"
"I can only suggest, Mr. Chaffanbrass," continued the judge, "that
you should obtain the consent of the gentlemen on the other side to a
postponement of my charge."
Then spoke out the foreman of the jury. Was it proposed that they
should be locked up till somebody should come from Prague, and that
then the trial should be recommenced? The system, said the foreman,
under which Middlesex juries were chosen for service in the City was
known to be most horribly cruel;--but cruelty to jurymen such as this
had never even been heard of. Then a most irregular word was spoken.
One of the jurymen declared that he was quite willing to believe the
telegram. "Every one believes it," said Mr. Chaffanbrass. Then the
Chief Justice scolded the juryman, and Sir Gregory Grogram scolded
Mr. Chaffanbrass. It seemed as though all the rules of the Court
were to be set at defiance. "Will my learned friend say that he
doesn't believe it?" asked Mr. Chaffanbrass. "I neither believe nor
disbelieve it; but it cannot affect the evidence," said Sir Gregory.
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