counted against him in the general view. It was to so count
more seriously in the particular instance. Witnesses were called to
prove that he had spent the evening of the burglary with Miss Belton at
her hotel, that he had remained with her until one o'clock, that he was
in the habit of spending his evenings with Miss Belton.

Rawlins of the Express did not overdo the sensation which was caused in
the courtroom when the name of this lady herself was called to summon
her to the witness box. It was indeed the despair of his whole career.
He thought despondingly ever after of the thrill, to which he himself
was not superior and which, if he had only been able to handle it
adequately, might have led him straight up the ladder to a night
editorship. Miss Belton appeared from some unsuspected seat near the
door, throwing back a heavy veil, and walking as austerely as she could,
considering the colour of her hair. She took her place without emotion
and there she corroborated the evidence of the servants of the hotel.
To the grave questions of the prosecution she fluently replied that the
distraction of these evenings had been cards--cards played, certainly,
for money, and that she, certainly, had won very considerable sums from
the defendant from time to time. In Elgin the very mention of cards
played for money will cause a hush of something deeper than disapproval;
there was silence in the court at this. In producing several banknotes
for Miss Belton's identification, Mr Cruickshank seemed to profit by the
silence. Miss Belton identified them without hesitation, as she might
easily, since they had been traced to her possession. Asked to account
for them; she stated, without winking, that they had been paid to her by
Mr Walter Ormiston at various times during the fortnight preceding the
burglary, in satisfaction of debts at cards. She, Miss Belton, had left
Elgin for Chicago the day after the burglary. Mr Ormiston knew that she
was going. He had paid her the four fifty-dollar notes actually traced,
the night before she left, and said. "You won't need to break these
here, will you?" He seemed anxious that she should not, but it was
the merest accident that she hadn't. In all, she had received from Mr
Ormiston four hundred and fifty dollars. No, she had no suspicion that
the young man might not be in a position to make such payments. She
understood that Mr Ormiston's family was wealthy, and never thought
twice about it.

She s