The sounds heard by the girl Beta may or may not
have proceeded from the stealthy movements of the accused, and yet
justice forbids our passing them by unnoticed. The time of this movement
being heard, and that of the murder, according to the leech's evidence,
tally so exactly that we cannot doubt but the one had to do with the
other; but whether it were indeed the prisoner's step, or that of the
base purloiner of his sword, your united judgment must decide.
Individual supposition, in a matter of life or death, can be of no
avail. My belief, as you may have discovered, inclines to the prisoner's
innocence. My brother, the chief Hermano, as strongly believes in his
guilt. And it would appear as if the evidence itself, supports the one
judgment equally with the other; contradictory and complicated, it has
yet been truthfully brought forward and strictly examined. Your united
judgment, Senors and Hermanos, must therefore decide the prisoner's
fate."
"But under your favor, Reverend Father, all the evidence has not been
brought forward," rejoined the chief Hermano. "And methinks that which
is still to come is the most important of the whole. That the business
is complicated, and judgment most difficult, I acknowledge, and
therefore gladly avail myself of any remaining point on which the
scale may turn.
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