. To your calm reasoning, your generous manly hearts, your
Christian consciences, I resign the desolate prisoner; and as you deal
with her, so may the God above us, the just and holy God who has
numbered the hairs of her innocent head, deal here and hereafter with
you and yours."

That magnetic influence, whereby the emotions of an audience are
swayed, as the tides that follow the moon, was in large measure the
heritage of the handsome man who held the eyes of the jurymen in an
almost unwinking gaze; and when his uplifted arm slowly fell to his
side, Judge Dent grasped it in mute congratulation, and Mr. Churchill
took his hand, and shook it warmly.

Mr. Wolverton came forward to sum up the evidence for the prosecution,
and laboriously recapitulated and dwelt upon the mass of facts which he
claimed was susceptible of but one interpretation, and must compel the
jury to convict, in accordance with the indictment.

Upon the ears of the prisoner, his words fell as a harsh, meaningless
murmur; and above the insistent mutter, rose and fell the waves of a
rich, resonant voice, that surrounded, penetrated, electrified her
brain; thrilled her whole being with a strange and inexplicable
sensation of happiness. For months she had fought against the singular
fascination that dwelt in those brilliant blue eyes, and lurked in
every line of the swart, stern face; holding at bay the magnetic
attraction which he exerted from the hour of the preliminary
examination. Of all men, she had feared him most, had shrunk from every
opportunity of contact, had execrated him as the malign
personification, the veritable incarnation of the evil destiny that had
hounded her from the day she first saw X----.

Listening to his appeal for her deliverance, each word throbbing with
the fervent beat of a heart that she knew was all her own, an exquisite
sense of rest gradually stole over her; as a long-suffering child spent
with pain, sinks, soothed at last in the enfolding arms of protective
love. That dark, eloquent face drew, held her gaze with the spell of a
loadstone, and even in the imminence of her jeopardy, she recalled the
strange resemblance he bore to the militant angel she had once seen in
a painting, where he wrestled with Satan for possession of the body of
Moses. Disgrace, peril, the gaunt spectre of death suddenly dissolved,
vanished in the glorious burst of rosy light that streamed into all the
chill chambers of her heart; and she bowed