and saw that there was a long board or table covered with green cloth, and that six or seven gentlemen were sitting at one end of it, while there seemed to be a crowd standing along the sides and about the room.  Her husband was seated at the other end of the table, near the corner, and round the corner—­so that she might be close to him—­her chair had been placed.  On the other side of him there was another chair, now empty, intended for any professional gentleman whom he might choose to employ.

There were five magistrates sitting there.  Lord Lufton, from Framley, was in the chair;—­a handsome man, still young, who was very popular in the county.  The cheque which had been cashed had borne his signature, and he had consequently expressed his intention of not sitting on the board; but Mr Walker, desirous of having him there, had overruled him, showing that the loss was not his loss.  The cheque, if stolen, had not been stolen from him.  He was not the prosecutor.  ‘No, by Jove,’ said Lord Lufton, ‘if I could quash the whole thing, I would do so at once!’

‘You can’t do that, my lord, but you may help us at the board,’ said Mr Walker.

Then there was the Hon George De Courcy, Lord De Courcy’s brother, from Castle Courcy.  Lord De Courcy did not live in the county, but his brother did so, and endeavoured to maintain the glory of the family by the discretion of his conduct.  He was not, perhaps, among the wisest of men, but he did very well as a county magistrate, holding his tongue, keeping his eyes open, and, on such occasions as this, obeying Mr Walker in all things.  Dr Tempest was also there, the rector of the parish, he being both magistrate and clergyman.  There were many in Silverbridge who declared that Dr Tempest would have done far better to stay away when a brother clergyman was thus to be brought before the bench; but it had been long since Dr Tempest had cared what was said about him in Silverbridge.  He had become accustomed to the life he led as to like to be disliked, and to be enamoured of unpopularity.  So when Mr Walker had ventured to suggest to him that, perhaps, he might not choose to be there, he had laughed Mr Walker to scorn.  ‘Of course I shall be there,’ he said.  ’I am interested in the case—­very much interested.  Of course I shall be there.’  And had not Lord Lufton been present he would have made himself more conspicuous by taking the chair.  Mr Fothergill was the fourth.  Mr Fothergill was man of business to the Duke of Omnium, who was the great owner of property in and around Silverbridge, and he was the most active magistrate in that part of the county.  He was a sharp man, and not at all likely to have any predisposition in favour of a clergyman.  The fifth was Dr Thorne of Chaldicotes, a gentleman whose name has been already mentioned in these pages.  He had been for many years a medical man practising in a little village in the further end of the county; but it had come to be his fate, late in life, to marry a great heiress, with whose money the ancient house and domain of Chaldicotes had been purchased from the Sowerbys.  Since then Dr Thorne had done his duty well as a country gentleman—­not, however, without some little want of smoothness between him and the duke’s people.