ience and contempt. If the whole court-room had
been thronged with vermin instead of human beings, among which he was
obliged to sit, he could not have appeared more disgusted. Quite retired
among the audience, and deeply veiled, sat Mrs. Dillingham. Mr. Belcher
detected her, and, though he could not see her face, felt that he could
not be mistaken as to her identity. Why was she there? Why, but to
notice the progress and issue of the trial, in her anxiety for him? He
was not glad to see her there.

He beckoned for Phipps, who sat uneasily, with a scared look upon his
face, among the crowd.

"Is that Mrs. Dillingham?" he asked in a whisper.

Phipps assured him that it was. Then Mr. Belcher wrote upon his card the
words: "Do not, for my sake, remain in this room."

"Give this to her," he said to his servant.

The card was delivered, but the lady, quite to his surprise, did not
stir. He thought of his little book, but it seemed impossible that his
idol, who had so long been hidden from his sight and his knowledge,
could betray him.

A jury was empanneled, the case of Benedict _vs._ Belcher was called,
and the counsel of both parties declared themselves ready for the trial.

The suit was for damages, in the sum of half a million dollars, for the
infringement of patents on machines, implements and processes, of which
it was declared that the plaintiff was the first and only inventor. The
answer to the complaint alleged the disappearance and death of Benedict,
and declared the plaintiff to be an impostor, averred the assignment of
all the patents in question to the defendant, and denied the profits.

The judge, set somewhat deep in his shirt-collar, as if his head and his
heart were near enough together to hold easy communication, watched the
formal proceedings listlessly, out of a pair of pleasant eyes, and when
they were completed, nodded to Mr. Balfour, in indication that he was
ready to proceed.

Mr. Balfour, gathering his papers before him, rose to make the opening
for the prosecution.

"May it please the Court," he said, "and gentlemen of the jury, I have
to present to you a case, either issue of which it is not pleasant for
me to contemplate. Either my client or the defendant will go out of this
court, at the conclusion of this case, a blackened man; and, as I have a
warm friendship for one of them, and bear no malice to the other, I am
free to confess that, while I seek for justice, I shrink from the
resu