ut. Two hours later,
as the jury did not return, Reuben Whitney was taken back to the
jail, and the court closed. At nine o'clock in the morning, a
warder entered.

"The jury have come back into the court," he said. "They are going
to return a verdict."

Reuben was again placed in the dock. The seats open to the public
quickly filled, as the news spread through the town. Several of the
members of the bar dropped in, and then the judge came in and took
his seat.

Reuben had occupied the time in trying to judge, from the faces of
the jury, what their verdict was going to be. They looked sulky and
tired. But as Reuben's eye rested on Jacob Priestley, whom he had
at once recognized among the jury, the smith gave him an
encouraging wink. At least, so Reuben thought; but as the next
moment he was looking as surly as the rest, he thought that he must
have been mistaken.

"Are you agreed, gentlemen, as to the verdict you find in this
case?" the judge asked.

"We are, my lord," the foreman replied.

"Do you find the prisoner guilty or not guilty?"

"Not guilty, my lord."

"Very well, gentlemen," the judge said tartly. "It is your verdict,
not mine."

At the foreman's word a thrill had run through the court; for when
it was known, the evening before, that eleven were one way and one
the other, the belief had been general that the majority were for a
conviction. Reuben himself had so understood it, and the verdict
was a complete surprise to him.

[Illustration: Reuben Whitney Acquitted of the Charge of Burglary]

The constable raised the bar for him to leave the dock, and as he
moved out his friend the schoolmaster pushed forward, and shook him
warmly by the hand.

"Thank God for that verdict, Reuben. I am indeed rejoiced, and I
own I hardly expected it."

"I didn't expect it at all," Reuben said in a choked voice, for his
sudden liberation had shaken him, more than his arrest or any of
the subsequent proceedings had done.

"I congratulate you heartily, Reuben," Mr. Ellison said, putting
his hand on his shoulder.

The squire had waited at Lewes until ten o'clock on the previous
evening, and had driven over again the first thing in the morning,
so anxious was he about the verdict.

"I didn't believe you guilty this time, my boy, from the first. I
was glad indeed to hear the verdict; for after the judge's summing
up, I was sorely uneasy.

"And now, Reuben, I hope," he said, as they entered the street,
"tha