Times-promoter., 1907-10-18

! II NUN WItulu lut sSlOSSy Olu war
nut bar that ran from wall to
wall the eyes Of the lawyers
Il and reporters wandered often
to Ariel as she sat in the packed court
room watching Louden's fight for the
life and liberty of Happy Fear. She
had always three escorts, and, though
she did not miss session and tho
same three never failed to attend her,
no whisper of scandal arose. But not
upon them did the glances Of the MEM
bers of the bar and the journalists
with tender frequency linger, nor were
the younger members of these two pro-
fessions all who gazed that way. Joe
had fought out the selection of the
jury with the prosecutor at great
length and with infinite pains 1t was
not young jury. and it stared at her.
The court" wore gray beard with
which flock of sparrows might hnys
vlllaged grove, and yet In spite Of
the vital necessity for watchfulneSs
over this fighting case, it once needed
to be stirred from 4 tranceliko gaze in
Miss Tabor's direction and aroused to
the realization that it was there to
"sit" and not to dream.
The August air was warm outside
the windows, inviting to the open
country, to swimmin' hole, to orchard
reveries or shaded pool wherein to
drop meditative line. You would
have thought no one could willingly
coop himself in this hot room for three
hours twice day while lawyers
wrangled, often unintelligibly, over
the life of dingy little creature like
Happy Fear, yet the struggle to swell
ter there was almost like a riot. and
the bailiffs were busy men.
1t was fighting case throughout,
fought to finish OH each tiny point
rs it came up, dragging, in the mere
matter of time, interminably, yet the
people of Canaan (not only those who
succeeded in penetrating to the court
room, but the others, who hung about
the corridors or outside the building,
and the great mass Of stay at homes,
who read the story in the Tocsin)
found each moment of it enthralling
enough. The states attorney, fearful
Of losing so notorious case and not
Understanding his opponent, had
modestly summoned others to his aid,
and the attorney for the defense sin
gle handed faced ian array of legal
talent such as seldom indeed had hol-
Tered at this bar" faced it good ma
turedly, an eyebrow crooked up and
his head on one side most of the time,
yet faced 1t indomitably. He had
certain careless and disarming smile
when he lost point, which carried
off the defeat as of only humorous
account and not at all part of the Sc
rious business in hand, and in his
treatment of witnesses he was plausi-
bic. kindly, knowing that in this case
he had no intending perjurer to en-
trap; brought into play the rare and
delicate art of which he was master,
employing in his questions subtle sug
gestions and shadings of tone and
manner and avoiding words of debat-
able and dangerous meanings-a fine
craft, often attempted by blunderers
to their own undoing, but which, prac-
ticed by Joseph Louden, made inartic-
ulate witnesses articulate to the pre-
else effects which he desired. This he
accomplished as much by the help of
the continuous fire of objections from
the other side as in spite of t',am.
He was infinitely careful, asking ne .er
an Ill advised question for the other
side to use to his hurt and, though ex-
hibiting only pleasant easiness of
manner, was electrically alert.
A hundred things had shown Ariel
that the feeling of the place, influenced
by public sentiment without, was
subtly and profoundly hostile to Joe
and his client. She read this in the
spectators, in the jury, even in the
judge, but 1t seemed to her that day
by day the inimical spirit gradually
failed inside the railing and also in
those spectators who, like herself, were
enabled by special favor to be present
throughout the trial. and that now and
Continued next week.