“And now, gentlemen, lest you should think by my intimating that this soldier was not wealthy, I meant he was also poor in society, I will state that he and his wife held as high a position in the social circle of New Orleans as the most favored of fortune.  His wife, this unfortunate lady, who now stands before you charged with theft, is the daughter of one who was once wealthy, but on whom adversity fell shortly before her marriage.  Think not that the haggard and care-worn features before you were always such.  There was a time, not long distant, when the bloom of youth and beauty could be seen in that sunken cheek and that sharpened face; but adversity has reduced one of God’s fairest works to the wretched and unfortunate condition she is now in.  Pardon my digression, for the tale I have to tell cannot be briefly recited; it is necessary that I shall speak in full, and though I may tire you by my lengthy remarks, you must hear them with patience, for they are necessary in this defence, and are equally needed to hold up to the scorn and contempt of every patriotic spirit in the land, two men who have disgraced their sex and entailed misery, aye, and degradation, on an unfortunate woman.”

“If his honor, the judge, will permit me,” interrupted Mr. Elder, “I should like to decline serving as a juryman on this case.”

“Silence!” exclaimed Harry, before the judge could reply.  “You are already sworn in, and I desire that you shall remain where you are.”

“I cannot possibly excuse you, Mr. Elder,” remarked the judge, in a tone of surprise, “the case has progressed too far already for any excuse.  Continue, Lieutenant Shackleford,” he continued, speaking to Harry.

“As I was observing,” Harry went on, “this soldier departed for Virginia, and shortly after his departure, a villain, who had addressed his wife in former years and been rejected, assumed the sheep’s garb and resumed his acquaintance with her.  Many were the kindnesses he extended towards her, and the delicate manner in which he performed those little acts of courtesy, that lend a charm to society, disarmed any suspicion of his sincerity of purpose.  But under the guise of friendship, the villain designed to overcome a lonely woman.  With that subtlety and deception which every roue possesses, he ingratiated himself in her confidence and favor until she began to regard him in the light of a brother.  But the hour approached when the mask he had worn so long would be thrown aside and his unhallowed desires be avowed.  The soldier was taken prisoner at Fort Donelson, and within four months after, New Orleans fell.  Then the persecutions of the unprincipled villain commenced.  A Northern man, he did not at the commencement of the war avow his sympathies to be with the people of his section, but, pretending friendship for the South, remained in our midst until Butler and his infamous cohorts had gained possession of the city, when he proclaimed himself a Unionist,