ere are plenty of other
men--abler than I am--who would, I am sure, be charmed to oblige Lady
Violet Calcott or any of her friends."

"That is not so," she broke in rapidly. "You know that is not so. You
know that your genius has placed you in what is really a unique position.
Your name in itself is almost a mascot. You know quite well that you
carry all before you with your eloquence. If--if you couldn't get him
acquitted, you could get him lenient treatment. You could save his life
from utter ruin."

She clasped and unclasped her hands in nervous excitement. Her face was
piteous in its strain and pathos.

And still Field looked unmoved upon her distress.

"I am afraid I can't help you," he said. "My eloquence would need a very
strong incentive in such a case as this to balance my lack of sympathy."

"What do you mean by--incentive?" she said, her voice very low. "I
will do anything--anything in my power--to induce you to change your
mind. I never lost hope until--I heard you had refused to defend him.
Surely--surely--there is some means of persuading you left!"

For the first time his smile was openly cynical.

"Don't offer me money, please!" he said.

She flushed vividly, hotly.

"Mr. Field! I shouldn't dream of it!"

"No?" he said. "But it was more than a dream with you when you first
entered this room."

She dropped her eyes from his.

"I--didn't--realise--" she said in confusion.

He bent forward slightly. It was an attitude well known at the Law
Courts. "Didn't realise--" he repeated in his quiet, insistent fashion.

She met his look again--against her will.

"I didn't realise what sort of man I had to deal with," she said.

"Ah!" said Field. "And now?"

She shrank a little. There was something intolerably keen in his calm
utterance.

"I didn't do it," she said rather breathlessly. "Please remember that!"

"I do," he said.

But yet his look racked her. She threw out her hands with a sudden,
desperate gesture and rose.

"Oh, are you quite without feeling? What can I appeal to? Does position
mean a great deal to you? If so, my brother is very influential, and I
have influential friends. I will do anything--anything in my power. Tell
me what--incentive you want!"

Field rose also. They stood face to face--the self-made man and the girl
who could trace her descent from a Norman baron. He was broad-built,
grim, determined. She was slender, pale, and proud.

For a moment he did not speak.