her head in her hands, to
hide the crimson that painted her cheeks.

How long Mr. Wolverton talked, she never knew; but the lull that
succeeded was broken by the tones of Judge Parkman.

"Beryl Brentano, it is my duty to remind you that this is the last
opportunity the law allows you, to speak in your own vindication. The
testimony has all been presented to those appointed to decide upon its
value. If there be any final statement that you may desire to offer in
self-defence, you must make it now."

Could the hundreds who watched and waited ever forget the sight of that
superb, erect figure, that exquisite face, proud as Hypatia's, patient
as Perpetua's; or the sound of that pathetic, unwavering voice?
Mournfully, yet steadily, she raised her great grey eyes, darkened by
the violet shadows suffering had cast, and looked at her judges.

"I am guiltless of any and all crime. I have neither robbed, nor
murdered; and I am neither principal, nor accomplice in the horrible
sin imputed to me. I know nothing of the chloroform; I never touched
the andiron; I never saw Gen'l Darrington but once. He gave me the gold
and the sapphires, and I am as innocent of his death, and of the
destruction of his will as the sinless little children who prattle at
your firesides and nestle to sleep in your arms. My life has been
disgraced and ruined by no act of mine, for I have kept my hands, my
heart, my soul, as pure and free from crime as they were when God gave
them to me. I am the helpless prey of suspicion, and the guiltless
victim of the law. O, my judges! I do not crave your mercy--that is the
despairing prayer of conscious guilt; I demand at your hands, justice."

The rushing sound as of a coming flood filled her ears, and her words
echoed vaguely from some immeasurably distant height. The gaslights
seemed whirling in a Walpurgis maze, as she sat down and once more
veiled her face in her hands.

When she recovered sufficiently to listen, Mr. Churchill had risen for
the closing speech of the prosecution.

"Gentlemen of the Jury: I were a blot upon a noble profession, a
disgrace to honorable manhood, and a monster in my own estimation, if I
could approach the fatal Finis of this melancholy trial, without
painful emotions of profound regret, that the solemn responsibility of
my official position makes me the reluctant bearer of the last stern
message uttered by retributive justice. How infinitely more enviable
the duty of the Amicu