“The morning after the murder was committed I made a most careful examination of the premises, particularly of the grounds near the eastern window.  As the result of my observations, I informed Miss Darrow that I had reason to believe that her father had been murdered by a person who had some good motive for concealing his footprints, and who also had a halting gait.  The weight of this person I was able to estimate at not far from one hundred and thirty-five pounds, and his height as about five feet and five inches.  I also stated it as my opinion that the person who did the deed had the habit of biting his finger nails, and a particular reason for sparing the nail of the little finger and permitting it to grow to an abnormal length.  This was not guesswork on my part, for in the soft soil beneath the eastern window I found a perfect impression of a closed hand.  Here is the cast of that hand.  Look well at it.  Notice the wart upon the upper joint of the thumb, and the crook in the third finger where it has evidently been broken.  M. Godin says he never entered the yard of the Darrow estate, except on the night of the murder in company with Messrs. Osborne and Allen, and that then he merely passed up and down the front walk on his way to and from the house, yet the paint-mark on this slip of glass was made by his thumb, and the glass itself was cut by me from the eastern window of the Darrow house—­the window through which the murder was committed.  This plaster cast was taken from an impression in the soil beneath the same window on the morning after the murder.  The hand is the hand of M. Godin.  You will note that one of this gentleman’s feet is deformed and that he habitually halts in his walk.”

We all glanced at M. Godin to verify these assertions, but that gentleman folded his arms in a way to conceal his hands and thrust his feet out of sight beneath the chair in front of him, while he smiled at us with the utmost apparent good nature.  He would be game to the last, there was no doubt of that.

Maitland recalled our attention by saying: 

“Officer, you will please arrest M. Godin!”

An excited whisper was heard from every corner, and many were the half-audible comments that were broken off by the imperative fall of the crier’s gavel.  So tense had been the strain that it was some time before complete order could be restored.  When it was again quiet Maitland continued: 

“Your Honour and Gentlemen of the Jury:  We will rest our case here for to-day.  To-morrow, or rather on Monday, we shall show the strange influence which M. Godin exercised over M. Latour, as well as M. Latour’s reasons for his confession.  We shall endeavour to make clear to you how M. Latour was actually led to believe he had murdered John Darrow, and how he was bribed to confess a crime committed by another.  Of the hypnotic power of M. Godin over M. Latour I have indisputable proof, though we