coldly complacent as he nodded to the presiding judge, so
quietly indifferent as he glanced at the prisoner through his single
eyeglass. The gods had given Coquenil a spectacular setting for his
triumph!

And now, suddenly, the blow fell. As the prosecuting officer soared along
in his oratorial flight, a note was passed unobtrusively to the presiding
judge, a modest little note folded on itself without even an envelope to
hold it. For several minutes the note lay unnoticed; then the judge, with
careless eye, glanced over it; then he started, frowned, and his quick
rereading showed that a spark of something had flashed from that scrap of
paper.

The presiding judge leaned quickly toward his associate on the right and
whispered earnestly, then toward his associate on the left, and, one after
another, the three magistrates studied this startling communication,
nodding learned heads and lowering judicial eyebrows. The public prosecutor
blazed through his peroration to an inattentive bench.

No sooner had the speaker finished than the clerk of the court announced a
brief recess, during which the judges withdrew for deliberation and the
audience buzzed their wonder. During this interval the Baron de
Heidelmann-Bruck looked frankly bored.

On the return of the three, an announcement was made by the presiding judge
that important new evidence in the case had been received, evidence of so
unusual a character that the judges had unanimously decided to interrupt
proceedings for a public hearing of the evidence in question. It was
further ordered that no one be allowed to leave the courtroom under any
circumstances.

"Call the first witness!" ordered the judge, and amidst the excitement
caused by these ominous words a small door opened and a woman entered
leaning on a guard. She was dressed simply in black and heavily veiled,
but her girlish figure showed that she was young. As she appeared,
Kittredge started violently.

The clerk of the court cleared his throat and called out something in
incomprehensible singsong.

The woman came forward to the witness stand and lifted her veil. As she did
so, three distinct things happened: the audience murmured its admiration at
a vision of strange beauty, Kittredge stared in a daze of joy, and De
Heidelmann-Bruck felt the cold hand of death clutching at his heart.

It was Alice come to her lover's need! Alice risen from the flames! Alice
here for chastening and justice!

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