the part of Arthur himself. His
stolid face had remained stolid even when the ring which had fallen out
of his sister's casket was shown to the jury and the connection made
between its presence there and the intrusion of his hand into the same,
on the occasion above mentioned. This once thoughtless, pleasure-loving,
and hopelessly dissipated boy had not miscalculated his nerve. It was
sufficient for an ordeal which might have tried the courage and
self-possession of the most hardened criminal.

Then came the great event of the day, in anticipation of which the
court-room had been packed, and every heart within it awakened by slow
degrees to a state of great nervous expectancy. The prosecution rested
and the junior counsel for the defence opened his case to the jury.

If I had hoped for any startling disclosure, calculated to establish his
client's alleged alibi, or otherwise to free the same from the definite
charge of murder, I had reason to be greatly disappointed by this maiden
effort of a young and inexperienced lawyer. If not exactly weak, there
was an unexpected vagueness in its statements which seemed quite out of
keeping with the emphatic declaration which he made of the prisoner's
innocence.

Even Arthur was sensible of the bad effect made by this preliminary
address. More than once during its delivery and notably at its
conclusion, he turned to Mr. Moffat, with a bitter remark, which was not
without effect on that gentleman's cheek, and at once called forth a
retort stinging enough to cause Arthur to sink back into his place, with
the first sign of restlessness I had observed in him.

"Moffat is sly. Moffat has something up his sleeve. I will wait till he
sees fit to show it," was my thought; then, as I caught a wild and
pleading look from Ella, I added in positive assertion to myself, "And so
must she."

Answering her unspoken appeal with an admonitory shake of the
head, I carelessly let my fingers rest upon my mouth until I saw
that she understood me and was prepared to follow my lead for a
little while longer.

My satisfaction at this was curtailed by the calling of Arthur Cumberland
to the stand to witness in his own defence.

I had dreaded this contingency. I saw that for some reason, both his
counsel and associate counsel, were not without their own misgivings as
to the result of their somewhat doubtful experiment.

A change was observable in this degenerate son of the Cumberlands since
many t