I went away, and at the end of the half-hour returned, when he told me that there would be no public examination, owing to the extreme debility of the wounded man, but that one of the magistrates was about to proceed to his house and take his deposition in the presence of the criminal and also of the witnesses of the deed, and that if I pleased I might go along with him, and he had no doubt that the magistrate would have no objection to my being present.

We set out together; as we were going along I questioned him about the state of the country, and gathered from him that there was occasionally a good deal of crime in Wales.
"Are the Welsh a clannish people ?" I demanded.
"Very," said he.
"As clannish as the Highlanders ?" said I.
"Yes," said he, "and a good deal more." We came to the house of the wounded butcher, which was some way out of the town in the north-western suburb.

The magistrate was in the lower apartment with the clerk, one or two officials, and the surgeon of the town.

He was a gentleman of about two or three and forty, with a military air and large moustaches, for besides being a justice of the peace and a landed proprietor, he was an officer in the army.

He made me a polite bow when I entered, and I requested of him permission to be present at the examination.