t glance at the bench where the witnesses sat,--"but the
inference itself. Something besides proof of motive and opportunity must
be urged against _this_ man in order to convict him of guilt. Nor is it
sufficient to show he was on the scene of murder some time during the
fatal morning when Mrs. Clemmens was attacked; you must prove he was
there at the time the deadly blow was struck; for it is not with him as
with so many against whom circumstantial evidence of guilt is brought.
_This_ man, gentlemen, has an answer for those who accuse him of
crime--an answer, too, before which all the circumstantial evidence in
the world cannot stand. Do you want to know what it is? Give me but a
moment's attention and you shall hear."

Expectation, which had been rising through this exordium, now stood at
fever-point. Byrd and Hickory held their breaths, and even Miss Dare
showed feeling through the icy restraint which had hitherto governed her
secret anguish and suspense. Mr. Orcutt went on:

"First, however, as I have already said, the prisoner desires it to be
understood that he has no intention of disputing the various facts which
have been presented before you at this trial. He does not deny that he
was in great need of money at the time of his aunt's death; that he came
to Sibley to entreat her to advance to him certain sums he deemed
necessary to the furtherance of his plans; that he came secretly and in
the roundabout way you describe. Neither does he refuse to allow that
his errand was also one of love, that he sought and obtained a private
interview with the woman he wished to make his wife, in the place and at
the time testified to; that the scraps of conversation which have been
sworn to as having passed between them at this interview are true in as
far as they go, and that he did place upon the finger of Miss Dare a
diamond ring. Also, he admits that she took this ring off immediately
upon receiving it, saying she could not accept it, at least not then,
and that she entreated him to take it back, which he declined to do,
though he cannot say she did not restore it in the manner she declares,
for he remembers nothing of the ring after the moment he put her hand
aside as she was offering it back to him. The prisoner also allows that
he slept in the hut and remained in that especial region of the woods
until near noon the next day; but, your Honor and Gentlemen of the Jury,
what the prisoner does not allow and will not admit