ow trouble had deepened the lines in his face. "Brace up, old fellow,"
he said huskily. "We'll get a line on something before we go to trial."

Dr. Earl did not see Leonora or hear from her directly again after their
interview, but the Sunday following the announcement that Miss Holland
had been employed to defend him, an item appeared in the society columns
of the New York papers stating that their engagement had been
terminated. He sighed when he read it, whether from sorrow or relief he
could scarcely have told himself. But he fully realized at this time
that the vital heart-beats of genuine love are not always inspired by
plighted troth, neither is the latter always a product of the former,
and he marveled at his own lack of understanding in so readily accepting
a superficial substitute for the real article. The Ramseys gave every
evidence of their devotion, seeing him daily, and there were not wanting
a few staunch friends, and numerous former patients showed their
loyalty, but as the day of his trial approached he found himself
thinking more and more of the four devoted souls who had done and would
do all for him that was humanly possible.

CHAPTER XIX

A GREAT MURDER TRIAL BEGINS

Although the court officials had taken the precaution to admit
spectators only by cards issued from the sheriff's office, the famous
old room in the Criminal Courts Building was jammed to its very doors at
the opening of the trial of Dr. John Earl for the murder of Mrs. Emma
Bell, for it must be remembered sheriffs are elected by popular vote and
have friends in all walks of life. So there were business men and street
urchins, ladies of fashion and washerwomen, members of the learned
professions and hoboes, scholars and draymen, students of psychology and
the merely curious, advocates in frock-coats and counsellors in jackets,
attracted by the ever-living fascination of seeing a human being
fighting for his life, with the added interest in this case of the
novelty of seeing that fight made by a woman attorney.

Many tragic memories cling to this old room. Here other doctors had
been convicted and sentenced to the electric chair for sending poison
through the mails. Here more ordinary individuals had been acquitted by
displaying more skill in the transaction than had been shown by the
doctors. Here had been tried all sorts of murder cases, with all sorts
of defenses, from self-preservation with an ax to the irresponsibility