oss-examination only served to prove the absolute solidity of
this man's story. Then an officer produced a bundle, and, untying it,
displayed the shirt I had worn, with the rust-coloured mark of a hand
distinct upon the front. 'Did that mark correspond with the size of
the hand of the murdered man?' So asked the accusatore pubblico. 'Yes,'
answered the official, 'accurately.' 'Did it correspond with the hand
of the prisoner Giovanni Calvotti?' 'No,' he responded, and stated truly
that I was a man of much larger build than Grammont, and my hand at
least an inch longer. So far as I was-concerned the case closed with his
evidence, and the case against Fornajo was then gone into. There is no
need to go over that ground: again. All that was proved against him was;
the possession of Grammont's money. He failed totally to establish
an alibi, and so far as participation in the crime went the evidence;
seemed clear enough against him.

Then arose my advocate, with pale face and coal-black eyes.

'This world,' he said, 'is full of strange and curious contrasts, but I
do not think that any contrast so strange as this has been seen by any
man who now hears my voice. Side by side, companions in your thoughts
of them, stand two men so utterly unlike each other in; appearance
and character, that to see them thus commonly arraigned is in itself an
amazement. The one a gentleman and descended from gentlemen, the other a
person of the lowest class--the one famous in the annals of contemporary
art, the other known for nothing but his love for vulgar dissipation. As
they stand there before you they present a spectacle tragic and unique.
As I know them--and as you will see them when I have called the one
witness I have to call--they present a spectacle yet more amazing. One
man stands there a monument of honour, a glory to his country, and a
lesson to mankind. The other stands there a murderer in fact already,
and in his heart a murderer again; since, knowing the innocence of the
man beside him, he seeks at the expense of innocence to shield his own
guilt from the sword of justice. It is my pride and my delight to-day
to heal one broken and heroic heart, and it is my duty to bring one
miserable criminal to justice.'

Whilst the young advocate spoke thus, I stood in amazed agony. Was he
about to denounce Clyde in order to free me? It would be a professional
tour de force, and the melodramatic power of the situation would have
made him noto