Look at him a-setting
there--a hard man, a mean man, if ever you saw one! What would the bit
of money 'ave meant to 'im? But . . ."
He was rudely silenced and hustled away, to a sharp rebuke from the
judge, who woke up to give it. All eyes were turned on Mahony. Under the
fire of observation--they were comparing him, he knew, with the poor
old Jeremy Diddler yonder, to the latter's disadvantage--his spine
stiffened and he held himself nervously erect. But, the quizzing at an
end, he fumbled with his finger at his neck--his collar seemed to have
grown too tight. While, without, the hot blast, dark with dust, flung
itself against the corners of the house, and howled like a soul in pain.
Counsel for the defence made an excellent impression. "Naturally! I can
afford to pay a better-class man," was Mahony's caustic note. He had
fallen to scribbling on a sheet of paper, and was resigned to sitting
through an adept presentment of Ocock's shifts and dodges. But the
opening words made him prick up his ears.
"My Lord," said counsel, "I submit there is here no case to go to the
jury. No written contract existed between the parties, to bring it
within the Statute of Frauds. Therefore, the plaintiff must prove that
the defendant accepted these goods. Now I submit to you, on the
plaintiff's own admission, that the man Murphy was a common carrier.
Your Lordship will know the cases of Hanson V. Armitage and various
others, in which it has been established beyond doubt that a carrier is
not an agent to accept goods.
Pages:
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171