luded to between Brian and Ivanhoe.

Mr. Wiseman, for the plaintiff, opened the case. He was a great, big,
bald-headed man, who laid down the law as a blacksmith hammers an anvil,
in a clear, forcible, resounding manner, leaving the defense--as
everybody declared--not a leg to stand upon.

"Oh, Mr. Worth! it is all over with me, and I shall die!" whispered Mrs.
Walsh, in deadly terror.

"Have patience! his speech does not impress the court as it does
you--they are used to him."

Witnesses were called, to prove as well as they could from a bad set of
facts, what an excellent husband and father the plaintiff had been; how
affectionate, how anxious, how zealous he was for the happiness of his
wife and children--leaving it to be inferred that nothing on earth but
her own evil tendencies instigated the wife to withdraw herself and
children from his protection!

"Heaven and earth, Mr. Worth, did you ever hear anything like that? They
manage to tell the literal truth, but so pervert it that it is worse
than the worse falsehood!" exclaimed Mrs. Walsh, in a low but indignant
tone.

"Aye," answered Ishmael, who sat, pencil and tablets in hand, taking
notes; "aye! 'a lie that is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies.'
But the court is accustomed to such witnesses; they do not receive so
much credit as you or they think."

Ishmael did not cross-examine these witnesses; the great mass of
rebutting testimony that he could bring forward, he knew, must overwhelm
them. So when the last witness for the plaintiff had been examined, he
whispered a few cheering words to the trembling woman by his side, and
rose for the defendant. Now, whenever a new barrister takes the floor
for the first time, there is always more or less curiosity and commotion
among the old fogies of the forum.

What will he turn out to be? that is the question. All eyes were turned
towards him.

They saw a tall, broad-shouldered, full-chested young man, who stood,
with a certain dignity, looking upon the notes that he held in his hand;
and when he lifted his stately head to address the court they saw that
his face was not only beautiful in the noble mold of the features, but
almost divine from the inspiring soul within.

Among the eyes that gazed upon him were those of the three giants of the
law whom he had now to oppose. They stared at him mercilessly--no doubt
with the intention of staring him down. But they did not even confuse
him; for the simple r