See to it that you choose rightly and
well."
The rumble of applause from the court-room as Goodlaw resumed his seat
was quickly suppressed by the officers, and Sharpman arose to speak.
He was calm and courteous, and seemed sanguine of success. But his
mind was filled with the darkness of disappointment and the dread of
disaster; and his heart was heavy with its bitterness toward those who
had blocked his path. He knew that Ralph's testimony ought to bear but
lightly on the case, but he feared that it would weigh heavily with
the jury, and that his own character would not come out stainless. He
hardly hoped to save both case and character, but he determined to
make the strongest effort of which he was capable. He reviewed the
testimony given by Mrs. Burnham concerning her child and his supposed
tragic death; he recalled all the circumstances connected with the
railroad accident, and repeated the statements of the witnesses
concerning the old man and the child; he gave again the history of
Ralph's life, and of Simon Craft's searching and failures and success;
he contended, with all the powers of logic and oratory at his command,
that Ralph Burnham was saved from the wreck at Cherry Brook, and Was
that moment sitting by his mother before the faces and eyes of the
court and jury.
"Until to-day," he said, "every one who has heard this evidence, and
taken interest in this case, has believed, as I do, that this boy is
Robert Burnham's son. The boy's mother believed it, the counsel for
the defence believed it, the lad himself believed it, his Honor on the
bench, and you, gentlemen in the jury-box, I doubt not, all believed
it; indeed it was agreed by all parties that nothing remained to be
done but to take your verdict for the plaintiff.
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