d a similar scrap. Then every man in
the Court knew that some message had come suddenly by the wires. "I
am informed, Mr. Chaffanbrass, that you wish to address the Court
before I begin my charge."

"Yes, my lud; and I am afraid, my lud, that I shall have to ask your
ludship to delay your charge for some days, and to subject the jury
to the very great inconvenience of prolonged incarceration for
another week;--either to do that or to call upon the jury to acquit
the prisoner. I venture to assert, on my own peril, that no jury can
convict the prisoner after hearing me read that which I hold in my
hand." Then Mr. Chaffanbrass paused, as though expecting that the
judge would speak;--but the judge said not a word, but sat looking
at the old barrister over his spectacles.

Every eye was turned upon Phineas Finn, who up to this moment had
heard nothing of these new tidings,--who did not in the least know
on what was grounded the singularly confident,--almost insolently
confident assertion which Mr. Chaffanbrass had made in his favour. On
him the effect was altogether distressing. He had borne the trying
week with singular fortitude, having stood there in the place of
shame hour after hour, and day after day, expecting his doom. It had
been to him as a lifetime of torture. He had become almost numb from
the weariness of his position and the agonising strain upon his mind.
The gaoler had offered him a seat from day to day, but he had always
refused it, preferring to lean upon the rail and gaze upon the Court.
He had almost ceased to hope for anything except the end of it. He
had lost count of the days, and had begun to feel that the trial was
an eternity of torture in itself. At nights he could not sleep, but
during the Sunday, after Mass, he had slept all day. Then it had
begun again, and when the Tuesday came he hardly knew how long it had
been since that vacant Sunday. And now he heard the advocate declare,
without knowing on what ground the declaration was grounded, that
the trial must be postponed, or that the jury must be instructed to
acquit him.

"This telegram has reached us only this morning," continued Mr.
Chaffanbrass. "'Mealyus had a house door-key made in Prague. We have
the mould in our possession, and will bring the man who made the
key to England.' Now, my lud, the case in the hands of the police,
as against this man Mealyus, or Emilius, as he has chosen to call
himself, broke down altogether on the presump