courts. The old is a battle ground where the issues are defined, the
courts are kept within narrow limits and the rules of the ordeal
observed strictly, and the modern, merely an investigation of a
dispute with the glamor of a contest left out. It is an investigation
of facts, which however bitter may be the personal animosity, should
never lose sight of the main idea of arriving at the plain truth, in a
common sense way.

At last the lawyers are silent, the trial is over, the judge patiently
asks are there any more requests to charge, and there being no more,
he turns to the jury and says, "Gentlemen, you will retire and
consider your verdict." Slowly they file out, conducted by the court
attendant, to the jury-room.

XV

THE TRUE VERDICT

The truth is said. The battle is over and the mighty have prevailed.
The decision is made. Justice divine and compelling is about to
pronounce its sentence. The truth seeks to burst forth and the jurymen
have knocked at the door of the room in which they have been locked
for so many hours. The court attendant, who has been standing like a
sentinel outside to prevent the approach of eavesdroppers and
listeners, turns the key and sticks his head into the room, withdraws,
locks the door again, and sends off for the judge.

The judge has been in his chambers taking a rest and enjoying a cigar.
The judge always, when he is off the bench, is by courtesy said to be
in chambers--other people might call it a room with an office desk,
but the dignity surrounding a judge invests even the bare office room
where he sits. It is named in the plural, even if it is only one
ordinary room. He throws away his cigar. The lawyers or their
assistants who have been lounging about the empty court-room,
gossiping with one another and trying to evade the importunities of
their clients, who insist upon speculating with them on the probable
result, have been summoned to the bar. The judge takes his seat on the
bench. The jury, marshalled by the court officer, file in. They are
lined up in the jury-box.

"Gentlemen," says the judge, "have you agreed upon a verdict?" "We
have," answers the foreman of the jury.

When the jury have first been locked in the jury-room they have
probably immediately relaxed after the long strain of the trial. They
were entitled to a smoke and to feel at their ease. Besides they know
that if they finished their deliberations too early, they will be
called on another c