CHAPTER LX.
TWO DAYS BEFORE THE TRIAL.
There was a scene in the private room of Mr. Wickerby, the attorneyin Hatton Garden, which was very distressing indeed to the feelingsof Lord Fawn, and which induced his lordship to think that he wasbeing treated without that respect which was due to him as a peerand a member of the Government. There were present at this scene Mr.Chaffanbrass, the old barrister, Mr. Wickerby himself, Mr. Wickerby'sconfidential clerk, Lord Fawn, Lord Fawn's solicitor,--that sameMr. Camperdown whom we saw in the last chapter calling upon LadyEustace,--and a policeman. Lord Fawn had been invited to attend, withmany protestations of regret as to the trouble thus imposed upon him,because the very important nature of the evidence about to be givenby him at the forthcoming trial seemed to render it expedient thatsome questions should be asked. This was on Tuesday, the 22nd June,and the trial was to be commenced on the following Thursday. Andthere was present in the room, very conspicuously, an old heavy greygreat coat, as to which Mr. Wickerby had instructed Mr. Chaffanbrassthat evidence was forthcoming, if needed, to prove that that coat waslying on the night of the murder in a downstairs room in the housein which Yosef Mealyus was then lodging. The reader will rememberthe history of the coat. Instigated by Madame Goesler, who wasstill absent from England, Mr. Wickerby had traced the coat, andhad purchased the coat, and was in a position to prove that thisvery coat was the coat which Mr. Meager had brought home with him toNorthumberland Street on that day. But Mr. Wickerby was of opinionthat the coat had better not be used. "It does not go far enough,"said Mr. Wickerby. "It don't go very far, certainly," said Mr.Chaffanbrass. "And if you try to show that another man has done it,and he hasn't," said Mr. Wickerby, "it always tells against youwith a jury." To this Mr. Chaffanbrass made no reply, preferring toform his own opinion, and to keep it to himself when formed. But inobedience to his instructions, Lord Fawn was asked to attend at Mr.Wickerby's chambers, in the cause of truth, and the coat was broughtout on the occasion. "Was that the sort of coat the man wore, mylord?" said Mr. Chaffanbrass as Mr. Wickerby held up the coat toview. Lord Fawn walked round and round the coat, and looked at itvery carefully before he would vouchsafe a reply. "You see it is agrey coat," said Mr. Chaffanbrass, not speaking at all in the tonewhich Mr. Wickerby's note had induced Lord Fawn to expect.
"It is grey," said Lord Fawn.
"Perhaps it's not the same shade of grey, Lord Fawn. You see, mylord, we are most anxious not to impute guilt where guilt doesn'tlie. You are a witness for the Crown, and, of course, you will tellthe Crown lawyers all that passes here. Were it possible, we wouldmake this little preliminary inquiry in their presence;--but we canhardly do that. Mr. Finn's coat was a very much smaller coat."
"I should think it was," said his lordship, who did not like beingquestioned about coats.
"You don't think the coat the man wore when you saw him was a bigcoat like that? You think he wore a little coat?"
"He wore a grey coat," said Lord Fawn.
"This is grey;--a coat shouldn't be greyer than that."
"I don't think Lord Fawn should be asked any more questions on thematter till he gives his evidence in court," said Mr. Camperdown.
"A man's life depends on it, Mr. Camperdown," said the barrister. "Itisn't a matter of cross-examination. If I bring that coat into courtI must make a charge against another man by the very act of doing so.And I will not do so unless I believe that other man to be guilty.It's an inquiry I can't postpone till we are before the jury. Itisn't that I want to trump up a case against another man for the sakeof extricating my client on a false issue. Lord Fawn doesn't want tohang Mr. Finn if Mr. Finn be not guilty."
"God forbid!" said his lordship.
"Mr. Finn couldn't have worn that coat, or a coat at all like it."
"What is it you do want to learn, Mr. Chaffanbrass?" asked Mr.Camperdown.
"Just put on the coat, Mr. Scruby." Then at the order of thebarrister, Mr. Scruby, the attorney's clerk, did put on Mr. Meager'sold great coat, and walked about the room in it. "Walk quick," saidMr. Chaffanbrass;--and the clerk did "walk quick." He was a stout,thick-set little man, nearly half a foot shorter than Phineas Finn."Is that at all like the figure?" asked Mr. Chaffanbrass.
"I think it is like the figure," said Lord Fawn.
"And like the coat?"
"It's the same colour as the coat."
"You wouldn't swear it was not the coat?"
"I am not on my oath at all, Mr. Chaffanbrass."
"No, my lord;--but to me your word is as good as your oath. If youthink it possible that was the coat--"
"I don't think anything about it at all. When Mr. Scruby hurries downthe room in that way he looks as the man looked when he was hurryingunder the lamp-post. I am not disposed to say any more at present."
"It's a matter of regret to me that Lord Fawn should have come hereat all," said Mr. Camperdown, who had been summoned to meet hisclient at the chambers, but had come with him.
"I suppose his lordship wishes us to know all that he knew, seeingthat it's a question of hanging the right man or the wrong one. Inever heard such trash in my life. Take it off, Mr. Scruby, and letthe policeman keep it. I understand Lord Fawn to say that the man'sfigure was about the same as yours. My client, I believe, standsabout twelve inches taller. Thank you, my lord;--we shall get atthe truth at last, I don't doubt." It was afterwards said that Mr.Chaffanbrass's conduct had been very improper in enticing Lord Fawnto Mr. Wickerby's chambers; but Mr. Chaffanbrass never cared whatany one said. "I don't know that we can make much of it," he said,when he and Mr. Wickerby were alone, "but it may be as well to bringit into court. It would prove nothing against the Jew even if thatfellow,"--he meant Lord Fawn,--"could be made to swear that thecoat worn was exactly similar to this. I am thinking now about theheight."
"I don't doubt but you'll get him off."
"Well;--I may do so. They ought not to hang any man on such evidenceas there is against him, even though there were no moral doubt of hisguilt. There is nothing really to connect Mr. Phineas Finn with themurder,--nothing tangible. But there is no saying nowadays what ajury will do. Juries depend a great deal more on the judge than theyused to do. If I were on trial for my life, I don't think I'd havecounsel at all."
"No one could defend you as well as yourself, Mr. Chaffanbrass."
"I didn't mean that. No;--I shouldn't defend myself. I should sayto the judge, 'My lord, I don't doubt the jury will do just as youtell them, and you'll form your own opinion quite independent of thearguments.'"
"You'd be hung, Mr. Chaffanbrass."
"No; I don't know that I should," said Mr. Chaffanbrass, slowly. "Idon't think I could affront a judge of the present day into hangingme. They've too much of what I call thick-skinned honesty for that.It's the temper of the time to resent nothing,--to be mealy-mouthedand mealy-hearted. Jurymen are afraid of having their own opinion,and almost always shirk a verdict when they can."
"But we do get verdicts."
"Yes; the judges give them. And they are mealy-mouthed verdicts,tending to equalise crime and innocence, and to make men think thatafter all it may be a question whether fraud is violence, which,after all, is manly, and to feel that we cannot afford to hatedishonesty. It was a bad day for the commercial world, Mr. Wickerby,when forgery ceased to be capital."
"It was a horrid thing to hang a man for writing another man's nameto a receipt for thirty shillings."
"We didn't do it, but the fact that the law held certain frauds to behanging matters operated on the minds of men in regard to all fraud.What with the joint-stock working of companies, and the confusionbetween directors who know nothing and managers who know everything,and the dislike of juries to tread upon people's corns, you can'tpunish dishonest trading. Caveat emptor is the only motto going,and the worst proverb that ever came from dishonest stony-heartedRome. With such a motto as that to guide us no man dare trust hisbrother. Caveat lex,--and let the man who cheats cheat at hisperil."
"You'd gi
ve the law a great deal to do."
"Much less than at present. What does your Caveat emptor come to?That every seller tries to pick the eyes out of the head of thepurchaser. Sooner or later the law must interfere, and Caveatemptor falls to the ground. I bought a horse the other day; mydaughter wanted something to look pretty, and like an old ass as I amI gave a hundred and fifty pounds for the brute. When he came home hewasn't worth a feed of corn."
"You had a warranty, I suppose?"
"No, indeed! Did you ever hear of such an old fool?"
"I should have thought any dealer would have taken him back for thesake of his character."
"Any dealer would; but--I bought him of a gentleman."
"Mr. Chaffanbrass!"
"I ought to have known better, oughtn't I? Caveat emptor."
"It was just giving away your money, you know."
"A great deal worse than that. I could have given the--gentleman--ahundred and fifty pounds, and not have minded it much. I ought tohave had the horse killed, and gone to a dealer for another. Insteadof that,--I went to an attorney."
"Oh, Mr. Chaffanbrass;--the idea of your going to an attorney."
"I did then. I never had so much honest truth told me in my life."
"By an attorney!"
"He said that he did think I'd been born long enough to have knownbetter than that! I pleaded on my own behalf that the gentleman saidthe horse was all right. 'Gentleman!' exclaimed my friend. 'You goto a gentleman for a horse; you buy a horse from a gentleman withouta warranty; and then you come to me! Didn't you ever hear of Caveatemptor, Mr. Chaffanbrass? What can I do for you?' That's what myfriend, the attorney, said to me."
"And what came of it, Mr. Chaffanbrass? Arbitration, I should say?"
"Just that;--with the horse eating his head off every meal at everso much per week,--till at last I fairly gave in from sheer vexation.So the--gentleman--got my money, and I added something to my stockof experience. Of course, that's only my story, and it may be thatthe gentleman could tell it another way. But I say that if my storybe right the doctrine of Caveat emptor does not encourage trade.I don't know how we got to all this from Mr. Finn. I'm to see himto-morrow."
"Yes;--he is very anxious to speak to you."
"What's the use of it, Wickerby? I hate seeing a client.--What comesof it?"
"Of course he wants to tell his own story."
"But I don't want to hear his own story. What good will his own storydo me? He'll tell me either one of two things. He'll swear he didn'tmurder the man--"
"That's what he'll say."
"Which can have no effect upon me one way or the other; or else he'llsay that he did,--which would cripple me altogether."
"He won't say that, Mr. Chaffanbrass."
"There's no knowing what they'll say. A man will go on swearing byhis God that he is innocent, till at last, in a moment of emotion, hebreaks down, and out comes the truth. In such a case as this I do notin the least want to know the truth about the murder."
"That is what the public wants to know."
"Because the public is ignorant. The public should not wish to knowanything of the kind. What we should all wish to get at is the truthof the evidence about the murder. The man is to be hung not becausehe committed the murder,--as to which no positive knowledge isattainable; but because he has been proved to have committed themurder,--as to which proof, though it be enough for hanging, theremust always be attached some shadow of doubt. We were delighted tohang Palmer,--but we don't know that he killed Cook. A learned manwho knew more about it than we can know seemed to think that hedidn't. Now the last man to give us any useful insight into theevidence is the prisoner himself. In nineteen cases out of twenty aman tried for murder in this country committed the murder for whichhe is tried."
"There really seems to be a doubt in this case."
"I dare say. If there be only nineteen guilty out of twenty, theremust be one innocent; and why not Mr. Phineas Finn? But, if it be so,he, burning with the sense of injustice, thinks that everybody shouldsee it as he sees it. He is to be tried, because, on investigation,everybody sees it just in a different light. In such case he isunfortunate, but he can't assist me in liberating him from hismisfortune. He sees what is patent and clear to him,--that he walkedhome on that night without meddling with any one. But I can't seethat, or make others see it, because he sees it."
"His manner of telling you may do something."
"If it do, Mr. Wickerby, it is because I am unfit for my business.If he have the gift of protesting well, I am to think him innocent;and, therefore, to think him guilty, if he be unprovided with sucheloquence! I will neither believe or disbelieve anything that aclient says to me,--unless he confess his guilt, in which case myservices can be but of little avail. Of course I shall see him, as heasks it. We had better meet there,--say at half-past ten." WhereuponMr. Wickerby wrote to the governor of the prison begging that PhineasFinn might be informed of the visit.
Phineas had now been in gaol between six and seven weeks, and thevery fact of his incarceration had nearly broken his spirits. Twoof his sisters, who had come from Ireland to be near him, saw himevery day, and his two friends, Mr. Low and Lord Chiltern, were veryfrequently with him; Lady Laura Kennedy had not come to him again;but he heard from her frequently through Barrington Erle. LordChiltern rarely spoke of his sister,--alluding to her merely inconnection with her father and her late husband. Presents still cameto him from various quarters,--as to which he hardly knew whence theycame. But the Duchess and Lady Chiltern and Lady Laura all cateredfor him,--while Mrs. Bunce looked after his wardrobe, and saw that hewas not cut down to prison allowance of clean shirts and socks. Butthe only friend whom he recognised as such was the friend who wouldfreely declare a conviction of his innocence. They allowed him booksand pens and paper, and even cards, if he chose to play at Patiencewith them or build castles. The paper and pens he could use becausehe could write about himself. From day to day he composed a diary inwhich he was never tired of expatiating on the terrible injustice ofhis position. But he could not read. He found it to be impossible tofix his attention on matters outside himself. He assured himself fromhour to hour that it was not death he feared,--not even death fromthe hangman's hand. It was the condemnation of those who had knownhim that was so terrible to him--the feeling that they with whom hehad aspired to work and live, the leading men and women of his day,Ministers of the Government and their wives, statesmen and theirdaughters, peers and members of the House in which he himself hadsat;--that these should think that, after all, he had been a baseadventurer unworthy of their society! That was the sorrow that brokehim down, and drew him to confess that his whole life had been afailure.
Mr. Low had advised him not to see Mr. Chaffanbrass;--but he hadpersisted in declaring that there were instructions which no onebut himself could give to the counsellor whose duty it would be todefend him at the trial. Mr. Chaffanbrass came at the hour fixed,and with him came Mr. Wickerby. The old barrister bowed courteouslyas he entered the prison room, and the attorney introduced the twogentlemen with more than all the courtesy of the outer world. "I amsorry to see you here, Mr. Finn," said the barrister.
"It's a bad lodging, Mr. Chaffanbrass, but the term will soon beover. I am thinking a good deal more of my next abode."
"It has to be thought of, certainly," said the barrister. "Let ushope that it may be all that you would wish it to be. My servicesshall not be wanting to make it so."
"We are doing all we can, Mr. Finn," said Mr. Wickerby.
"Mr. Chaffanbrass," said Phineas, "there is one special thing thatI want you to do." The old man, having his own idea as to what wascoming, laid one of his hands over the other, bowed his head, andlooked meek. "I want you to make men believe that I am innocent ofthis crime."
This was better than Mr. Chaffanbrass expected. "I trust that we maysucceed in making twelve men believe it," said he.
"Comparatively I do not care a straw for the twelve men. It is not tothem especially that I
am anxious that you should address yourself--"
"But that will be my bounden duty, Mr. Finn."
"I can well believe, sir, that though I have myself been bred alawyer, I may not altogether understand the nature of an advocate'sduty to his client. But I would wish something more to be done thanwhat you intimate."
"The duty of an advocate defending a prisoner is to get a verdictof acquittal if he can, and to use his own discretion in making theattempt."
"But I want something more to be attempted, even if in the strugglesomething less be achieved. I have known men to be so acquitted thatevery man in court believed them to be guilty."
"No doubt;--and such men have probably owed much to their advocates."
"It is not such a debt that I wish to owe. I know my own innocence."
"Mr. Chaffanbrass takes that for granted," said Mr. Wickerby.
"To me it is a matter of astonishment that any human being shouldbelieve me to have committed this murder. I am lost in surprise whenI remember that I am here simply because I walked home from my clubwith a loaded stick in my pocket. The magistrate, I suppose, thoughtme guilty."
"He did not think about it, Mr. Finn. He went by the evidence;--thequarrel, your position in the streets at the time, the colour of thecoat you wore and that of the coat worn by the man whom Lord Fawn sawin the street; the doctor's evidence as to the blows by which the manwas killed; and the nature of the weapon which you carried. He putthese things together, and they were enough to entitle the public todemand that a jury should decide. He didn't say you were guilty. Heonly said that the circumstances were sufficient to justify a trial."
"If he thought me innocent he would not have sent me here."
"Yes, he would;--if the evidence required that he should do so."
"We will not argue about that, Mr. Chaffanbrass."
"Certainly not, Mr. Finn."
"Here I am, and to-morrow I shall be tried for my life. My life willbe nothing to me unless it can be made clear to all the world thatI am innocent. I would be sooner hung for this,--with the certaintyat my heart that all England on the next day would ring with theassurance of my innocence, than be acquitted and afterwards be lookedupon as a murderer." Phineas, when he was thus speaking, had steppedout into the middle of the room, and stood with his head thrownback, and his right hand forward. Mr. Chaffanbrass, who was himselfan ugly, dirty old man, who had always piqued himself on beingindifferent to appearance, found himself struck by the beauty andgrace of the man whom he now saw for the first time. And he wasstruck, too, by his client's eloquence, though he had expresslydeclared to the attorney that it was his duty to be superior to anysuch influence. "Oh, Mr. Chaffanbrass, for the love of Heaven, letthere be no quibbling."
"We never quibble, I hope, Mr. Finn."
"No subterfuges, no escaping by a side wind, no advantage taken oflittle forms, no objection taken to this and that as though delaywould avail us anything."
"Character will go a great way, we hope."
"It should go for nothing. Though no one would speak a word for me,still am I innocent. Of course the truth will be known some day."
"I'm not so sure of that, Mr. Finn."
"It will certainly be known some day. That it should not be knownas yet is my misfortune. But in defending me I would have you hurldefiance at my accusers. I had the stick in my pocket,--havingheretofore been concerned with ruffians in the street. I did quarrelwith the man, having been insulted by him at the club. The coat whichI wore was such as they say. But does that make a murderer of me?"
"Somebody did the deed, and that somebody could probably say all thatyou say."
"No, sir;--he, when he is known, will be found to have been skulkingin the streets; he will have thrown away his weapon; he will havebeen secret in his movements; he will have hidden his face, and havebeen a murderer in more than the deed. When they came to me in themorning did it seem to them that I was a murderer? Has my life beenlike that? They who have really known me cannot believe that I havebeen guilty. They who have not known me, and do believe, will live tolearn their error."
He then sat down and listened patiently while the old lawyerdescribed to him the nature of the case,--wherein lay his danger, andwherein what hope there was of safety. There was no evidence againsthim other than circumstantial evidence, and both judges and jurywere wont to be unwilling to accept such, when uncorroborated, assufficient in cases of life and death. Unfortunately, in this casethe circumstantial evidence was very strong against him. But, on theother hand, his character, as to which men of great mark would speakwith enthusiasm, would be made to stand very high. "I would not haveit made to stand higher than it is," said Phineas. As to the opinionof the world afterwards, Mr. Chaffanbrass went on to say, of that hemust take his chance. But surely he himself might fight better for itliving than any friend could do for him after his death. "You mustbelieve me in this, Mr. Finn, that a verdict of acquittal from thejury is the one object that we must have before us."
"The one object that I shall have before me is the verdict of thepublic," said Phineas. "I am treated with so much injustice in beingthought a murderer that they can hardly add anything to it by hangingme."
When Mr. Chaffanbrass left the prison he walked back with Mr.Wickerby to the attorney's chambers in Hatton Garden, and he lingeredfor awhile on the Viaduct expressing his opinion of his client. "He'snot a bad fellow, Wickerby."
"A very good sort of fellow, Mr. Chaffanbrass."
"I never did,--and I never will,--express an opinion of my own asto the guilt or innocence of a client till after the trial is over.But I have sometimes felt as though I would give the blood out of myveins to save a man. I never felt in that way more strongly than I donow."
"It'll make me very unhappy, I know, if it goes against him," saidMr. Wickerby.
"People think that the special branch of the profession into which Ihave chanced to fall is a very low one,--and I do not know whether,if the world were before me again, I would allow myself to drift intoan exclusive practice in criminal courts."
"Yours has been a very useful life, Mr. Chaffanbrass."
"But I often feel," continued the barrister, paying no attention tothe attorney's last remark, "that my work touches the heart morenearly than does that of gentlemen who have to deal with matters ofproperty and of high social claims. People think I am savage,--savageto witnesses."
"You can frighten a witness, Mr. Chaffanbrass."
"It's just the trick of the trade that you learn, as a girl learnsthe notes of her piano. There's nothing in it. You forget it all thenext hour. But when a man has been hung whom you have striven tosave, you do remember that. Good-morning, Mr. Wickerby. I'll be therea little before ten. Perhaps you may have to speak to me."