Before she had
finished, however, something occurred which swept them into another act
of the famous history of Jean Jacques Barbille and his house.
She had arrived at the point where Zoe had cried aloud in pain at her
father's incendiary act, when there was a great stir at the Court House
door which opened on the market-place, and vagrant cheers arose. These
were presently followed by a more disciplined fusillade; which presently,
in turn, was met by hisses and some raucous cries of resentment. These
increased as a man appeared on the steps of the Court House, looked round
for a moment in a dazed kind of way, then seeing some friends below who
were swarming towards him, gave a ribald cry, and scrambled down the
steps towards them.
He was the prisoner whose release had suddenly been secured by a piece of
evidence which had come as a thunder-clap on judge and jury. Immediately
after giving this remarkable evidence the witness--Sebastian Dolores--
had left the court-room.
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