"That poor woman whom we used to call Mrs. Rawlins told her sad story
next. She is much worn and subdued, and Mr. Grey was struck with
the change from the fierce excitement she showed when she was first
confronted with Maddox, after her own trial; but she held fast to the
same evidence, giving it not resentfully, but sadly and firmly, as if
she felt it to be her duty. She, as you know, explained how Maddox
had obtained access to Mr. Williams's private papers, and how she had,
afterwards, found in his possession the seal ring, and the scraps of
paper in his patron's writing. A policeman produced them, and the seal
perfectly filled the wax upon the forged letter. The bits of paper
showed that Maddox had been practising imitating Mr. Williams's
writing. It all seemed most distinct, but still there was some sharp
cross-examination of her on her own part in the matter, and Mr. Grey
said it was well that little Rose could so exactly confirm the facts she
mentioned.
"Poor, dear little Rose looked very sweet and innocent, and not so much
frightened as at her first examination. She told her story of the savage
way in which she had been frightened into silence. Half the people in
the court were crying, and I am sure it was a mercy that she was not
driven out of her senses, or even murdered that night. It seems that she
was sent to bed early, but the wretches knowing that she always woke and
talked while her mother was going to bed, the phosphoric letters were
prepared to frighten her, and detain her in her room, and then Maddox
growled at her when she tried to pass the door. She was asked how she
knew the growl to be Maddox's, and she answered that she heard him
cough. Rachel will, I am sure, remember the sound of that little dry
cough. Nothing could make it clearer than that the woman had spoken the
truth. The child identified the two seals with great readiness, and then
was sent back to the inn that she might not be perplexed with hearing
the defence. This, of course, was very trying to us all, since the best
the counsel could do for his client was to try to pick holes in
the evidence, and make the most of the general acquiescence in Mr.
Williams's guilt for all these years. He brought forward letters that
showed that Mr. Williams had been very sanguine about the project, and
had written about the possibility that an advance might be needed. Some
of the letters, which both Mr. Williams and his sister owned to be in
his own writing, spoke in most flourishing terms of his plans; and it
was proved by documents and witnesses that the affairs were in such a
state that bankruptcy was inevitable, so that there was every motive for
securing a sum to live upon. It was very miserable all the time this was
going on, the whole interpretation, of Mr. Williams's conduct seemed
to be so cruelly twisted aside, and it was what every one had all
along believed, his absence was made so much of, and all these little
circumstances that had seemed so important were held so cheap--one knew
it was only the counsel's representation, and yet Alison grew whiter
and whiter under it. I wish you could have heard the reply: drawing the
picture of the student's absorption and generous confidence, and his
agent's treachery, creeping into his household, and brutally playing on
the terrors of his child.