Under cross-examination Gunston, his honour being at stake, flatly denied that he had refused a challenge. He insisted that he had refused only to fight Roger there and then without seconds and the observance of proper formalities.
During the evidence much had been said to show that, although Roger's visits to Stillwaters occurred only at long intervals, he obviously regarded it as his second home, particularly as his little daughter was being brought up there with the young Earl of St. Ermins. It was therefore evident that, having been debarred from visiting the house in future, he had much to lose; whereas with Beefy dead he would be free to continue staying there and making merry in it with his mistress.
In his summing up the Judge stressed this point, and it was clear that on the evidence he believed Roger to be guilty. As Roger was about to be led away he felt it as good as certain that he would be convicted, and he wondered vaguely what the black cap was like that the Judge would put on when sentencing him to be hanged by the neck until dead, after the passing of the next three Sundays.
He had always expected to die from a sword thrust or a bullet, and the thought of being strangled while kicking wildly at the end of a rope both nauseated and frightened him. The Judge had been scrupulously fair, except in one particular for which he could not be blamed, and that could have made no material difference. Gunston's evidence had been truthful and the jury had, if anything, appeared sympathetic. So there were no grounds on which he could lodge an appeal. Thinking again of the horrible death that awaited him, he wished now that the bullet that had hit him at Marengo had done so a few inches lower and proved fatal.
The Judge had already left the dais and the jury had risen, when there was a stir at the back of the Court. Two black-clad women were pushing their way through the press. At the sound of the slight commotion Roger turned, halted, pushed aside the two gaolers who were leading him away and started back towards the dock. He felt certain that he had caught sight of Jenny's face. If so, the other figure, heavily veiled in crepe, could only be Georgina.
Colonel Thursby had left the well of the Court to meet them. Roger's gaolers tried to make him accompany them out and across the corridor to a cell; but he insisted on remaining where he was, and they were reluctant to make a scene by manhandling him. There were hasty, whispered exchanges between Georgina, her father and Sergeant Burnfurze, then the latter went out to speak to the Judge.
Order was called for. The Judge returned and addressed the Counsel for the Prosecution. 'I am informed that the Countess of St. Ermins is now in Court and has asked to be allowed to give evidence. As this may throw new light on this case I am of the opinion we should hear Her Ladyship.'
Georgina mounted the stand, threw back her veil, took the oath and addressed the Judge in a low voice, 'My Lord, I pray you pardon my belated appearance but it was only yesterday that my maid learned from a news sheet that Mr. Brook is accused of murdering my late husband and was to be brought to trial today. I have been travelling all night to get here, because I was the only independent witness of this terrible affair and felt it my duty to give an account of it to the Court.'
The Judge nodded but made no comment, and she went on in a stronger voice to describe what had taken place. Her account differed from Gunston's on two points. She said that he had refused Roger's challenge to a duel; and that at the fatal moment when Roger had lunged at him, the Colonel, having the much heavier weapon, had knocked Roger's rapier aside; so deflecting the thrust that, with considerable impetus still behind it, the blade had pierced her husband's body.
In the first matter she had told the truth, in the second she had deliberately perjured herself; but if she was believed Roger's life would be saved.
Sergeant Burnfurze put a few questions to her, bringing out that Roger, having been very drunk, could have had little control over his weapon yet, having lurched forward, the whole weight of his body would have been behind it.
Counsel for the Prosecution then rose to cross-examine. He asked if it was true that on the evening preceding the tragedy her husband had said in her presence that he would not tolerate further visits to Stillwaters by the defendant.
'Yes,' Georgina replied. 'He did say something to that effect.'
The little lawyer took a pinch of snuff, gave a self-satisfied smile and said, 'Perhaps Your Ladyship can tell us your husband's reason for being averse to continuing to receive Mr. Brook in his house?'
Looking straight at him, Georgina cried in ringing tones, ‘I will; although I doubt not you have already ferreted it out. 'Twas because some rattle-trap servant had told him that Mr. Brook was my lover. And 'twas the truth. I care not who knows it! We have been lovers since we were boy and girl, and no woman ever had a finer, braver man on whom to bestow her favours.'
Georgina's bold declaration caused an excited buzz to run round the Court. The usher called for silence; then Counsel, looking at the jury, said with a slight sneer, 'Her Ladyship's admission is all that was needed to show that she and her lover were so enamoured of one another that they would brook no hindrance to their immoralities. As to my Lady's story of the rapier being struck aside. I leave you, gentlemen, to judge its worth.'
The moment he sat down, Burnfurze lumbered to his feet. 'M'Lud! I protest! I take great exception to my learned colleague's innuendo. My Lady St. Ermins has testified on oath that the rapier was struck aside. She was in a better position to see what occurred than Colonel Gunston, and he has admitted under cross-examination that this was like no ordinary duel, but an exchange of wild blows the sequence of which neither he nor the defendant can recall exactly.
'As to Her Ladyship's generous admission that she and the defendant had been lovers for many years, nothing could more completely demolish the case for the Prosecution. Had they but just met and become newly engaged in a passionate association, it is perhaps possible that the defendant, seized by violent jealousy while too drunk to control his emotion, might have made a thrust at the hated husband of his mistress. But here we have a couple who have been lovers since their teens. In fact this extra-marital relationship was such that passion must have long since died down and given place to an almost conjugal state. And pray observe, gentlemen of the jury, that there was no question of the association being brought to an abrupt end. Stillwaters alone was to be denied to the couple as a place at which to meet. They were perfectly free to see one another wherever and whenever else they would.'
The Judge again summed up. He gave some weight to Georgina's statement that Roger's rapier had been knocked from its intended course by Gunston's heavier weapon, and Burnfurze's argument that as the association between Georgina and Roger had existed for many years it was not reasonable to suppose that a sudden upsurge of jealousy had led him to seize the offered opportunity to kill her husband. But he put it to the jury that, in view of Lady St. Ermins' confessed life-long attachment to the defendant, they might consider the evidence she had given to be very highly prejudiced in his favour.
The Court thereupon rose. The judge was solemnly escorted from it, the jury retired to consider their verdict and Roger was taken by his warders to a cell across the corridor.
The jury were absent for six hours. During that time the strain on Roger, waiting to hear the verdict they would bring in, was appalling. He was well aware that Georgina had perjured herself in the hope of saving him; for it had been his off-balance stagger that had caused his rapier to pierce Beefy's side—not, as she had sworn, a blow from Gunston's sword that had turned the thrust. But, after her admission that he had been the one man who really counted in her life, would the jury believe that?