"
The two lawyers sit down and the judge puts on his spectacles, gathers
up the notes he has been making of the main points of the trial, and
turning to the jury begins his charge.
XIV
THE HEAVY CHARGE
No, madam, the charge of the judge does not mean his bill for expenses
or his salary for trying the case. A charge implies something grave,
heavy, and aggressive. It is what the judge tells the jury about the
case. It is never light or humorous, but ponderous and hard to
understand. The court-room doors are locked, no one must come in or go
out during the charge.
The judge looks solemnly at the jury, the jury straighten up from the
desponding attitude they gradually have assumed during the address of
counsel.
The end is near and they begin to have hope. They appear interested
and a gleam of awakened intelligence is in their eyes. Now at least
they are going to hear what they wanted to know about the case. The
judge will probably tell them something new and clear up the points
they did not understand. It may be even he will explain why he made
those strange rulings during the trial and what that mysterious
conference was when he called the lawyers to his desk and they talked
together for so long.
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