ce,--for the coat. But the coat must be made to be forthcoming if
it were still in existence, and had not been as yet torn to pieces by
the shoddy makers.

"It ain't near come to that yet," said Amelia. "I don't know that I
ever see father more respectable,--that is, in the way of a great
coat."

CHAPTER LVII

The Beginning of the Search for the Key and the Coat

When Madame Goesler revealed her plans and ideas to Mr. Wickerby,
the attorney, who had been employed to bring Phineas Finn through
his troubles, that gentleman evidently did not think much of the
unprofessional assistance which the lady proposed to give him. "I'm
afraid it is far-fetched, Ma'am,--if you understand what I mean,"
said Mr. Wickerby. Madame Goesler declared that she understood very
well what Mr. Wickerby meant, but that she could hardly agree with
him. "According to that the gentleman must have plotted the murder
more than a month before he committed it," said Mr. Wickerby.

"And why not?"

"Murder plots are generally the work of a few hours at the
longest, Madame Goesler. Anger, combined with an indifference to
self-sacrifice, does not endure the wear of many days. And the object
here was insufficient. I don't think we can ask to have the trial put
off in order to find out whether a false key may have been made in
Prague."

"And you will not look for the coat?"

"We can look for it, and probably get it, if the woman has not lied
to you; but I don't think it will do us any good. The woman probably
is lying. You have been paying her very liberally, so that she has
been making an excellent livelihood out of the murder. No jury would
believe her. And a grey coat is a very common thing. After all, it
would prove nothing. It would only let the jury know that Mr. Meager
had a grey coat as well as Mr. Finn. That Mr. Finn wore a grey coat
on that night is a fact which we can't upset. If you got hold of
Meager's coat you wouldn't be a bit nearer to proof that Emilius had
worn it."

"There would be the fact that he might have worn it."

"Madame Goesler, indeed it would not help our client. You see what
are the difficulties in our way. Mr. Finn was on the spot at the
moment, or so near it as to make it certainly possible that he might
have been there. There is no such evidence as to Emilius, even if he
could be shown to have had a latch-key. The man was killed by such an
instrument as Mr. Finn had about him. There is no evidence that Mr