As the minutes passed, however, it became a certainty with North that no miracle would happen.
Belknap concluded his plea shortly before six o'clock.

And this was the end,--this was the last move in the game where his life was the stake! In spite of his exhaustion of mind and body North had followed the speech with the closest attention.

He told himself now, that the state's case was unshaken, that the facts, stubborn and damning, were not to be brushed aside.
Moxlow's answer to Belknap's plea was brief, occupying little more than half an hour, and the trial was ended.

It rested with the jury 'to say whether John North was innocent or guilty.

As the jury filed from the room North realized this with a feeling of relief in that that at last the miserable ordeal was over.