Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 15.pdf/68

 A Lesson in Advocacy.

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A LESSON IN ADVOCACY. BY RICHARD HARRIS, K. C. THE annals of our Courts of Justice do not contain a more interesting or useful les son than will be found in the following story. The great ambition of a young advocate is how to cross-examine, although the first and most important step in that direction is how not to. If you know when to be silent it will be a pretty sure indication that you will know what to ask. Keeping silence is not so pic turesque a performance as dancing round a witness. It does not appeal to the gallery or the solicitors, who generally like their clients "to have something for their money." A long time ago, in the East End of Lon don, lived a manufacturer of the name of Waring. He was in a large way of business, had his country house, where his family lived, and his town establishment. He was a man of great parochial eminence and respecta bility. Among the many hands he employed was a girl of the name of Harriet Smith. She came from the country, and had not quite lost the bloom of rusticity when the respect able Mr. Waring fell in love with her. Had Harriet known he was married, in all proba bility she would have rejected his respectable attentions. He induced her to marry him, but it was to be kept secret; her father was not to know of it until such time as suited Mr. Waring's circumstances. In the course of time there were two chil dren; and then, unfortunately, came a crisis in Mr. Waring's affairs. He was bankrupt. The factory and warehouses were empty, and Harriet was deprived of her weekly al lowance. One clay when Waring was in his ware house wondering probably what would bf his next step, old Mr. Smith, the father of Harriet, called to know what had become of his daughter. "That." said Mr. Waring, "is

exactly what I should like to know." She had left him, it seemed, for over a year, and as he understood was last seen in Paris. The old man was puzzled, and informed Waring that he would find her out dead or alive; and so went away. It was a strange thing, said the woman in whose house Mr. Waring had apartments, that she should have gone away and never inquired about her children, espe cially as she was so fond of them. She had been gone nearly a year, and in a few days Mr. Waring was to surrender the premises to his landlord. There never was a man who took things more easily than Mr. Waring; leaving his premises did not dis turb him in the least, except that he had a couple of rather large parcels which he wanted to get away without anybody seeing him. It might foe thought he had been con cealing some of his property, if he were to be seen taking them away. It happened that there had been a youth in his employ of the name of Davis—James Davis;—a plain, simple lad enough, and of a kind, obliging disposition. He had always liked his old master, and was himself a favor ite. Since the bankruptcy lie had been ap prenticed to another firm in Whitechapel, and one Saturday night, as he was strolling along towards the Minories to get a little fresh air, suddenly met his old master, who greeted him with his usual cordiality and asked him if he had an hour to spare, and. if so, would lie oblige him by helping him to a cat) with a couple of parcels which belonged to a commercial traveller and contained valu able samples. James consented willingly, and lighting each a cigar which Mr. Waring produced, they walked along, chatting about old times and old friends. When they got to the warehouse there were the two parcels, tied up in American cloth.