She laughed, and went down the hill quickly, and as she went Carnac
thought he had never seen so graceful a figure.
"What an evil Fate sent Luzanne my way!" he said.
Two days later there came an ugly incident on the river. There was a
collision between a gang of John Grier's and Belloc's men and one of
Grier's men was killed. At the inquest, it was found that the man met
his death by his own fault, having first attacked a Belloc man and
injured him. The Belloc man showed the injury to the jury, and he was
acquitted. Carnac watched the case closely, and instructed his lawyer to
contend that the general attack was first made by Belloc's men, which was
true; but the jury decided that this did not affect the individual case,
and that the John Grier man met his death by his own fault.
"A shocking verdict!" he said aloud in the Court when it was given.
"Sir," said the Coroner, "it is the verdict of men who use their judgment
after hearing the evidence, and your remark is offensive and criminal."
"If it is criminal, I apologize," said Carnac.
"You must apologize for its offensiveness, or you will be arrested, sir."
This nettled Carnac. "I will not apologize for its offensiveness," he
said firmly.
"Constable, arrest this man," said the Coroner, and the constable did so.
Pages:
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59