Part 56 (1/2)

”Brother Hide, is the court to be troubled longer with these idle disputations?”

”I ask for counsel,” said Ralph.

”This,” replied Justice Hide, ”is not a matter in which counsel can be a.s.signed. If your crime be treason, it cannot be justified; if it be justifiable, it is not treason. The law provides that _we_ shall be your counsel, and, as such, I advise that you do not ask exemption under the Act of Oblivion, for that is equal to a confession.” ”I do not confess,” said Ralph.

”You must plead Guilty or Not Guilty. There is no third course. Are you Guilty or Not Guilty?”

There was a stillness like that of the chamber of death in the court as this was spoken.

Ralph paused, lifted his head, and looked calmly about him. Every eye was fixed on his face. That face was as firm as a rock. Two eyes near the door were gleaming with the light of fiendish triumph. Ralph returned his gaze to the judges. Still the silence was unbroken. It seemed to hang in the air.

”Guilty or Not Guilty?”

There was no reply.

”Does the prisoner refuse to plead?” asked Justice Hide. Still there was no reply. Not a whisper in the court; not the shuffle of a foot.

The judge's voice fell slowly on the ear,--

”Ralph Ray, we would not have you deceive yourself. If you do not plead, it will be the same with you as if you had confessed.”

”Am I at liberty to stand mute?”

”a.s.suredly not,” Justice Millet burst out, pulling his robes about him.

”Your pardon, brother; it is the law that the prisoner may stand mute if he choose.”

Then turning to Ralph,--

”But why?”

”To save from forfeiture my lands, sheep, goods, and chattels, and those of my mother and brother, falsely stated to be mine.”

Justice Millet gave an eager glance at Justice Hide.

”It is the law,” said the latter, apparently replying to an unuttered question. ”The estate of an offender cannot be seized to the King's use before conviction. My Lord c.o.ke is very clear on that point. It is the law; we must yield to it.”

”G.o.d forefend else!” replied Justice Millet in his meekest tone.

”Ralph Ray,” continued the judge, ”let us be sure that you know what you do. If you stand mute a terrible punishment awaits you.”

Justice Millet interposed,--

”I repeat that the prisoner _must_ plead. In the ancient law of _peine forte et dure_ an exception is expressly made of all cases of regicide.”

”The indictment does not specify regicide as the prisoner's treason.”

Justice Millet hid his discomfiture in an ostentatious perusal of a copy of the indictment.

”But do not deceive yourself,” continued the judge, turning again towards the prisoner. ”Do you know the penalty of standing mute? Do you know that to save your estates to your family by refusing to plead, you must suffer a terrible death,--a death without judgment, a death too shocking perhaps for so much as bare contemplation? Do you know this?”