Page:Braddon--The Trail of the Serpent.djvu/59

Rh "Yes, brain-fever. During the fever he talked a great deal of his mother; said he had killed her by his bad conduct, but that he'd beg her forgiveness if he walked to Slopperton on his bare feet."

"Can you tell me at what date he first expressed this desire to come to Slopperton?"

"Some time during the month of September."

"Did you during this period consider him to be in a sound mind?"

"Well, several of my friends at Guy's used to think rather the reverse. It was customary amongst us to say he had a loose slate somewhere."

The counsel for the prosecution taking exception to this phrase "loose slate," the witness went on to state that he thought the prisoner very often off his nut; had hidden his razors during his illness, and piled up a barricade of furniture before the window. The prisoner was remarkable for reckless generosity, good temper, a truthful disposition, and a talent for doing everything, and always doing it better than anybody else. This, and a great deal more, was elicited from him by the advocate for the defence.

He was cross-examined by the counsel for the prosecution.

"I think you told my learned friend that you were a member of the medical profession?"

"I did."

Was first apprenticed to a chemist and druggist at Slopperton, and was now walking one of the hospitals in London with a view to attaining a position in the profession; had not yet attained eminence, but hoped to do so; had operated with some success in a desperate case of whitlow on the finger of a servant-girl, and should have effected a surprising cure, if the girl had not grown impatient and allowed her finger to be amputated by a rival practitioner before the curative process had time to develop itself; had always entertained a sincere regard for the prisoner; had at divers times borrowed money of him; couldn't say he remembered ever returning any; perhaps he never had returned any, and that might account for his not remembering the circumstance; had been present at the election of, and instrumental in electing the prisoner a member of a convivial club called the "Cheerful Cherokees." No "Cheerful Cherokee" had ever been known to commit a murder, and the club was convinced of the prisoner's innocence.

"You told the court and jury a short time ago, that the prisoner's state on the last night you saw him in London was 'rum,'" said the learned gentleman conducting the prosecution; "will you be good enough to favour us with the meaning of that adjective—you intend it for an adjective, I presume?"