion.
MR. CHESTERTON: That is not the point I am trying to make;
but that there was no reason why she should make the score, and I
asked why she made it. I believe she did not.
JUDGE: But if she replies that she makes long or short chalk
marks, in accordance with the ebullitions of her emotional nature——
MR. CHESTERTON: She is entitled to do so.
JUDGE: That would be an answer, and the only answer to which
you will be entitled at the moment.
MR. CHESTERTON: If she likes, she may.
JUDGE: She has told you that she made a long stroke because
she thought she had made a great score in her own mind against
Jasper, and that she made a shorter mark before because she had not
made a big score. That is all that could be expected to be got out of
her, without a self-contradiction which would amount to perjury.
MR. CHESTERTON: I have very little more to ask, and shall
get through very quickly. (_To witness._) Now, you tell us that your
motives were very compelling. You didn’t care much about Edwin Drood,
did you?
WITNESS: No, there was nothing particular about him. I
thought he was a nice young fellow.
MR. CHESTERTON: You did? You did not call him “base and
trivial”?
WITNESS: When he acted as he did to my brother, I felt
angry, and naturally said things I should not have said.
MR. CHESTERTON: Your feelings were not very strong?
WITNESS: No.
MR. CHESTERTON: Your motive, you say, was care for your
brother and for Miss Rosa Bud?
WITNESS: That is so.
MR. CHESTERTON: Do you consider those motives adequate to
induce you to take the course you say you took?
WITNESS: I do.
MR. CHESTERTON: Enough to make you take all risks?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. CHESTERTON: To go all lengths?
WITNESS: To the risk of my life.
MR. CHESTERTON: Your life?
WITNESS: He was all I had.
MR. CHESTERTON: Enough to compel you to do anything?
WITNESS: Anything that was right and true. You can’t catch
me that way.
MR. CHESTERTON: I put it to you that the whole of your story
is a romance.
WITNESS: You put it to me?
MR. CHESTERTON: I put it to you, in fairness.
WITNESS: Will you please consider that I am here on my oath?
MR. CHESTERTON (_to Judge_): Your Lordship knows I am bound
to put that.
WITNESS: I can only answer that every word I have spoken is
true.
MR. CHESTERTON: Suppose every word you have spoken is true:
is there a single word you have spoken that proves that Edwin Drood
was murdered?
WITNESS: I don’t know that you have asked questions to
elicit that.
MR. CHESTERTON: It is not my business. Is there a word in
the whole of the testimony you have given to your own Counsel or to
me that proves that Edwin Drood was murdered? Did you, for example,
see Edwin Drood murdered?
WITNESS: No.
MR. CHESTERTON: Do you know anyone who saw the murder?
WITNESS: No.
MR. CHESTERTON: Have you seen his body?
WITNESS: No.
MR. CHESTERTON: Do you know anyone who has seen it?
WITNESS: I don’t think his body could be seen.
MR. CHESTERTON: Then you really have no evidence to produce
to prove that Edwin Drood is dead?
WITNESS: I have the ring.
MR. CHESTERTON: That is all the evidence—your whole case? I
want to press this point very much. On that ring your case rests. Is
that so?
WITNESS: I am not a woman who understands very much about
legal proceedings. It is the first time I have been in court. It is a
hard thing for a clever man like you to put a question like this to
an unsophisticated witness.
MR. CHESTERTON: But you are the person who has worked out
the whole scheme against Jasper. Does not the whole case for the
death, not for the plan or the undertaking, but for the death having
taken place, rest on the finding of that ring?
WITNESS: Well, perhaps the case for incriminating, bringing
it home to Jasper, rests on the ring.
MR. CHESTERTON: And if that ring—the presence of that
ring—could be satisfactorily explained—the presence of the ring in
the quicklime could be satisfactorily explained in any other way—you
would have nothing to produce to show that it was a murder?
WITNESS: I might have no evidence, but I should be morally
certain.
MR. CHESTERTON: You would hold your opinion, we know, but
you would have no evidence?
WITNESS: No.
JUDGE: I think we must be careful not to get into argument.
MR. CHESTERTON: My Lord, I am finishing.
WITNESS: What you and I think is evidence might be two
different questions.
JUDGE: That is indeed very probable.
WITNESS: I don’t think it fair to ask questions like that.
MR. CHESTERTON: I will take her answer.
MR. WALTERS (_re-examining_): It does not require particular
affection for any particular person to wish that he should not be
murdered?
WITNESS: No.
MR. WALTERS: Although you might not be violently enamoured
of Edwin Drood, you might want to bring his murderer to justice?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: It has been suggested that your story is
entirely romance. If you had been acting a part, would you not
naturally have been disgraced for ever in the eyes of all who know
you?
WITNESS: I should indeed.
MR. WALTERS: Have you not a particular reason at present for
wishing to stand high in the esteem of certain people?
WITNESS: I have.
MR. WALTERS: Don’t you think you would forfeit that esteem
if you stood there on your oath, and told a tissue of falsehoods?
WITNESS: I should.
MR. WALTERS: Is there not every reason why you should tell
the truth?
WITNESS: There is.
MR. WALTERS: Have you anything to gain by telling lies?
WITNESS: I have all to lose.
MR. WALTERS: Have you not been working entirely for others
throughout?
WITNESS: Yes.
MR. WALTERS: You would not have taken this part if you could
have helped it?
WITNESS: No.
MR. WALTERS: And when you were making these investigations
you did not want to go to everybody and ask his definite
business—“What sort of lawyer are you?”?
WITNESS: No; I never thought about it. He was a lawyer, and
that’s all I knew.
MR. WALTERS: Have you ever written a tragedy that nobody
will bring out?
WITNESS: No, indeed, I have not.
MR. WALTERS: And so you have no particular reason for
standing in the limelight and making yourself a heroine. Thank you.
JUDGE: The Court will now adjourn for about ten or fifteen
minutes.
* * * * *
The Court accordingly adjourned. On the resumption of the
proceedings, Mr. Walters announced that the evidence of Miss Helena
Landless had completed his case.
[THE CASE FOR THE DEFENCE.]