he
jury really understood him he returned to where he had started from,
and re-directed their suspicions on Lewis.

'Before I sit down I think I ought to suggest to you how this crime
really was done. You have heard the story of the prosecution. Now let
me put to you my story on behalf of the prisoner.

'The deceased woman was wealthy. About her jewels we know nothing, and
I do not refer to them, but she had other property to a large extent.
The whole of this was to go at her death to a nephew. For two years
she lived in this house alone night after night with the prisoner, and
nothing happened. At last the nephew who was to inherit her wealth
suddenly returned from the other end of the world. That night she met
her death.

'At twelve o'clock her companion, who suffered from sleeplessness,
went out for a long walk. Hardly had she closed the door behind her
than the murderer stole up to it and made his way in. Probably he had
a latchkey. We know that Miss Owen had mislaid hers. It may have been
that. We also know that Miss Lewis had a spare one, and that her
nephew was to take up his residence in the house on the very next
morning. So that, mark this, if the murder had been deferred for one
more day he would have fallen under the same suspicion as Miss Owen,
and probably a good deal more.

'The murderer entered, as I said, by means of his latchkey. But it was
the first time he had used it. He did not know the peculiarity of the
latch. He raised it too high, and it stuck.

'Not staying to notice this, in his wickedness, he passed into the
house and upstairs. He tried the door of his aunt's--I mean the
deceased's--room. It was, of course, locked, as it was found the
following morning. He went into the next, Miss Owen's, which he knew
to be empty, having seen her leave the house. Through this he passed
into the adjoining chamber. Beneath the bed, in all probability, lay
a chest of valuables. Charity would fain suggest that his first
intention was merely to steal these, and that the blacker crime was,
in a sense, forced upon him by the awakening of the sleeper. The
secrets of that terrible night will never be known. We cannot say what
passed in that room between that strong, evil man and that weak old
woman. We only know the result. A blow was struck, perhaps blows. A
life was taken, and the robber became a murderer as well.

'The next step was to remove the body. For what reason it matters not.
It is an impulse with