he
had often been to look for her in that way; moreover, as to the
footprints, he, like everybody in the house, constantly used that path
in going to the town."

"Aye, to be sure;" said Carver. "He'd a good case, I'm thinking."

"He had--and so I thought at the time," continued Triffitt. "And so a
good many folks thought--and they, and I, also thought something else, I
can tell you. I know what the verdict of the crowded court would have
been!"

"What?" asked Carver.

"Guilty!" exclaimed Triffitt. "And so far as I'm concerned, I haven't a
doubt that the fellow pushed her over the cliff. But opinion's neither
here nor there. The only thing that mattered, my son, was the jury's
verdict!"

"And the jury's verdict was--what?" demanded Carver.

Triffitt winked into his empty tankard and set it down with a bang.

"The jury's verdict, my boy," he answered, "was one that you can only
get across the Border. It was '_Not Proven_'!"

CHAPTER XV

YOUNG BRAINS

Carver, who had been listening intently to the memory of a bygone event,
pushed away the remains of his frugal lunch, and shook his head as he
drew out a cigarette-case.

"By gad, Triff, old man!" he said. "If I'd been that chap I'd rather
have been hanged, I think. Not proven, eh?--whew! That meant----"

"Pretty much what the folk in court and the mob outside thought,"
asserted Triffitt. "That scene outside, after the trial, is one of my
liveliest recollections. There was a big crowd there--chiefly women.
When they heard the verdict there was such yelling and hooting as you
never heard in your life! You see, they were all certain about the
fellow's guilt, and they wanted him to swing. If they could have got at
him, they'd have lynched him. And do you know, he actually had the cheek
to leave the court by the front entrance, and show himself to that
crowd! Then there was a lively scene--stones and brickbats and the mud
of the street began flying. Then the police waded in--and they gave Mr.
Francis Bentham pretty clearly to understand that there must be no going
home for him, or the folks would pull his roof over his head. And they
forced him back into the court, and got him away out of the town on the
quiet--and I reckon he's never shown his face in that quarter of the
globe since."

"That will?" asked Carver. "Did it stand good--did he get the woman's
money?"

"He did. My aunt told me afterwards that he employed some local
solicitor chap--writers,