they feared that this old man, already trembling on the brink of the grave, would snatch some comfort for his remaining days out of the pittance that he might hope to collect from this vast estate for services that ought to be beyond price.  It looks as though hatred and jealousy were combined in a desperate effort to crush the counsel for the plaintiff.  The counsel for the plaintiff can afford to laugh at their animosity toward himself, but he cannot help his indignation at their plot.  Now, let us see.

“It is acknowledged that the boy Ralph spent the larger part of yesterday afternoon at the house of this defendant, and was fed and flattered till he nearly lost his head in telling of it.  That is a strange circumstance, to begin with.  How many private consultations he has had with counsel for defence, I know not.  Neither do I know what tempting inducements have been held out to him to turn traitor to those who have been his truest friends.  These things I can only imagine.  But that fine promises have been made to him, that pictures of plenty have been unfolded to his gaze, that the glitter of gold and the sheen of silver have dazzled his young eyes, there can be little doubt.  So he has seen visions and dreamed dreams, at will; he has endured terrible temptations, and fought great moral battles, by special request, and has come off more than victor, in the counsel’s mind.  To-day everything is ready for the carrying-out of their skilful scheme.  At the right moment the counsel gives the signal, and the boy darts in, hatless, shoeless, ragged, and dusty, for the occasion, and tragic to the counsel’s heart’s content, and is put at once upon the stand to tell his made-up tale, and—­”

Sharpman heard a slight noise behind him, and some one exclaimed:—­

“He has fainted!”

The lawyer stopped in his harangue and turned in time to see Ralph lying in a heap on the floor, just as he had slipped that moment from his chair.  The boy had listened to Goodlaw’s praises of his conduct with a vague feeling that he was undeserving of so much credit for it.  But when Sharpman, advancing in his speech, charged him with having dreamed his story, he was astounded.  He thought it was the strangest thing he had ever heard of.  For was not Mr. Sharpman there, himself? and did not he know that it was all real and true?  He could not understand the lawyer’s allegation.  Later on, when Sharpman declared boldly that Ralph’s statement on the witness-stand was a carefully concocted falsehood, the bluntness of the charge was like a cruel blow, and the boy’s sensitive nerves shrank and quivered beneath it; then his lips grew pale, his breath came in gasps, the room went swimming round him, darkness came before his eyes, and his weak body, enfeebled by prolonged fasting and excitement, slipped down to the floor.

The people in the court-room scrambled to their feet again to look over into the bar.

A man who had entered the room in time to hear Sharpman’s brutal speech pushed his way through the crowd, and hurried down to the place where Ralph was lying.  It was Bachelor Billy.