But
as to the story of the apparition in fair day-light--the flying from
the face of it--the running foul of his brother pursuing him, and
knocking him down, why the judge smiled at the relation, and
saying: "It was a very extraordinary story," he remanded George
to prison, leaving the matter to the High Court of Justiciary.
When the case came before that court, matters took a different
turn. The constant and sullen attendance of the one brother upon
the other excited suspicions; and these were in some manner
confirmed when the guards at Queensberry House deported that
the prisoner went by them on his way to the hill that morning,
about twenty minutes before the complainant, and, when the
latter passed, he asked if such a young man had passed before
him, describing the prisoner's appearance to them; and that, on
being answered in the affirmative, he mended his pace and fell a-
running.
The Lord Justice, on hearing this, asked the prisoner if he had any
suspicions that his brother had a design on his life.
He answered that all along, from the time of their first
unfortunate meeting, his brother had dogged his steps so
constantly, and so unaccountably, that he was convinced it was
with some intent out of the ordinary course of events; and that if,
as his lordship supposed, it was indeed his shadow that he had
seen approaching him through the mist, then, from the cowering
and cautious manner that it advanced, there was no little doubt
that his brother's design had been to push him headlong from the
cliff that morning.
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