He then
brought Mrs. Belding in.
"That is the man," she said, promptly, "or at least some one exactly
like him."
"Thank you," he said, reconducting her to her carriage. "The first
charge against Sleeny will be dismissed, though of course he must be
held for this homicide."
A few weeks later Sleeny was tried for the killing of Offitt, on which
occasion most of the facts of this history were given in evidence. Mrs.
Belding had at last to tell what she knew in open court, and she had an
evil quarter of an hour in the hands of Mr. Dalton, who seemed always
on the point of asking some question which would bring her opera-glass
into the newspapers; but he never proceeded to that extremity, and she
came away with a better opinion of the profession than she had ever
before entertained. "I suppose leading germans humanizes even a lawyer
somewhat," she observed, philosophically.
Maud Matchin was, however, the most important witness for the defence.
She went upon the stand troubled with no abstract principles in regard
to the administration of justice. She wanted Sam Sleeny to be set free,
and she testified with an eye single to that purpose.
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