University of Virginia Library

51. LI.
THE VERDICT.

MEANWHILE, at the court-house, surprising
events had taken place.

The attempt, on the part of the prosecution,
to introduce Lucy's evidence, had been worse than a failure.
It was one of those incidents which sometimes do more than
testimony or argument to convince a jury. The sympathy in
her behalf had been very great; and that, together with the
revelation of the fact that the prisoner was not her seducer,
but her husband, was sure to operate powerfully in his favor.

The government attorneys saw plainly the leak that was
sinking their case, and judged it expedient to withdraw, in
order to make repairs, and to return with less disadvantage
to the battle the next morning.

But, before the court adjourned, they resolved to give the
jury something strong to sleep on. Mad had borne his
examination so well, that it could not be doubted but his
straightforward swearing would be very useful in showing up
what they termed Mr. Arlyn's “insane imaginings.” Mad
was accordingly recalled.

He stepped upon the stand with much of the same audacity
he had at first exhibited, varied by a dash of sullen determination.
Stoutly, and with round emphasis, he began to
deny Mr. Arlyn's statements.

But now there appeared in the court-room a woman closely
veiled, attracting much attention as she passed amidst the
crowd, entered the precincts of the bar, and took a seat,
which seemed to have been reserved for her, directly facing
the witness. The heart of Guy swelled exultantly. But
Mad's spirit went straightway out of him, and left him empty,
when the veil was quietly laid aside, and he saw looking,
with the old irresistible look, straight into his eyes, the eyes
of Christina.

Pallor and confusion seized him. In vain Jinket frowned
and shrugged. It was impossible for Mad to go on. His
palsied tongue would not utter a word.

Twice or thrice, full of consternation and dumb fear, he
turned his eyes about him, as if seeking for some relief, or
chance of escape; but inevitably they came back, and rested
— if such flickering frenzied glances could be said to rest —
upon the pale, resolute, imperturbable, truth-compelling face
of Christina.

At length, stung to desperation by the tongues of the lawyers,
his voice burst hoarsely into an oath; and, springing
from the platform, he made a dash at the nearest door.

Thanks to the district attorney, who desired that his witness
should appear to the best advantage before the jury, no

manacles had been put upon him. His limbs were free.
Fear, and the prospect of escape, inspired him. The officers
were taken entirely by surprise. He tore through their
hands without knowing that they touched him; and the next
instant he cleared the flight of steps, at the side entrance of
the court-house, at a single leap.

“Stop!” a voice shouted after him, “or you are a dead
man!”

Mad heeded the twittering of the swallows as much. He
rushed towards the fields, with the woods and crags of Mount
Solomon lifted high in sunshine before him, smiling calm
invitation to his fiery soul. And he might have reached
those fastnesses in spite of pursuers; but a small pistol-crack
succeeded the unheeded threat, — so very small and faint,
that he scarcely heard it; and a little missile of lead, travelling
considerably faster than he, overtook him at the fence.
He staggered, threw up his hands, clapped one of them on
the back of his neck, turned square round, and fell.

Stunned and bleeding he lay there, until, reviving a little,
he moved feebly under the hands of the physician who had
come directly from Sophy and her babe to him, and, looking
out from the darkness which had fallen upon his senses, saw
a great crowd around him.

“Am I killed?” he asked, rolling his bewildered eyes.

“You have got your death-wound, I am sorry to say,”
replied the sheriff. “You remember what you promised,
provided I wouldn't put the irons on to you; and what I
promised in case you tried to get away.”

“Madison!” said another voice, which he knew, and
which called up ghastly memories; and, through the shadow
that was closing, he saw dimly the form of Christina kneeling.
“Madison!” she repeated in a louder tone to rouse
him, “you are going to die! Nothing can save you. Soon
your soul will be in eternity. But don't go with that awful
sin upon it. Tell me instantly, who killed Mr. Pelt?”

“I killed him, — to be revenged!” answered the voice
of the dying.

“Did any one help?”

“Yes; Murk was there: but we didn't tell Guy.”

Christina would have had a magistrate brought to take the
dying deposition of the murderer; but there was not time.
And it was hardly necessary. Both the sheriff and the physician
had distinctly heard the confession. And now the
young man's eyes were turned up in his head with the death-spasm.

The confession was conveyed to the district attorney as
the court was on the point of adjourning. The learned gentleman
became suddenly magnanimous. He rose, and proposed
that the case should go at once to the jury without
argument. The defence gladly assented. The judge did
not consider a charge necessary; and the solemn twelve,
without leaving their seats, announced their verdict, — “Not
Guilty!”

Hence Lucy's amazement there in the grave-yard. It was
Guy himself who stood before her!