sue;
But I love the sight of a stilly night,
And the crowd beneath the Grue.

No lawyer clown, with his cap and gown,
Has complex work to do;
For the horny hand and the face that's tanned
Are the judges beneath the Grue.

At best, this life is a fleeting strife,
For me as well as for you;
But our work is brief with a rogue or thief
When he stands beneath the Grue.

No bribes resort to our humble court,
All is open and plain to view;
And the people's voice and the people's choice
Are the law beneath the Grue.

The Grue! the Grue! the Grue!
I ween there are but few
Who have hearts for hope as they see the rope
That dangles beneath the Grue.'

As they sang a number of voices in front of them took up the strain,
till the crowd seemed to make the very air ring with their hoarse chant.
In this way they reached the Seine, over whose dark and rapid flood the
fatal crane seemed to droop sadly. Several hundred people were assembled
here, a confused murmur showing that they were engaged in conversing
rather than in that judicial function it was their pride to discharge.

'A rebel against the majesty of the people and the fame of its greatest
martyr,' said a deep voice, as he announced the crime of Fitzgerald,
and pushed him forward to the place reserved for the accused. 'While a
nation humbles itself in sorrow, this man chooses the hour for riotous
dissipation and excess. We met him as he issued forth from the woman
Roland's house, so that he cannot deny the charge.'

'Accused, stand forward,' said a coarse-looking man, in a mechanic's
dress, but whose manner was not devoid of a certain dignity. 'You are
here before the French people, who will judge you fairly.'

'Were I even conscious of a crime, I would deny your right to try me.'

'Young man, you do but injury to yourself in insulting us, was the grave
rebuke, delivered with a calm decorum which seemed to have its influence
on Fitzgerald.

'Who accuses him?' asked the judge aloud.

'I'--'and I '--'and I'--'all of us,' shouted a number together, followed
by a burst of, 'Let Lamarc do it; let Lamarc speak'; and a pale, very
young man, of gentle look and slight figure, came forward at the call.

With the ease of one thoroughly accustomed to address public assemblies,
and with an eloquence evidently cultivated in very different spheres,
the young man pronounced a glowing pan