"Mighty deal your lordship, ah, ah, ah!" replied the witness quite jocosely, and beginning to enjoy the sport. "Don't laugh here, sir, but can you tell us what you were doing, sir, last Christmas four years?" Of course he could not--and Mr Nailhim knew it, or he never would have put the question; and the unlucky witness grew so confused in his attempt to find the matter out, and, in his guesses, so confounded one Christmas with another, that first he blushed, and then he spoke, and then he checked himself, and spoke again, just contradicting what he said before, and looked at length as like a guilty man as any in the jail. Lest the effect upon the court might still be incomplete, the wily Nailhim, in the height of Mallett's trouble, threw, furtively and knowingly, a glance towards the jury, and smiled upon them so familiarly, that any lingering doubt must instantly have given way. They agreed unanimously with Nailhim. A greater scoundrel never lived than this John Mallett. The counsellor perceived his victory, and spoke. "Go down, sir, instantly," said he, "and take care how you show your face up there again. I have nothing more to say, my lud." And down John Mallett went, his friend and he much worse for his intentions. "And now this mighty case is closed!" thought I. "What will they do to such a wretch!" I was disappointed. The good judge was determined not to forsake the man, and he once more addressed him. "Prisoner," said he, "what induced you to commit this act?" The prisoner again turned his desponding eye upwards, and answered, as before-- "Beggary, my lord." "What are you?" "Nothing, my lord--any thing." "Have you no trade?" "No, my lord." "What do your wife and children do?" "They are helpless, my lord, and they starve with me." "Does no one know you in your neighbourhood?" "No one, my lord. I am a stranger there. _We are all low people there_, my lord." There was something so truly humble and plaintive in the tone with which these words were spoken, and the eyes of the afflicted man filled so suddenly with tears as he uttered them, that I became affected in a manner which I now find it difficult to describe. My blood seemed to chill, and my heart to rush into my throat. I am ashamed to say that my own eyes were as moist as the prisoner's. I resolved from that moment to become his friend, and to enquire into his circumstances and character, as soon as the present proceedings were at an end. "How long has the prisoner been confined already?" "Something like three months, my lud," answered the barrister cavalierly as if months were minutes. "It is punishment enough," said the judge--"let him be discharged now. Prisoner, you are discharged--you must endeavour to get employment. If you are ill, apply to your parish; there is no excuse for stealing--none whatever. You are at liberty now."