rd in the prison alone.

"That was a horrible mistake. You must cut it out of your testimony
unless they force it. Avoid it. And you must make the jury see that
your return was a matter of--of--well, conscience--and so forth."

"I must tell the truth. That is all that I can do," said the prisoner,
wearily. "The judge is looking this way,--shall we--"

Nathan Goodbody rose quickly. "If the court please, we are ready to
proceed."

Then at last Betty Ballard was called to the witness stand. The hour
had come for which all the village had waited, and the fame of the
trial had spread beyond the village, and all who had known the boys in
their childhood and in their young manhood, and those who had been
their companions in arms--men from their own regiment--were there. The
matter had been discussed among them more or less heatedly and now the
court room could not hold the crowds that thronged its doors.

At this time, unknown to any of the actors in the drama, three
strangers, having made their way through the crowd outside the door,
were allowed to enter, and stood together in the far corner of the
court room unnoticed by the throng, intently watching and listening.
They had arrived from the opposite sides of the earth, and had met at
the village hotel. Larry had spied the younger man first, and,
scarcely knowing what he was doing, or why, he walked up to him, and
spoke, involuntarily holding out his hand to him.

"Tell me who you are," he said, ere Richard could surmise what was
happening.

"My name is Kildene," said Richard, frankly. "Have you any reason for
wishing to know me?"

For the moment he thought his interlocutor might be a detective, or
one who wished to verify a suspicion. Having but that moment arrived,
and knowing nothing of the trial which was going on, he could think
only of his reason for his return to Leauvite, and was glad to make an
end of incognito and sorrowful durance, and wearisome suspense, and he
did not hesitate, nor try any art of concealment. He looked directly
into Larry's eyes, almost defiantly for an instant, then seeing in
that rugged face a kindly glint of the eye and a quiver about the
mouth, his heart lightened and he grasped eagerly the hand held out to
him.

"Perhaps you will tell me whom you are? I suppose I ought to know, but
I've been away from here a long time."

Then the older man's hand fell a-trembling in his, and did not release
him, but rather clung to him as if he