The silence of the place,--the gloom scarcely broken by the light of the solitary candle,--the contrast between this scene and the one in which he had been an actor but a few moments previous,--all had their effect upon the mind of the statesman. "A trap! get out of it as I may. An infernal trap!" Without raising his head, or removing his clasped hands from his breast, the judge spoke, in an even and distinct, although hollow voice,-- "You may still refuse to be tried by this court. Consent to be exposed in your present condition to the gentlemen whom I have named, (and who may be brought hither in an instant), and the trial will not proceed." The blood rushed to Gabriel's face, but he made no reply. "Or, if you doubt that those gentlemen are near, it is not too late to remove your doubts." The veins began to swell on Gabriel's forehead. "Go on," he said, in a half-smothered tone. The judge extended his hand and placed a parchment in the hands of Esther. "Read the accusation," he said, and in a voice at first low and faint, but gradually growing stronger and deeper, Esther read, while a death-like stillness prevailed: "Gabriel Godlike is accused of the following offenses against man, against society, against God:-- "As a man of genius, intrusted by the Almighty with the noblest, the most exalted powers, and bound to use those powers for the good of his race, he has, in the course of his whole life, prostituted those powers to the degradation and oppression of his race. "As a statesman, rivaling in intellect the three great names of the nineteenth century, Clay, Calhoun and Webster, he has not, like these great men, been governed by a high aim, an earnest-souled sincerity. His intellect approaches theirs in powers, but as a man, as a statesman, he has not exhibited their virtues. Wielding a vast influence, and bound to use that influence in securing to the masses such laws as will invest every man with the right to the full fruits of his labor, and the possession of a home, he has lent his influence, sold his intellect, mortgaged his official position, to those who enslave labor in workshop and factory, defraud it in banks, and rob the laborer--the freeman--of a piece of land which he may call by the sacred title of home. "As a lawyer, having a profound knowledge of the technicalities of written law, and an intuitive knowledge of that great law of God, which proclaims that all men are brothers, bound to each other by ties of reciprocal love and duty, he has used his knowledge of written law to gloss over and sanction the grossest wrongs; he has darkened and distorted the great laws of God to suit any case of social tyranny, no matter how damning, how revolting, which he has been called upon to defend for hire.