d the evening before, when, as now, at the bottom of the pit,
she stood before the shutter of the shop-window.

"Will it be necessary, monsieur le judge?"

It was the same wonderful, moving, heavenly voice. Every sound in the
court-room suddenly ceased. All eyes were lifted. And Thompson, sitting
beside the district-attorney, saw, standing before the rail in the
court-room, the splendid, alluring creature that had called him out
of the sordid lobby of the Hotel Markheim and entranced him with an
evidence of her favor. Unconsciously he put up his hand to feel for
the bud in the lapel of his coat. It had remained there--not, as it
happened, from her wish, but because he dare not lay the coat aside.

In the interval of intense interest arising at the withdrawal of the
attorney from the case the girl had come in unnoticed. She might have
appeared out of the floor. Her voice was the first indication of her
presence.

The judge turned swiftly. "What do you mean?" he said.

"I mean, monsieur," she answered, "that if a man is innocent of a crime,
he cannot require a lawyer to defend him."

The judge was astonished, but he was an old man and had seen many
strange events happen along the way of a criminal trial.

"But why do you say this man is innocent," he said.

"I will show you, monsieur," and she came around the railing into the
pit of the court before his bench. She carried in her hand the menu
upon which, at the table in the cafe the night before, she had made a
drawing of the scene of the homicide.

The extraordinary event had happened so swiftly that the attorney for
the prosecution had not been able to interpose an objection. Now the
nephew of the dead man spoke hurriedly, in whispers, and the attorney
arose.

"I object to this irregular proceeding," he said. "If this person is a
witness, let her be sworn in the usual manner and let her take her place
in the witness-chair where she may be examined by the attorney whom the
court may see fit to appoint for the defense."

It was evident that Mr. Thompson, urging the prosecutor, was alarmed.
The folds of his obese neck lying above the collar of his coat took on
a deeper color, and his mouth visibly sagged as with some unexpected
emotion. He felt that he was becoming entangled in some vast, invisible
net spread about him by this girl who had appeared as if by magic before
the Hotel Markheim.

The judge looked down at the attorney. "I will have the witness sworn