f not
precisely a jewel amongst lodges, at any rate clean and comfortable, she
came back to the agent with an offer to take it from month to month, and
with a roll of notes ready to clinch the bargain. Money is the best
reference, as she found when she paid a month's rent on the spot, and
promised that all her payments should be in advance. But, as the agent
had asked her for a reference of another kind, Lettice, who had expected
this demand, and was prepared for it, gave the name of James Graham. She
ought not to have made use of him without asking him beforehand. She
might have referred to the owner of Maple Cottage, where she had lived
when last in London, or even to her publisher. But she wanted to go and
see her old friend Clara; and, woman-like, did a more important thing to
serve as a pretext for a less important.

Clara Graham was delighted to see her again, and the two women had a
long and confidential talk.

"I, at any rate," said Clara, "have never doubted his innocence, and I
was sure that you would not."

"Yet you never told me what troubles had fallen upon him!"

"My dear, I thought you must have heard about it all. But the fact was
that James asked me not to mention the trial. Remember, you were not
well at the time; and it was a difficult case. I could not quite assume
that your interest would be strong enough to justify me in risking the
loss of your health--perhaps of your life. Really, it is a hard question
to deal with--like one of those cases of conscience (didn't they call
them?) which men used to argue for the sake of having something to do. I
stood up for poor Mr. Walcott with my husband; but you know it is
useless to argue against him."

"He believes with the rest of them?"

"Everybody believes alike. I never heard of one who thought that he did
not do it."

"Only yourself!"

"Yes, and that was, perhaps, for your sake," said Clara, affectionately.

"And I suppose that I believe in him for his own sake."

"That is natural; but will people think that it is logical?"

"No, they won't," said Lettice, "at all events, not at first. But,
gradually perhaps, they will. I am perfectly convinced that Alan did not
stab his wife--because I feel it with a force that amounts to
conviction. You see, I know his character, his past history, the
character and history of his wife, the circumstances in which they were
placed at the time. I am sure he is innocent, and I am going to act up
to it. Alan wi