eed, in the minds of many the counsel for the prisoner was on
trial as well as his client.

He rose with more of self-possession, quiet and reserved strength, than
could be hoped for, and his look toward the Court and then to the jury
tended to gain for him the confidence which up to this moment he seemed
to be losing. Never a handsome man or even an imposing one, he had the
advantage of always rising to the occasion, and whether pleading with a
jury or arguing with opposing counsel, flashed with that unmistakable
glitter of keen and ready intellect which, once observed in a man, marks
him off from his less gifted fellows and makes him the cynosure of all
eyes, however insignificant his height, features, or ordinary
expression.

To-day he was even cooler, more brilliant, and more confident in his
bearing than usual. Feelings, if feelings he possessed--and we who have
seen him at his hearth can have no doubt on this subject,--had been set
aside when he rose to his feet and turned his face upon the expectant
crowd before him. To save his client seemed the one predominating
impulse of his soul, and, as he drew himself up to speak, Mr. Byrd, who
was watching him with the utmost eagerness and anticipation, felt that,
despite appearances, despite evidence, despite probability itself, this
man was going to win his case.

"May it please your Honor and Gentlemen of the Jury," he began, and
those who looked at him could not but notice how the prisoner at his
side lifted his head at this address, till it seemed as if the words
issued from his lips instead of from those of his counsel, "I stand
before you to-day not to argue with my learned opponent in reference to
the evidence which he has brought out with so much ingenuity. I have a
simpler duty than that to perform. I have to show you how, in spite of
this evidence, in face of all this accumulated testimony showing the
prisoner to have been in possession of both motive and opportunities
for committing this crime, he is guiltless of it; that a physical
impossibility stands in the way of his being the assailant of the Widow
Clemmens, and that to whomever or whatsoever her death may be due, it
neither was nor could have been the result of any blow struck by the
prisoner's hand. In other words, we dispute, not the facts which have
led the Prosecuting Attorney of this district, and perhaps others also,
to infer guilt on the part of the prisoner,"--here Mr. Orcutt cast a
significan