"He was with me when we heard the shots below." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "He had been there for an hour. He was not with Ludovico at all. He saw nothing."
An excited chatter flew around the benches. The handsome Pietro sat dumfounded.
Candido started from his chair, his face livid with passion, his eyes glaring. "Traditrice! It is thus you deceive me! It is well that I should die. Faithless betrayer!"
In the hysteria of the moment he entirely overlooked the value of the testimony in his behalf. The attendant and the distinguished Flynn thrust him down, and the interpreter hurled at him a torrent of remonstrances. Once more the prisoner buried his face in his hands. Maria, still hanging her head, left the chair, and with her babe in her arms sought a distant corner of the court room.
With the testimony of an officer that a button photograph of Maria had been found pinned inside the coat of Montaro, the prosecution closed its case. The assistant district attorney sat down. The jury shifted their positions. The distinguished Flynn rose to make motions that the case be taken from the jury. It was plain, he argued in sonorous and reverberating tones, that the prosecution had impeached its principal witness by the testimony of the defendant's wife, Maria Delsarto. It had raised a reasonable doubt on its own evidence. There was nothing upon which the jury could predicate a verdict. He asked that they be directed to acquit. Was his motion denied? With an expression of well-simulated surprise, he made the other stereotyped motions. The court denied them all.
Candido saw and trembled. That shaking of the head could mean only one thing! Well, they would let him see the priest first—before they did it.
"Take the chair!" came Flynn's harsh voice from above.
"The chair!" La sedia! Madonna! He knew that word. So soon then? He stiffened with horror. A chilly perspiration broke out all over his body. The room swam and darkness surged across his bewildered vision.
"Take the chair!" repeated the voice.
"La sedia!" bellowed the interpreter. "La sedia!"