e urged against these men, and produce
your witnesses." "I find that I have very little to say on the subject,
your Honor. It is true, I can prove that this gentleman went to consult
the prisoner as to a missing will, and that he is under the impression
that spirits were consulted on the occasion. But I can also prove that
very sensible advice was given to my client--to consult a lawyer of
great respectability and high promise; and accordingly he came to me.
And further, I can prove that the astrologers did not receive one
farthing in payment for their counsel, and, indeed, positively refused
the offer of a handsome gratuity from my grateful client. And I can
challenge any one in the city of New York to prove that, in any one
case, the prisoners received money in return for advice or assistance
given to any visitor. This fact takes from the case the appearance of a
swindling transaction, according to the well-known law of George III.,
which doubtless your Honor thoroughly remembers." "There appears, then,
to be no prosecution in this case? I find that, like a true lawyer, you
can argue on one side as well as the other." "There is none, your Honor:
my client withdraws the prosecution. May I be allowed a word in
private?" After a whispered consultation of some minutes, during which
our unmasked jesters observed his Honor cast very highly-amused glances
in their direction, and heard occasional snatches of the
conversation,--"Ha, indeed? sons of *** and ****, do you say? the first
families in the South! I knew their fathers well! tell them to come to
dinner just as they are--the ladies will make allowances."

But that degree of impudence was too much for the brass of even
Forsythe and Barrington. They respectfully declined, and hastened
homeward, accompanied by Frank Warren. One more merry supper did they
eat in that house which had been the theatre for the display of so many
strange adventures, and then they vanished. When morning came, no trace
of the astrologers was to be found. The furniture had gone, the house
was shut up, the birds had flown. Had there been a storm in the night,
the believers in Gotham would have thought they had been claimed by
their Dread Master, and had been snatched away in a blaze of lightning.
As it was, there was nothing to reveal the mystery. The good little man,
who never quite understood the scene in the Mayor's office, is
gratefully enjoying his property, and thinks that the Wandering Jew ma