the poor lady on the floor in a kind of fit. I ran out and fetched the
nearest doctor. This is the whole truth, on my oath; and this is all I
know about it."

The landlady was recalled at the request of the jury, and questioned
again about the old woman. She could give no information. Being asked
next if any letters or papers belonging to, or written by, the deceased
lady had been found, she declared that, after the strictest search,
nothing had been discovered but two medical prescriptions. The writing
desk was empty.

The doctor was the next witness.

He described the state in which he found the patient, on being called
to the house. The symptoms were those of poisoning by strychnine.
Examination of the prescriptions and the bottles, aided by the servant's
information, convinced him that a fatal mistake had been made by the
deceased; the nature of which he explained to the jury as he had already
explained it to Amelius. Having mentioned the meeting with Amelius
at the house-door, and the events which had followed, he closed his
evidence by stating the result of the postmortem examination, proving
that the death was caused by the poison called strychnine.

The landlady and the servant were examined again. They were instructed
to inform the jury exactly of the time that had elapsed, from the moment
when the servant had left the deceased alone in the drawing-room, to
the time when the screams were first heard. Having both given the
same evidence, on this point, they were next asked whether any person,
besides the old woman, had visited the deceased lady--or had on any
pretence obtained access to her in the interval. Both swore positively
that there had not even been a knock at the house-door in the interval,
and that the area-gate was locked, and the key in the possession of the
landlady. This evidence placed it beyond the possibility of doubt that
the deceased had herself taken the poison. The question whether she had
taken it by accident was the only question left to decide, when Amelius
was called as the next witness.

The lawyer retained by Mr. Melton, to watch the case on behalf of Mr.
Farnaby, had hitherto not interfered. It was observed that he paid the
closest attention to the inquiry, at the stage which it had now reached.

Amelius was nervous at the outset. The early training in America, which
had hardened him to face an audience and speak with self-possession
on social and political subjects had not pr