They had all heard of the proverb that all things were
fair in love as in war. When the jury had been young themselves perhaps
some of them had acted upon that theory; at all events, it was not an
unnatural idea for young people to act upon. Proverbs had always a
certain weight and authority of their own. They were not necessarily
Holy Writ (Mr. Balais was not quite certain whether the proverb in
question was one of Solomon's own or not, so he put it in this cautious
manner), but they smacked of it. This Richard Yorke, perhaps, had
thought it no great harm to win his love by a false representation of
the state of his finances. He could not see his way how otherwise
to melt the stony heart of this old curmudgeon, who had
doubtless--notwithstanding the evidence they had heard from him that
day--encouraged the young man's addresses so long as he believed him to
be Mr. Carew's lawful heir. The whole question, in fact, resolved itself
into one of _motive_; and if there was not a word of evidence
forthcoming upon the prisoner's part, he (Mr. Balais) would have left
the case in the jury's hands, with the confident conviction that they
would never impute to that unhappy boy--who had already suffered such
tortures of mind and body as were more than a sufficient punishment for
his offense--the deliberate and shameful crime of which he stood
accused.
Pages:
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389