All eyes were lifted. And
Thompson, sitting beside the district-attorney, saw, standing
before the rail in the court-room, the splendid, alluring
creature that had called him out of the sordid lobby of the Hotel
Markheim and entranced him with an evidence of her favor.
Unconsciously he put up his hand to feel for the bud in the lapel
of his coat. It had remained there - not, as it happened, from
her wish, but because he dare not lay the coat aside.
In the interval of intense interest arising at the withdrawal of
the attorney from the case the girl had come in unnoticed. She
might have appeared out of the floor. Her voice was the first
indication of her presence.
The judge turned swiftly. "What do you mean?" he said.
"I mean, monsieur," she answered, "that if a man is innocent of a
crime, he cannot require a lawyer to defend him."
The judge was astonished, but he was an old man and had seen many
strange events happen along the way of a criminal trial.
"But why do you say this man is innocent," he said.
"I will show you, monsieur," and she came around the railing into
the pit of the, court before his bench.
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