policemen, more ragged and miserable than ever by light of day, like some
shaggy, wan, grey animal, surrounded by sleek hounds.

A sort of satisfied purr was rising all round; and with horror Laurence
perceived that this--this was the man accused of what he himself had
done--this queer, battered unfortunate to whom he had shown a passing
friendliness. Then all feeling merged in the appalling interest of
listening. The evidence was very short. Testimony of the hotel-keeper
where Walenn had been staying, the identification of his body, and of a
snake-shaped ring he had been wearing at dinner that evening. Testimony
of a pawnbroker, that this same ring was pawned with him the first thing
yesterday morning by the prisoner. Testimony of a policeman that he had
noticed the man Evan several times in Glove Lane, and twice moved him on
from sleeping under that arch. Testimony of another policeman that, when
arrested at midnight, Evan had said: "Yes; I took the ring off his
finger. I found him there dead .... I know I oughtn't to have done
it.... I'm an educated man; it was stupid to pawn the ring. I found him
with his pockets turned inside out."

Fascinating and terrible to sit staring at the man in whose place he
should have been; to wonder when those small bright-grey bloodshot eyes
would spy him out, and how he would meet that glance. Like a baited
raccoon the little man stood, screwed back into a corner, mournful,
cynical, fierce, with his ridged, obtuse yellow face, and his stubbly
grey beard and hair, and his eyes wandering now and again amongst the
crowd. But with all his might Laurence kept his face unmoved. Then came
the word "Remanded"; and, more like a baited beast than ever, the man was
led away.

Laurence sat on, a cold perspiration thick on his forehead. Someone
else, then, had come on the body and turned the pockets inside out before
John Evan took the ring. A man such as Walenn would not be out at night
without money. Besides, if Evan had found money on the body he would
never have run the risk of taking that ring. Yes, someone else had come
on the body first. It was for that one to come forward, and prove that
the ring was still on the dead man's finger when he left him, and thus
clear Evan. He clung to that thought; it seemed to make him less
responsible for the little man's position; to remove him and his own deed
one step further back. If they found the person who had taken the money,
it