The Project Gutenberg EBook of Witness For The Defense, by A.E.W. Mason

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Title: Witness For The Defense

Author: A.E.W. Mason

Release Date: June 6, 2004 [EBook #12535]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE WITNESS FOR THE DEFENCE

BY A.E.W. MASON

1914

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. HENRY THRESK

II. ON BIGNOR HILL

III. IN BOMBAY

IV. JANE REPTON

V. THE QUEST

VI. IN THE TENT AT CHITIPUR

VII. THE PHOTOGRAPH

VIII. AND THE RIFLE

IX. AN EPISODE IN BALLANTYNE'S LIFE

X. NEWS FROM CHITIPUR

XI. THRESK INTERVENES

XII. THRESK GIVES EVIDENCE

XIII. LITTLE BEEDING AGAIN

XIV. THE HAZLEWOODS

XV. THE GREAT CRUSADE

XVI. CONSEQUENCES

XVII. TROUBLE FOR MR. HAZLEWOOD

XVIII. MR. HAZLEWOOD SEEKS ADVICE

XIX. PETTIFER'S PLAN

XX. ON THE DOWNS

XXI. THE LETTER IS WRITTEN

XXII. A WAY OUT OF THE TRAP

XXIII. METHODS FROM FRANCE

XXIV. THE WITNESS

XXV. IN THE LIBRARY

XXVI. TWO STRANGERS

XXVII. THE VERDICT

THE WITNESS FOR THE DEFENCE

CHAPTER I

HENRY THRESK

The beginning of all this difficult business was a little speech which
Mrs. Thresk fell into a habit of making to her son. She spoke it the
first time on the spur of the moment without thought or intention. But
she saw that it hurt. So she used it again--to keep Henry in his
proper place.

"You have no right to talk, Henry," she would say in the hard practical
voice which so completed her self-sufficiency. "You are not earning your
living. You are still dependent upon us;" and she would add with a note
of triumph: "Remember, if anything were to happen to your dear father you
would have to shift for yourself, for everything has been left to me."

Mrs. Thresk meant no harm. She was utterly without imagination and had no
special delicacy of taste to s