Chaffanbrass would resent upon him the charge made by the
Attorney-General as to tampering with a witness. "I'll tamper with
him by-and-bye," Mr. Chaffanbrass had whispered to Mr. Wickerby, and
the whispered threat had been spread abroad. On the table before Mr.
Chaffanbrass, when he took his place in the Court on the Saturday,
was laid a heavy grey coat, and on the opposite side of the table,
just before the Solicitor-General, was laid another grey coat, of
much lighter material. When Lord Fawn saw the two coats as he took
his seat on the bench his heart failed him.
He was hardly allowed to seat himself before he was called upon to be
sworn. Sir Simon Slope, who was to examine him, took it for granted
that his lordship could give his evidence from his place on the
bench, but to this Mr. Chaffanbrass objected. He was very well aware,
he said, that such a practice was usual. He did not doubt but that in
his time he had examined some hundreds of witnesses from the bench.
In nineteen cases out of twenty there could be no objection to such a
practice.
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