anstruther's denunciation of himself rang out loud and clear, so that it was heard to the uttermost parts of the court. nothing could have condemned him more than that speaking cry; there was wanted no witness more damning than his white face and staring eyes. in sooth, he had quite forgotten the crystal globe. it all came back to him now, and he saw vividly and clearly the semi-comedy which had been enacted at lady barmouth's dance by himself and the so-called magician. to a man of anstruther's capabilities, the idea that he had walked headlong into a trap laid for him was maddening. he had devised so many cunning schemes for the lowering of others into confessions of crime, that it was all the more galling to find himself hoist with his own petard.
it was in vain that he strove to recover the ground he had lost. he could see a grim smile on the face of the judge, and even the suggestion of amusement in the jury box. he seemed as if about to burst into passionate protest, then placed his hands upon his lips, and maintained instead a stolid silence.
"perhaps i had better make a little explanation here," counsel for the prosecution said. "a great deal turns on the matter of this crystal ball. the witness seymour has already explained to the court the story of the cellini plate up to a certain point. that story we shall substantiate presently by calling the witnesses masefield and rigby. your lordship will understand that lady barmouth's now historic dance took place subsequent to the robbery at the city and provincial bank. the witness seymour has already told you that he overheard the whole conspiracy between the prisoner and carrington, by means of which the public would have been deluded into believing that a great robbery had taken place. the witness seymour has also informed you that he had meant to be present when this bogus burglary took place--an event that subsequently happened. it was only when the cellini plate lay outside the bank strong room that the most ingenious idea occurred to seymour.
"he has told us how, by means of a greasy rag, he smeared over the service of plate, which was subsequently placed by anstruther's own hand in carrington's safe. beyond all question, the imprints of anstruther's fingers must have remained on the plate; indeed, we shall prove this beyond question before long. by way of making the thing absolutely certain, it was necessary to get a proper impression of anstruther's hands. hence the comedy of the magician--a little comedy which shall be explained later--which character was quite easily carried out at a fancy dance like lady barmouth's. i am aware, my lord, that my proceeding is a little irregular, but i want to clear the thing up as i go along. if the prisoner has any objection, i will, of course, conduct my case----"
"the prisoner has no objection whatever," anstruther growled. "i say the whole thing is a conspiracy, and a rascally one at that."
"the proceedings are somewhat irregular," the judge interposed, "but seeing that the prisoner declines to be legally represented----"
anstruther shrugged his shoulders, and the prosecuting counsel went on. he had little more to say on the present head. he now proposed to call sir frederick ormond.
the popular young statesman stepped into the witness-box with a jaunty air, and a smile which suggested amusement; in fact, he seemed to regard the whole thing in the light of a very good joke.
"i want you, sir frederick," the crown lawyer went on, "to tell us exactly what happened in regard to this magician business at lady barmouth's house the other night."
"really, there is very little to tell you," ormond smiled. "i regarded it as all part of the fun. i was sitting close to the table occupied by the prisoner and the mysterious magician; in fact, i regarded the whole thing as a pure piece of comedy got up between those gentlemen to amuse the guests."
"you had no notion of the magician's name, then?" the lawyer asked. "you were not taken into the secret?"
"oh, dear no. it seemed to me to be a very clever piece of acting. i must confess i was just a little impressed when the crystal was placed in the box, after being firmly held by the prisoner for a few moments. the magician asked for the box to be sealed, which was done, and the thing subsequently passed into my possession."
"stop one moment," anstruther cried. "that box was sealed up and taken away by you. nobody else touched it?"
the witness explained that nobody handled the box besides himself until inspector bates fetched it away under an authority from scotland yard. sir frederick went on to explain that he had been present when the seal of the box was broken.
"nobody could tamper with it during the time you had it, i suppose?" anstruther asked. "you kept it under lock and key?"
"the whole time," the witness cried. "you must understand that i am quite used to keeping valuable documents and that kind of thing. i took that box straight ho me, and locked it securely away in a drawer in my safe, where it remained until the police fetched it."
asked if he had any further questions to put, anstruther sullenly declined. he still harped upon the string that this was a criminal conspiracy got up against him by the police, and insinuated that the mysterious magician was nothing else than a detective smuggled into lady barmouth's house for the purpose of trapping him.
"i think it would be as well, my lord, to sweep away this impression at once," the crown counsel exclaimed. "i propose to put the magician in the box without delay."
anstruther stared open-mouthed as seymour once more came forward. the prisoner's quick intellect saw the whole scheme quite clearly now. pressed as he was, and in danger as he was, he had just a touch of a grim smile of approval. it was a trap entirely after his own heart. yet his eyes held a menace as they met those of seymour. the latter returned the gaze. there was a merciless gleam in his own pupils as he faced the jury box.
"here we have the mysterious magician," the crown counsel explained. "perhaps you will tell us how you came to think of this thing. a mere outline will do."
"it came to me when i was watching those men in the vaults of the bank," seymour explained in his deep, ringing voice. "i am very much interested in crime and criminals, and more than interested in the prisoner at the bar. i cannot forget--i shall never forget--the fact that, but for him, i should be as other men. to be revenged on him, and to expose one of the greatest scoundrels the world has ever seen, i came back to england. i found the prisoner a popular figure in society. i discovered that my task would be no easy one. i had, moreover, to be careful--my face is one that it is not easy to disguise. from the very first good fortune was on my side. i made one discovery after another--all tending to the discredit of the prisoner at the bar. i have already explained to the court how i became in a position to overhear the conspiracy that led to the robbery of the bank. other witnesses will tell you in greater detail what happened that night at the bank. it was only when i heard the prisoner coolly arranging to appropriate that magnificent service of plate that my idea occurred to me. i was going to prove that the plate had been through anstruther's hands. of course, i am quite familiar with the bertillon system, and here was a chance of putting it into practice. i hastily smeared the silver with grease, in order that the marks should be all the more distinct."
"what does all this acting lead to?" anstruther cried.
"i am just coming to that," seymour said quietly. "i knew that when the plate came to be photographed by the police, the finger prints would show quite clearly on the glass slide. it is necessary to have a corresponding set of prints, hence my idea of the magician and the crystal ball. as a matter of fact, lord barmouth is a great friend of mine; indeed, we have suffered a lot at the hands of the prisoner. it was, therefore, not difficult for me to procure an invitation to lady barmouth's dance, which i attended in the dress of a magician. i was the magician. i arranged the plan myself, and i obtained the impression of those finger tips, which will show presently, when they are compared with those taken from the set of cellini plate. i have nothing more to say for the present."
anstruther intimated that he had no questions to ask the witness. he had come into court prepared to take advantage of anything in his favor, trusting to his intelligence and audacity to pull him through. but not for a moment had he guessed how strong a case the police had piled up against him. not that he gave the police any credit for the business at all. he could see quite clearly that they would have done nothing without the aid of seymour. had the latter not taken in hand the matter, the police would never have discovered his connection with the bogus burglary; and, however much carrington might subsequently have suffered, the main rogue in the play would have gone off scot free.
it was a dramatic story that seymour had told the court, and every word that he had said was followed with the most rapt attention. the sensation of seeing nostalgo in the flesh would have been enough for most people, but when one of the most mysterious personages that had ever excited the attention of london stood up like this, the central figure of a great crime, the excitement was multiplied a hundredfold.
there was a pause here, and the lawyer of the crown looked significantly at bates. the latter rose, and produced a cardboard box and something that looked like an exaggerated camera. there was a breathless pause, for everybody was on the tiptoe of expectation. even the judge leaned forward eagerly, wondering what was going to happen next.
"we are going to prove the identification of the finger marks," the lawyer explained. "for this purpose we shall have to darken the court, and throw the photographs on a large sheet which has been pinned to the wall at the back of the building. i trust your lordship will have no objection to this course."
the judge was understood to say that he objected to nothing calculated to further the ends of justice. the fashionable audience thrilled. society settled down to the knowledge that it was going to have a new sensation. ladies ceased the rustling of their fans, and the whispering and giggling stopped, for here was a drama far more realistic and terrible than anything ever seen upon the stage. a man's future literally hung upon the fair white cloth suspended from the wall at the end of the court.
the lights went out one by one, until there was nothing left but the pallid flame of the lantern lamp, which faintly picked out the eager eyes and parted lips of the excited spectators. then the lamp vanished, and almost immediately a brilliant disc of light was thrown on the white sheet. in the long lane of flame the little motes of dust and fluff danced and flickered. here and there, as a hand or an arm went up from those at the back of the lantern, ghostly accusing shadows seemed to flit. out of the darkness the voice of the crown counsel came with a startling suddenness.
"in the first instance," he said, "we propose to throw on the screen the magnified photograph of certain finger impressions taken from the cellini plate. these photographs were made at scotland yard, and developed by the expert who is now assisting us in this matter. here, my lord, and gentlemen of the jury, is the first of the magnified photographs."
the great white shining disc disappeared as if by magic for a moment, and then upon it there stood out a wonderful reproduction of the right and left palms and finger tips of a human hand. magnified so largely, every line and scar and little filament could be seen. it was as if some painstaking engraver had worked up the whole thing under a powerful microscope.
"there we have the impression of the prisoner's hands as taken from the cellini plate," the lawyer went on. "if we are wrong, it is for the prisoner to prove it. but to make matters absolutely certain, the next plate will show the same finger prints as taken from the crystal ball. we know from the highest authority that the crystal ball was last in the hands of the prisoner."
the photograph vanished, the great white disc shone out again, and once more it was obscured by an almost precisely similar photograph. it would have been an expert, indeed, who could have found out any dissimilarity between the two pictures.
"and now, to make matters doubly sure," the lawyer said, "we propose to reproduce the two photographs superimposed one on the top of the other."
another exciting moment followed, a pause of almost painful interest; and then the two slides were placed in the lantern at once. they stood out on the sheet, just a shade misty and indistinct, like a badly printed picture; but the veriest novice there could see at once for himself that they were the same hands. as suddenly as it had vanished the lights flashed up again, and every eye was turned upon anstruther's white and rigid face.
"my lord," he said, in a hoarse, strained voice, "with yourermission, i should like it adjourned until to-morrow."
