it was mean to tickle yer parson? It sounded more like a
furriner," said Jim.

When the professor realized the meaning that had been attached by Jim to
the "original Hebrew," he was taken with what seemed to be a nasal
hemorrhage that called for his immediate retirement from the court-room.

What was to be done next? All eyes were turned upon the counsel who were
in earnest conversation. Too evidently the defense had broken down
utterly. Mr. Cavendish was angry, and Mr. Belcher sat beside him like a
man who expected every moment to be smitten in the face, and who would
not be able to resent the blow.

"May it please the Court," said Mr. Cavendish, "it is impossible, of
course, for counsel to know what impression this testimony has made upon
the Court and the jury. Dr. Barhydt, after a lapse of years, and
dealings with thousands of patients, comes here and testifies to an
occurrence which my client's testimony makes impossible; a sneak
discovers a letter which may have been written on the third or the fifth
of May, 1860--it is very easy to make a mistake in the figure, and this
stolen letter, never legitimately delivered,--possibly never intended to
be delivered under any circumstances--is produced here in evidence; and,
to crown all, we have had the spectacular drama in a single act by a man
who has appealed to the imaginations of us all, and who, by his skill in
the management of an experiment with which none of us are familiar, has
found it easy to make a falsehood appear like the truth. The counsel for
the plaintiff has been pleased to consider the establishment or the
breaking down of the assignment as the practical question at issue. I
cannot so regard it. The question is, whether my client is to be
deprived of the fruits of long years of enterprise, economy and
industry; for it is to be remembered that, by the plaintiff's own
showing, the defendant was a rich man when he first knew him. I deny the
profits from the use of the plaintiff's patented inventions, and call
upon him to prove them. I not only call upon him to prove them, but I
defy him to prove them. It will take something more than superannuated
doctors, stolen letters and the performances of a mountebank to do
this."

This speech, delivered with a sort of frenzied bravado, had a wonderful
effect upon Mr. Belcher. He straightened in his chair, and assumed his
old air of self-assurance. He could sympathize in any game of "bluff,"
and when it came down