The counsel sank down in his seat with the bitter conviction that the jury was manifestly against him, and the case as good as lost.  But his face was scarcely as disturbed as his client’s, who, in great agitation, had begun to argue with him wildly, and was apparently pressing some point against the lawyer’s vehement opposal.  The Colonel’s murky eyes brightened as he still stood erect with his hand thrust in his breast.

“It will be put to you, gentlemen, when the counsel on the other side refrains from mere interruption and confines himself to reply, that my unfortunate client has no action—­no remedy at law—­because there were no spoken words of endearment.  But, gentlemen, it will depend upon you to say what are and what are not articulate expressions of love.  We all know that among the lower animals, with whom you may possibly be called upon to classify the defendant, there are certain signals more or less harmonious, as the case may be.  The ass brays, the horse neighs, the sheep bleats—­the feathered denizens of the grove call to their mates in more musical roundelays.  These are recognized facts, gentlemen, which you yourselves, as dwellers among nature in this beautiful land, are all cognizant of.  They are facts that no one would deny—­and we should have a poor opinion of the ass who, at—­er—­such a supreme moment, would attempt to suggest that his call was unthinking and without significance.  But, gentlemen, I shall prove to you that such was the foolish, self-convicting custom of the defendant.  With the greatest reluctance, and the—­er—­greatest pain, I succeeded in wresting from the maidenly modesty of my fair client the innocent confession that the defendant had induced her to correspond with him in these methods.  Picture to yourself, gentlemen, the lonely moonlight road beside the widow’s humble cottage.  It is a beautiful night, sanctified to the affections, and the innocent girl is leaning from her casement.  Presently there appears upon the road a slinking, stealthy figure—­the defendant, on his way to church.  True to the instruction she has received from him, her lips part in the musical utterance” (the Colonel lowered his voice in a faint falsetto, presumably in fond imitation of his fair client),"‘Kerree!’ Instantly the night became resonant with the impassioned reply” (the Colonel here lifted his voice in stentorian tones), “‘Kerrow.’  Again, as he passes, rises the soft ‘Kerree’; again, as his form is lost in the distance, comes back the deep ‘Kerrow.’”

A burst of laughter, long, loud, and irrepressible, struck the whole courtroom, and before the Judge could lift his half-composed face and take his handkerchief from his mouth, a faint “Kerree” from some unrecognized obscurity of the courtroom was followed by a loud “Kerrow” from some opposite locality.  “The sheriff will clear the court,” said the Judge, sternly; but alas, as the embarrassed and choking officials rushed hither and thither, a soft “Kerree” from the spectators at the window, outside the courthouse, was answered by a loud chorus of “Kerrows” from the opposite windows, filled with onlookers.  Again the laughter arose everywhere—­even the fair plaintiff herself sat convulsed behind her handkerchief.