Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-06-17

so cleverly executed as this. Indeed, he was not prepared to swear that it was l false
 This was the first ray of doubt which had been thrown by the evidence upon Mr. Nugent's guilt; and then went into the box. I was cool now, for the game had gone into had cost me many qualm of conscience. But I had no in- l tention of cheating MT. Champion, swearing falsely, or furnishing my per- l sonal honor.
 The preliminary question of the prose- outing counsel brought out the fact that had designed the rings setting and done all the work upon 1t.
 What sort of stone was it your em- ployer gave you to set?" was the next question
 .tAn extremely valuable white dia- 1 mond'' replied
 Do you swear that you set the genuine 1 stone and delivered. the ring when fn- ished to the prisoner?"
 .'I do"
 | t'Do you consider it possible that stone I might have been taken out and an imi- tation one substituted?" I Certainly! But I could tell whether ! the ring had been tempered with since i 1t left my hands.
 "Take this, then, examine it, and in- form the court if that is the stone you set"
 I The ring was handed to me, and hush fell upon the court The kind of lull ] which denotes that vital point in case has been reached.
 | Y0y7f 1,1u hand fY7 y1oxy Nuoisfonof vNrIr Af l for my jewellers glass, and the gharpest eye could not have seen that also drew forth a new ring, made In the secret hours of the night-an exact counterpart of the other, save that it contained the real Crampton diamond. I pretended to examine the imitation l with great care, while all eyes were l fixed upon me. At length returned the glass to my pocket and with it the ring with the false stone could hear my heart beating; but, handing to the court usher the new ring, I said, firmly, in re- ply to the snappish 'sWell?" of the pros I ecuting counsel:
 ssI swear unhesitatingly that the set ting of this ring has not been tempered with, and that this is the genuine dia- nond which was given me to set. l A rustic went round the room; the doubting expert pricked up his ears; the prosecuting counsel, with MT. Cramp- ton and the treasury solicitor. were whispering over the ring
 "You honor" said the counsel, ssI ask permission to recall the expert.
 stepped out of the box and the expert stepped in. The new ring was put into his hand, friendly ray of sunshine lighting up the jewel.
 ssThis is remarkable,s he said at last Tt is the first time have ever made a mistake. This stone is genuine cam not doubt it"
 And so the prisoner was free. But when the verdict of Not guilty" was pronounced a faint groan echoed it, and dead man was taken from the dock. A spasm of the heart had proved fatal. Six months later Nell and were mar ried. On our honeymoon we were walk ing in lane near Ilfracombe, when we came face to face with MT. Crampton, who was stopping with his bride in a neighboring country house.
 "Ah. Mr. Wade!" he exclaimed, 'I haven't seen you since that mysterious case of mine. Do you know. I have ak ways thought of you-as-a very clever man?"
 Thank you, said quietly "Will you allow me to present you to my wife-the only daughter of the late MT. Nugent?"
 MT. Crampton raised his hat, looked keenly at pretty Nell, shook hands with us both, and murmured:
 "Ah, understand"