to
clear himself? No mere acquittal would do. Because of Ellinor, there
must be no question, no verdict of Not Proven. She would go East
to-morrow. Perhaps she would not hear of his arrest at all. He hoped
not. The bank robbery, the murder--yes, she would hear of them, perhaps;
but why need she hear his name? Hers was a world so different! He fell
into a muse at this.

Deputy Phillips passed and stood close to him, looking down from the
window. His back was to Jeff; but, under cover of the confused hum of
many voices, he spake low from the corner of his mouth:

"Play your hand close to your bosom, old-timer! Wait for the draw and
watch the dealer!" He strolled over to the other side of the judicial
bench whence he came.

This vulgar speech betrayed Jimmy as one given to evil courses; but to
Jeff that muttered warning was welcome as thunder of Bluecher's squadrons
to British squares at Waterloo.

Down the aisle came a procession consciously important--the prosecuting
attorney; the bank's lawyer, who was to assist, "for the people"; and
Lake himself. As they passed the gate Jeff smiled his sweetest.

"Hello, Wally!" Lake's name was Stephen Walter.

Wally made no verbal response; but his undershot jaw did the steel-trap
act and there was a triumphant glitter in his eye. He turned his broad
back pointedly--and Jeff smiled again.

The justice took his seat on the raised dais intervening between
Jeff and the sheriff's desk. Court was opened. The usual tedious
preliminaries followed. Jeff waived a jury trial, refused a lawyer
and announced that he would call no witnesses at present.

In an impressive stillness the prosecutor rose for his opening
statement. Condensed, it recounted the history of the crime, so far as
known; fixed the time by the watchman's statement--to be confirmed, he
said, by another witness, the telephone girl on duty at that hour, who
had heard the explosion and the ensuing gunshot; touched upon that
watchman's faithful service and his present desperate condition. He told
of the late finding of the injured man, the meeting in the bank, the sum
taken by the robber, and the discovery in the bank of the rubber
nosepiece, which he submitted as Exhibit A. He cited the witnesses by
whom he would prove each statement, and laid special stress upon the
fact that the witness Clarke would testify that the nosepiece had been
found upon the shattered fragments of the safe door--conclusive proof
that it had bee