Everyone in the courtroom knew the value of this evidence. Everyone tilted forward straining to see Burr and how he took it. Not a muscle in his indifferent face quivered, however. He sat relaxed, a trifle pale, perhaps, but no more so than could be explained by the continued and choking heat.

Irving alone of all the crowd looked, not at the prisoner, but at Theodosia. He thus happened to see a flash of naked emotion on her face. And the emotion astounded him: he had expected consternation, dismay, fear; and he saw instead utter amazement followed by joy. It couldn't be joy, unless she had lost her reason, he thought dumbfounded. He then perceived that her dilated eyes were not fixed on her father as was their wont, but on a point beyond Burr's head. Turning, he followed her gaze.

There was a newcomer. A tall gaunt man with fair hair, leaning against the wall. And his eyes were riveted on Theo as hers were on him. It was for this man, then, that her face was illumined with a bewildered joy that transformed it; had transformed it, for now, as Irving turned to look at her again, her eyes were cast down, but even across the dozens of people who separated them, he could see that her cheeks, even her neck and the square of chest exposed by her dress, were scarlet Now, what is the meaning of this? thought Irving. Can it be the husband? Does one ever betray so much emotion at beholding a husband? He listened a moment to the evidence, which had once more bogged down in technicalities and required no attention, then he jogged the arm of the journalist next to him. 'Tell me, pray, do you know the name of the long fair fellow who stands over there against the wall? He in the green coat?'

The other looked and jumped. 'Gad, man! That's Meriwether Lewis!' He hissed it so loud that it brought a rap of the gavel and an angry look from the bench.

Irving gave a surprised exclamation. 'The conquering hero, no less? I've heard much of him and his triumphant return last month from his expedition with Clark. He is Jefferson's favorite, is he not?'

'He has been appointed Governor of the North Louisiana Territory,' returned the other significantly, but in a more cautious whisper. 'So you may judge whether Jefferson is pleased with him! The President has doubtless sent him here in his own stead to watch the trial.'

Then, why, by all that's infernal, does Mistress Theodosia Burr Alston blaze with delight at the sight of her father's enemy? Here is something vastly peculiar. Irving mused pleasurably over this new mystery. Impossible to imagine two men more different: the one, tall, taciturn, disdainful of the recent honors and acclaim which had been heaped upon him, had risked his life to enlarge and unify his country; while the other——