“Much stress has been laid upon the fact that the accused offered a very large reward for the knife with which this murder was done; that no thief came forward to claim that extraordinary reward; that the latter fact was good circumstantial evidence that the claim that the knife had been stolen was a vanity and a fraud; that these details taken in connection with the memorable and apparently prophetic speech of the deceased concerning that knife, and the finally discovery of that very knife in the fatal room where no living person was found present with the slaughtered man but the owner of the knife and his brother, form an indestructible chain of evidence which fixed the crime upon those unfortunate strangers.

“But I shall presently ask to be sworn, and shall testify that there was a large reward offered for the THIEF, also; and it was offered secretly and not advertised; that this fact was indiscreetly mentioned—­or at least tacitly admitted—­in what was supposed to be safe circumstances, but may NOT have been.  The thief may have been present himself. [Tom Driscoll had been looking at the speaker, but dropped his eyes at this point.] In that case he would retain the knife in his possession, not daring to offer it for sale, or for pledge in a pawnshop. [There was a nodding of heads among the audience by way of admission that this was not a bad stroke.] I shall prove to the satisfaction of the jury that there WAS a person in Judge Driscoll’s room several minutes before the accused entered it. [This produced a strong sensation; the last drowsy head in the courtroom roused up now, and made preparation to listen.] If it shall seem necessary, I will prove by the Misses Clarkson that they met a veiled person—­ostensibly a woman—­coming out of the back gate a few minutes after the cry for help was heard.  This person was not a woman, but a man dressed in woman’s clothes.”  Another sensation.  Wilson had his eye on Tom when he hazarded this guess, to see what effect it would produce.  He was satisfied with the result, and said to himself, “It was a success—­he’s hit!”

The object of that person in that house was robbery, not murder.  It is true that the safe was not open, but there was an ordinary cashbox on the table, with three thousand dollars in it.  It is easily supposable that the thief was concealed in the house; that he knew of this box, and of its owner’s habit of counting its contents and arranging his accounts at night—­if he had that habit, which I do not assert, of course—­that he tried to take the box while its owner slept, but made a noise and was seized, and had to use the knife to save himself from capture; and that he fled without his booty because he heard help coming.

“I have now done with my theory, and will proceed to the evidences by which I propose to try to prove its soundness.”  Wilson took up several of his strips of glass.  When the audience recognized these familiar mementos of Pudd’nhead’s old time childish “puttering” and folly, the tense and funereal interest vanished out of their faces, and the house burst into volleys of relieving and refreshing laughter, and Tom chirked up and joined in the fun himself; but Wilson was apparently not disturbed.  He arranged his records on the table before him, and said: