e was over the Bar. Now, I tell you, a man that
looks the way I saw him look when I come over the gunwale, face up,
don't go 'round breakin' in and hookin' things. He hed n't one chance
in five, and he was a married man, too, with small children. And what's
more," he added incautiously, "he did n't stop there. When he found out,
this last spring, that I was goin' to lose my place, he lent me money
enough to pay the interest that was overdue on the mortgage, of his own
accord."

And he stopped suddenly.

"You have certainly explained yourself," said the foreman. "I think we
understand you distinctly."

"There is n't one word of truth in that idea," said Eli, flushing up,
"and you know it. I 've paid him back every cent. I know him better 'n
any of you, that's all, and when I know he ain't guilty, I won't say he
is; and I can set here as long as any other man."

"Lively times some folks 'll hev, when they go home," said a spare
tin-pedler, stroking his long yellow goatee. "Go into the store: nobody
speak to you; go to cattle-show: everybody follow you 'round; go to the
wharf: nobody weigh your fish; go to buy seed-cakes to the cart: baker
won't give no tick."

"How much does it cost, Mr. Foreman," said the butcher, "for a man 't
's obliged to leave town, to move a family out West? I only ask for
information. I have known a case where a man had to leave--could n't
live there no longer--wa' n't wanted."

There was a knock. An officer, sent by the judge, inquired whether the
jury were likely soon to agree.

"It rests with you, sir," said the foreman, looking at Eli.

But Eli sat doggedly with his hands in his pockets, and did not look up
or speak.

"Say to the judge that I cannot tell," said the foreman.

It was eight o'clock when the officer returned, with orders to take the
jury across the street to the hotel, to supper. They went out in pairs,
except that the juryman who was left to fall in with Eli made three
with the file ahead, and left Eli to walk alone. This was noticed by the
bystanders. At the hotel, Eli could not eat a mouthful. He was seated
at one end of the table, and was left entirely out of the conversation.
When the jury were escorted back to the courthouse, rumors had evidently
begun to arise from his having walked alone, for there was quite a
little crowd at the hotel door, to see them. They went as before: four
pairs, a file of three, and Eli alone. Then the spectators understood
it.

When