answers, strictly adhered to his point, that there was a nephew in
London, who came frequently to see his aunt.

"Anyway, the sayings of the murdered woman could not be taken as
evidence in law. Mr. Greenhill senior put the objection, adding: 'There
may have been two nephews,' which the magistrate and the prosecution
were bound to admit.

"With regard to the night immediately preceding Mrs. Owen's death,
Greenhill stated that he had been with her to the theatre, had seen her
home, and had had some supper with her in her room. Before he left her,
at 2 a.m., she had of her own accord made him a present of L10, saying:
'I am a sort of aunt to you, Arthur, and if you don't have it, Bill is
sure to get it.'

"She had seemed rather worried in the early part of the evening, but
later on she cheered up.

"'Did she speak at all about this nephew of hers or about her money
affairs? asked the magistrate.

"Again the young man hesitated, but said, 'No! she did not mention
either Owen or her money affairs.'

"If I remember rightly," added the man in the corner, "for recollect I
was not present, the case was here adjourned. But the magistrate would
not grant bail. Greenhill was removed looking more dead than
alive--though every one remarked that Mr. Greenhill senior looked
determined and not the least worried. In the course of his examination
on behalf of his son, of the medical officer and one or two other
witnesses, he had very ably tried to confuse them on the subject of the
hour at which Mrs. Owen was last known to be alive.

"He made a very great point of the fact that the usual morning's work
was done throughout the house when the inmates arrived. Was it
conceivable, he argued, that a woman would do that kind of work
overnight, especially as she was going to the theatre, and therefore
would wish to dress in her smarter clothes? It certainly was a very nice
point levelled against the prosecution, who promptly retorted: Just as
conceivable as that a woman in those circumstances of life should,
having done her work, undress beside an open window at nine o'clock in
the morning with the snow beating into the room.

"Now it seems that Mr. Greenhill senior could produce any amount of
witnesses who could help to prove a conclusive _alibi_ on behalf of his
son, if only some time subsequent to that fatal 2 a.m. the murdered
woman had been seen alive by some chance passer-by.

"However, he was an able man and an earnest one, an