All you have to decide is whether the prisoner in the dock
committed or procured and assisted others to commit the very serious
acts of arson of which she is accused..."
Nevertheless he or the hounds he kept in leash, the lesser counsel,
sought subtly to prejudice the jury's mind against Vivie by dragging
in her parentage and the eccentricities of her own career. As
thus:--
_Counsel for the prosecution_: "We have in you the mainspring of
this rebellious movement..."
_Vivie_: "Have you?"
_Counsel_: "Are you not the daughter of the notorious Mrs. Warren?"
_Vivie_: "My mother's name certainly is Warren. For what is she
notorious?"
_Counsel_: "Well--er--for being associated abroad with--er--a
certain type of hotel synonymous with a disorderly house--"
_Vivie_: "Indeed? Have you tried them? My mother has managed the
hotels of an English Company abroad till she retired altogether from
the management some years ago. It was a Company in which Sir George
Crofts--"
_Judge_, interposing: "We need not go into that--I think the Counsel
for the prosecution is not entitled to ask such questions."
_Counsel_: "I submit, Me Lud, that it is germane to my case that the
prisoner's upbringing might have--"
_Vivie_: "I am quite willing to give you all the information I
possess as to my upbringing. My mother who has resided mainly at
Brussels for many years preferred that I should be educated in
England.
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