ace. His eyes
suddenly blazed with a new and startling fire; and the hand which had
been idly playing with a glass clenched itself into a determined fist.

"My God, man, what are you saying? If you can prove my wife to be
innocent, why in God's name do you let me sit here in Purgatory?"

"I ... I said almost----" Anstice positively stammered, so taken by
surprise was he.

"Well, that's enough to be going on with." Carstairs spoke resolutely.
"Look here, I'll tell you something I meant to keep to myself. For the
last two months--ever since I received my wife's short and formal letter
telling me of Cherry's accident--I've been haunted by the thought that
perhaps after all I was mistaken--frightfully, appallingly mistaken, in
the conclusion I came to at the time of the trial. At first I was
convinced, as you know, that the verdict was the only possible one; and,
although it nearly killed me, I could do nothing but leave her and
return to India alone. But in the last few weeks I have asked myself
whether after all I have not made a terrible mistake. Supposing my wife
were innocent, that her silence were the only possible course open to a
proud and honourable woman ... supposing that a grievous wrong had been
done, and the real writer of those letters allowed to escape scot-free.
Oh, there were endless suppositions once I began to dwell on the
possibility of my wife's absolute ignorance of the vile things ... and
when at last I was able to sail for England I came home with the full
determination to go into the matter once more, to rake up, if necessary,
the whole sad affair from the beginning, and see whether there were not
some other solution to the mystery than the one I was forced to accept
at the time of the trial."

"You mean that, sir?" Anstice spoke eagerly, and the other man nodded.
"Then I'm bound to say I think it is something more than coincidence
that has brought us together to-day. I'm not a religious fellow, and I
always feel that if there be a God He went back on me years ago in a way
I had not deserved, but I do think that there is something more than
chance in our meeting; and if good comes out of it, and the truth is
brought to light, well"--he laughed with a sudden gaiety that surprised
himself--"I'll forget my old grudge against the Almighty and admit there
is justice in the world after all!"

"Dr. Anstice," said Carstairs, "I don't understand you. Would you mind
explaining a little more clearly just