At the bend in the street, the boy turned to look back for the last time upon the cottage which had been his home.  A happy home it had been to him, a very happy home indeed.  He never knew before how dear the old place was to him.  The brow of the hill which they were now descending hid the house at last from sight, and, with tear-blinded eyes, Ralph turned his face again toward the city, toward the misery of the court-room, toward the desolate and dreadful prospect of a life with Simon Craft.

CHAPTER XIX.

BACK TO THE BREAKER.

It was a dull day in the court-room at Wilkesbarre.  The jury trials had all been disposed of, and for the last hour or more the court had been listening to an argument on a rule for a new trial in an ejectment case.  It was a very uninteresting matter.  Every one had left the court-room with the exception of the court officers, a few lawyers, and a half-dozen spectators who seemed to be there for the purpose of resting on the benches rather than with any desire to hear the proceedings before the court.

The lawyers on both sides had concluded their arguments, and the judge was bundling together the papers in the case and trying to encircle the bulky package with a heavy rubber band.

Then the court-room door was opened, and the sheriff came down the aisle, accompanied by Ralph and Bachelor Billy.  A moment later, Simon Craft followed them to the bar.  Sharpman, who was sitting inside the railing by a table, looked up with disgust plainly marked on his face as the old man entered and sat down beside him.

He had prepared the petition for a writ of habeas corpus, at Craft’s request, and had agreed to appear in his behalf when the writ should be returned.  He shared, in some small degree, the old man’s desire for revenge on those who had been instrumental in destroying their scheme.  But, as the day wore on, the matter took on a slightly different aspect in his mind.  In the first place, he doubted whether the court would order Ralph to be returned into Craft’s custody.  In the next place, he had no love for his client.  He had been using him simply as a tool; it was time now to cast him aside since he could be of no further benefit to him.  Besides, the old man had come to be annoying and repulsive, and he had no money to pay for legal services.  Then, there was still an opportunity to recover some of the personal prestige he had lost in his bitter advocacy of Craft’s cause before the jury.  In short, he had deliberately resolved to desert his client at the first opportunity.

The sheriff endorsed his return on the writ and filed it.

The judge looked at the papers, and then he called Bachelor Billy before him.  “I see,” he said, “that you have produced the body of the boy Ralph as you were directed to do.  Have you a lawyer?”

“I ha’ none,” answered the man.  “I did na ken as I needit ony.”