his wife, served to make them pass their years of wedded
life in comfortable union. Years pass over their heads, and two
children are sent to bless them, and they were cherished as priceless
gifts. When the call to arms resounded through the South, this
husband, like thousands of others, ceased his civil pursuits, and
enlisted under the banner of his country. None but the purest and
loftiest motives of patriotism, and a sense of duty, prompted him to
the step; and though he knew that in so doing he would leave his wife
deprived of her natural protector, and subject to privations, he
thought, and with every right, that those who remained at home would
shield a soldier's wife from danger, and he trusted on the means at
his disposal to keep her from penury and destitution. After making
preparation for his wife and children, he bade them adieu, as I have
described already, and departed for Virginia, whose soil had already
been invaded by the vandals of the North.

"And now, gentlemen, lest you should think by my intimating that this
soldier was not wealthy, I meant he was also poor in society, I will
state that he and his wife held as high a position in the social
circle of New Orleans as the most favored of fortune. His wife, this
unfortunate lady, who now stands before you charged with theft, is the
daughter of one who was once wealthy, but on whom adversity fell
shortly before her marriage. Think not that the haggard and care-worn
features before you were always such. There was a time, not long
distant, when the bloom of youth and beauty could be seen in that
sunken cheek and that sharpened face; but adversity has reduced one of
God's fairest works to the wretched and unfortunate condition she is
now in. Pardon my digression, for the tale I have to tell cannot be
briefly recited; it is necessary that I shall speak in full, and
though I may tire you by my lengthy remarks, you must hear them with
patience, for they are necessary in this defence, and are equally
needed to hold up to the scorn and contempt of every patriotic spirit
in the land, two men who have disgraced their sex and entailed misery,
aye, and degradation, on an unfortunate woman."

"If his honor, the judge, will permit me," interrupted Mr. Elder, "I
should like to decline serving as a juryman on this case."

"Silence!" exclaimed Harry, before the judge could reply. "You are
already sworn in, and I desire that you shall remain where you are."

"I cannot