which the identity of
the sacrilegious chuckler was not discovered, but the voice was the
voice of Buckalew, who was incredibly surprised to find that he had
spoken aloud.

The jury were "out," after the case had been given to them, seventeen
minutes and thirty seconds by the watch Claudine held in her hand. The
little man, whose fate was now on the knees of the gods, looked
pathetically at the foreman and then at the face of his lawyer and
began to shake violently, but not with fright. He had gone to the jail
on Joe's word, as a good dog goes where his master bids, trustfully;
and yet Happy had not been able to keep his mind from considering the
horrible chances. "Don't worry," Joe had said. "It's all right. I'll
see you through." And he had kept his word.

The little man was cleared.

It took Happy a long time to get through what he had to say to his
attorney in the anteroom, and even then, of course, he did not manage
to put it in words, for he had "broken down" with sheer gratitude.
"Why, damn ME, Joe," he sobbed, "if ever I--if ever you--well, by God!
if you ever--" This was the substance of his lingual accomplishment
under the circumstances. But Claudine threw her arms around poor Joe's
neck and kissed him.

Many people were waiting to shake hands with Joe and congratulate him.
The trio, taking advantage of seats near the rail, had already done
that (somewhat uproariously) before he had followed Happy, and so had
Ariel and Ladew, both, necessarily, rather hurriedly. But in the
corridors he found, when he came out of the anteroom, clients,
acquaintances, friends: old friends, new friends, and friends he had
never seen before--everybody beaming upon him and wringing his hand, as
if they had been sure of it all from the start.

"KNOW him?" said one to another. "Why, I've knowed him sence he was
that high! SMART little feller he was, too!" This was a total
stranger.

"I said, years ago"--thus Mr. Brown, the "National House" clerk,
proving his prophetic vision--"that he'd turn out to be a big man some
day."

They gathered round him if he stopped for an instant, and crowded after
him admiringly when he went on again, making his progress slow. When
he finally came out of the big doors into the sunshine, there were as
many people in the yard as there had been when he stood in the same
place and watched the mob rushing his client's guards. But to-day their
temper was different, and as he paused a mome