led him out of the disgraceful dock, gave him a seat directly
in front of the jury, sat down beside him, and asked him to tell
him the truth about all the circumstances that led to his
imprisonment and trial. Rodney told him truly all that happened
from the time of his running away to his arrest. He told him,
too, who he was, and who were his relatives in the neighborhood
of Philadelphia. He had never spoken of these before.

"Well," said the lawyer, "I don't see that they can bring
anything out to hurt you, if that is the true statement of the
case. And now, my boy, you may cry as much as you wish."

Rodney looked up, surprised, wondering what on earth he wanted
him to cry for. He thought afterwards that the advice was
probably given that his weeping might affect the sympathies of
the jury, before whose eyes he was sitting. But he could
scarcely have shed a tear then if his liberty had depended upon
it. He felt as though he had a friend, and his consciousness of
innocence of any violation of human law, and his confidence that
his new friend could show that he was guiltless, set his
perturbed heart at rest, and he felt sure that he should be
acquitted.

When the court adjourned, the lawyer took out a card, and,
giving it to Rodney, said, "If your case should be called up
before I get here this afternoon, just tell them that I am your
counsel, and they will put it off till I come. Here is my name."

There was but one word on the card, and Rodney kept it long as a
grateful memento of the disinterested kindness that had been
shown him in the hour of his bitter trial. The name on the card
was

+-----------------------+
| |
| WATMOUGH.[A] |
| |
+-----------------------+

[A] This is not a fictitious but the real name of the
gentleman whose kindness it commemorates.

That young lawyer never knew the gratitude with which his name
was remembered for long, long years, and the thrill of emotion
which its utterance always excited in the heart of that
befriended boy. An act of kindness is never lost, and many a one
which the benefactor may have forgotten, has won for him the
prayers and blessings of a grateful heart.

During the recess, Rodney was conducted across Independence-square
to the old Walnut-street prison. He ate his scanty prison dinner
that day with a light and