hen
slipped the card into his pocket-book.

"'It was only two or three days later,' added Mr. Verner in the midst of
breathless silence, 'that I had occasion to refer to these same notes
again.

"'In the meanwhile the papers had been full of the mysterious death on
the Underground Railway, and the names of those connected with it were
pretty familiar to me. It was, therefore, with much astonishment that on
looking at the paste-board which I had casually picked up in the railway
carriage I saw the name on it, "Frank Errington."'

"There was no doubt that the sensation in court was almost
unprecedented. Never since the days of the Fenchurch Street mystery, and
the trial of Smethurst, had I seen so much excitement. Mind you, I was
not excited--I knew by now every detail of that crime as if I had
committed it myself. In fact, I could not have done it better, although
I have been a student of crime for many years now. Many people
there--his friends, mostly--believed that Errington was doomed. I think
he thought so, too, for I could see that his face was terribly white,
and he now and then passed his tongue over his lips, as if they were
parched.

"You see he was in the awful dilemma--a perfectly natural one, by the
way--of being absolutely incapable of _proving_ an _alibi_. The
crime--if crime there was--had been committed three weeks ago. A man
about town like Mr. Frank Errington might remember that he spent certain
hours of a special afternoon at his club, or in the Park, but it is very
doubtful in nine cases out of ten if he can find a friend who could
positively swear as to having seen him there. No! no! Mr. Errington was
in a tight corner, and he knew it. You see, there were--besides the
evidence--two or three circumstances which did not improve matters for
him. His hobby in the direction of toxicology, to begin with. The police
had found in his room every description of poisonous substances,
including prussic acid.

"Then, again, that journey to Marseilles, the start for Colombo, was,
though perfectly innocent, a very unfortunate one. Mr. Errington had
gone on an aimless voyage, but the public thought that he had fled,
terrified at his own crime. Sir Arthur Inglewood, however, here again
displayed his marvellous skill on behalf of his client by the masterly
way in which he literally turned all the witnesses for the Crown inside
out.

"Having first got Mr. Andrew Campbell to state positively that in the
accused