The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1893-09-02
pened to be there at just this time he
had romaiuod ci1oDf

10y Nj
Solemnly the great clock in the court
room beat out the dragging moments.
The bailiffs droned stories and yawned.
The clerk scrubbed on the back of pa
pers. The crier slept the sleep Of child
hood and smiled over its reviving
mt The old woman sat erect, mo-
tionless, intent like another sphynx,
awaiting the elimination of burning
desires. Perhaps she alone could ex-
plain that ancient feud; perhaps, when
that bosom had been tender and that
arm softly responsive to caresses, an
injury to her beauty had been the
dragons tooth of this future. Perhaps
the past now returned to her; for ex-
pectancy hath its panorama of spent,
but not dead, emotions. Certainly lit
tie Patty, as she saw the grim face
growing grimmer, grew faint with
dread, for in it's lines she read vengeance
upon Tommy and woe for herself.
Then from the jury-room there came
a shout-an exultant laugh. Some
thing had happened. With professional
acuteness the officers stood alert, like
beagles straining at the leash. The
crier awoke and stretched his arms and
feebly raped the desk with his key,
~proclaiming silence. Such a mandate
was unnecessary. That hush which
precedes a knowledge of the unknown
prevailed.
There was a sharp, demanding rap on
the door of the jury-room. Its drowsy
guardian sprang to his feet and I'M
locked it. There were whispers, and
then once more the door was closed,
the bolt was shot, the sentinel sat at
his post. Once more, but with a differ
ence. The man no longer lolled. He
was big with the consciousness that
every eye was upon him, big in the pos
session of a secret which he had no
right to know.
The great clock licked warningly, for
the hours of excitement are moments.
1t was nearing the time for the judges
return. The clerk set dockets and pen
and paper in order. The bailiffs shut
windows and opened doors and turned
up lights and took their stations. There
was one whose post was by the door al
the end of the gallery leading to the
jury-room, which opened upon the
main stairway of the building. The
guardian of the jury-room was his
friend, and, rs he passed, whispered a
single word. The bailif stepped to his
place and beyond. He leaned over the
rail and gazed down into the gloomy
corridor. The front door swung open,
a dignified form entered. He recog-
nized it, and in an instant was leaping
down the stairs. And in another in
slant Judge Greengoods knew at what
verdict the jury had arrived, knew that
the solemn words which he had mental
ly arranged during his walk thither
had not been marshaled in vain.
Many sharp eyes had noticed the pass
ing of that single word from officer to
officer, and ere the crier had begun his
proclamation bailiffs and at
torneys and sheriff and prisoner knew
that the verdict was guilty" Patty
knew it, too, for she had watched that
guardian at the door as if he held the
portals of her happiness. Patty knew
it, and a great sob swelled in her heart
and hardened into a resolution. In
this moment of extremity, when hui
man and Divine powers had coalesced
against him, she would be by her old
~playmate's side to comfort, to sustain,
to bless! She looked at her grand
mother. That expectant gaze had not
yet changed into triumph. II will go
a little closer, so that l can find out"
she said. and the old lady nodded an
eager approval.
Down the narrow iron stairway along
the wall came the jury-swaggering,
~hesitating, strutting. Patty leaned
against the little door of the railing
which divided the courtroom, thus sep
arating the goats of spectators from
the sheep of the bar, and studied their
faces as they passed. Stolid, immova-
BILE for the most part; but there were
two that seemed worried and dubious,
and they were the faces of the two men
in whom she had put her trust. Oh,
towards. Why had they not preserved
the courage Of their convictions or why
had they put themselves in a position
where faint heartedness is a crime?
The jury took their seats, these two
men in the places which they had &C.
cupied during the trial, Nos. z and 8
in the ear row, directly behind the
foreman. From the ante-room came
Tommy, and sat by his lawyer along
side of the table in front of the judges
bench. How pale he was, but how
quiet, how stern! Was it possible that
those lips which had ever curled in
smiles could be SO firm? Why one
might be afraid of him, that is. one
who didn't love him as she did! Patty
brushed a tear from her cheek, as she
gazed; it seemed as if he were already
dead, and that it was his cold gray
shade that now appeared.