midnight
The last testimony had been given , Chick had told his story , produced his proofs and identified Morley ; the prosecuting attorney had torn his story to tatters , and confused the youthful witness hopelessly ; the counsel for the defense had now risen to make his final speech to the jury . Suspense hung thick as a fog over the court room . Miss Lady , sitting between Mr. Gooch and Connie , pushed back her short black veil impatiently . The hours she had fought through since midnight seemed as nothing compared to this eternity of waiting . Since entering the room she had not once looked at Donald . She dared not open even a tiny sluice in the dike that held back the sea of her love . But in every fiber of her being she felt him sitting there under suspicion , his future in the hands of twelve men who had the power of making him suffer the penalty of a crime which he had not committed .