small glazed
openings in the doors.

CHAPTER XV

THE FINGER-PRINT EXPERTS

The hum of conversation that had been gradually increasing as the court
filled suddenly ceased. A door at the back of the dais was flung open;
counsel, solicitors, and spectators alike rose to their feet; and the
judge entered, closely followed by the Lord Mayor, the sheriff, and
various civic magnates, all picturesque and gorgeous in their robes and
chains of office. The Clerk of Arraigns took his place behind his table
under the dais; the counsel suspended their conversation and fingered
their briefs; and, as the judge took his seat, lawyers, officials, and
spectators took their seats, and all eyes were turned towards the dock.

A few moments later Reuben Hornby appeared in the enclosure in company
with a warder, the two rising, apparently, from the bowels of the earth,
and, stepping forward to the bar, stood with a calm and self-possessed
demeanour, glancing somewhat curiously around the court. For an instant
his eye rested upon the group of friends and well-wishers seated behind
the counsel, and the faintest trace of a smile appeared on his face; but
immediately he turned his eyes away and never again throughout the trial
looked in our direction.

The Clerk of Arraigns now rose and, reading from the indictment which
lay before him on the table, addressed the prisoner--

"Reuben Hornby, you stand indicted for that you did, on the ninth or
tenth day of March, feloniously steal a parcel of diamonds of the goods
and chattels of John Hornby. Are you guilty or not guilty?"

"Not guilty," replied Reuben.

The Clerk of Arraigns, having noted the prisoner's reply, then
proceeded--

"The gentlemen whose names are about to be called will form the jury who
are to try you. If you wish to object to any of them, you must do so as
each comes to the book to be sworn, and before he is sworn. You will
then be heard."

In acknowledgment of this address, which was delivered in clear, ringing
tones, and with remarkable distinctness, Reuben bowed to the clerk, and
the process of swearing-in the jury was commenced, while the counsel
opened their briefs and the judge conversed facetiously with an
official in a fur robe and a massive neck chain.

Very strange, to unaccustomed eyes and ears, was the effect of this
function--half solemn and half grotesque, with an effect intermediate
between that of a religious rite and that of a comic opera. Above