And now, passing under a narrow doorway4, he found himself in the dock, confronting a judge in his scarlet5 robes, in a large court-house. There was nothing to elevate this Temple of Themis above its vulgar kind elsewhere. Dingy enough it looked, in spite of candles lighted in decent abundance. A case had just closed, and the last juror’s back was seen escaping through the door in the wall of the jury-box. There were some dozen barristers, some fiddling6 with pen and ink, others buried in briefs, some beckoning7, with the plumes8 of their pens, to their attorneys, of whom there were no lack; there were clerks toing and froing, and the officers of the court, and the registrar9, who was handing up a paper to the judge; and the tipstaff, who was presenting a note at the end of his wand to a king’s counsel over the heads of the crowd between. If this was the High Court of Appeal, which never rose day or night, it might account for the pale and jaded10 aspect of everybody in it. An air of indescribable gloom hung upon the pallid11 features of all the people here; no one ever smiled; all looked more or less secretly suffering.
“The King against Elijah Harbottle!” shouted the officer.
“Is the appellant Lewis Pyneweck in court?” asked Chief–Justice Twofold, in a voice of thunder, that shook the woodwork of the court, and boomed down the corridors.
Up stood Pyneweck from his place at the table.
“Arraign the prisoner!” roared the Chief: and Judge Harbottle felt the panels of the dock round him, and the floor, and the rails quiver in the vibrations12 of that tremendous voice.
The prisoner, in limine, objected to this pretended court, as being a sham13, and non-existent in point of law; and then, that, even if it were a court constituted by law (the Judge was growing dazed), it had not and could not have any jurisdiction14 to try him for his conduct on the bench.
Whereupon the chief-justice laughed suddenly, and every one in court, turning round upon the prisoner, laughed also, till the laugh grew and roared all round like a deafening15 acclamation; he saw nothing but glittering eyes and teeth, a universal stare and grin; but though all the voices laughed, not a single face of all those that concentrated their gaze upon him looked like a laughing face. The mirth subsided16 as suddenly as it began.
The indictment17 was read. Judge Harbottle actually pleaded! He pleaded “Not Guilty.” A jury were sworn. The trial proceeded. Judge Harbottle was bewildered. This could not be real. He must be either mad, or going mad, he thought.
One thing could not fail to strike even him. This Chief–Justice Twofold, who was knocking him about at every turn with sneer18 and gibe19, and roaring him down with his tremendous voice, was a dilated20 effigy21 of himself; an image of Mr. Justice Harbottle, at least double his size, and with all his fierce colouring, and his ferocity of eye and visage, enhanced awfully22.
Nothing the prisoner could argue, cite, or state, was permitted to retard23 for a moment the march of the case towards its catastrophe24.
The chief-justice seemed to feel his power over the jury, and to exult25 and riot in the display of it. He glared at them, he nodded to them; he seemed to have established an understanding with them. The lights were faint in that part of the court. The jurors were mere26 shadows, sitting in rows; the prisoner could see a dozen pair of white eyes shining, coldly, out of the darkness; and whenever the judge in his charge, which was contemptuously brief, nodded and grinned and gibed27, the prisoner could see, in the obscurity, by the dip of all these rows of eyes together, that the jury nodded in acquiescence28.
And now the charge was over, the huge chief-justice leaned back panting and gloating on the prisoner. Every one in the court turned about, and gazed with steadfast29 hatred30 on the man in the dock. From the jury-box where the twelve sworn brethren were whispering together, a sound in the general stillness like a prolonged “hiss-s-s!” was heard; and then, in answer to the challenge of the officer, “How say you, gentlemen of the jury, guilty or not guilty?” came in a melancholy31 voice the finding, “Guilty.”
The place seemed to the eyes of the prisoner to grow gradually darker and darker, till he could discern nothing distinctly but the lumen of the eyes that were turned upon him from every bench and side and corner and gallery of the building. The prisoner doubtless thought that he had quite enough to say, and conclusive32, why sentence of death should not be pronounced upon him; but the lord chief-justice puffed33 it contemptuously away, like so much smoke, and proceeded to pass sentence of death upon the prisoner, having named the tenth of the ensuing month for his execution.
Before he had recovered the stun34 of this ominous35 farce36, in obedience37 to the mandate38, “Remove the prisoner,” he was led from the dock. The lamps seemed all to have gone out, and there were stoves and charcoal-fires here and there, that threw a faint crimson39 light on the walls of the corridors through which he passed. The stones that composed them looked now enormous, cracked and unhewn.
He came into a vaulted40 smithy, where two men, naked to the waist, with heads like bulls, round shoulders, and the arms of giants, were welding red-hot chains together with hammers that pelted41 like thunderbolts.
They looked on the prisoner with fierce red eyes, and rested on their hammers for a minute; and said the elder to his companion, “Take out Elijah Harbottle’s gyves;” and with a pincers he plucked the end which lay dazzling in the fire from the furnace.
“One end locks,” said he, taking the cool end of the iron in one hand, while with the grip of a vice42 he seized the leg of the Judge, and locked the ring round his ankle. “The other,” he said with a grin, “is welded.”
The iron band that was to form the ring for the other leg lay still red hot upon the stone floor, with briliant sparks sporting up and down its surface.
His companion, in his gigantic hands, seized the old Judge’s other leg, and pressed his foot immovably to the stone floor; while his senior, in a twinkling, with a masterly application of pincers and hammer, sped the glowing bar around his ankle so tight that the skin and sinews smoked and bubbled again, and old Judge Harbottle uttered a yell that seemed to chill the very stones, and make the iron chains quiver on the wall.
Chains, vaults43, smiths, and smithy all vanished in a moment; but the pain continued. Mr. Justice Harbottle was suffering torture all round the ankle on which the infernal smiths had just been operating.
His friends, Thavies and Beller, were startled by the Judge’s roar in the midst of their elegant trifling44 about a marriage à-la-mode case which was going on. The Judge was in panic as well as pain. The street lamps and the light of his own hall door restored him.
“I’m very bad,” growled45 he between his set teeth; “my foot’s blazing. Who was he that hurt my foot? ’Tis the gout —’tis the gout!” he said, awaking completely. “How many hours have we been coming from the playhouse? ‘Sblood, what has happened on the way? I’ve slept half the night!”
There had been no hitch46 or delay, and they had driven home at a good pace.
The Judge, however, was in gout; he was feverish47 too; and the attack, though very short, was sharp; and when, in about a fortnight, it subsided, his ferocious48 joviality49 did not return. He could not get this dream, as he chose to call it, out of his head.
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1
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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3
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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4
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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6
fiddling
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| 微小的 | |
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7
beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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8
plumes
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| 羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物 | |
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9
registrar
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| n.记录员，登记员；(大学的)注册主任 | |
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10
jaded
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| adj.精疲力竭的；厌倦的；（因过饱或过多而）腻烦的；迟钝的 | |
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11
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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12
vibrations
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| n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 )；震动；感受；（偏离平衡位置的）一次性往复振动 | |
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13
sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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14
jurisdiction
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| n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权 | |
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15
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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16
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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17
indictment
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| n.起诉；诉状 | |
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sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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gibe
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| n.讥笑；嘲弄 | |
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20
dilated
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| adj.加宽的，扩大的v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
effigy
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| n.肖像 | |
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22
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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23
retard
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| n.阻止，延迟；vt.妨碍，延迟，使减速 | |
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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25
exult
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| v.狂喜，欢腾；欢欣鼓舞 | |
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26
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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gibed
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| v.嘲笑，嘲弄( gibe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
acquiescence
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| n.默许；顺从 | |
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29
steadfast
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| adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的 | |
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30
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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31
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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32
conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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33
puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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34
stun
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| vt.打昏，使昏迷，使震惊，使惊叹 | |
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35
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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farce
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| n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹 | |
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37
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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38
mandate
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| n.托管地；命令，指示 | |
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39
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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40
vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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41
pelted
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| （连续地）投掷( pelt的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续抨击； 攻击； 剥去…的皮 | |
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42
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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43
vaults
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| n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 )；地下室；撑物跳高；墓穴 | |
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44
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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45
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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46
hitch
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| v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉 | |
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47
feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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48
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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49
joviality
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| n.快活 | |
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