His Other Wife: A Novel — page 351: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

MISTAKEN IDENTITY. 343 A profound hush attended the proceedings. The judge held in his hands the slip of paper upon which the woman, Rachel Croft, had drawn a curious diagram. At length the sheriff exclaimed, in a measured voice: ‘May it please the court, I find upon the right shoulder of the prisoner, about three inches below the neck, what seems to be the scar of marks burnt into the flesh. Within a diamond-shaped figure are the letters H. P., No. 1,272— 1840,” eT He judge caused the paper that he held to be given to the jury. The marks upon the paper corresponded to those upon the shoulder of the prisoner. One by one the jurymen approached the prisoner, and compared the mark on his flesh to the diagram on the paper. Not a sound succeeded to the stir occasioned by the movements of the jury resuming their places, until the ‘slight derangement of the prisoner's toilet had been re- paired. The countenance of Mathew Croft during this painful scene would have baffled the most skillful physiognomist. If possible, a more rigid repose than ever had settled upon his features—the facial fiber might have been of iron, for all emotion one could detect upon those rugged lineaments. : It was the calmness of a desperate creature. Mere — ~pravado and callous villainy could never have attained to such supereminent control. It was the masterful triumph Eomicbooks:co 3