e jury, and much less with the spectators. The impression had become so
firmly fixed in the public mind and in that of certain officials as well,
that my early hesitations and misstatements were owing to a brotherly
anxiety to distract attention from Arthur whose clothing they believed me
to have recognised in these articles I have mentioned--that I rather
gained than lost by what, under other circumstances would have seriously
damaged my testimony. That I should prevaricate even to my own detriment,
at a preliminary examination, only to tell the truth openly and like a
man when in court and under the sanctity of an oath was, in the popular
estimation, something to my credit; and Mr. Moffat, whose chief
recommendation as counsel lay in his quick appreciation of the exigencies
of the moment, did not press me too sharply on this point when he came to
his cross-examination.

But in other respects he drove me hard. An effort was made by him, first
of all, to discredit me as a witness. My lack of appreciation for
Adelaide and my secret but absorbing love for Carmel were inexorably
brought out: also the easy, happy-go-lucky tenor of my life, and my
dogged persistence in any course I thought consistent with my happiness.
My character was well known in this town of my birth, and it would have
been folly for me to attempt to gloss it over. I had not even the desire
to do so. If my sins exacted penance, I would pay it here and now and to
the full. Only Carmel should not suffer. I refused to admit that she had
given any evidences of returning my reckless passion. My tongue would not
speak the necessary words, and it was not made to. It was not her
character but mine which Mr. Moffat was endeavouring to assail.

But though I was thus shown up for what I was, in a manner most public
and undesirable, neither the rulings of the court, nor the attitude of
the jury betrayed any loss of confidence in me as a credible witness, and
seeing this, the wily lawyer shifted his ground and confined himself to
an endeavour to shake me on certain definite and important points. How
were the pillows heaped upon the couch? What ones at top, what ones at
bottom? Which did I remove first, and why did I remove any of them? What
had I expected to find? These questions answered, the still
more-to-be-dreaded ones followed of just how my betrothed looked at the
moment I uncovered her face. Were the marks very plain upon her throat?
How plain; and what did I