"Now, first, all who think this defendant claimed to be a veterinary say aye." "Wait a minute!" interposed the tall man, who was still standing by the window. "Maybe I am a nut. But I wish someone would explain to me which is the defender. I thought Mr. Tutt was the defender." "Oh, my Lord!" groaned a flabby salesman in a pink tie. "Defend-ant--a-n-t--remember your ant! He's the man we're trying! The other one is the complainant!" "The only one that had any complaint was the horse", protested the tall man. "But I understand now--we're tryin' the defendant. I've never served on a jury before. Now, what's the question?" "Did the defendant--ant--claim to be a licensed veterinary--when he wasn't?" "Now wait a second," objected the tall man again. "I want to get this straight. Is it the point that if this old man pretended he was a horse doctor when he wasn't he has to go to jail?" "Sure." "But the other man pretended he was a doctor." "But he was trying to trick the defendant." "But the first feller wasn't a doctor any more than the other feller. Why not convict the first feller?" There was a chorus of groans from about the table. "You ought not to be here at all!" remarked the salesman acidly. "You're simple-minded, you are! You keep still now and vote with the majority, or we'll tell the judge on you!" The tall man subsided. "Vell," suddenly interjected the foreman, "he admitted he was guilty in the bolice gourt." "Sure!" "That's so!" "Pass the box again!" came from all hands. When the foreman had counted the ballots Bently was horrified to discover that ten jurors now thought the defendant guilty, and only two believed him innocent. "May I suggest," said he earnestly, "that perhaps this old man did not understand in the magistrate's court the elements that went to make up the offense charged against him? He merely stood ready to admit freely whatever the facts were. His opinion on the purely legal question of his own guilt was not of much value. Anyhow, his subsequent plea of not guilty to the indictment neutralizes the significance of the original plea." There was a murmur of surprise and admiration from Bently's companions. "That's true, too!" declared the salesman. "I never thought of that! You're some talker--you are, I must say! But how about that business card?" "It seems to me," argued Bently, "that the card plays no particular part in this case. In the first place the question before us is not whether Lowry ever did--in the past--hold himself out as a veterinary, but whether he did so on the day alleged in the indictment. The fact that he gave the detective a card which he had had printed perhaps years before only tends to show that at some time or other he may have pretended to be a licensed veterinary. And you will recall, gentlemen, that the testimony is merely that he said to the detective in reference to the card: 'That is my name.' He did not say anything to him about being a veterinary."