"Did not something occur that night in Guilford Terrace which you were anxious to conceal?"For a moment Erica was dumfounded.It flashed upon her that he knew of the Haeberlein adventure and meant to serve his purpose by distorting it into something very different.Luckily she was almost as rapid a thinker as her father; she saw that there was before her a choice of two evils.She must either allow Mr.
Cringer to put an atrocious construction on her unqualified "yes"or she must boldly avow Haeberlein's visit.
"With regard to my father there was nothing to conceal," she replied.
"Will you swear that there was NOTHING to conceal?""With regard to my father there was nothing to conceal," she replied.
"Don't bandy words with me.Will you repeat my formula 'Nothing to conceal?'""No, I will not repeat that."
"You admit that there WAS something to conceal?""If you call Eric Haeberlein 'something' yes."There was a great sensation in the court at these words.But Mr.
Cringer was nonplused.The mysterious "something," out of which he had intended to make such capital, was turned into a boldly avowed reality a reality which would avail him nothing.Moreover, most people would now see through his very unworthy maneuvers.
Furiously he hurled question upon question at Erica.He surpassed himself in sheer bullying.By this time, too, she was very weary.
The long hours of standing, the insufferable atmosphere, the incessant stabs at her father's character made the examination almost intolerable.And the difficulty of answering the fire of questions was great.She struggled on, however, until the time came when Raeburn stood up to ask whether a certain question was allowable.She looked at him then for the first time, saw how terribly he was feeling her interminable examination, and for a moment lost heart.The rows of people grew hazy and indistinct.
Mr.Cringer's face got all mixed up with his wig, she had to hold tightly to the railing.How much longer could she endure?
"Yet you doubtless thought this probable?" continued her tormentor.
"Oh, no! On the contrary, quite the reverse," said Erica with a momentary touch of humor.
"Are you acquainted with the popular saying: 'None are so blind as those who will not see?'"The tone was so insulting that indignation restored Erica to her full strength; she was stung into giving a sharp retort.
"Yes," she said very quietly."It has often occurred to me during this action as strangely applicable to the defendant."Mr.Cringer looked as if he could have eaten her.There was a burst of applause which was speedily suppressed.
"Yet you do not, of course, mean to deny the whole allegation?""Emphatically!"
"Are you aware that people will think you either a deluded innocent or an infamous deceiver?""I am not here to consider what people may think of me, but to speak the truth."And as she spoke she involuntarily glanced toward those twelve fellow-countrymen of hers upon whose verdict so much depended.
Probably even the oldest, even the coldest of the jurymen felt his heart beat a little faster as those beautiful, sad honest eyes scanned the jury box.As for the counsel for the defense, he prudently accepted his defeat and, as Raeburn would not ask a single question of his daughter in cross-examination, another witness was called.
Long after, it was a favorite story among the young barristers of how Mr.Cringer was checkmated by Raeburn's daughter.
The case dragged on its weary length till August.At last, when two months of the public time had been consumed, when something like 20,000 pounds had been spent, when most bitter resentment had been stirred up among the secularists, Mr.Pogson's defense came to an end.Raeburn's reply was short, but effective; and the jury returned a verdict in his favor, fixing the damages, however, at the very lowest sum, not because they doubted that Raeburn had been most grossly libeled, but because the plaintiff had the misfortune to be an atheist.
