e; which
presently, in turn, was met by hisses and some raucous cries of
resentment. These increased as a man appeared on the steps of the Court
House, looked round for a moment in a dazed kind of way, then seeing
some friends below who were swarming towards him, gave a ribald cry, and
scrambled down the steps towards them.

He was the prisoner whose release had suddenly been secured by a
piece of evidence which had come as a thunder-clap on judge and jury.
Immediately after giving this remarkable evidence the witness--Sebastian
Dolores--had left the court-room. He was now engaged in buying cordials
in the market-place--in buying and drinking them; for he had pulled the
cork out of a bottle filled with a rich yellow liquid, and had drained
half the bottle at a gulp. Presently he offered the remainder to a
passing carter, who made a gesture of contempt and passed on, for, to
him, white whisky was the only drink worth while. Besides, he disliked
Sebastian Dolores. Then, with a flourish, the Spaniard tendered the
bottle to Madame Langlois and Palass Poucette's widow, at whose corner
of merchandise he had now arrived.

Surely there never was a more benign villain and perjurer in the world
than Sebastian Dolores! His evidence, given a half-hour before, with
every sign of truthfulness, was false. The man--Rocque Valescure--for
whom he gave it was no friend of his; but he owned a tavern called "The
Red Eagle," a few miles from the works where the Spaniard was employed;
also Rocque Valescure's wife set a good table, and Sebastian Dolores was
a very liberal feeder; when he was not hungry he was always thirsty. The
appeasement of hunger and thirst was now become a problem to him, for
his employers at Beauharnais had given him a month's notice because of
certain irregularities which had come to their knowledge. Like a wise
man Sebastian Dolores had said nothing about this abroad, but had
enlarged his credit in every direction, and had then planned this piece
of friendly perjury for Rocque Valescure, who was now descending
the steps of the Court House to the arms of his friends and amid the
execrations of his foes. What the alleged crime was does not matter.
It has no vital significance in the history of Jean Jacques Barbille,
though it has its place as a swivel on which the future swung.

Sebastian Dolores had saved Rocque Valescure from at least three years
in jail, and possibly a very heavy fine as well; and this service
must