and deposed to his sanity there: he was not
cross-examined. After him they went on step
by step with a fresh witness for every six months,
till they brought him close to the date of his
incarceration: then they put in one of Julia's
witnesses, Peterson, who swore Alfred had
talked to him like a sane person that very
morning; and repeated what had passed. Cross-
examination only elicited that he and Alfred were
no longer good friends, which rather strengthened
the evidence. Then Giles and Hannah, now
man and wife, were called, and swore he was
sane all the time he was at Silverton House.
Mr. Saunders diminished the effect by eliciting
that they had left on bad terms with Mr. Baker,
and that Alfred had given them money since. But
this was half cured on re-examination, by being
set down to gratitude on Alfred's part. And now
the judge went to luncheon: and in came a
telegraphic message to say Alfred was in the
fast train coming up. This was good news, and
bad. They had hoped he would drop in before.
They were approaching that period of the case,
when not to call the plaintiff must produce a vile
impression. The judge, out of good nature I
suspect, was longer at luncheon than usual, and
every minute was so much gained to Mr. Compton
and Julia, who were in a miserable state of
anxiety. Yet it was equalled by Richard
Hardie's, who never entered the court, but
paced the hall the livelong day to intercept
Noah Skinner. And, when I tell you that Julia
had consulted Mr. Green, and that he had
instantly pronounced Mr. Barkington to be a
man from Barkington who knew the truth about
the fourteen thousand pounds, and that the said
Green and his myrmidons were hunting Mr.
Barkington like beagles, you will see that R.
Hardie's was no vain terror. At last the judge
returned, and Mr. Colt was obliged to put in his
reserves; so called Dr. Sampson. Instantly a
very dull trial became an amusing one; the
scorn with which he treated the opinion of
Dr. Wycherley and Mr. Speers, and medical
certificates in general, was so droll coming from a
doctor, and so racily expressed, that the court
was convulsed. Also in cross-examination by
Saunders he sparred away in such gallant style
with that accomplished advocate, that it was
mighty refreshing. The judge put in a few
intelligent questions after counsel had done,
and surprised all the doctors in court with these
words: " I am aware, sir, that you were the
main instrument in putting down blood-letting
in this country."

What made Sampson's evidence particularly
strong was, that he had seen the plaintiff the
evening before his imprisonment.

At this moment three men, all of them known
to the reader, entered the court; one was our
old acquaintance Fullalove, another was of course
Vespasian: and the third was the missing plaintiff.

A buzz announced his arrival; and expectation
rose high. Mr. Colt called him with admirably
feigned nonchalance: he stepped into the box,
and there was a murmur of surprise and admiration
at his bright countenance and manly bearing.

Of course to give his evidence would be to
write "Hard Cash" over again. It is enough
to say that his examination in chief lasted all
that day, and an hour of the next.

Colt took him into the asylum, and made him
say what he had suffered there to swell the
damages. The main points his examination in
chief established were his sanity during his whole
life, the money settled on him, the means the
doctors took to irritate him, and then sign him
excited, the subserviency of his uncle to his father,
the double motive his father had in getting him
imprisoned; the business of the £14,000.

When Colt sat down at eleven o'clock on the
second day, the jury looked indignant, and the
judge looked very grave, and the case very black.

Mr. Saunders electrified his attorney by saying,
"My advice is, don't cross-examine him."

Heathfield implored him not to take so strange
a course.

On this Saunders shrugged his shoulders, rose,
and cross-examined Alfred about the vision of
one Captain Dodd he had seen, and about his
suspicions of his father. "Had not Richard
Hardie always been a kind and liberal father?"
To this he assented. " Had he not sacrificed a
large fortune to his creditors?" Plaintiff believed
so. " On reflection, then, did not plaintiff think
he must have been under an illusion?" No; he
had gone by direct evidence.

Confining himself sagaciously to this one
question, and exerting all his skill and pertinacity,
Saunders succeeded in convincing the court that
the Hard Cash was a myth: a pure chimera.
The defendant's case looked up; for there are
many intelligent madmen with a single illusion.

The re-examination was of course very short,
but telling; for Alfred swore that Miss Julia
Dodd had helped him to carry home the phantom
of her father, and that Miss Dodd had a letter
from her father to say that he was about to sail
with the other phantom, the £14,000.

Here Mr. Saunders interposed, and said that
evidence was inadmissible. Let him call Miss
Dodd.

Colt.—How do you know I'm not going to
call her?

The Judge.—If you are, it is superfluous; if
not, it is inadmissible.

Mr. Compton cast an inquiring glance up at a
certain gallery. A beautiful girl bowed her head
in reply, with a warm blush and such a flash of
her eye, and Mr. Colt said, "As my learned
friend is afraid to cross-examine the plaintiff on
any point but this, and as I mean to respond to his
challenge, and call Miss Dodd, I will not trouble
the plaintiff any further."

Through the whole ordeal Alfred showed a
certain flavour of Eton and Oxford that won all
hearts. His replies were frank and honest, and
under cross-examination he was no more to be