Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-12-01
CHAPTER Ill.
/ would be High, but see the proudest oak
Most subject to the rending thunderstroke


would be WISE but that often see
The fox suspended, while the goes free.
Mr.. Eyre's character, discussed by
his friends at luncheon, had suffered
severely. 1nhuman, dlshonOrable, ~
lng-theSe had been some of the cpl
thets applied to his conduct, and even
the Duke had not been able to stem the
current of popular opinion against him.
1t was taken for granted that he had
from the first known the child drowned
IN the Shifting Pool to be his own. and
pushed the charge against the woman,
Janet StOrk, with relentless vigOr. till
the accident of the mothers appearance
in the place had compelled him to a dis
honorable policy, in which. by private
agreement with Lord Lowell. he had
made the young man the scapegOat of
his sin. The power of his influence
over his discarded mistress was gagged
by the fact that, though residing in the
village for nearly seven months, she
had never even sought to discover her
self to the wife, but had shared with
Lord Lowell the false position in which
Mr.. Eyre's hypocrisy had placed her.
In the minds of the Jury this latter
consideration was destined to bear I'M
expected results. while at the same
time stormy interview was going Tor
ward between the prisoner and the
counsel that Mr.. Eyre had engaged on
her behalf.
1t had been incomparably more bril-
liant than his own. for he had character
istically said that being guilty she
should have the best advice, and so had
secured in her service one of the finest
criminal pleaderS of rbe day.
1t had been only by the most urgent
questioning that ner counsel had been
able to extract a single fact upon which
to base her defense, but when in the
teeth of the mornings evidence, she
still refused to furnish him with any
information, he more than half felt
himself justified in abandoning her to
her fate. For this was case upon
which the eyes of the civilized world
were fixed, and to bring her safely
through would be triumph that he
might not easily forego.
But his utmost stress of urgency could
elicit from her no account of the even S
on the night of the murder. From the
time she had left her lodgings in Synge
Lane, at eleven O'Clock. to the moment
when she was arrested with the body
OF the Child IN her arms. all was a blank
In vain her counsel declared that the
penalty of her silence must infallibly
be death at the gallOWS; she was indif-
ferent to the prospect; she saw beyond
it DOdy'S welcome, and his mothers
kiss, as she said, Il misunderstood you
once. but now understand and the
utmost confession he could wing from
her was to the effect that when she had
come to Lovel in search of her servant.
Janet StOrk, she had no concept on that
1t was the dWelllng-place OF her cnild 6
father.
Against Mr.. Eyre she would say moth
Ing. but there was a determ ned ret
icence in her manner that spoke of re-
serves of knowledge to which her ques.
TONER was not admitted, and it was
with a conviction that in his speech for
the defense he must draw on magma
ton rather than facts. that he left her.
Hester sat for awhile alone after her
adviser had left her, and looked around,
fixed, like Janet, in the resolve to de,
should justice command it.
As she sat with her head on her arms.
thinking of that beyond in which her
own child and his brother might per-
chance come to meet her. approaching
footsteps warned her that it was time
to ascend to the dock above.
Entering the court with that soften
CNA lOOh 9Olll Ol llCl IbCO, OliO OuuCtu
a more favorable effect on the public
than she had yet done; while Mr.. Eyre,
perhaps by contrast with Frank. had
harsh, repellant air that denied sympa-
thy, and made him look to the life the
character assigned to him by his deeds.
A murmur of admiration was audible
when Frank entered-fOr in the eyes Of
many that one lie of his was sufficient
to etface any past sins that he had COM
mitted, and open to him the gates of
Paradise-but at sound of it he colOred
deeply, and felt the impulse to turn
back, but he would not leave Mr.. Eyre,
and for the remainder of that day, and
all the next. stood beside him.
Some minor evidence, including that of
the prisoners landladv. who sWore to her
having left the cottage at Synge Lane
at about ten o'clock on the night OF the
murder, and that she never again re-
turned there, closed the case for the
prosecution; and, amid breathless ST.
lence, and in court packed 10 suffoca-
ton, the counsel for the defense rose to
address the jury on behalf of the prison
CT.