nable. "You seemed frightened, mother.
Why was it?"

Still she did not speak, but Paul knew by her quivering hands and by
her convulsive sobs that something had aroused her to the depths of her
being.

"I hope you are better now," he went on. "It was very thoughtful of
you to let me know you had recovered. You mustn't trouble about me,
mother. I shall be able to manage all right."

"Yes, yes," she gasped presently, "but you don't know, Paul! You don't
know!"

"I think I know all that is necessary," he said, and then he stopped,
for he was on the point of mentioning the ghastly thought which had
been haunting him throughout the day. He believed he had read his
mother's motive in coming into the court, and that, but for her falling
down in a faint, she would have carried out her purpose. He felt sure
she had come there that day to tell of her own guilt, and thus to save
him. He imagined that she would have found it easy to gain admission
by telling the officials that she was the accused man's mother, and
that had she carried out her purpose he would by that time have been a
free man.

"You must not give way to these feelings, mother," he said. "I am
abundantly able to take care of myself, and I am afraid neither of
judge nor jury."

"The papers say you asked some awfully clever questions," she said, and
there was a mirthless laugh in her voice. "People are saying in the
city, too, that you've got something up your sleeve, and that
presently, when the right time comes, you will confound them all. But,
oh, Paul, Paul, my poor boy, my dear boy! I've come to tell you
something!"

"Don't tell me, mother," he said. "I'm sure it will give you pain, and
there's not the slightest need. Everything is right and perhaps
there's truth in what the people say."

He was still possessed with the idea that his mother was referring to
her own guilt, and he determined at all hazards to keep her from making
any confession. He did not quite know what the course of procedure
might be during the coming days, but he knew that according to English
law no prisoner accused of murder can be obliged to answer any
questions before a judge and jury. He had, during his preliminary
trials, evaded everything which might arouse the suspicions he feared,
but if his mother told him that which he felt sure was on her lips, he
did not know what he might have to do at some future period of the
trial.

"But I must tell you, Paul. I