Three millions! or, The way of the world
for months; now she will be the talk of the whole state.”
“Is that her fault?”
“Perhaps not. We don’t even know that she was married to the man she
called her husband. Why, it’s shameful, Eugene! It would be a disgrace
to the whole family. We never should get over it.”
Eugene explained for two hours, but he failed to remove their
objections.
“Promise me, Eugene, that you will not marry her,” pleaded Julia.
“I cannot.”
“I will do anything for her as she is. I will go and see her every
week. I will go into society with her; but don’t make her your wife.”
“I am the indirect cause of her wrongs, Julia; and I shall do what I
can to atone for them.”
“Anything, but do not marry her. I cannot explain why, but do not.”
“Julia, I must marry her, for your sake as well as my own and hers.”
“For my sake!” exclaimed she. “Why?”
“I cannot explain why; but I must.”
“Eugene, I hope you will think better of it. This is a rash resolve,”
interposed his mother.
“I will think of it, mother, as I ought; but I love her, and she must
be mine.”
And a new grief was added to the lot of Julia and her mother.
CHAPTER XV.
DR. BILKS ON THE STAND.
To Dick Birch had been assigned the duty of providing counsel for the
defence of Ross Kingman, and he had immediately secured the services
of Mr. Darling, an eminent legal gentleman, residing in Summerville,
the county town, where the examination was to take place. It had also
been his purpose to add his own strength to that of the distinguished
lawyer’s; but after the complications which the evening of the first
day had produced, he was disposed to abandon this idea. On his way from
Pine Hill to the hotel, while he was considering what had transpired in
the library, he determined to follow his original intention.
Early on the following morning he went to Summerville, and had an
interview with Mr. Darling, to whom he fully and unreservedly explained
his own position. He then went to the jail, where, as counsel for the
prisoner, he was readily admitted.
“I am glad to see you, Mr. Birch,” said Ross, as he entered. “This is
not a pleasant place to live, but I suppose I must put up with it for
some months yet.”
“I’m afraid you must, Ross,” replied Dick, with more sympathy than a
lawyer might be supposed to feel, though Dick was more than a lawyer in
the present cause.
“I shall bear it as well as I can. How is Mary?”
“She was as well as usual when I heard from her last evening. She bears
it better than any one could have expected.”
“That is a great relief to me.”
“But, Ross, I came to talk with you about your defence.”
“Thank you, sir. I am afraid you have got a hard row to hoe,” added the
prisoner, with a smile.
“No, I think not; though I am rather sorry that you used your tongue so
freely.”
“I like to tell the truth. I had no more idea of denying what I had
done, than I had of disowning my own name. But I want you to understand
that I am not guilty of murder. I don’t feel any more like a murderer
than you do, Mr. Birch. I have said the same thing to Mary, to Dr.
Bilks, and to the sheriff.”
“But it is a pity you acknowledged it in so many words.”
“I killed Buckstone, and I meant to do so,” said Ross, with dignified
firmness. “I am willing to say that to the jury; and then I want them
to say whether I am guilty of murder.”
“But you mus’n’t do anything of the sort. You must leave the whole
matter in the hands of your counsel, and be guided by their directions.”
“I will do so.”
The lawyer then proceeded to draw out of the prisoner all the facts
relating to the murder, and made memoranda of them.
“Ross, you say there was a man with Buckstone when you first saw him on
the rocks?” continued Dick Birch.
“Yes, I do; of course you know that better than I do,” replied Ross,
with a smile.
“Why should I know it?”
“Because you were the person.”
“Could you swear that I was the person, Ross?” asked Dick, with as much
indifference as he could assume.
“I could not. It was too dark to see plainly who it was; and I was busy
with another affair. I didn’t care who it was.”
“Now, Ross, I wish you to think of this matter. You cannot swear that I
was the person?”
“No, I cannot. Does it do you any harm to have it known that you were
the person with Buckstone?”
“Never mind that, just now, Ross. All we want here is the truth. When
you first saw the man with Buckstone, did you think who it was?”
“No, sir; I did not.”
“After you had done the deed, did you think who it was?”
“No.”
“Now, Ross, according to your statement, Buckstone and this man were
talking together, and you listened to them.”
“Yes, sir; I did.”
“Then you heard the stranger’s voice.”
“Certainly I did.”
“Could you tell by the voice whether it was any one you had heard speak
before?”
“Well, he didn’t say much. I heard him ask Buckstone if he intended to
marry Mary. Then, pretty soon, Buckstone told a long story about how it
was--that he did intend to marry her at first, and then he didn’t. This
made me so mad I didn’t want to hear any more, and I went off after a
club. When I came back, they were talking about a consideration for
marrying my sister, which didn’t make me feel any better. I heard what
Buckstone said, and I didn’t care a straw what the other man talked
about; besides, he didn’t speak very loud.”
“Then you could not tell from his voice who he was?”
“No, sir; I could not. I didn’t mind much about it; but I have thought
since, from the way he spoke about the marriage, that he was a lawyer.”
“Did you think, at the time, that he was a lawyer?”
“I didn’t think anything about it.”
“What did he say that made you think he was a lawyer?”
“He asked Buckstone if he intended to marry Mary, and said the
intention made all the difference in the world.”
“Just so; now, Ross, you did not think, at the time, who this stranger
was,--are you quite sure on this point?”
“Of course I am. When I had thrown Buckstone over the cliff, I began
to think of Mary, and I am sure I never thought a word of what took
place before the deed. I didn’t even think that any person was with
Buckstone. In fact, my mind was all in confusion. I wasn’t used to
doing such a job, and I felt all the time, before and afterwards, just
as if I was living in some other world. It didn’t seem as though there
were any other persons in existence but Mary and myself.”
“I can understand your feelings, Ross. When did it first occur to you
that I was the person with Buckstone on the rocks?”
“Not till I went over after Dr. Bilks for Mary.”
“Did you think of it while you were going after him, or while you were
returning?”
“Not till I saw Dr. Bilks. I told him all about what I had done to
Buckstone, before he saw Mary, so that he might understand what ailed
her. I went back with him to row him over the channel. Then I told him
there was a man with Buckstone--I didn’t even think of it till then.”
“What did Dr. Bilks say about it?” asked Dick, with an eagerness which
he could not wholly conceal.
“He said the stranger must be Mr. Hungerford.”
“Mr. Hungerford!” exclaimed the lawyer.
“Yes, sir; but I told him it was not; Mr. Hungerford was a good deal
taller than this man.”
“What then?” continued Dick, nervously.
“Then he asked if it wasn’t Mr. Birch. I told him it might be; but I
didn’t believe it was.”
“What did he say then?”
“He said he was satisfied the man was Mr. Birch. He told me you had
said something to him about making Buckstone marry Mary. He said you
did it from the best of motives; and I know you did, and I was very
much obliged to you.”
“This satisfied you that I was the person on the rocks with Buckstone?”
“Well, yes; that was enough to satisfy me--wasn’t it?” said Ross, not
a little puzzled by the troubled expression on the lawyer’s face. “I’m
sure I feel very grateful to you for all you have done. Of course, if I
had known you were the man with Buckstone, I shouldn’t have done what I
did. You were acting all the time for Mary’s good.”
“Did it seem reasonable to you that I should meet Buckstone in the
dark, and bribe him to marry your sister?” asked Dick, as quietly as he
could.
“It didn’t seem exactly like you, I own; but, then, Buckstone is a
slippery character, and I didn’t understand your plans. I knew you
wouldn’t do anything that wasn’t right.”
“Where did you find Dr. Bilks, when you went after him that night,
Ross?”
“In his office.”
“Was he abed?”
“No; he had just come in from making a visit.”
“Do you know where he had been?”
“He told me he had been over beyond the Point, where he had a bad case.
He said it was rather hard on him to have to go out again, for he had
hardly slept a wink for three nights, or something of that sort.”
After some further conference, Dick told the prisoner to keep
his courage up, and left him. He had another interview with Mr.
Darling, and at ten o’clock in the forenoon, all the parties met in
the court-house, where the examination was to take place. Eugene
Hungerford, Dr. Bilks, and Mary were there as witnesses. Eugene had
attempted to see Ross; but Mr. Darling, at Dick’s suggestion, had
requested the sheriff to exclude all visitors.
The examination was conducted in the usual form, its object being
simply to establish the fact that a murder had been committed,
and that there was sufficient evidence to presume the guilt of the
prisoner. It was not an easy matter to prove that a murder had been
committed, though no one doubted the fact. The prosecution expected
to establish it from the confession of the prisoner to Dr. Bilks, and
by Richard Birch, who was generally believed to be the person who had
accompanied the murdered man to The Great Bell.
The body of Buckstone had not been found. It might yet appear when
the chemical changes attending decomposition caused it to rise to the
surface. Neither had the body of Goodwin, the sportsman, who had been
drowned on the forenoon of the same day, been recovered. There was a
kind of tradition prevalent at Port Poppleton that the bodies of people
drowned in Bell River, between the islands and the main land, were
seldom, if ever, found. There was alleged to be something in the tidal
current which carried the corpses down, and so entangled them upon the
jagged rocks of The Great Bell, that they never rose to the surface.
The water was ten fathoms deep, even close up to the cliff. Old men at
the Port told of this man and that man who had been drowned many years
before, whose bodies had never been found. It was doubtful, therefore,
in the light of the popular superstition, whether Buckstone’s body
would ever be discovered.
The examination commenced. Ross Kingman was firm, dignified, and even
noble, in his demeanor. Mary wept and trembled when he was brought in;
but Dr. Bilks, who had charged himself with the care of her, spoke some
consoling words, and she became calm. For the first time since her
departure from Poppleton with Buckstone, Eugene saw her. He took her by
the hand, and assured her all would be well. This was all he said to
her in the court-house, though he watched her with tender interest all
day long.
Mary was called to the stand first, and, supported by Dr. Bilks, she
took her place. She had recovered her firmness, and related, in a tone
loud enough to be heard by all in the court-room, what had occurred
between Buckstone and herself before the murder. She was truthful,
and did not attempt to conceal the fact, so damaging, apparently, to
her brother’s cause, that he had acknowledged to her the killing of
Buckstone.
“Your name?” was the first question put to her.
“Mary Kingman,” she replied, to the astonishment of all who heard her.
“Is that your name?”
“It is.”