le his son had left
the court-room at an early hour to devote the remainder of the
afternoon to letter-writing.

The latter glanced up from his writing and nodded pleasantly, as
Mr. Whitney, pale with excitement, was ushered by the butler into
the library.

"Mr. Mainwaring, is your father in?" the attorney inquired, hastily.

"I believe so," replied the young man, smiling broadly; "the last I
knew, the governor was luxuriating in his rooms up-stairs; I think
you will find him there now. How's the case coming on, sir?" he
added, as the attorney turned quickly towards the hall. "Anything
new developed?"

"Yes; decidedly new!" Mr. Whitney answered, rather brusquely; "you
had better join us up-stairs!" and he disappeared.

The young man's face grew suddenly serious, and, springing from his
chair, he swiftly followed the retreating figure of the attorney,
arriving just in time to hear the latter exclaim, in reply to some
question from his father,--

"Well, sir, the storm has burst!"

Ralph Mainwaring was, as his son had said, "luxuriating" in a superb
reclining chair, his eyes half closed, enjoying a fine Havana, but
the attorney's words seemed to produce the effect of an electric
shock.

"The deuce, sir! what do you mean?" he demanded, instantly assuming
an upright position.

"I simply mean that what I have expected and dreaded all along has
at last come to pass."

"Then, since it was not unexpected, it is to be presumed that you
were at least prepared for it! That shyster and his designing
client must, at the last moment, have exerted their inventive
faculties to a remarkable degree!"

"On the contrary," said the attorney, quietly ignoring the other's
sarcasm, and handing copies of the evening papers to father and
son, "I am satisfied that neither Hobson nor his client has any part
in the developments of this afternoon."

A brief silence followed, during which the attorney watched the two
men before him, noting the strange contrast between them, never
until that moment so apparent. Young Mainwaring's boyish face grew
pale as he read, and he occasionally glanced at Mr. Whitney, as
though seeking in his face either confirmation or contradiction of
the report, but he remained calm and self-possessed, preserving his
gentlemanly bearing to the close of the interview. The face of the
elder man, however, rapidly assumed an almost apoplectic hue, the
veins standing out from his temples like whip-cords, and