Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1873-01-03
MARA; OR THE GIRL WITHOUT
REFERENCES.

(Confinued9
Next day, after the night charges had been
disposed of at the district police court Mara
Halsey, aged twenty EIGHT. was indicted for
stealing three rings value seventy.6ve pounds,
the property Of Jabez Mowleson. Halsey
had not left his wife all the night and he
had driven with her in the cab from the sta
ton, policeman in plain clothes merely sit
ting on the box. At the court she was not
put in the common room with the other pris-
oners. The magistrate, who knew Halsey,
gave orders that she should be shown to his
private apartment until the case was called
and he spared her the indignity of the dock,
directing her to sit on chair in front Of it,
Halsey being placed to the right of her, and
myself, with Halsey's solicitor, to the left.
She had smiled sadly to me, and held out her
little hand on meeting me in the court as if
to thank me for not doubling her. | sup
pose Halsey had told her that had looked
heart-broken on returning from my unsuccess-
full embassy to the jewellers the evening be-
fore, and that had spent all the night in
consultation with solicitors and barristers
whom | had reused from their beds, to plan
how this unholy charge might be frustrated.
L had even thought it binding to advise Hal
sey in the morning to call in counsel of stand
ing. so that no chance should be missed
through my want Of experience or skill.
But to this he had replied vigorously, "No ::
there is no counsel like friend. You shall
defend her before the magistrate and before
the jury. If you cannot save her, no hired
advocacy would" And in this instance
think he was right.
The court was full to choking 1t is a
mystery how certain things get about in
way to convoke of sudden all the people
one least expects to meet. There had been
no paragraph about the affair in the papers /;
and yet the bench and the counsei's part of
the court were crowded with men -barristers,
Oxford men, and others who had heard of
the matter the first thing in the morning,
heaven only knows how. 1t was, however,
an audience sympathetic towards Mara.
Nobody, not being middle-aged Pharisee
devoted to business pursuits, responsibility,
and vestry interests, could gaze unmoved at
the chid-laced prisoner who nestled close to
her husband, and shivered from shame at her
position, but whose features bore no trace Of
guilt The magistrate seemed really touched,
though he had a right to he unimpressonabe
er obfciO and when the prosecuting alter
ney opened the case, he irowned at him not
very impartially.
The dispositions were brief The respect.
ed Mowleson reiterated all We know but |
succeeded in eliciting the following points
First, that Mara had not asked to be shown
the rings or any other trink9ts second, that
the woman who came in and spoke to Mara
might very well have passed for a beggar
being poorly clad; third, that Mara had shown
no undue precipitation in leaving the shop
and that when overtaken and brought back
she had not offered any resistance, verbal OF
otherwise to her pockets being searched
This last fact was borne out by the police.
man, who had stated that the prisoner had at
first seemed more surprised than alarmed at
the charge, and had herself held her pocket
open for him to dip his hand into. 1t was
only when the rings were discovered that her
demeanor had changed, and that she had be
come as if crazy.
had purposely RETAINED for my cross
examinati on from adopting an offensive tone
towards the jeweer. This answers in cases
where barristers' tongues only and not their
hearts are in their work. had been mi
mute in my questions, but concliatory, hoping
no longer to get the charge withdrawn by ar
appeal to sentiment, but trusting nigh
honestly convince Mowleson that our defence
was just one, and that there had been nj
intentional theft. 1t seemed now as il my
method were going to succeed. Mowlesor
had been surprised, then evidently discOn
certed by the hostility of all the faces rounC
him. Maybe he had relied upon receiving I
mpliment from the magistrate for his integ
rity in not suffering the ends of justice to b,
defeated. Not getting the compliment, i
appeared to strike him suddenly that h,
might be doing himself more commercial
harm than good by his stubbornness ant
this disquieting thought seemed to lead hin
to the reflection, that perhaps after all hi
suspicious were uniounded, and that tn,
whole thing was an unlucky mishap. sum
med up the evidence, addressing mysel