My case was, happily, as
plain as a pikestaff. It was only momentarily that the weight of the
evidence seemed so perversely to go against me. Turning over all these various considerations in my mind with anxious
hesitancy, the ten minutes managed to pass away almost before I had
thoroughly realized the deep gravity of the situation. As the clock on the chimney-piece pointed to the half-hour, the door
opened once more, and the superintendent entered solemnly. "Well, Mr.
Tait," he said in an anxious voice, "have you made up your mind to make
a clean breast of it? Do you now admit, after full deliberation, that
you have endeavoured to steal and clip the gold Wulfric?" "No," I answered firmly, "I do not admit it; and I will willingly go
before a jury of my countrymen to prove my innocence." "Then God help you, poor boy," the superintendent cried despondently. "I
have done my best to save you, and you will not let me. Policeman, this
is your prisoner. I give him in custody on a charge of stealing a gold
coin, the property of the trustees of this Museum, valued at a hundred
and seventy-five pounds sterling." The policeman laid his hand upon my wrist. "You will have to go along
with me to the station, sir," he said quietly. Terrified and stunned as I was by the awfulness of the accusation, I
could not forget or overlook the superintendent's evident reluctance and
kindness. "Mr. Harbourne," I cried, "you have tried to do your best for
me. I am grateful to you for it, in spite of your terrible mistake, and
I shall yet be able to show you that I am innocent." He shook his head gloomily. "I have done my duty," he said with a
shudder. "I have never before had a more painful one. Policeman, I must
ask you now to do yours." III. The police are always considerate to respectable-looking prisoners, and
I had no difficulty in getting the sergeant in charge of the lock-up to
telegraph for me to Emily, to say that I was detained by important
business, which would prevent me taking her and her mother to the
theatre that evening. But when I explained to him that my detention was
merely temporary, and that I should be able to disprove the whole story
as soon as I went before the magistrates, he winked most unpleasantly at
the constable who had brought me in, and observed in a tone of vulgar
sarcasm, "We have a good many gentlemen here who says the same,
sir--don't we, Jim? but they don't always find it so easy as they
expected when they stands up afore the beak to prove their statements." I began to reflect that even a temporary prison is far from being a
pleasant place for a man to stop in. Next morning they took me up before the magistrate; and as the Museum
authorities of course proved a _primâ facie_ case against me, and as my
solicitor advised me to reserve my defence, owing to the difficulty of
getting up my witness from Lichfield in reasonable time, I was duly
committed for trial at the next sessions of the Central Criminal Court. I had often read before that people had been committed for trial, but
till that moment I had no idea what a very unpleasant sensation it
really is. However, as I was a person of hitherto unblemished character, and wore a
good coat made by a fashionable tailor, the magistrate decided to admit
me to bail, if two sureties in five hundred pounds each were promptly
forthcoming for the purpose. Luckily, I had no difficulty in finding
friends who believed in my story; and as I felt sure the lost Wulfric
would soon be found in cleaning the museum, I suffered perhaps a little
less acutely than I might otherwise have done, owing to my profound
confidence in the final triumph of the truth. Nevertheless, as the case would be fully reported next morning in all
the papers, I saw at once that I must go straight off and explain the
matter without delay to Emily. I will not dwell upon that painful interview. I will only say that Emily
behaved as I of course knew she would behave. She was horrified and
indignant at the dreadful accusation; and, woman like, she was very
angry with the superintendent. "He ought to have taken your word for it,
naturally, Harold," she cried through her tears. "But what a good thing,
anyhow, that you happened to show the coin to me. I should recognize it
anywhere among ten thousand." "That's well, darling," I said, trying to kiss away her tears and cheer
her up a little. "I haven't the slightest doubt that when the trial
comes we shall be able triumphantly to vindicate me from this terrible,
groundless accusation." IV. When the trial did actually come on, the Museum authorities began by
proving their case against me in what seemed the most horribly damning
fashion. The superintendent proved that on such and such a day, in such
and such a case, he had seen a gold coin of Wulfric of Mercia, the
property of the Museum. He and Mactavish detailed the circumstances
under which the coin was lost. The superintendent explained how he had
asked me to submit to a search, and how, to avoid that indignity, I had
myself produced from my waistcoat-pocket a gold coin of Wulfric of
Mercia, which I asserted to be a duplicate specimen, and my own
property. The counsel for the Crown proceeded thus with the
examination:--

"Do you recognize the coin I now hand you?" "I do." "What is it?" "The unique gold coin of Wulfric of Mercia, belonging to the Museum." "You have absolutely no doubt as to its identity?" "Absolutely none whatsoever." "Does it differ in any respect from the same coin as you previously saw
it?" "Yes. It has been clipped round the edge with a sharp instrument, and a
slight dent has been made by pressure on the obverse side, just below
the W of Wulfric." "Did you suspect the prisoner at the bar of having mutilated it?" "I did, and I asked him whether he had a knife in his possession. He
answered no. I then asked him whether he would submit to be searched for
a knife. He consented, and on my looking in his pocket I found the pair
of nail-scissors I now produce, with a small file on either side." "Do you believe the coin might have been clipped with those scissors?" "I do. The gold is very soft, having little alloy in its composition;
and it could easily be cut by a strong-wristed man with a knife or
scissors." As I listened, I didn't wonder that the jury looked as if they already
considered me guilty: but I smiled to myself when I thought how utterly
Emily's and the ploughman's evidence would rebut this unworthy
suspicion. The next witness was the Museum cleaner. His evidence at first produced
nothing fresh, but just at last, counsel set before him a paper,
containing a few scraps of yellow metal, and asked him triumphantly
whether he recognized them. He answered yes. There was a profound silence. The court was interested and curious. I
couldn't quite understand it all, but I felt a terrible sinking. "What are they?" asked the hostile barrister.