h in a case of this kind. His
punishment would be sure to be one of severity, and a conviction a
dead certainty. There was a sparkle in the sporting solicitor's eye,
as he glanced at me over his shoulder, which plainly intimated that he
had something good to communicate.

As he came in front of the seat where I was, he said, in a subdued
whisper, that he had been instructed by Lord ---- to defend the
accused prize-fighter; that the man was at that moment in the town,
and would like to have my opinion as to whether it would be prudent
to surrender at these Assizes--surrender, that is to say, to the
constables who were on the lookout for him; or whether it would be
better, as they were ignorant of his whereabouts, to delay his trial
until the next Assizes, when he would be better prepared to face the
tribunal, as by that time he would have recovered from the punishment
he had received.

It is certain the jury would have taken his battered appearance as
evidence of the damage he had inflicted on his adversary, whom he
had unfortunately killed; and even more likely that Erle should
have regarded his injuries in the same light, and punished him more
severely for having received them. I had a perfect right to answer the
question put to me, and felt that it was my duty to the accused to
answer frankly. So I said there was little doubt, as the man was dead,
and the accused still bore unmistakable signs of the contest, there
would be pretty clear evidence of identity; that as Erle was not a
fool, he would most certainly convict him; while, being opposed to
everything connected with the "noble art of self-defence," he might
send him to penal servitude for a number of years.

I had no need to say more. The solicitor, who was a ready-witted and
voluble man, was anxious to amalgamate his opinion with mine. He
was shrewd, and caught an idea before you could be sure you had one
yourself.

"The most prudent thing, sir," he said, "would be to surrender at the
next Assizes, and not at these. That is just what I thought, sir, and
so I told him, advising in the meantime that he should carefully avoid
putting himself in the way of the police."

I have no doubt he acted on this opinion, for I heard that he left the
town immediately, and was neither seen nor heard of again till the eve
of the Spring Assizes, which were to be held at Kingston, and at which
Baron Parke was to preside. The Baron was one of the shrewdest of men,
as any one