"Oh, nothing," said Paige, "nothing at all. Let us talk of something else. Let me ask why Mr. Edwards discharged you from his employ last spring?" "Nossing! Nossing! Ah'll be work for heem more good as never was." "If he treated you as unjustly as that," said Paige, with sympathy, "you cannot have a very high opinion of Mr. Edwards." "Ah'll tol' you he was bad mans. He'll discharge me more as seexty mile off. Ah'll have for walk, me. Ah'll tol' you dat was mean treek for play on poor mans." And Pete sought sympathy from the faces about him. "That was too bad, certainly," said Paige. "Now about those wounds of yours. I have Doctor Brigham here, ready to make an examination. I'll call him now," and the state's attorney started toward the door of the witness-room. Pete jumped. "_Hein!_" he exclaimed. "You don't object to having an excellent doctor like Doctor Brigham look at your wounds, do you?" asked Paige. Now Lamoury had no wounds to show. The smiling, well-dressed Paige, standing there and looking at him with amused comprehension, was more than he could bear. Pete suddenly lost his temper, never too secure. Out of his wheeled chair he jumped, and shaking his fist in Paige's face, he shouted:-- "T'ink you be smart, very smart mans! Well, Ah'll tol' you you ain't. Ah'll tol' you you be a great beeg peeg! Ah'll tol' you dat Edwards boy, he shoot at me. I see heem. 'T ain't my fault of it if he not hit me, _hein_? You be peeg! You be all peegs--every one!" and Pete, making a wide, inclusive gesture, shouted, "I care not more as one cent for de whole keet and caboodle of it! Peeg, peeg, peeg!" And turning on his heel, the wrathful Frenchman left the room. He left also a convulsed jury and a wheeled chair, for the hire of which Hibbard found himself later obliged to pay. Mr. Peaslee, the thermometer of whose spirits had been rising steadily, joined in the laughter which followed the exit of the discomfited Pete. "Terrible smart feller, Paige, ain't he?" said he to Albion Small. "Did him up real slick, didn't he?" The delighted Solomon had quite forgotten his dislike for the citified Paige. Of course the grand jury promptly abandoned the inquiry. The fact was now obvious that the vengeful Lamoury, aided by the unscrupulous Hibbard, had merely hoped to be bought off by Mr. Edwards, and had been disappointed. "The case," said Paige, "would never have come to trial. If Edwards had persisted, and let his boy go to court, they'd have had to stop. They must have been a good deal disappointed when he refused bail; they probably thought he'd never let the boy pass a night in Hotel Calkins." * * * * *