ou are sure this man was Brooks?"

"Not beyond a doubt. I was troubled, and busy. It was one of my factory
hands; I _think_ it was the man Brooks."

"Mr. Clerk," says O'Meara, turning suddenly to that functionary, "please
take down Mr. Lamotte's statements. He is _not_ sure that it was the
man Brooks."

Mr. Lamotte looks disconcerted for a moment.

But O'Meara goes vigorously on, leaving him no time to collect his
thoughts.

"Now, Mr. Lamotte, what do you know of this woman who calls herself
Nance Burrill?"

"Nothing," with a glance of offended dignity.

"Nothing! I am told that she has worked in your mills."

"It is possible; I am not my own overseer, however, and do not know
_all_ my people."

"Have you ever heard that this woman could tell things that would not
reflect credit upon your dead son-in-law?"

"No, sir," haughtily.

"Were you aware that this woman is not to be found, before learning the
same in court?"

"No, sir! I consider your questions irrelevant."

"Possibly," retorts O'Meara, drily. "I have no more to ask, sir." Then
turning toward the jury, he says, rapidly:

"May it please your honor and the gentlemen of the jury, just here I
have a word to say:

"You have heard the evidence against my client; you have heard the life
and honor of a high-minded gentleman, against whom there was never
before a breath of scandal or blame, sworn away by a handful of saloon
loafers, and a pack of ignorant old women.

"I mean no disrespect to the loafers or the old women in question. I
suppose if the good Lord had not intended them for what they are, he
would have made them otherwise--and then there would have been no
evidence against my client. I name them what they are, because, when
this honorable jury weighs the evidence, I want them to weigh the
witnesses as well."

"The gentleman wished to say one word," sneers the prosecution. "Has he
said it, or is this the beginning of his plea?"

"It would be better for your case if it were the beginning of my plea,"
cuts in O'Meara; "my witnesses will be less to the gentleman's liking
than are my words.

"Your honor, first then, the gentleman for the prosecution, in making
his preliminary remarks, has dwelt at length upon the fact that my
client is comparatively a stranger to W----; a stranger with a mystery.
Now, then, I wish to show that it is possible for a stranger to W---- to
be an honorable man, with an unblemished past; and that it is equally
p