promptly to
the  of both parties; on others he hesitated, and at length
reserved them. Though none but the more experienced and able members of
the bar could in the least degree enter into and appreciate the nature
of these , they were watched with untiring attention and
 by all present, both ladies and gentlemen--by the lowly and
the distinguished. And though the intensity of the  of all was
manifest by a mere glimpse round the court, yet any momentary display of
eccentricity on the part of a witness, or of  or repartee on
the part of counsel, would occasion a momentary  which, in
point of fact, served only as a sort of _relief_ to the strained
 of the audience, and instantly disappeared. The tombstone part
of the case was got through easily; scarcely any attempt being made on
the part of Mr. Aubrey's counsel to resist or interfere with it. But the
great--the hottest part of the fight--occurred at that point of the
case, where Titmouse's descent from Stephen Dreddlington was sought to
be established. This gentleman, who had been a very wild person, whose
movements were very difficult to be traced or accounted for, had entered
the navy, and ultimately died at sea, as had always been imagined,
single and childless.