You Never Know Your Luck, Complete

ant; what came from the giving of his testimony is all that matters; and th

the group of toughs called locally the M'Mahon Gang, and against the charge of murder that of manslaughter had been set up in defence; and manslaughter might mean jail for a year or two or no jail at all.

e clever but dissipated Augustus Burlingame, the counsel for the prisoner, had a grudge against Crozier,-no one quite knew why except Kitty Tynan and her mother, and that cross-examination would be pressed mercilessly when Crozier entered the witness-box. As Burlingame came into the court-room he said to the Young Doctor-he was always spoken of as the Young Doctor in Askatoon, though he had been there a good

Gang had given evidence which every one believed to be perjured; and the widow of the slain man

llenge to the vertical dimple in his cheek, his high forehead more benevolent than intellectual, his brown hair faintly sprinkled with grey and a bit unmanageable, his fathomless eyes shining. "No man ought to have such eyes," remarked a woman present to the Young Doctor, who abstractedly nodded assent, for, like Malachi Deely and John Sibley, he himself had a theory about Crozier; and h

hat he must see her if he looked at the audience at all. Kitty thought him magnificent as he told his story with a simple parsimony but a careful choice of words which made every sy

ords and measuring off at the same time the span of a murderer's life; for when the crown attorney said to the judge that he ha

the best witnesses who had ever been through his hands-lucid, concentrated, exact, knowing just where h

k a few quest

s-box with one hand, while with an air of cogitation and suspen

to in the trial, indeed even louder than lawyers generally use when they want to bully

lightning illumination the course Burlingame meant to pursue. For a moment his heart seemed to stand still, and he turned slightly pale, but the blue of h

if bidding them note the hesitation of the witness; though, indeed, the waiting was so slight that none

mself, "What does he know?" and then, with a composed look of inquiry at the judge, who app

erous fellow committing a misdemeanour in their very presence. He spread out his hands to the jury, as though bidding them observ

is you

have already given it to the

do yo

it is necessary to give my domicile, I live at the house

last few words was such that ev

into the decadent bu

live when yo

e is the only home

; and he knew also that no suggestive hint concerning the episode at Mrs. Tyn

were yo

Irel

art of

ty Ke

wn or city or villa

neit

Burlingame was more than nettl

te of Cas

your name

Tynan and her daughter and Malachi Deely; among those who held their breath in suspense were John Sibley, Studd Bradley the financier, and th

ne Crozier, commonly called Shiel Crozier,

ame turned to the jury significantly. "What other name have you been known by in

repeated the lawyer in a sarcastic

s your

thorne C

tit

s a ba

s his bu

on, though he had b

ived by h

said he had no profession. He l

n the laughter at B

what was his descriptio

is designation in

a gentleman?" There was a ha

w

itimat

eyes, and they had a look in them which might well have

ar upon the case? Must I a

t was presently clear the witness meant that the questioner was abusing his legal

e line of defence, but I think I must allow the question," was the judge's gentle and reluctant rep

f John Gathorne Crozier and

son," answered Croz

orne Crozier

cuments. I supposed that would convey the fact that he wa

the laughter in the cour

man always a gentlema

ays a bad lawyer holds good in every country," was Crozier's commen

relevance even to his own line of defence," remarke

me. That was a good start. He hoped to add to the discredit. He had absolutely no knowledge of Crozier's origin

ile in the old countr

rry-with a fl

e in Coun

d two thous

ur proper

is n

sol

N

ll, how is it that

for me-in s

life-history was being exposed with incredible slowness-"like pulling

ere in

ui

you get i

g more than

urlingame was frittering away the effect of his inquiry by elaboration of details. What he gained by the

you leave

ake m

dn't do i

ith a grave face; at which the solemn scene of a prisoner being tried for his life was shaken by

made mon

-with exp

our income

th three tho

ousand doll

whisper to a client less than that. It

you es

ers, and other such?

ed for his life; that ribaldry was out of place; and that, unless the course pursued by the counsel was to discr

precatingly. He then turned to Crozier again, and his voice rose as it did w

land at last? What was the incident which drove you out from the la

," interpos

res to becoming a kind of head-groom on a

ompany for which your firm are the agents. Elev

ppled, again the a

ed this time, but he ga

f law which forced you

e at

our debts wh

e at

s the last d

nd five hun

as its

the sarcasm, was not lost. Again there was a struggle on the part of the audienc

the box to ask questions, but to answer them. At the same time he must remind counsel that the

d even Crozier himself seemed to steel h

ngame, and he did not need to raise his

s mar

ver allowed herself to think of that, but even if she had, what difference

not mar

not

not know if you h

N

your wif

N

ou do not know whether yo

ite

from her since y

one l

tter in a woman's handwriting in the g

mo

mo

you do not know whether y

formation tha

you lea

t I left her. Primar

alive, your wife wil

effect?" The judge informed Crozier tha

e not with

ng here, and even the passage by your own

d a smile. He great

you parted from yo

o answer it. Meanwhile, I do not deny what

uked the counsel, who vent

u any ch

on

r, who inherited

hat I k

r-presumptive to

a

e will not li

itness and see. Meanwhile

romptly called upon Burlingam

sked two que

nge your name wh

to obliter

ou want is to avoid the outra

id the outrageous

s-examination with the solemn reminder that a man was being tried for his life, and that the present proceedings were

through a debt of honour immediately before leaving England. Will he say in what way he incurred t

wrong horse," was Cro

ng or other unreal flights for fortun

to the winning-post," added Crozier, w

e and pedagogic comment. "We shall now hear from the counsel for defence his reason for conducting his cross-examination on

by creating an atmosphere of gravity, even of tragedy, in whic

ier. If he had been content to discredit evidence of the witness by an adroit but guarded misuse of the facts he had brought out regarding Crozier's past, to emphasise the fact that he was living under an assumed name and that his bona fides was doubtful, he might have impressed the jury to some slight degree. He could not, however,

ally penniless to earn an honest living-no one had shown it was not-was the last resort of legal desperation. It was an indefensible thing to endeavour to create prejudice against a man because of his own evidence given with great frankness. Not one single word of evidence had the defence brought to discredit Crozier, save by Crozier's own word of mouth; and if Crozier had cared to commit perjury, the defence could not have proved

nger, bore undoubted evidence of truth; for if he had chosen to say what might have saved him from the suspicions, ill or well founded, of his present fellow-citizens, he might have done so with impunity, save for

witnesses to leave. As he looked ahead of him the first face he saw was that of Kitty Tynan, and something in it startled him. Where had he seen that look before? Yes, he remembered. It was when he was twenty-one and had been sent away to Algiers because he was falling in love with a farmer's daughter. As he drove down a lane

ly, not gravely, but with a kind of whimsical helplessness; for she was the first to remind him that he was leaving the court-room in a different position (if not a different man) from that in which he entered it. He had entered the court-r

mptive to a baronetcy, and he had scored off Augustus Burlingame in a way which delighted a naturally humorous people. He noted, however, that the nod which Studd Bradley, the financier, gave him had in it an enigmatic something which puzzled him. Surely Brad

ey as they came out. "And he's from me own county, and I know the name well enough; an

ee. Backing horses ruined him," said Sibley i

er is the communion of sinners; for a common danger i