before he had expressed his intention of absconding, provided he
could obtain the means of making his way in one of the colonies.
Then followed a summary of the deductions resulting from the evidence
about to be adduced, and which carried upon its face the inference
that the absence of the cousin, the remoteness of the room, the sight
of a large sum of money, and the helplessness of the old man, had
proved temptations too strong for a fiery and impatient youth, long
fretted by the restraints of his situation, and had conducted him to
violence, robbery, and flight. It was a case that could not be
regarded without great regret and compassion; but the gentlemen of
the jury must bear in mind in their investigation, that pity must not
be permitted to distort the facts, which he feared were only too
obvious.

The speech was infinitely more telling from its fair and
commiserating tone towards the prisoner; and the impression that it
carried, not that he was to be persecuted by having the crime
fastened on him, but that truth must be sought out at all hazards.

'Even he is sorry for Leonard! I don't hate him as I thought I
should,' whispered Gertrude May, to her elder sister. The first
witness was, as before, the young maid-servant, Anne Ellis, who
described her first discovery of the body; and on farther
interrogation, the situation of the room, distant from those of the
servants, and out of hearing--also her master's ordinary condition of
feebleness. She had observed nothing in the room, or on the table,
but knew the window was open, since she had run to it, and screamed
for help, upon which Master Hardy had come to her aid.

Leonard's counsel then elicited from her how low the window was, and