ue serge with a
pearl in his black tie. He took her hand and beamed down upon her as if
many things were in his heart that he would not trouble her with at this
crisis by uttering.

"Ah, my dear," he said, "I wish I might be here to-morrow to see your
triumph, but I'll be back in a month or so, and then--meantime I leave
you in good hands. Wiley is capital. His summing up to-morrow will be a
masterpiece. And remember, if by any chance--juries are chancy, you
know--they do bring in an adverse verdict, on appeal you're safe as a
church." He raised a cold, rigid little hand to his lips.

With her perfect clear-sightedness she saw he was deserting her and was
glad to get him out of her way. She had not even an impulse to punish
him for going.

The next morning it was raining torrents. It seemed as if the globe
itself were spinning in rain rather than ether. Rain beat on the streets
of New York so that the asphalt ran from curb to curb in black brooks;
rain swept across the open spaces of the country, and as they ran
through the storm water spouted in long streams from the wheels of the
car. In the court room rain ran down the windows on each side of the
American flag in liquid patterns. The court room itself had a different
air. The electric lights were on, the air smelled of mud and rubber
coats, and Judge Homans, who suffered from rheumatism, was stiff and
grim.

A blow awaited Lydia at the outset. She had not understood that the
defense summed up first--that the prosecution had the last word with the
jury. What might not "that man" do with the jury by means of his
hypnotic sincerity? She dreaded Wiley's summing up, too, fearing it
would be oratorical--all the more because he kept disclaiming any such
intention.

"The day has gone by for eloquence," he kept saying. "One doesn't
attempt nowadays to be a Daniel Webster or a Rufus Choate. But of course
it is necessary to touch the hearts of the jury."

She thought that O'Bannon's appeal was to their heads, and yet Wiley
might be right. People were such geese they might prefer Wiley's method
to O'Bannon's.

As soon as court opened Wiley began his summing up, and even his client
approved of his simple, leisurely manner. He was very clear and
effective with the merely legal points. The crime of manslaughter in the
first degree--a crime for which a sentence of twenty years might be
imposed--had not been proved. Nor was there credible evidence of
criminal negligence, wi