No one replying, he threw a hurried glance of relief towards the
servants at his side, then, while each one marvelled at the sudden
change that had taken place in his countenance, withdrew with an eager
alacrity and evident satisfaction for which I could not at the moment
account.

But the next witness proving to be none other than my acquaintance
of the morning, Mr. Harwell, I soon forgot both Thomas and the doubts
his last movement had awakened, in the interest which the examination
of so important a person as the secretary and right-hand man of Mr.
Leavenworth was likely to create.

Advancing with the calm and determined air of one who realized that
life and death itself might hang upon his words, Mr. Harwell took his
stand before the jury with a degree of dignity not only highly
prepossessing in itself, but to me, who had not been over and above
pleased with him in our first interview, admirable and surprising.
Lacking, as I have said, any distinctive quality of face or form
agreeable or otherwise--being what you might call in appearance a
negative sort of person, his pale, regular features, dark,
well-smoothed hair and simple whiskers, all belonging to a recognized
type and very commonplace--there was still visible, on this occasion at
least, a certain self-possession in his carriage, which went far
towards making up for the want of impressiveness in his countenance and
expression. Not that even this was in any way remarkable. Indeed, there
was nothing remarkable about the man, any more than there is about a
thousand others you meet every day on Broadway, unless you except the
look of concentration and solemnity which pervaded his whole person; a
solemnity which at this time would not have been noticeable, perhaps,