I will not attempt, especially after this lapse of years, to describe
the feelings with which I listened to this amazing evidence. The black
wickedness and the cold-blooded treachery of the man overwhelmed and
paralysed me, so that when, after some further testimony, the chairman
asked me if I had any questions to put to the witness, I could only
stammer:--

"It is a lie, an infamous lie!"

"No, no," said the chairman kindly, "if you wish to make a statement,
you will have an opportunity of doing so presently. Have you any
questions to ask the witness?"

I shook my head. How could I question him on such falsehoods? Then came
the nurse, who, amidst a mass of other information, calmly swore that,
standing on the second landing, whither she had accompanied Sir John
from his patient's room, she heard a lengthy conversation proceeding
between him and me, and caught the words, "I will take the chance of
that," spoken in my voice.

Again I had no questions to ask, but I remembered that this nurse was a
person who for a long while had been employed by Sir John Bell, and one
over whom he very probably had some hold.

Then I was asked if I had any witness, but, now that my wife was dead,
what witness could I call?--indeed, I could not have called her had
she been alive. Then, having been cautioned in the ordinary form, that
whatever I said might be given as evidence against me at my trial, I was
asked if I wished to make any statement.