it on her husband."

"But, my good fellow, you are not defending him! And I'll take care she
is not worked up in that fashion. Thanks for the suggestion, all the
same. They will contend that it was done in a struggle."

"Against that, you have her evidence that the blow was deliberate; and I
think the jury will believe her."

"They can't help themselves: motive, incitements, favoring
circumstances, are all too manifest. And that just makes the difficulty
and delicacy of the case for me. I want the jury to see the whole thing
impartially, that they may do justice, without bias and without foolish
weakness; and yet there are certain matters connected with it which need
not be dwelt upon--which must, in fact, be kept in the background
altogether. Do you see?"

"I think I do." Johnson was a good deal in Sydney's confidence, being a
man of much discretion, and with considerable knowledge of the law. He
felt that his advice was being asked, or at any rate his opinion, and he
met Mr. Campion's searching gaze with one equally cool and serious.

"I have no doubt you know as much about it as I could tell you. You seem
to hear everything from one source or another. Do you understand why it
is that I am going into court? It is not altogether a regular thing to
do, is it?"

"I suppose you wish to keep the evidence well in hand," Johnson replied,
readily. "A lady's name has been used in a very unwarrantable manner,
and--since you ask me--you have undertaken to see that there is no
unnecessary repetition of the matter in court."

"Precisely so--no repetition at all."

"You will examine your own witness, and, of course, you need not go
behind the scene in Surrey Street, at which the crime was actually
committed--except in opening your case. What the jury will say is this:
husband and wife on bad terms, separated, and divorce pending; wife
comes to husband's rooms, reproaches him; recriminations; dagger handy
on the table (very bad for him that); a sudden temptation, a sudden
blow, and there's an end of it. No need to prove they were on bad terms,
with all those facts before you."

"But then comes the defence."

"Well, sir, what is their line going to be? If they want to persuade the
jury that she did it herself, or that it was an accident, they will not
dwell upon all the reasons which might have tempted him to take her
life. That would be weakening their own case."

"And Milton is capable of doing it!" said Sydney, talki