The defence made an even worse mistake than this. When the time came,
Sir William Wilde was not called.

In his speech for Miss Travers, Mr. Butt made the most of this omission. He
declared that the refusal of Sir William Wilde to go into the witness box was
an admission of guilt; an admission that Miss Travers' story of her betrayal
was true and could not be contradicted. But the refusal of Sir William Wilde
to go into the box was not, he insisted, the worst point in the defence. He
reminded the jury that he had asked Lady Wilde why she had not answered Miss
Travers when she wrote to her. He recalled Lady Wilde's reply:

"I took no interest in the matter."

Every woman would be interested in such a thing, he declared, even a stranger;
but Lady Wilde hated her husband's victim and took no interest in her seduction
beyond writing a bitter, vindictive and libellous letter to the girl's father.
. . . .

The speech was regarded as a masterpiece and enhanced the already great
reputation of the man who was afterwards to become the Home Rule Leader.

It only remained for the judge to sum up, for everyone was getting impatient
to hear the verdict. Chief Justice Monahan made a short, impartial speech,
throwing the dry, white light of truth upon the conflicting and passionate
statements. First of all, he said, it was difficult to believe in the story
of rape whether with or without chloroform. If the girl had been violated she
would be expected to cry out at the time, or at least to complain to her father
as soon as she reached home. Had it been a criminal trial, he pointed out,
no one would have believed this part of Miss Travers' story. When you find