d
appealed from both, though he is a poor man. If he loses to-morrow he
will not only be a ruined man, but be sentenced to penal servitude, while
if he wins, Torriano should be sent to the galleys, together with his
counsel, who has deserved this fate many times before."

I knew Count Tomes passed for somewhat of a scandal-monger, so his
remarks made little impression on me beyond whetting my curiosity. The
next day I was one of the first to appear in the court, where I found the
bench, plaintiff and defendant, and the barristers, already assembled.
The farmer's counsel was an old man who looked honest, while the count's
had all the impudence of a practised knave. The count sat beside him,
smiling disdainfully, as if he was lowering himself to strive with a
miserable peasant whom he had already twice vanquished.

The farmer sat by his wife, his son, and two daughters, and had that air
of modest assurance which indicates resignation and a good conscience.

I wondered how such honest people could have lost in two courts; I was
sure their cause must be a just one.

They were all poorly clad, and from their downcast eyes and their humble
looks I guessed them to be the victims of oppression.

Each barrister could speak for two hours.

The farmer's advocate spoke for thirty minutes, which he occupied by
putting in the various receipts bearing the count's signature up to the
time when he had dismissed the farmer, because he would not prostitute
his daughters to him. He then continued, speaking with calm precision, to
point out the anachronisms and contradictions in the count's books (which
made his client a debtor), and stated that his client was in a position
to prosecute the two forgers who had been employed to compass the ruin of
an honest family, whose only crime was poverty. He ended his speech by an
appeal for costs in all the suits, and for compensation for loss of time
and defamation of character.

The harangue of the count's advocate would have lasted more than two
hours if the court had not silenced him. He indulged in a torrent of
abuse against the other barrister, the experts in hand-writing, and the
peasant, whom he threatened with a speedy consignment to the galleys.

The pleadings would have wearied me if I had been a blind man, but as it
was I amused myself by a scrutiny of the various physiognomies before me.
My host's face remained smiling and impudent through it all.

The pleadings over, the court w