dant hides is the silence of guilt,
and that silence brands him blacker than any confession that his tongue
could make.

"'Words passed between us,' and 'it was between him and me.' That,
gentlemen of the jury, is the explanation this defendant gives, the
only, the weak, the obviously dishonest explanation, that he ever has
offered, or that the kindly admonishment of this court could draw from
his lips. Guilt sits on his face; every line of his base countenance is
a confession; every brutal snarl from his reluctant tongue is testimony
of his evil heart. He was a thief, and, when he was caught, he murdered.
'Out of his own mouth he has uttered his condemnation,' and there is but
one penalty fitting this hideous crime--the penalty of death!

"Never before has the fair name of our county been stained by such an
atrocious crime; never before has there been such a conspiracy between
the guilty to defeat the ends of justice in this moral and respected
community. I call upon you, gentlemen of the jury, for the safety of our
households and the sanctity of our hearths, to bring in your verdict of
guilty under the indictment.

"It is a solemn and awful thing to stand here in the presence of the
Almighty and ask the life of one of his creatures, made by Him in His
own image and endowed by Him with reason and superiority above all else
that moves on the earth or in the waters under it. But this man, Joe
Newbolt, has debased that image and abused that reason and superiority
which raises him above the beasts of the field. He has murdered a
defenseless old man; he has, by that act and deed, forfeited his right
to life and liberty under the law."

The prosecutor made one of his effective pauses. There was the stillness
of midnight in the crowded court-room. The sound of dashing rain was
loud on the window-panes, the hoarse voice of the gray old elm which
combed the wind with its high-flung branches, was like the distant groan
of the sea.

In that aching silence Ollie Chase turned suddenly, as if she had heard
someone call her name. She started, her white face grew whiter. But
nobody seemed conscious of her presence, except the prosecutor, who
wheeled upon her and leveled his accusing finger at her where she sat.

There was the bearing of sudden and reckless impulse in his act. He
surely had not meditated that bold challenge of one who had passed under
his merciless hand, and was now, according to all accepted procedure,
beyond h