ation worth? His Honor will tell
you, in his charge, I have no doubt, that this boy's statement,
founded, as he himself says, on hearsay, is valueless in law, and
should have no weight in your minds. But I do not ask you to base your
judgment on technicalities of law. I ask you to base it simply on the
reasonable evidence in this case.

"What explanation there can be of this lad's conduct, I have not, as
yet, been ably, fully, to determine.

"I have tried, in my own mind, to throw the mantle of charity across
him. I have tried to think that, coming from an unaccustomed meal, his
stomach loaded with rich food, he no sooner sank into the office chair
than he fell asleep and dreamed. It is not improbable. The power of
dreams is great on children's minds, as all of you may know. But in
the face of these developments I can hardly bring myself to accept
this theory. There is too much method in the child's madness. It
looks more like the outcome of some desperate move on the part of
this defence to win the game which they have seen slipping from their
control. It looks like a deep-laid plan to rob my aged and honored
client of the credit to which he is entitled for rescuing this boy at
the risk of his life, for caring for him through poverty and disease,
for finding him when his own mother had given him up for dead, and
restoring him to the bosom of his family. It looks as though they
feared that this old man, already trembling on the brink of the grave,
would snatch some comfort for his remaining days out of the pittance
that he might hope to collect from this vast estate for services that
ought to be beyond price. It looks as though hatred and jealousy were
combined in a desperate effort to crush the counsel for the plaintiff.
The counsel for the plaintiff can afford to laugh at their animosity
toward himself, but he cannot help his indignation at their plot. Now,
let us see.

"It is acknowledged that the boy Ralph spent the larger part of
yesterday afternoon at the house of this defendant, and was fed and
flattered till he nearly lost his head in telling of it. That is a
strange circumstance, to begin with. How many private consultations
he has had with counsel for defence, I know not. Neither do I know
what tempting inducements have been held out to him to turn traitor
to those who have been his truest friends. These things I can only
imagine. But that fine promises have been made to him, that pictures
of plenty have b