flushed, and he
averted his face and appeared ill at ease and uncomfortable.

To the first questions of the lawyer he answered with evident
constraint, and in a low, subdued voice; but soon recovering his
self-possession, gave his testimony freely and boldly, corroborating by
his words all the statements of his advocate. By both the court and
the jury he was heard with attention and deference; and when he took
a passing occasion to allude to his loyalty and attachment to the
constitution, the senior judge interrupted him by saying,--

"On that point, Sir Montague, no second opinion can exist. Your
character for unimpeachable honor is well known to the court."

The examination was brief, lasting scarcely half an hour; and when the
young lawyer came forward to put some questions as cross-examination,
his want of instruction and ignorance were at once seen, and the witness
was dismissed almost immediately.

Sir Montague's advocate declined calling any other witness. The regiment
to which his client then belonged was on foreign service; but he felt
satisfied that the case required nothing in addition to the evidence the
jury had heard.

A few moments of deliberation ensued among the members of the bench; and
then the senior judge called on my lawyer to proceed with the defence.

The young barrister rose with diffidence, and expressed in few words his
inability to rebut the statements that had been made by any evidence in
his power to produce. "The prisoner, my lord," said he, "has confided
nothing to me of his case. I am ignorant of everything, save what has
taken place in open court."

"It is true, my lord," said I, interrupting. "The facts of this unhappy
circumstance are known but to three individuals. You have already heard
the version which one of them has given; you shall now hear mine. The
third, whose testimony might incline the balance in my favor, is, I am
told, no longer in this country; and I have only to discharge the debt
I feel due to myself and to my own honor, by narrating the real
occurrence, and leave the issue in your hands, to deal with as your
consciences may dictate."

With the steadiness of purpose truth inspires, and in few words, I
narrated the whole of my adventure with Crofts, down to the moment of
Darby's sudden appearance. I told of what passed between us; and how
the altercation, that began in angry words, terminated in a personal
struggle, where, as the weaker, I was overcome, and la