He was hardly allowed to seat himself before he was called upon to be sworn. Sir Simon Slope, who was to examine him, took it for granted that his lordship could give his evidence from his place on the bench, but to this Mr Chaffanbrass objected. He was very well aware, he said, that such a practice was usual. He did not doubt but that in his time he had examined some hundreds of witnesses from the bench. In nineteen cases out of twenty there could be no objection to such a practice. But in this case the noble lord would have to give evidence not only as to what he had seen, but as to what he then saw. It would be expedient6 that he should see colours as nearly as possible in the same light as the jury, which he would do if he stood in the witness-box. And there might arise questions of identity, in speaking of which it would be well that the noble lord should be as near as possible to the thing or person to be identified. He was afraid that he must trouble the noble lord to come down from the Elysium of the bench. Whereupon Lord Fawn descended7, and was sworn in at the witness-box.
His treatment from Sir Simon Slope was all that was due from a Solicitor-General to a distinguished8 peer who was a member of the same Government as himself. Sir Simon put his questions so as almost to reassure9 the witness; and very quickly — only too quickly — obtained from him all the information that was needed on the side of the prosecution10. Lord Fawn, when he had left the club, had seen both Mr Bonteen and Mr Finn preparing to follow him, but he had gone alone, and had never seen Mr Bonteen since. He walked very slowly down into Curzon Street and Bolton Row, and when there, as he was about to cross the road at the top of Clarges Street — as he believed, just as he was crossing the street — he saw a man come at a very fast pace out of the mews which runs into Bolton Row, opposite to Clarges Street, and from thence hurry very quickly towards the passage which separates the gardens of Devonshire and Lansdowne Houses. It had already been proved that had Phineas Finn retraced11 his steps after Erle and Fitzgibbon had turned their backs upon him, his shortest and certainly most private way to the spot on which Lord Fawn had seen the man would have been by the mews in question. Lord Fawn went on to say that the man wore a grey coat — as far as he could judge it was such a coat as Sir Simon now showed him; he could not at all identify the prisoner; he could not say whether the man he had seen was as tall as the prisoner; he thought that as far as he could judge, there was not much difference in the height. He had not thought of Mr Finn when he saw the man hurrying along, nor had he troubled his mind about the man. That was the end of Lord Fawn’s evidence-in-chief, which he would gladly have prolonged to the close of the day could he thereby12 have postponed13 the coming horrors of his cross-examination. But there he was — in the clutches of the odious14, dirty, little man, hating the little man, despising him because he was dirty, and nothing better than an Old Bailey barrister — and yet fearing him with so intense a fear!
Mr Chaffanbrass smiled at his victim, and for a moment was quite soft with him — as a cat is soft with a mouse. The reporters could hardly hear his first question — “I believe you are an Under-Secretary of State?” Lord Fawn acknowledged the fact. Now it was the case that in the palmy days of our hero’s former career he had filled the very office which Lord Fawn now occupied, and that Lord Fawn had at the time filled a similar position in another department. These facts Mr Chaffanbrass extracted from his witness — not without an appearance of unwillingness15, which was produced, however, altogether by the natural antagonism17 of the victim to his persecutor18; for Mr Chaffanbrass, even when asking the simplest questions, in the simplest words, even when abstaining19 from that sarcasm20 of tone under which witnesses were wont21 to feel that they were being flayed22 alive, could so look at a man as to create an antagonism which no witness could conceal23. In asking a man his name, and age, and calling, he could produce an impression that the man was unwilling16 to tell anything, and that, therefore, the jury were entitled to regard his evidence with suspicion. “Then”, continued Mr Chaffanbrass, “you must have met him frequently in the intercourse24 of your business?”
“I suppose I did — sometimes.”
“Sometimes? You belonged to the same party?”
“We didn’t sit in the same House.”
“I know that, my lord. I know very well what House you sat in. But I suppose you would condescend25 to be acquainted with even a commoner who held the very office which you hold now. You belonged to the same club with him.”
“I don’t go much to the clubs,” said Lord Fawn.
“But the quarrel of which we have heard so much took place at a club in your presence?” Lord Fawn assented26. “In fact you cannot but have been intimately and accurately27 acquainted with the personal appearance of the gentleman who is now on his trial. Is that so?”
“I never was intimate with him.”
Mr Chaffanbrass looked up at the jury and shook his head sadly. “I am not presuming, Lord Fawn, that you so far derogated as to be intimate with this gentleman — as to whom, however, I shall be able to show by and by that he was the chosen friend of the very man under whose mastership you now serve. I ask whether his appearance is not familiar to you?” Lord Fawn at last said that it was. “Do you know his height? What should you say was his height?” Lord Fawn altogether refused to give an opinion on such a subject, but acknowledged that he should not be surprised if he were told that Mr Finn was over six feet high. “In fact you consider him a tall man, my lord? There he is, you can look at him. Is he a tall man?” Lord Fawn did look, but wouldn’t give an answer. “I’ll undertake to say, my lord, that there isn’t a person in the Court at this moment, except yourself, who wouldn’t be ready — to express an opinion on his oath that Mr Finn is a tall man. Mr Chief Constable28, just let the prisoner step out from the dock for a moment. He won’t run away. I must have his lordship’s opinion as to Mr Finn’s height.” Poor Phineas, when this was said, clutched hold of the front of the dock, as though determined29 that nothing but main force should make him exhibit himself to the Court in the manner proposed.
But the need for exhibition passed away. “I know that he is a very tall man,” said Lord Fawn.
“You know that he is a very tall man. We all know it. There can be no doubt about it. He is, as you say, a very tall man — with whose personal appearance you have long been familiar? I ask again, my lord, whether you have not been long familiar with his personal appearance?” After some further agonising delay Lord Fawn at last acknowledged that it had been so. “Now we shall get on like a house on fire,” said Mr Chaffanbrass.
But still the house did not burn very quickly. A string of questions was then asked as to the attitude of the man who had been seen coming out of the mews wearing a grey great coat — as to his attitude, and as to his general likeness30 to Phineas Finn. In answer to these Lord Fawn would only say that he had not observed the man’s attitude, and had certainly not thought of the prisoner when he saw the man. “My lord,” said Mr Chaffanbrass, very solemnly, “look at your late friend and colleague, and remember that his life depends probably on the accuracy of your memory. The man you saw — murdered Mr Bonteen. With all my experience in such matters, which is great; and with all my skill — which is something, I cannot stand against that fact. It is for me to show that that man and my client were not one and the same person, and I must do so by means of your evidence — by sifting31 what you say today, and by comparing it with what you have already said on other occasions. I understand you now to say that there is nothing in your remembrance of the man you saw, independently of the colour of the coat, to guide you to an opinion whether that man was or was not one and the same with the prisoner?”
In all the crowd then assembled there was no man more thoroughly32 under the influence of conscience as to his conduct than was Lord Fawn in reference to the evidence which he was called upon to give. Not only would the idea of endangering the life of a human being have been horrible to him, but the sanctity of an oath was imperative33 to him. He was essentially34 a truth-speaking man, if only he knew how to speak the truth. He would have sacrificed much to establish the innocence35 of Phineas Finn — not for the love of Phineas, but for the love of innocence — but not even to do that would he have lied. But he was a bad witness, and by his slowness, and by a certain unsustained pomposity36 which was natural to him, had already taught the jury to think that he was anxious to convict the prisoner. Two men in the Court, and two only, thoroughly understood his condition. Mr Chaffanbrass saw it all, and intended without the slightest scruple37 to take advantage of it. And the Chief Justice saw it all, and was already resolving how he could set the witness right with the jury.
“I didn’t think of Mr Finn at the time,” said Lord Fawn in answer to the last question.
“So I understand. The man didn’t strike you as being tall.”
“I don’t think that he did.”
“But yet in the evidence you gave before the magistrate38 in Bow Street I think you expressed a very strong opinion that the man you saw running out of the mews was Mr Finn?” Lord Fawn was again silent. “I am asking your lordship a question to which I must request an answer. Here is the Times report of the examination, with which you can refresh your memory, and you are of course aware that it was mainly on your evidence as here reported that my client stands there in jeopardy39 of his life.”
“I am not aware of anything of the kind,” said the witness.
“Very well. We will drop that then. But such was your evidence, whether important or not important. Of course your lordship can take what time you please for recollection.”
Lord Fawn tried very hard to recollect40, but would not look at the newspaper which had been handed to him. “I cannot remember what words I used. It seems to me that I thought it must have been Mr Finn because I had been told that Mr Finn could have been there by running round.”
“Surely, my lord, that would not have sufficed to induce you to give such evidence as is there reported?”
“And the colour of the coat,” said Lord Fawn.
“In fact you went by the colour of the coat, and that only?”
“Then there had been the quarrel.”
“My lord, is not that begging the question? Mr Bonteen quarrelled with Mr Finn. Mr Bonteen was murdered by a man — as we all believe — whom you saw at a certain spot. Therefore you identified the man whom you saw as Mr Finn. Was that so?”
“I didn’t identify him.”
“At any rate you do not do so now? Putting aside the grey coat there is nothing to make you now think that that man and Mr Finn were one and the same? Come, my lord, on behalf of that man’s life, which is in great jeopardy — is in great jeopardy because of the evidence given by you before the magistrate — do not be ashamed to speak the truth openly, though it be at variance41 with what you may have said before with ill-advised haste.”
“My lord, is it proper that I should be treated in this way?” said the witness, appealing to the Bench.
“Mr Chaffanbrass,” said the judge, again looking at the barrister over his spectacles, “I think you are stretching the privilege of your position too far.”
“I shall have to stretch it further yet, my lord. His lordship in his evidence before the magistrate gave on his oath a decided42 opinion that the man he saw was Mr Finn — and on that evidence Mr Finn was committed for murder. Let him say openly, now, to the jury — when Mr Finn is on his trial for his life before the Court, and for all his hopes in life before the country — whether he thinks as then he thought, and on what grounds he thinks so.”
“I think so because of the quarrel, and because of the grey coat.”
“For no other reasons?”
“No — for no other reasons.”
“Your only ground for suggesting identity is the grey coat?”
“And the quarrel,” said Lord Fawn.
“My lord, in giving evidence as to identity, I fear that you do not understand the meaning of the word.” Lord Fawn looked up at the judge, but the judge on this occasion said nothing. “At any rate we have it from you at present that there was nothing in the appearance of the man you saw like to that of Mr Finn except the colour of the coat.”
“I don’t think there was,” said Lord Fawn, slowly.
Then there occurred a scene in the Court which no doubt was gratifying to the spectators, and may in part have repaid them for the weariness of the whole proceeding43. Mr Chaffanbrass, while Lord Fawn was still in the witness-box, requested permission for a certain man to stand forward, and put on the coat which was lying on the table before him — this coat being in truth the identical garment which Mr Meager44 had brought home with him on the morning of the murder. This man was Mr Wickerby’s clerk, Mr Scruby, and he put on the coat — which seemed to fit him well. Mr Chaffanbrass then asked permission to examine Mr Scruby, explaining that much time might be saved, and declaring that he had but one question to ask him. After some difficulty this permission was given him, and Mr Scruby was asked his height. Mr Scruby was five feet eight inches, and had been accurately measured on the previous day with reference to the question. Then the examination of Lord Fawn was resumed, and Mr Chaffanbrass referred to that very irregular interview to which he had so improperly45 enticed47 the witness in Mr Wickerby’s chambers48. For a long time Sir Gregory Grogram declared that he would not permit any allusion49 to what had taken place at a most improper46 conference — a conference which he could not stigmatize50 in sufficiently51 strong language. But Mr Chaffanbrass, smiling blandly52 — smiling very blandly for him — suggested that the impropriety of the conference, let it have been ever so abominable53, did not prevent the fact of the conference, and that he was manifestly within his right in alluding54 to it. “Suppose, my lord, that Lord Fawn had confessed in Mr Wickerby’s chambers that he had murdered Mr Finn himself, and had since repented55 of that confession56, would Mr Camperdown and Mr Wickerby, who were present, and would I, be now debarred from stating that confession in evidence, because, in deference57 to some fanciful rules of etiquette58, Lord Fawn should not have been there?” Mr Chaffanbrass at last prevailed, and the evidence was resumed.
“You saw Mr Scruby wear that coat in Mr Wickerby’s chambers.” Lord Fawn said that he could not identify the coat. “We’ll take care to have it identified. We shall get a great deal out of that coat yet. You saw that man wear a coat like that.”
“Yes; I did.”
“And you see him now.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Does he remind you of the figure of the man you saw come out of the mews?” Lord Fawn paused. “We can’t make him move about here as we did in Mr Wickerby’s room; but remembering that as you must do, does he look like the man?”
“I don’t remember what the man looked like.”
“Did you not tell us in Mr Wickerby’s room that Mr Scruby with the grey coat on was like the figure of the man?”
Questions of this nature were prolonged for near half an hour, during which Sir Gregory made more than one attempt to defend his witness from the weapons of their joint59 enemies; but Lord Fawn at last admitted that he had acknowledged the resemblance, and did, in some faint ambiguous fashion, acknowledge it in his present evidence.
“My lord,” said Mr Chaffanbrass as he allowed Lord Fawn to go down, “you have no doubt taken a note of Mr Scruby’s height.” Whereupon the judge nodded his head.
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1
fawn
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| n.未满周岁的小鹿；v.巴结，奉承 | |
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penance
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| n.（赎罪的）惩罪 | |
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3
tampering
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| v.窜改( tamper的现在分词 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄 | |
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4
tamper
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| v.干预，玩弄，贿赂，窜改，削弱，损害 | |
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5
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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6
expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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7
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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8
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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9
reassure
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| v.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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10
prosecution
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| n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营 | |
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11
retraced
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| v.折回( retrace的过去式和过去分词 )；回忆；回顾；追溯 | |
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12
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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14
odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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15
unwillingness
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| n. 不愿意，不情愿 | |
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16
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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18
persecutor
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| n. 迫害者 | |
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19
abstaining
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| 戒（尤指酒），戒除( abstain的现在分词 )； 弃权（不投票） | |
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20
sarcasm
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| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
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21
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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22
flayed
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| v.痛打( flay的过去式和过去分词 )；把…打得皮开肉绽；剥（通常指动物）的皮；严厉批评 | |
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23
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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24
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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condescend
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| v.俯就，屈尊；堕落，丢丑 | |
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26
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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28
constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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29
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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30
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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31
sifting
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| n.筛，过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审 | |
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32
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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33
imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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34
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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35
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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36
pomposity
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| n.浮华；虚夸；炫耀；自负 | |
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37
scruple
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| n./v.顾忌，迟疑 | |
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38
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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39
jeopardy
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| n.危险；危难 | |
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40
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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41
variance
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| n.矛盾，不同 | |
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42
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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43
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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44
meager
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| adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的 | |
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45
improperly
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| 不正确地，不适当地 | |
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46
improper
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| adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的 | |
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47
enticed
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| 诱惑，怂恿( entice的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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49
allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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50
stigmatize
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| v.污蔑，玷污 | |
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51
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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52
blandly
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| adv.温和地，殷勤地 | |
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53
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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54
alluding
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| 提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
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55
repented
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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57
deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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58
etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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59
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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