Bearing underneath his arm a printed book, the Hon. Worth Higgins entered the arena of events with his accustomed energy. He bowed low to the Governor, placed a high silk hat on the Governor's table, and settled down into a seat. "Have you read my petition?" he asked of the Governor. "I looked at it," replied the other. "You have a choice assortment of names upon it--looks all right." "It is all right," declared Higgins, "I can assure you." "I have just fifteen minutes," said the Governor. "I'll take this matter up with you with pleasure. Give me the printed case. Now point out to me--the evidence must have been brief on the exact point--the testimony relating to the crime. Remember I don't want your own private opinion, I want merely the salient facts of the case." And after glancing quickly over the pages that Higgins selected, he then wandered through the testimony on his own account. At sight of the name of Leslie Wilkinson in the printed index of the witnesses, Governor Beekman was conscious of a shock; nevertheless he turned to her testimony and to that of Wilkinson. "Seems to have been deliberation all right," he remarked. "But wasn't there a gun store clerk upon the stand? I was in Austria at the time, and I lost track of this case." Higgins, his countenance falling, pointed out the exact testimony. The Governor solemnly shook his head, as he observed: "And here, Mr. Higgins, are three witnesses in the crowd who say that they saw him fire the fatal shot. What have you to say to that?" "Ah!" exclaimed the Hon. Worth Higgins, his spirits rising, "that is just the point. If you will examine the cross-examination, blundering though it be, of my colleague Boggs, you will find that those three witnesses cannot give a correct account of themselves. They were not depositors--that much we showed: they were hangers-on of Mulberry Bend resorts." "These three men," returned the Governor, "do not stand impeached by Boggs, that much is sure; and, besides, this was Ilingsworth's gun. How do you get away from that?" Now Higgins, be it known, was not secretly in sympathy with this errand of his. He knew instinctively that his mission would fail. He preferred successful missions, and consequently he had balked. But he had outlined a plan whereby he would sit down before the Governor and make his plea, and then retire, leaving the rest to fate. So that he had not come prepared to answer vital questions, and they annoyed him. Besides, he knew and felt that Ilingsworth had been convicted on the merits of the case. Appeals had failed; this petition to the Governor was a last resort. Nevertheless, he started in to tell the Governor the story his petition set forth--a story of the wrongs of Ilingsworth. Governor Beekman listened patiently to him for a few minutes, then he said: