r no
more, out of all his immense fortune, than five thousand pounds.
'Was there an older will, then,' says the lawyer, 'which the new
will revoked?' Yes, there was; a will that he had given into her own
possession--a will made when they were first married. 'Leaving his widow
well provided for?' Leaving her just ten times as much as the second
will left her. 'Had she ever mentioned that first will, now revoked, to
Captain Manuel?' She saw the trap set for her, and said, 'No, never!'
without an instant's hesitation. That reply confirmed the lawyer's
suspicions. He tried to frighten her by declaring that her life might
pay the forfeit of her deceiving him in this matter. With the usual
obstinacy of women, she remained just as immovable as ever. The captain,
on his side, behaved in the most exemplary manner. He confessed to
planning the elopement; he declared that he had burned all the lady's
letters as they reached him, out of regard for her reputation; he
remained in the neighborhood; and he volunteered to attend before the
magistrates. Nothing was discovered that could legally connect him with
the crime, or that could put him into court on the day of the trial,
in any other capacity than the capacity of a witness. I don't believe
myself that there's any moral doubt (as they call it) that Manuel knew
of the will which left her mistress of fifty thousand pounds; and that
he was ready and willing, in virtue of that circumstance, to marry her
on Mr. Waldron's death. If anybody tempted her to effect her own release
from her husband by making herself a widow, the captain must have been
the man. And unless she contrived, guarded and watched as she was, to
get the poison for herself, the poison must have come to her in one of
the captain's letters."

"I don't believe she used it, if it did come to her!" exclaimed Mr.
Bashwood. "I believe it was the captain himself who poisoned her
husband!"

Bashwood the younger, without noticing the interruption, folded up the
Instructions for the Defense, which had now served their purpose, put
them back in his bag, and produced a printed pamphlet in their place.

"Here is one of the published Reports of the Trial," he said, "which
you can read at your leisure, if you like. We needn't waste time now
by going into details. I have told you already how cleverly her counsel
paved his way for treating the charge of murder as the crowning calamity
of the many that had already fallen on an innoce