They were sworn immediately and then the senior counsel for the State arose and announced that he had no desire to keep the jury confined during the course of the trial; the State was satisfied to allow the members to go to their own homes over night if the defence had no objections. Promptly the attorneys for the defendant, evidently scenting something unusual, put their heads together and whispered. A moment later one of them got up and said that the defence would take the unusual course of asking that the jury be put in charge of bailiffs. He did not get very far in his remarks, however. Miss Hildebrand's eyes had swept the jury box from end to end. She observed the look of dismay that leaped into the faces of the entire dozen. Sampson had a queer notion that she looked at him longer than at the others, and that her gaze was rather penetrating. An instant later she was whispering in the ear of the second lawyer, and--well, they were all in conference again. After a period of uncertainty for the victims, the first lawyer, smiling benignly now, withdrew his motion to confine the jury, and graciously signified that the defence was ready to proceed. The first witness for the State was a Mr. Stevens. Sampson was sure from the beginning that he wasn't going to like Mr. Stevens. He was a prim, rather precious gentleman of forty-five, with a fond look in his eye and a way of putting the tips of his four fingers and two thumbs together that greatly enhanced the value of the aforesaid look. In addition to these mild charms of person, he had what Sampson always described as a “prissy” manner of speaking. No. 4 made a friend of Sampson by whispering--against the rules, and behind his hand, of course--that he'd like to “slap the witness on the wrist.” Sampson whispered back that he'd probably break his watch if he did. Anyhow, Mr. Stevens was recognised at once as the principal witness for the State. He was the head of the company that had suffered by the alleged peculations of Mr. Hildebrand. Ably assisted by the district attorney, the witness revealed the whole history of the Cornwallis Realty and Investment Company.