Some papers boldly defended him, ridiculed the
Commissioners, and declared that the trial was altogether an
absurdity. The _People's Banner_, setting at defiance with an
admirable audacity all the facts as given in the Commissioners'
report, declared that there was not one tittle of evidence against
Mr. Browborough, and hinted that the trial had been got up by the
malign influence of that doer of all evil, Phineas Finn. But men
who knew better what was going on in the world than did Mr. Quintus
Slide, were well aware that such assertions as these were both
unavailing and unnecessary. Mr. Browborough was believed to
be quite safe; but his safety lay in the indifference of his
prosecutors,--certainly not in his innocence. Any one prominent in
affairs can always see when a man may steal a horse and when a man
may not look over a hedge. Mr. Browborough had stolen his horse, and
had repeated the theft over and over again. The evidence of it all
was forthcoming,--had, indeed, been already sifted. But Sir Gregory
Grogram, who was prominent in affairs, knew that the theft might be
condoned.
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