“No, no, dear sister, pray do not urge it,” said he.  “I know I shall be too much agitated as it is; I do not believe I can go through it with even an appearance of calmness alone; and how much more difficult it would be for me with you by my side.  I know I could not bear it.  No!  Agnes, remain in the village if you prefer it, but do not let me see your dear face again till my fate is decided.  Let us pray once more together, sweet sister—­let us pray for mercy from God and man.”  And when they arose from their knees they took their sad farewell, and Agnes accompanied her uncle to the house of her kind friend, Dr. Rodney, where she was to remain till the trial was over.

XVIII.

The Trial.

   “The morn lowered darkly; but the sun hath now,
   With fierce and angry splendor, through the clouds
   Burst forth, as if impatient to behold
   This our high triumph.  Lead the prisoner in.”

   —­VESPERS OF PALERMO.

To say that, long before the hour fixed for the trial, the court room was crowded to its utmost capacity with eager and expectant faces, would be to repeat what has been written and said of every trial, the events of which have been chronicled; but it would be no less true for that.  And when the young prisoner was brought into the room, his handsome face pale from agitation and recent confinement, and with an expression of intense anxiety in his eye, all not before deeply interested for the friends of the unfortunate Cranston were moved to pity, and strongly prepossessed in his favor.

Mr. W——­, the counsel for the prisoner, was an able and eloquent lawyer.  He was a small, slight man, with a high, bald forehead; and a pair of very bright, black, restless eyes.  His manner was naturally quick and lively; but he well knew how to touch the tender strings, and make them give forth a tone in unison with his own, or with that which he had adopted for his own to suit the occasion.  He had an appearance, too, of being assured of the justice of his cause, and perfectly confident of success, which was encouraging to the prisoner and his friends.

After the necessary preliminaries and statements had been gone through with, the witnesses against the prisoner and in his favor were called, who testified to the fact of the murder, and to the prisoner’s natural quickness of temper, inducing fits of sudden passion, which, even in childhood, seemed at times hardly to leave him the mastery of himself.  Friends, school-mates, college-mates, in turn gave their testimony to the prisoner’s kindness of heart, which would not suffer him to harbor resentment; and yet many instances were mentioned of fierce and terrible passion, utterly heedless of results for the moment, and yet passing away quick as the lightning’s flash.