the angle of the passage. They were in time for the opening of the
defence, and to hear Leonard described as a youth of spirit and
promise, of a disposition that had won him general affection and
esteem, and recommended to universal sympathy by the bereavement
which was recent in the memory of his fellow-townsmen; and there was
a glance at the mourning which the boy still wore.

'They had heard indeed that he was quick-tempered and impulsive; but
the gentlemen of the jury were some of them fathers, and he put it to
them whether a ready and generous spirit of indignation in a lad were
compatible with cowardly designs against helpless old age; whether
one whose recreations were natural science and manly exercise, showed
tokens of vicious tendencies; above all, whether a youth, whose
friendship they had seen so touchingly claimed by a son of one of the
most highly respected gentlemen in the county, were evincing the
propensities that lead to the perpetration of deeds of darkness.'

Tom patted Aubrey on the shoulder; and Aubrey, though muttering
'humbug,' was by some degrees less wretched.

'Men did not change their nature on a sudden,' the counsel continued;
'and where was the probability that a youth of character entirely
unblemished, and of a disposition particularly humane and generous,
should at once rush into a crime of the deep and deadly description,
to which a long course of dissipation, leading to perplexity,
distress, and despair, would be the only inducement?'

He then went on to speak of Leonard's position at the mill, as junior
clerk. He had been there for six months, without a flaw being
detected, either in his integrity, his diligence, or his regularity;