How she became of the Voodoo stone Dido refused to say. Jen had learned from Arkel that Etwald wore the on his watch chain, and he wondered in what fashion Dido had to into the prison and to obtain it from the doctor. The whole result of the trial depended upon the transfer of the stone. If Etwald kept it, Dido would not dare to give evidence against him, and so, in the absence of the incriminating details, he would go free. As it was, the stone was now in the possession of Dido, and for some reason, which Jen was unable to , she was quite content to betray her share in the plot. By changing hands, the Voodoo stone had transformed Dido into a traitress.  
However, as the advantage from the transfer was all on the side of the , Jen did not think it wise to inquire too closely into the means which Dido had employed to the talisman. He saw nothing of David, who kept out of his way. He made no of Dido, and simply informed the inspector that the negress was ready to explain Etwald's secrets, without telling him why she was willing to do so.
 
Her Majesty's judges on circuit came to Deanminster, the court was formally opened, and after some trivial cases had been disposed of, the trial of Regina v. Etwald was announced. The hall in which the court sat was crowded with people from far and near. There were even reporters from London, sent down by the great dailies, for the case had obtained more than a local . Inspector Arkel, with his seven witnesses on behalf of the crown, was at the table before the judges, and with Major Jen had held several conversations with the public . David, calm and composed, but paler than a , was in his place glancing over his brief and exchanging sentences with Etwald's . Lastly, Etwald himself, the terrible criminal who, in the eyes of the public, was a hardened and bloodthirsty monster, stepped into the dock. and smiling, he pleaded not guilty to the , and the trial commenced.
 
The public prosecutor stated the case in all its fullness. The prisoner, said he, was a medical man practicing in Deanminster. He had seen Miss Isabella Dallas, and had fallen in love with the lady, and also--which was more important--with the fortune of the lady. Evidently he had made up his mind that no obstacle should stand in the way of his marriage with Miss Dallas. But it so happened that there was one obstacle--the young lady was in love with Mr. Maurice Alymer, a young gentleman of position, who held a commission in Her Majesty's army. Her love was returned, and the young people were engaged.
 
Interruption by the prisoner's counsel: "But without the consent of the mother."
 
The public prosecutor thought that the interruption of his learned friend was out of place; as the refusal of Mrs. Dallas--"mother, gentlemen of the jury, to the young lady engaged to the deceased gentleman, Mr. Maurice Alymer"--had nothing to do with the actual facts of the case. The prisoner, seeing that while Mr. Alymer lived, he could never marry Miss Dallas, to rid himself of a rival. The prisoner had been in Barbadoes, and while there he had learned many things concerning African , and had become possessor of the Voodoo stone, a talisman which the black race held in . On his return to England the prisoner had become acquainted with Mrs. Dallas, with the daughter, whom he designed to marry, and with a negress called Dido, the servant of the aforesaid Mrs. Dallas. By means of the Voodoo stone, the prisoner made an absolute slave of the negress, and could command her services at any time, even to the extent of crime.
 
The counsel for the objected to the use of the word crime. Nothing, he submitted, had yet been proved.
 
Counsel for the prosecution accepted the correction of his learned friend, and withdrew the word crime--if not altogether, at all events for the time being. He would resume his explanation of the case. Major Jen, the adopted father of the deceased, possessed a barbaric curiosity called by people the devil-stick; by the wand of sleep. This he had obtained from Ashantee, where it was used to kill people inimical to the king by the injection of poison. There was no need to describe the devil-stick, as it was on the table, and would be shown to the jury. This devil-stick--
 
With some prisoner's counsel admitted that the devil-stick had been used to kill the deceased, and requested the prosecutor to pass on to more important details.
 
The counsel for the crown thanked his learned friend for the admission, and would continue. The devil-stick was stolen by Mrs. Dallas, who committed the theft under the hypnotic influence of the negress Dido. By the direction of Dr. Etwald, Dido refilled the stick with fresh poison, being enabled to manufacture the same from a recipe of her grandmother's--said grandmother having come from Ashantee, where the stick--the devil-stick, be it understood--had been constructed and used. She had given this terrible weapon to the prisoner, who with it had killed Mr. Alymer, his rival.
 
Counsel for the defense submitted that the crime had yet to be proved. His learned friend was assuming too much.
 
The public prosecutor said that he asserted no more than he could prove to their lordships and the gentlemen of the jury. The prisoner had killed Mr. Alymer, and it was for this that he stood in yonder dock. As regards the theft of the body---
 
The offense, said prisoner's counsel, was swallowed up and in the greater; therefore, he protested against the introduction of the theft of the body.
 
The judge thought that the two crimes were, speaking, one and the same. It was right that the crown prosecutor should place before him the whole facts of the case. One part might or enhance or explain the other. The crown prosecutor was quite in order.
 
Counsel for the prosecution accepted his lordship's ruling and would proceed. The body of Mr. Alymer was taken to the residence of his adopted father. Major Jen. There it was placed in the bedroom which had belonged to the living man. Thence it was stolen by the prisoner.
 
Counsel for the prisoner: "All this has yet to be proved."
 
Counsel for the crown: "I shall prove it and at once. The jury are now in possession of all the facts of this very interesting case, and every detail will be confirmed by the most responsible witnesses. Call Major Jen."
 
Evidence--in brief--of Major Jen: "I was the of the deceased Maurice Alymer. I adopted him as my son. He was in love with, and engaged to, Miss Dallas, but the mother did not approve of the engagement. Dr. Etwald, the prisoner, also loved Miss Dallas, but she refused to marry him. I showed the prisoner the devil-stick and explained its use, whereupon he wished to purchase it. I declined to part with it, and it was stolen. After its , Mr. Alymer was killed by means of the devil-stick poison. His hand was but slightly scratched, and he could not have died from so trivial a cause had not the weapon used been poisoned. Moreover, I recognized the perfume which from the body as that of the devil-stick poison. Dr. Etwald had threatened the deceased once or twice. Afterward the body of deceased disappeared, and the drug used to stupefy the watcher of the dead was the poison of the devil-stick."
 
Miss Dallas that she had been engaged to deceased. Prisoner wished to marry her, and was jealous of the late Mr. Alymer. Once or twice he had threatened him. The negress, Dido, was accustomed to hyp............