human
Thanks, no; I don't think I'll smoke. Smoking may have some sort of effect on a fellow's hand. There's a gentleman in these parts who I should be sorry should owe his life to any little indulgence of that sort on my behalf.
gpt
You are thinking of the man who fired at you?
human
Well, yes; I am. Not that I shall have any chance at him just at present. He won't come near me again this visit. The next that I shall hear from him will be from round some corner in the neighbourhood of Galway. I think I know every turn in that blackguard's mind.
gpt
Have you been speaking to Florian about him, Captain Clayton?
human
Not a word.
gpt
Nor has his brother?
human
I think not.
gpt
What am I to do about the poor boy?
human
Because of his fear about this very man?
gpt
He is only a boy, you know.
human
Of course he is only a boy. You've no right to expect from him the pluck of a man. When he is as old as his brother he'll have his brother's nerve. I like to see a man plucky under fire when he is not used to it. When you've got into the way of it, it means nothing.
gpt
What am I do about Florian? There are four months before the assizes. He cannot remain in the house for four months.
human
What would he be at the end of it? said the Captain.
gpt
That is what we have to think of.
human
Would it alter him?
gpt
I suppose it would,--if he were here with his sister, talking of nothing but this wretched man, who seems to haunt him. We have to remember, Mr. Jones, how long it was before he came forward with his story.
human
I think he will be firm with it now.
gpt
No doubt,--if he had to tell it out in direct evidence. When he is there in the court telling it, he will not think much of Mr. Lax, nor even of Pat Carroll, who will be in the dock glaring at him; nor would he think much of anything but his direct story, while a friendly barrister is drawing it out of him; but when it comes to his cross-examination, it will be different. He will want all his pluck then, and all the simplicity which he can master. You must remember that a skilful man will have been turned loose on him with all the ferocity of a bloodhound; a man who will have all the cruelty of Lax, but will have nothing to fear; a man who will be serving his purpose all round if he can only dumbfound that poor boy by his words and his looks. A man, when he has taken up the cause of these ruffians, learns to sympathise with them. If they hate the Queen, hate the laws, hate all justice, these men learn to hate them too. When they get hold of me, and I look into the eyes of such a one, I see there my bitterest enemy. He holds Captain Yorke Clayton up to the hatred of the whole court, as though he were a brute unworthy of the slightest mercy,--a venomous reptile, against whom the whole country should rise to tear him in pieces. And I look round and see the same feeling written in the eyes of them all. I found it more hard to get used to that than to the snap of a pistol; but I have got used to it. Poor Florian will have had no such experience. And there will be no mercy shown to him because he is only a boy. Neither sex nor age is supposed to render any such feeling necessary to a lawyer. A lawyer in defending the worst ruffian that ever committed a crime will know that he is called upon to spare nothing that is tender. He is absolved from all the laws common to humanity. And then poor Florian has lied. A gloomy look of sad, dull pain came across the father's brow as he heard these words.
human
We must look it in the face, Mr. Jones.
gpt
Yes, look it all in the face.
human
He has repeated the lie again and again for six months. He has been in close friendship with these men. It will be made out that he has been present at all their secret meetings. He has been present at some of them. It will be very hard to get a jury to convict on his evidence if it be unsupported.
gpt
Shall we withdraw him?
human
You cannot do it. His deposition has been sworn and put forward in the proper course. Besides it is his duty and yours,--and mine, he added.
gpt
He must tell his story once again, and must endure whatever torment the law-rebels of the court have in store for him. Only it will be well to think what course of treatment may best prepare him for the trial. You should treat him with the greatest kindness.
human
He is treated kindly.
gpt
But you, I think, and his sisters and his brother should endeavour to make him feel that you do not think harshly of him because of the falsehoods he has told. Go out with him occasionally. Here Mr. Jones raised his eyebrows as feeling surprised at the kind of counsel given.
human
Put some constraint on yourself so as to make him feel by the time he has to go into court with you that he has a friend with him.
gpt
I trust that he always feels that,