The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1900-07-20
CHAPTER VIII.

CHAPTER VIII.
The assizes are going on, and the
county town is full of barristers and
attorneys; and all interest is centered
on the Portraven bank robbery case,
for the man to be tried is a gentleman,
a member of one of the Oldest families
in the county.
Mrs. Bouverie Is staying in the same
hotel as the judge who Is to try her
son. She will stay near George to the
last; and Doctor Carter, Tuning and
fussy, has taken up his quarters at
the Royal Arms too. He is beginning
to lose heart. The evidence is SO dead
against George, and the great counsel
engaged can wiring nothing from the
silent lips of the prisoner. With sad,
stern face of George confronts him, but
refuses to speak-refuses to account
for the money that had been in his
possession that day. He will make no
defense whatever, beyond declaring his
innocence His counsel is in despair.
Without doubt the jury will bring in
verdict of guilty.
Worn out with great anxiety, Mrs.
Bouverie lies on sofa in a private
room of the hotel In the garden be-
low the windows great punches of IL
laos scent the air, and the light breeze
rustles the golden sprays Of laburnum;
but the mothers eyes see them not.
| She can only think of her boy within
the cold, gray walls of the Jail waiting
for his trial. Mr.. Saville is in the town
too, with a look of satisfaction on his
face; also Mr.. Grey, the cashier, who,
they say, has never recovered from the
shock of the assault on him. He starts
at every shadow, and looks miser-
able, haunted individual.
In vain DR.. Carter tries to persuade
Mrs. Bouverie not to attend the trial.
1t will only be needlessly distressing,
he urges. And his Utmost conviction
| is that George will be found guilty.
Mrs. Bouverie is firm. my place is
beside my son." she says, struggling
for calmness.
So the warm spring days go by, with
the world flooded with sunshine, and
every field and tree in its new dress of
vivid green, everything bright and
beautiful; only the stern, unhappy face
of the man awaiting trial, while moth
er prays to Him who pities this sor-
rowful signing Of the prisoners, TAX
ing her trouble to the foot of the cross
and laying it there. Oh, the shame,
the misery, and the pity Of 1t all!
And the day dawns for the trial of
the bank robbery. DR.. Carter makes
one more desperate effort.
Mrs. Bouverie, you are not strong
enough to stand this. promise to send
you word every half-hour as the case
goes on. Besides, it would only dis
tress poor George to see you"
'Dr. Carter, you mean well, but I
must go. l will be very brave" Mrs.
Bouverie says, looking at the doctors
kindly face with eyes that are dim
with tears and want of sleep.
ut will kill her, poor SOUL" DR..
Carter says, half aloud.
Crowds are fiocking to the court
house. 1t is an exciting case. The
counsel retained for George is in the
depths of despair. He cannot see the
chance of an acquittal unless some
wonderful evidence turns up. which is
not likely, at the eleventh hour.
Mr.. Grey, the cashier, is prepared to
identify George Bouverie as the man
who attacked and drugged him.
The case is not very exciting after
all. In vain Mr.. Jarvis cross-examines
Mr.. Grey; he sticks to his statement
without wavering. Limp and CHASTITY
looking he is, but firm; and yet he
never once looks at the pale, set face
of the man in the dock, who holds his
golden head up bravely. Once once,
when the judge says:
Edward Grey, look at the prisoner
in the dock Do you swear that is the
man who attacked you in the Portray
en- bank?
Then only the witness looks for a
second into the steady eyes of George
Bouverie-eyes that look true as steel.
THAT is the man." he says,with such
conviction that George Bouverie's
counsel groans.
Mrs. Bouverie sits immovable. her
hands in her lap, small, pitiful figure
crushed to the earth with a sorrow
that is so terrible and so strange.
Mr.. Saville. with an assumed air of
reluctance. steps into the witness box.
but every word he utters tells dead
against the prisoner. 1t is he who
brings to light George Bouverie's |
financial difficulties and racing pro-
elivities. and the jury prick their ears,
and into their twelve intelligent faces
comes a look that shows they have
found out the reason why. There Is
not one of the IL good men and true
who has the faintest doubts of thnss