DR. BILKS’S BABY. No one suspected Dr. Bilks of anything; and if his memory had not been so utterly treacherous respecting his obstetric patient “beyond the Point,” his testimony would have been faultless. It would have added to his credit as a man and as a physician; for while he spoke the whole truth, he was tender of his friends, and he appeared to be unbiassed, just, and reasonable. No one had said a word against the doctor; no one had whispered a breath of suspicion upon his character. All the evidences against him were his bad memory, and his condition as he came down from the stand. Eugene Hungerford was called next. He confirmed all that Dr. Bilks had said about the plan to procure the re-marriage of Mary, and explained Ross Kingman’s state of mind just before the murder. His testimony simply showed that, with others, he did not believe she was the wife of Buckstone. Dick Birch was called after the deputy sheriff had been examined; and when he took the stand there was a decided sensation in the court-room. The audience whispered one to another, and there was a general expectation that Dr. Bilks’s agency in the affair would be exposed; that the reason for the severe cross-examination of the popular physician would be made apparent. The government attorney had wondered, as much as others, why the junior counsel for the defence had pressed the doctor so sharply on an apparently unimportant point, and he hoped that the mystery would be probed. “Mr. Birch, you were intimate with the prisoner, and with all the parties connected with the murder?” said the prosecuting attorney, when the usual preliminary questions had been disposed of. “I was; the prisoner, with myself, was in the employ of Mr. Hungerford,” replied Dick. “When did you see him last before the murder?” “At the house of Mr. Hungerford, about nine o’clock on the evening of the murder.” “How did he appear?” “As usual; I saw him but a moment, as he was leaving the house.” “Did you see him after the murder?” “Not till I saw him in the jail this morning, as one of his counsel.” “You wished to procure the re-marriage of the prisoner’s sister?” “I did.” “You had made an arrangement for this purpose?” “With Mr. Hungerford--I had.” “Did you speak to the prisoner about it?” “I did not.” “Why did you wish to procure the re-marriage of the murdered man with the prisoner’s sister?” “For two reasons.”