human nature
being what it is, contributed the active principle to the feeling so
widely aroused by the case. We are not very readily the prey to
emotions of faith in our fellows, especially, perhaps, if we live under
conditions somewhat hard and narrow; the greater animosity behind is,
at all events, valuable to give force and relief and staying power to
a sentiment of generous conviction. But however we may depreciate its
origin, the conviction was there, widespread in the townships: young
Ormiston would "get clear"; the case for the defence might be heard over
every bushel of oats in Elgin market-place.

In Elgin itself opinion was more reserved. There was a general view
that these bank clerks were fast fellows, and a tendency to contrast the
habits and the pay of such dashing young men, an exercise which ended
in a not unnatural query. As to the irritating caste feeling maintained
among them, young Ormiston perhaps gave himself as few airs as any.
He was generally conceded indeed by the judging sex to be "nice to
everybody"; but was not that exactly the nature for which temptations
were most easily spread? The town, moreover, had a sapience of its own.
Was it likely that the bank would bring a case so publicly involving its
character and management without knowing pretty well what it was about?
The town would not be committed beyond the circle of young Ormiston's
intimate friends, which was naturally small if you compared it with the
public; the town wasn't going to be surprised at anything that might be
proved. On the other hand, the town was much more vividly touched than
the country by the accident which had made Lorne Murchison practically
sole counsel for the defence, announced as it was by the Express with
every appreciation of its dramatic value. Among what the Express called
"the farming community" this, in so far as it had penetrated, was
regarded as a simple misfortune, a dull blow to expectancy, which
expectancy had some work to survive. Elgin, with its finer palate for
sensation, saw in it heightened chances, both for Lorne and for the
case; and if any ratepayer within its limits had remained indifferent to
the suit, the fact that one side of it had been confided to so young and
so "smart" a fellow townsman would have been bound to draw him into the
circle of speculation. Youth in a young country is a symbol wearing
all its value. It stands not only for what it is. The trick of augury
invests it, at a g