Page:Braddon--The Trail of the Serpent.djvu/58

54 conduct had not been the less remarked by the jury, and did not the less weigh with them.

The witnesses for the defence were few in number. The first who mounted the witness-box was rather peculiar in his appearance. If you include amongst his personal attractions a red nose (which shone like the danger-signal on a railway through the dusky air of the court); a black eye—not that admired darkness of the organ itself which is the handiwork of liberal nature, but that peculiarly mottled purple-and-green appearance about the region which bears witness to the fist of an acquaintance; a bushy moustache of a fine blue-black dye; a head of thick black hair, not too intimately acquainted with that modern innovation on manly habits, the comb—you may perhaps have some notion of his physical qualifications. But nothing could ever give a full or just idea of the recklessness, the effrontery of his manner, the twinkle in his eye, the expression in every pimple of that radiant nose, or the depth of meaning he could convey by one twitch of his moustache, of one shake of his forest of black ringlets.

His costume inclined towards the fast and furious, consisting of a pair of loose Scotch plaid unmentionables, a bright blue greatcoat, no under-coat or waistcoat, a great deal of shirt ornamented with death's-heads and pink ballet-dancers—to say nothing of coffee and tobacco stains, and enough sham gold chain meandering over his burly breast to make up for every deficiency. While he was being duly sworn, the eyes of the witness wandered with a friendly and pitying glance towards the wretched prisoner at the bar.

"You are a member of the medical profession?"

"I am."

"You were, I believe, in the company of the prisoner the night of his departure from London for this town?"

"I was."

"What was the conduct of the prisoner on that night?"

"Rum."

On being further interrogated, the witness stated that he had known Mr. Richard Marwood for many years, being himself originally a Slopperton man.

"Can you tell what led the prisoner to determine on returning to his mother's house in the month of November last?"

"Blue devils," replied the witness, with determined conciseness.

"Blue devils?"

"Yes, he'd been in a low way for three months, or more; he'd had a sharp attack of delirium tremens, and a touch of his old complaint"

"His old complaint?"