THE JEW'S HOUSE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2902, 27 October 1909, Page 76

THE JEW'S HOUSE.

By Fekgus Hume.

CHAPTER X.— (Continued.)

There was a movement of surprise in the court, for unless the one witness could prove ; that someone else murdered Sir Giles, there diid not seem to be much chance -of Ben-Ezra's acquittal. But that the witness had something vital to aay was proved by the disturbed expression of the countenance of the Grown Proeecutor. Be also had seen Ashton and Luck dunning the lunoheon. hour, and what tihey had to -reveal apparently dad not please bini. However, he remained quiet, a* did Ashton, when Mass Ida Cashell was .placed in the witciess box. When she . threw' fraok here veil there was a hum of admiration at -her appearance. - B-autg; ' clever, Mass Cashell had made herself 'as attractive as possible, and was arrayed quietly, but in. exquisite taste. Heir figtur© was perfect, as was the gown which* clothed it, and her face, vivacious and chsia^ninig, looked 'exta*emeiy * attractive under 1 'her crown of ruddy 'hair. She was entdrsly self-possessed, and answered all th© questions put to her in that soft, low, j sweet voice wfcLoh is, on tihe authority of King 1 Lear, euppesed to be an excellent thing , in woman. , ! The evidences of Miss Casliell ran some- ! what- in- this fashion. She was the gover- j ness- in the family of the late Sir Giles ', Dove, and had known the dead man in- j timately. She had nevee Heard Sir Giles say thai Ban-Ezra would kill him, acd that the deceased had no, fear of such \ catastrophe wa« amply proved by his going unattended to Tanbuck Hall at a late hour, when hs would be alona with the ] priscaier. Witness, along with Lady Doye, the wife of the dead iran, was ' active in philanthropic worbs in Bruntlea.. j Amongst those to whom she attended i amorgst the poor was Simon Daxley, a j locksmith by trade. The man had been j ruined by tlie prisoner, and hated him j profoundly. Also — and with less cause — j he bated the Tats Sir Giles, who, being a hot-tempered man, had spoken harshly to hem when he asked for charity. • Mass Cashell stated t4xit on the previous day she had gone to see Simon- Daxley, who was. supposed to be dying of consumption.. She found him nearly at his last gasp, and was assured by che doctor that he could- not last more than forty-eigihit i hours. When the verdict was given, Daxiey, knowing that he was about to ■ leave* ,-tflie world, asked that t-he room might be cleared of all save Miss Cas-hell. Wfieo alone with the governess, Daxley had confessed that he had killed Sir Giles ' Dove. ' Being a mined man, because of BeiirEzra's cruelty, Daxley had intended, if possible, to kill the Jew, and for that purpose -. had repaired to Tanbuck Hall. As lie. was a locksmith, he easily mad-e a i false key, and so had opan-ed the .smaller gate, -which lie left ajar when he stole up the aterrue under cover of the fog. He carried' a knife with him for the purpose of stubbing hi® enemy. W-b?le in the avenue he. heard footsteps and the voice of someone, speaking loudly. The "voice was that of Sir Giles, who had J entered' in by the small gate immediately | after' -Bastey had passed through. Daxley j then regretted' that he had not locked the gate, as he thought that Sir Giles's presence v/ouldi hamper him. in murdering the Jew. Daxley waited in the dai-kness until Sir Giles passed him on. his way to the. hall, and thran followed. Ihe locksmith saw Sir Giles {Emitted into the house by Mrs Jorvin, and decided to wait until the baronet came, out and Ben-Ezra was alone. Then — as he believed — he could murder the Jew without a witness to the deed. But while waiting round the corner ot the house Daxley saw a bright light irradiating the fog, and f»to!e forward to examine what it was. Be found that the illumination proceeded .from the brilliantly lighted drawing room, through the three French windows whicih opened on to the | terrace. Tba curtains were net do-awn, j nor were the blinds down, ard Daxley, looking in, saw Sir Giles furiously conversing wi-tb Ben-Ezra. The Jew was yeated by t-he table, listening quietly, but Sir Giles was walking restlessly about, shaking his fist ar.d using bed language. At least Daxky thought so, for he could not hear w-Jiat was bslng said. Crouching in the fog and the darkness, Daxley saw Sir Giles roughly open the window— the one nearest to his hiding plaoe on the terrace^ — and leave the nouse. Ben-Ezra closed tie window, and Daxley stole forward to see wQ:at he was doing. The room was empty, but still lighted, so apparently Ben-Ezra- had left it for a few moment ?. Daxley then caught sight ot the revolver on the side-table, and it occurred to him that if he could shoot BenEzra it would be safer, since he — Daxley — was weak with car;umption, and might! not be able to use his knife effectively in struggling with so strong in,d iviry a mail as the Jew. Daxley — the witness went on to saythen, deliberately wnaMhci the window, rushed forward, secured the revolver, and then, re-locking the window — which he had opened by thrusting his band through the broken pane and lifting the la>tch — waited outside, ready for his victim. His idea was that Ben-Ezra might be brought back hurriedly on hearing the smashing of the,- glass, and then could be shot tftiTOugh ,- t«he -broken window. Daxley never thought that the shot would be heards, , as on suoh, a foggy night no one would ..be about, aaxl the Bail servants would ■certainly be in bed. But Ben-Ezra did- not return, and Daxley, with the revolver' poised, waited near the window. " Then Sir Gifes :ame hastily throQigb 't3ie fog and up the terrace steps Wards tlie window. He brushed past

D&riey, uttered) a staxitted cry, and in a blind way turned to .tackle him. Daxley as blindly fired the revolver and Jolted the baronet "Did he- recognise him?" asked the judge at this point. "Yes," admitted the -witness, "he did-, as the brilliant light was streaming through the window. And he thought that Sir Giles recognised him also, although he flung himself blindly on him in the first instance. But Daxley did nu intern! to kill Sir Giles, although he hated him for his 'narshness." • "Why, then," asked' the counsel for the prosecution, "did he fire three shots afror recognition? Admitting- that he fired the first blindly, so as to protect himsoli from ihe assault — 1 presume that is what is meant — lie must have fired the remaining two shots with great deliberatim." "He did so," said Miss Cashell, quickly, "because when Sir Giles was dead, in a moment Daxley saw that when the dead body was found the circumstances were favourable to the Jew being accused. He i fired the /wo other shots to make sure I that Sir Giles was dead and would not incriminate him, and then, dropping tho revolver, fled into the darkness. He managed tc escape through the still open gate and regain his home." Witness went on to say that when she heard this confession s-h-e in«i=ied that Inspector Quill should be culled in and that it should be taken down, *o that in innocent man's life should be saved. Daxley objected, but the managed to overrule his objections, and s-snt to tho police station. The inspector took down the confession, an* 7 it was «i«ned by Daxley ! ani witnessed by .Miss Cr.shell her-elf and | the officer. The man -was <=till alive, but i a policeman had b;-en placed in charge oi j the wreUhed hove! which he called his [ ( home. Inspector Quill had 'ie comet,- i , sion. ! Tho inspector also waa in attendance, ' p.iiid after some talk on the part of the i opposing counsel, he was called. Step- , j ping into the witness box he i>rcduccd the , I confession of Simon Daxley, and gave very | i similar evdencs to that oi Miss Cashell | regarding the procuring of the same, i Quill swore also that foe- had examined the ! child Mabel Daxley, die daughter of the i locksmith, who had stated how her father j cania home worn out shortly before y | o'clock on the night of the murder The j ciime had bsen committed shortly after 8 ; o'elcck, and it would- be ca«y for Daxley i to regain his home rapidly, as it was no I very great distance away. Also, Daxleyj could easily make a duplicate key of the gate. '"In every point," said the inspector emphat.ica.lly, " I believe the case is j clear against D-nxiey. He is the true orimina'l, aoi even if he did not intend to murder Sir Giles, he certainly did shoot lvim, and then deliberately allowed the prisoner at. the bar to walk into the trap." j The counsel for tha prosecution opposed ; a nolle prcsequi being entered in favour j of Ben-Ezra uratil ths confession of Daxley hod been thoroughly tested. "Many I men,"' said the barrister, ''confess to crime? with which they are in nowise concerned. It might be a morbid desire for fame, or it might be a case ot | bribery " j Counsel for the defence interrupted at i this point, a,nd' stated that, seeing Daxley was djyung, tihere could be no desire for a fame which would leave his daughter Mabel a smirched name. As to bribery, that was out or th>3 question, since Daxley ! hated the prisoner so much that no money | would -make him incriminate himself to I save his life. " But if he laid the trap to catch the piisoner,"' argued the prosecution, "why I ■did he embl-e nis victim to escape at the eleventh hour?" "I think Miss Cashell can best answer that question," said Ashton drily. Tho witness said that it w.i* entirely • due to her influence and to Daxley's weak" state of health that he confessed. She ; lift no reason to believe that Daxley was j lying: a man on the pjjnt of death would ' scarcely lie, especially when ihe lie would ' save his enemy. | Alter some deliberation t.he court was ■ adjourned until the next day. Handy , Luck wished Ashton to insist that a nolle prosequi >hon'd be entered at once and | the pri.--or.er discharged. But, it was Ben- j Ezuv hin>.jlf who vetoed this coiu&e being | taken. ] "LH things remain as they i>re," he I i whispered to his solicitor. "Another j night in prison will not hurt nw. Be- ■ s'de«, it is ju.-t as well that everyt-hhig ! fi'ould be done in due order, lest people ! should question the \ardkt of my dis- ! charge. But- they will do that in any | c-yse," ho ended cynically J '.therefore the coiii^t was duly adjourned so that Daxley's confession might be tes-ted and the man himself be examined, j There was considerable talk during the I interval, and grave doubts were expicssed .is to the truthfulness ol the lotk.smith's statement. All the nictiopolitan and provincial papers ■n-ore filled with the unexpected news, with leaders and letters horn this person and that. Many were the discussions w.luch took place ; but Ben-Ezra 'had few defender, not with- { standing the evidence which had turned up in is favour Some people — the majority, in fact — declared that the Jew . had bribed Daxiey into taking the blame ' on hi.s dying self, and this in spite of i Asht on's speech. However, there was no- ' thing to be done until the matter was officially looked into, and everyone waited for the re-assembling of the court with breathless anticipation. It was quite two days before the sitting took plaoe, aaid during that tune the lock smith died. But before passing away he swore most positively that he had acted as stated in his confession, and that he alone had murdered Sir Giles in the manner described by Miss Cabhell. Ibis ji

positive declaration, token, in conjunction ■with the evidence oi the newly-manufac-tured key — found in the gate — and the evidence of the child Mabel reg-aiding her father's home-coming on the fatal night, went fair to prove the exact truth. lai the face of such strong evidence there was nothing left to do but to discharge Ben-Ezra from his uncomfortable position. Accordingly, a. nolle prosequi was duly entered and the Jew was set free. He Teectived Ms dismissal vrdth the same | coolness as he had exhibited throughout the ordeal of tihe trial itself, amd did not seem to notice the unpleasant fact that no or.i 9 save Handy Luck congratulated him on his freedom. His first .idea when at liberty was to interview his counsel. " He's gone,'' saad Bandy Luck, with- a. shrug of disgust; "he refused to meet you, the ungrateful young dog. A shame I call it, seeing what a glorious chance you have given him to make his name." "And he has made it, eh V said BenE?rra, his face lighting up. "Oh, yes. lam sure of that. Considering the absence of evidence until Miss Cashell came along, he made a very good fight for it, and proved to be — as you heard, Mr Ben-Ezra — a, very excellent cross-examiner. His speech also was very good. All -he needs is experience to develop into a X.C. — the qualifications are there, without doubt." 'Then I beg of you," said the Jew quickly, '"to give him what work you can." "What?" Luck opened his cunning eye^. ' '"Will jou help \Cni after the. ungrateful way in which he has bcfiraved ?' '"Hiunar nature, my g<;cd fellow : meiely human nature. Besides, he la- ' bourg under a, misconception as to my i true character, and thinks that I cheated his grandfather, General Asliton, out of the Hall." . | '"I don't know how you came by tho Hall," said the lawyer, bluntly, for he had never credited his client with strict honesty in business dealings. Bsn-Ezra chuckled. "Xop does anyone else, my friend. They think — well, lot them think : my s-hould'ers are breed enough to bear the burden of lying gossip."' "H'm !" said Luck, raising his eyebrows, "it is gossip, then?' "Give youiu, Ashton all the work you can," retorted Ben-Ezra, without replying dipectlj. "When I want your advice I'll tell you my trade secrets. '' (To be continued.)