The audience moved restlessly yet silently, shifting cramped muscles
tenderly and rubbing strained eyes; but still alert for the issue of the
scene which in one hour and fifty minutes had been played from one
climax to another.
"You have the opportunity to reply," said the Court, addressing
Hampstead.
"The spirit and the manner of this address is its own reply," answered
the defendant quickly, believing hopefully that it was.
But the audience, more discerning than the defendant, issued the last of
its long-drawn collective sighs, foreseeing that the drama was now at
its inevitable end.
In sharp, machine-like tones, the verdict of Judge Brennan was
pronounced:
"_Held to answer! Bail doubled! Adjourned!_"
The gavel fell sharply, and the eyes of the Court darted a warning
glance beyond the rail as if to forestall a possible demonstration of
any sort. But there was none. A kind of restraint appeared to hold the
court and spectators in thrall. Then the official reporter closed his
notebook with an audible whisk; the clerk, gathering his papers, snapped
them loudly with rubber bands; and the judge arose and started toward
his chambers, while Wyatt moved over and took his place significantly by
the side of Hampstead. As if this broke the spell, there was a
shuffling of many feet, while the minister was immediately surrounded by
his bondsmen and a few friends. The friends pressed his hand and stepped
away into the outgoing crowd; but the bondsmen went with him into the
judge’s chambers, where the new surety was quickly executed. After
this, wringing the hand of each of the three men feelingly, Hampstead
asked to be excused.
"I have an humiliating experience to undergo," he explained, with a
meaningful glance at Detective Larsen who, representing the Bureau of
Identification, stood waiting. "I prefer to face that humiliation
alone."
"I understand," exclaimed Wilson, his face flushing. "It is a damned
outrage! I didn’t know such a thing could be done. I thought every man
was presumed innocent until proven guilty! Instead of that, they put
him in the Rogues’ Gallery!"
"You are as innocent as an angel from heaven," averred the white-bearded
Wadham extravagantly, as he laid an affectionate hand upon the shoulder
of the younger man.
"You are, indeed," echoed Hayes, his voice hoarse with emotion. "I
confess again that we doubted for a time, but your character rises
triumphant to the test."
The minister was unwilling to trust himself to further speech; for his
disappointment with the verdict had been great, and the sympathetic
loyalty of these trusted friends made self-control difficult, so with
only a nod of comprehension, he turned quickly to where Detective Larsen
waited.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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