Rumpole Rests His Case (27 page)

Then with a great flood of relief, I lay back on the pillows and closed my eyes. My final speech was over and I could do no more. The decision now had to be taken by other beds. It was the best moment of an anxious trial. As I lay resting, I heard the sound of distant voices. Verdicts came from the snorer, the tooth-grinder and many others. ‘Not guilty,' they said, and ‘Not guilty' they all voted. Even Ted the screw at the end of the chain piped up with 'I don't reckon David did it.‘ So the trial in the Princess Margaret ward was over.

Would I ever do the case down the Bailey? Would I ever repeat that closing speech to a real Jury, up and dressed, in a real Jury box? I felt sleep drifting over me, dulling my senses and darkening my world. Should I ever ... Who knows? For the moment all I can say is, ‘The defence rests.'

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