The defence which the prisoner's counsel endeavoured to establish was,
that the prisoner had never really loved his wife; but it broke down
completely, for the public prosecutor called witness after witness who
deposed to the fact that the couple had been devoted to one another, and
the prisoner repeatedly wept as incidents were put in evidence that
reminded him of the irreparable nature of the loss he had sustained. The
jury returned a verdict of guilty after very little deliberation, but
recommended the prisoner to mercy on the ground that he had but recently
insured his wife's life for a considerable sum, and might be deemed lucky
inasmuch as he had received the money without demur from the insurance
company, though he had only paid two premiums.
I have just said that the jury found the prisoner guilty. When the judge
passed sentence, I was struck with the way in which the prisoner's
counsel was rebuked for having referred to a work in which the guilt of
such misfortunes as the prisoner's was extenuated to a degree that roused
the indignation of the court.
"We shall have," said the judge, "these crude and subversionary books
from time to time until it is recognised as an axiom of morality that
luck is the only fit object of human veneration.
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