"Gentlemen," said the judge, turning toward the jury, "have you agreed upon a verdict?"
At first there was no answer, and the judge had to repeat the question. That interval was like a lapse of a week or a month.
Mrs. McDonald, who had not been asked to rise, sat facing the jury and looking straight at them. She considered it only polite to keep awake and to forego those beloved "dreams" of hers in honor of the verdict, whatever it might be.
Suspense Frightful.
"Have you agreed upon a verdict?" repeated Judge Brentano, a little impatiently.
"We have," replied the foreman, Hugh H. Fulton, rising and displaying a paper which he held in his right hand.
"Let the Clerk of the Court read it."
A. J. Harris, the Clerk, was already in front of the railing to receive the paper. He took it to his desk, and holding it under an incandescent lamp, for the courtroom was dark, he read, in a loud voice:
"We, the jury, find the defendant, Dora McDonald, not guilty."