, as soon as he could do
so unobserved, secured the paper and handed it to me.

The tract was headed, "Sinner, Repent!"

The Claimant had written on it, "Surely this must have been meant for
Orkins, not for me!"

Louie's story of picking him up in the boat must have amused him
greatly. If he was amused at the ease with which fools can be
humbugged, he must also have been astounded at the awful villainy of
those who, perfect strangers to him, had perjured themselves for the
sake of notoriety.

I did what I could to shorten the proceedings. My opening speech was
confined to six days, as compared with twenty-eight on the other side;
my reply to nine. But that reply was a labour fearful to look back
upon. The mere classification of the evidence was a momentous and
necessary task. It had to be gathered from the four quarters of the
world. It had to be sifted, winnowed, and arranged in order as
a perfect whole before the true story could be evolved from the
complications and entanglements with which it was surrounded.

And when I rose to reply, to perform my last work and make my last
effort for the success of my cause, I felt as one about to plunge into
a boundless ocean with the certain knowledge that everything depended
upon my own unaided efforts as to whether I should sink or swim.
Happily, for the cause of justice, I succeeded; and at the end,
although nattering words of approval and commendation poured upon
me from all sides, from the highest to the humblest, I did Hot
then realize their value to the extent that I did afterwards. The
excitement and the exertion had been too great for anything to add to
it.

But I afterwards remembered--ay, and can never forget--the words of
the Lord Chief Justice himself, the first to appreciate and applaud,
as I was passing near him in leaving the court: "Bravo! Bravo,
Hawkins!" And then he added, "I have not heard a piece of oratory like
that for many a long day!" And he patted me cordially on the back as
he looked at me with, I believe, the sincerest appreciation.

Lord Chelmsford, too, who years before had given me my silk gown, was
on the Bench on this last day, and I shall never forget the compliment
he paid me on my speech. It was of itself worth all the trouble and
anxiety I had undergone.

Beyond all this, and more gratifying even still, my speech was liked
by the Bar, from the most eminent to the briefless.

But greatest of all events in that eventful day was one