The prisoner and the attorneys had never heard the name before, and no uneasiness was manifested upon their faces, but when, in answer to that call, Edward Sommers entered from the ante-room, and stepping upon the witness stand, confronted the court, a change came over the faces of the accused and his counsel, wonderful to behold.
Bucholz staggered to his feet with a smothered expression of physical agony and stood for an instant pressing his hand convulsively upon his brow, his eyes, full of savage but impotent fury, were fixed upon the detective; but this emotion soon passed away and yielded to a vague, bewildered expression, as he sank back into his seat, overcome by the feelings which oppressed him.
[Illustration: "_His eyes full of savage but impotent fury were fixed upon the detective._"] The attorneys, stolid and immovable, gazed at this unexpected apparition, but long practice in their profession had enabled them to conceal their emotions, however powerful the influence, and, except the first start of surprise, no outward indication was given of their astonishment at the appearance of the detective or their chagrin at the duplicity of their client.
The detective, calm and imperturbable, and apparently unconscious of the important part he was playing in this sad drama, stood there immovable, the perfect immobility of his face undisturbed by the consternation of counsel or the confusion of the prisoner.
Under the examination of the State's attorney, he told his story in a firm, deliberate manner, that carried conviction to the minds of all.
He detailed the various experiences of his prison life and of his intercourse with the prisoner.

He related the admissions which Bucholz had made to him, and testified to the influence which he had gradually acquired over the mind of the accused man.
He graphically described their several interviews, and finally he detailed at length the finding of the money of the murdered man, hidden in the places to which Bucholz had directed him.
The silence in the court-room was most impressive.

The crowded audience who had at first been amazed at the appearance of the detective, now leaned eagerly forward in their intense desire to hear each word that was spoken.

The judges listened intently as the well-chosen sentences, fraught with so much importance to the cause of justice, fell from his lips.
The eager, exulting ring of the voice of the State's attorney as he conducted the examination, and the low, modulated tones of the witness as he gave the damaging answers, seemed to affect all present, and, with their eyes riveted alternately upon the witness and the prisoner, they listened breathlessly as he related his convincing story.
William Bucholz, after the first exhibition of his emotions, sat silent and apparently stunned during the whole of the rendering of this testimony.

His eyes were fastened upon the detective witness, but no movement of the muscles of his face betrayed the despairing thoughts within.