Page:The Art of Cross-Examination.djvu/194

 "Piggott. 'No.'

"Russell. 'Or when you heard it?'

"Pigott. 'Or when I heard it.'

"Russell. 'Or where you heard it?'

"Pigott. 'Or where I heard it.'

"Russell. 'Have you ever mentioned this fearful matter—whatever it is—to anybody?'

"Pigott. 'No.'

"Russell. 'Still locked up, hermetically sealed in your own bosom?'

"Pigott. 'No, because it has gone away out of my bosom, whatever it was.'

"On receiving this answer Russell smiled, looked at the bench, and sat down. A ripple of derisive laughter broke over the court, and a buzz of many voices followed. The people standing around me looked at each other and said, 'Splendid.' The judges rose, the great crowd melted away, and an Irishman who mingled in the throng expressed, I think, the general sentiment in a single word, 'Smashed.

Pigott's cross-examination was finished the following day, and the second day he disappeared entirely, and later sent back from Paris a confession of his guilt, admitting his perjury, and giving the details of how he had forged the alleged Parnell letter by tracing words and phrases from genuine Parnell letters, placed against the window-pane, and admitting that he had sold the forged letter for £605.