Page:A Child of the Jago - Arthur Morrison.djvu/396

 wig and his spectacles and his red gown, a horribly jaunty look. No brain could be clearer than Josh Perrott's now.

"Prisoner at the bar, have you anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed on you according to law?"

"No, sir—I done it. On'y 'e was a worse man than me!" The clerk of Arraigns sank into his place, and the judge spoke.

"Joshua Perrott, you have been convicted, on evidence that can leave no doubt whatever of your guilt in the mind of any rational person, of the horrible crime of wilful murder. The circumstances of your awful offense there is no need to recapitulate, but they were of the most brutal and shocking character. You deliberately, and with preparation, broke into the house of the man whose death you have shortly to answer for in a higher court than this: whether you broke in with a design of robbery as well as of