CHAPTER IX Mad, gentlemen of the jury.

The first witness called was Richard's mother.

From one to another admits the immense number of persons in that well-packed courtroom.

There ran a murmur of compassion for that helpless woman with the white, anguish-worn

face, and the quivering lip which tried so vainly to be still.

Nolan Slapperton, who knew anything of Mrs. Marwood, knew her to be a proud woman.

They knew how silently she had borne the wild's conduct of her son.

How deeply she had loved that son.

And they could guess now the depth of the bitterness of her soul, when called upon to utter

words which must help to condemn him.

After the witness had been duly sworn, the counsel for the prosecution addressed her thus.

We have every wish, Madame, to spare your feelings.

I know there is not one individual present who does not sympathize with you in the position

in which you now stand.

But the course of justice is as inevitable as it is sometimes painful.

And we must all of us yield to its stern necessities.

You will be pleased to state how long it is since your son left his home.

Seven years.

Seven years last August.

Can you also state his reasons for leaving his home?

He had embarrassment since Slapperton, debts which I have since his departure liquidated.

Can you tell me what species of debts they were?

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