The prisoner's attorney had, in this consultation, explained to the counsel his stratagem, or intended _coup de théatre_. The learned sergeant and his learned junior considered the idea a good one, and may be said to have approved it; although, as they explained, it was no part of their professional duty to offer an opinion upon it. When the consultation was ended, the counsel returned into court, one taking his seat and the other hanging listlessly on the railing of the counsels' boxes. Mr. Wheedle was on the staircase of the court, watching its two modes of egress, and awaiting the effect of his little stratagem. An usher received a three-cornered note from the hands of somebody, addressed to Lord H----, with a small gold coin, and a request that he would put the half-sovereign in his own pocket, and hand the note to his lordship unseen by her ladyship. The note ran thus: "_Gallery of the Old Bailey_, "_July 19th, 185-_. "MY LORD,--For Heaven's sake, don't prosecute my brother, and kill your faithful CLARA!" His lordship cast his eyes to the gallery, and for the first time in that place he beheld the form and features of a lady not unknown to him, but one he had very frequently met elsewhere. Those eyes, and the recognition of the writer, were too much for the nobleman's delicate sensibilities. His face became as pale as chalk. He trembled almost as violently as a man attacked by St. Vitus's dance. He swooned immediately after he had thrust the missive unseen into one of his pockets. This event caused what the reporters for the daily journals described as "a painful sensation" in court. His lordship was removed in his carriage to his residence in ---- Square, Belgravia, without uttering more than one sentence. That sentence he so uttered was an instruction to his solicitor to get the trial postponed. The trial for perjury, after a short interval, was proceeded with, and ended in the prisoner's acquittal. Whereupon Mr. Keeneye, as one of the counsel for the prosecution, rose after a conference with his learned brother retained for the defence, and, addressing his lordship, begged that, owing to the sudden illness of the prosecutor, the trial of the prisoner might be postponed. The prisoner's counsel felt, they said, some difficulty in resisting the application after what they had seen, but added, that they thought the prisoner, who had done nothing to cause his lordship's illness, was entitled to be liberated on bail. The judge, after glancing at the depositions, said he did not see that the accused had any such claim, and declined to attach that condition to the adjournment of the case, as prayed for by the prosecution.