thout which a verdict of manslaughter in the
second degree could not be found. As he reviewed the facts he contrived
to present a picture of Lydia's youthfulness, her motherlessness, of
Thorne's early beginnings as a workingman, of his death leaving Lydia
an orphan. He made her beauty and wealth seem a disadvantage--a terrible
temptation to an ambitious young prosecutor with an eye to newspaper
headlines. He made it appear as if juries always convicted young ladies
of social position, but that this particular jury by a triumph of
fair-mindedness were going to be able to overcome this prejudice. One
juror who had wept over Alma Wooley now shed an impartial tear for
Lydia.

"Gentlemen of the jury," Wiley ended, "I ask you to consider this case
on the facts and the facts alone--not to be led away by the emotional
appeals of an ambitious and learned young prosecutor who has the
ruthlessness that so often goes with young ambition; not to convict an
innocent girl whose only crime seems to be that she is the custodian of
wealth that her father, an American workingman, won from the conditions
of American industry. If you consider the evidence alone you will find
that no crime has been committed. I ask you, gentlemen, for a verdict of
not guilty."

Lydia, with her eyes slanted down to the red carpet at a spot a few feet
from O'Bannon's chair, saw that Miss Bennett turned joyfully to Eleanor,
that Bobby was trying to catch her eye for a congratulatory nod; but she
did not move a muscle until O'Bannon rose and crossed over to the jury.
Her eyes followed him. Then she remembered to turn and give her own
counsel a mechanical smile--a smile such as a nurse gives a clever child
who has just built a fort on the beach which the next wave is certain to
sweep away.

"Gentlemen of the jury," said O'Bannon--and he bit off his words
sharply; indeed, he and Wiley seemed to have changed roles. He who had
been so cool through the trial now showed feeling, a sort of quiet
passion--"this is not a personal contest between the distinguished
counsel for the defense and myself. Neither my youth nor my ambition nor
my alleged ruthlessness are in question. The only question is, does the
evidence show beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the
crime for which she has been indicted?"

Then without an extra phrase, almost without an adjective, he went on
quickly piling up the evidence against her until it reached its climax
in the pro