"The case not only formed two factions in public opinion; it split
the Hynds family itself. His two sisters, and his cousin Jessamine,
raised in this house, believed him guilty. His mother and his wife
believed in his innocence and refused to hear a word against him.
These two things only did Richard Hynds salvage in that utter wreck
and catastrophe--his mother's faith and his wife's love.
"He lost his father's. This was a man, who, under his pleasant
exterior of a landed gentleman, was rigid and inflexible. He had
already borne a great deal, remember; but this was disgrace, an
indelible stain upon a stainless name. Therefore this father, who
was at the same time a just and good man, disinherited his favorite
child and eldest son. House, slaves, lands, money, the great
position of the head of a powerful family, came to Freeman Hynds,
my late client's father, born five years later than his brother, on
the twentieth day of September, 1785--a long time ago! a long time
ago!
"Richard was disgraced, and a beggar. And it seemed that the rod
that had lain in pickle for the Hyndses for their pride, was brought
forth to scourge them all.
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