one most unjustly accused.  Anomalous as is my attitude, the dictates of conscience, reason, heart, force me into it; and because I am the implacable prosecutor of Gen’l Darrington’s murderer, I come to plead in defense of the prisoner, whom I hold guiltless of the crime, innocent of the charge in the indictment.  In the supreme hour of her isolation, she has invoked only one witness; and may that witness, the God above us, the God of justice, the God of innocence, grant me the inspiration, and nerve my arm to snatch her from peril, and triumphantly vindicate the purity of her noble heart and life.”

Remembering the important evidence which he had furnished to the prosecution, only a few hours previous, when on the witness stand, people looked at one another questioningly; doubting the testimony of their own senses; and Vox POPULI was not inaptly expressed by the whispered ejaculation of Bedney to Dyce.

“Judgment day must be breaking!  Mars Lennox is done turned a double summersett, and lit plum over on t’other side!  It’s about ekal to a spavinned, ring-boned, hamstrung, hobbled horse clearin’ a ten-rail fence!  He jumps so beautiful, I am afeered he won’t stay whar he lit!”

Comprehending all that this public recantation had cost a proud man, jealous of his reputation for professional tact and skill, as well as for individual acumen, Beryl began to realize the depth and fervor of the love that prompted it; and the merciless ordeal to which he would subject her.  Inflicting upon himself the smarting sting of the keenest possible humiliation, could she hope that in the attainment of his aim he would spare her?  If she threw herself even now upon his mercy, would he grant to her that which he had denied himself?

Dreading the consequences of even a moment’s delay, she rose, and a hot flush crimsoned her cheeks, as she looked up at the Judge.

“Is it my privilege to decide who shall defend me?  Have I now the right to accept or reject proffered aid?”

“The law grants you that privilege; secures you that right.”

“Then I decline the services of the counsel who offers to plead in my defence.  I wish no human voice raised in my behalf, and having made my statement in my own defence, I commit my cause to the hands of my God.”

For a moment her eyes dwelt upon the lawyer’s, and as she resumed her seat, she saw the spark in their blue depths leap into a flame.  Advancing a few steps, his handsome face aglow, his voice rang like a bugle call: 

“May it please your Honor:  Anomalous conditions sanction, necessitate most anomalous procedure, where the goal sought is simple truth and justice; and since the prisoner prefers to rest her cause, I come to this bar as Amicus Curiae, and appeal for permission to plead in behalf of my clients, truth and justice, who hold me in perpetual retainment.  In prosecution of the real criminal, in order to unravel the curiously knitted web, and bring the culprit to summary punishment, I ask you, gentlemen of the jury, to ponder dispassionately the theory I have now the honor to submit to your scrutiny.