h he heard the proceedings only in broken bits.

The adjutant called the roll and those present answered, each one to his
name; and mainly the voices sounded bent and sagged, like the bodies of
their owners. A keen onlooker might have noticed a sort of tremulous,
joyous impatience, which filled all save two of these old, gray men,
pushing the preliminaries forward with uncommon speed. They fidgeted in
their places.

Presently Judge Priest cleared his throat of a persistent huskiness and
stood up.

"Before we proceed to the regular routine," he piped, "I desire to
present a certain matter to a couple of our members." He came down off
the little platform, where the flags were draped, with a step that was
almost light, and into Captain Abner Tilghman's hand he put a copy of a
city paper, turned and folded at a certain place, where a column of
printed matter was scored about with heavy pencil bracketings. "Cap'n,"
he said, "as a personal favor to me, suh, would you please read this
here article?--the one that's marked"--he pointed with his finger--"not
aloud--read it to yourself, please."

It was characteristic of the paralytic to say nothing. Without a word he
adjusted his glasses and without a word he began to read. So instantly
intent was he that he did not see what followed next--and that was Judge
Priest crossing over to Mr. Edward Tilghman's side with another copy of
a paper in his hand.

"Ed," he bade him, "read this here article, won't you? Read it clear
through to the end--it might interest you maybe." The deaf man looked up
at him wonderingly, but took the paper in his slightly palsied hand and
bent his head close above the printed sheet.

Judge Priest stood in the middle aisle, making no move to go back to his
own place. He watched the two silent readers. All the others watched
them too. They read on, making slow progress, for the light was poor and
their eyes were poor. And the watchers could hardly contain themselves;
they could hardly wait. Sergeant Jimmy Bagby kept bobbing up and down
like a pudgy jack-in-the-box that is slightly stiff in its joints. A
small, restrained rustle of bodies accompanied the rustle of the folded
newspapers held in shaky hands.

Unconscious of all scrutiny, the brothers read on. Perhaps because he
had started first--perhaps because his glasses were the more expensive
and presumably therefore the more helpful--Captain Abner Tilghman came
to the concluding paragraph first. He