nse
and the prosecution tables got up and advanced to confer in front of the
bench, comparing sheets of paper. The man who had read the charges,
obviously the chief prosecutor, made himself the spokesman.

"Your Honor, defense and prosecution wish to enter the following
stipulations: That the decedent was a practicing politician within the
meaning of the Constitution, that he met his death in the manner stated
in the coroner's report, and that he was killed by the defendant, Wilbur
Whately."

"Is that agreeable to you, Mr. Vincent?" the judge wanted to know.

The defense answered affirmatively. I sat back, gaping like a fool. Why,
that was practically--no, it _was_--a confession.

"All right, gentlemen," the judge said. "Now we have all that out of the
way, let's get on with the case."

As though there were any case to get on with! I fully expected them to
take it on from there in song, words by Gilbert and music by Sullivan.

"Well, Your Honor, we have a number of character witnesses," the
prosecution--prosecution, for God's sake!--announced.

"Skip them," the defense said. "We stipulate."

"But you can't stipulate character testimony," the prosecution argued.
"You don't know what our witnesses are going to testify to."

"Sure we do: they're going to give us a big long shaggy-dog story about
the Life and Miracles of Saint Austin Maverick. We'll agree in advance
to all that; this case is concerned only with his record as a
politician. And as he spent the last fifteen years in the Senate, that's
all a matter of public record. I assume that the prosecution is going to
introduce all that, too?"

"Well, naturally ..." the prosecutor began.

"Including his public acts on the last day of his life?" the counsel for
the defense demanded. "His actions on the morning of May seventh as
chairman of the Finance and Revenue Committee? You going to introduce
that as evidence for the prosecution?"

"Well, now ..." the prosecutor began.

"Your Honor, we ask to have a certified copy of the proceedings of the
Senate Finance and Revenue Committee for the morning of May Seventh,
2193, read into the record of this court," the counsel for the defense
said. "And thereafter, we rest our case."

"Has the prosecution anything to say before we close the court?" Judge
Nelson inquired.

"Well, Your Honor, this seems ... that is, we ought to hear both sides
of it. My old friend, Aus Maverick, was really a fine man; he did a lot
of