ountry attorney--irritating, of
course.

About everything else, however, she went into details--especially about
the bribing of Drummond, over which she apparently felt no shame at all.
Both Albee and Wiley, who were often together in consultation with her,
were horrified--not so much at her having done it as at her feeling no
remorse. Wiley spoke as her lawyer. Albee, more human, more amused,
shook his head.

"Really, my dear young lady, bribery of a police officer----"

"Oh, come, governor," said Lydia. "This from you!"

"I don't know what you mean. I never offered a man a bribe in all my
life," said the governor earnestly.

"And exactly what did you say to Mr. O'Bannon in your recent interview?"

Wiley and Albee protested, more as if she were breaking the rules of a
game than as if she were saying anything contrary to fact. Albee
explained at some length that when a man was behaving wrongly through
self-interest--which was, of course, what the district attorney was
doing--it was perfectly permissible to show him that self-interest might
lie along opposite lines. Lydia, unconvinced by this explanation, would
do nothing but laugh annoyingly. At this both men turned on her,
explaining that if the bracelet could be got in evidence, if it could be
shown that she had bribed the man whom she later killed, the case would
go against her.

"Oh, but they can't get it in," said Albee, "not unless you fall asleep,
counselor, or the district attorney is an out-and-out crook."

Wiley, more cautious, wasn't so sure. If Lydia herself took the
stand----

"Of course I shall testify in my own behalf," said Lydia.

"Yes," said Albee. "Exhibit A--a beautiful woman. Verdict--not guilty."

So the discussion always came back to the sympathy of the jury--the
necessity of selecting the right twelve men. Nothing else was talked of
during luncheon at Eleanor's that first day. Was Number 6 hostile? Did
all farmers own automobiles nowadays? Number 1 was susceptible, Miss
Bennett felt sure. He hadn't taken his eyes off Lydia. Number 7, on the
contrary, was hypnotized, according to Lydia, by "that man."

By three o'clock the jury was declared satisfactory to the prosecution.
It was Wiley's turn. His manner was very different from O'Bannon's--more
conciliating. He seemed to woo the jury with what Lydia described in her
own mind as a perfumed voice.

Number 2, in answer to Wiley's questions, admitted a prejudice against
automobiles, si