our hands. As to the
verdict which you will give, I have no apprehension. You know as well
as I do that she has not been guilty of this terrible crime. That
you will so pronounce I do not for a moment doubt. But I do hope
that that verdict will be accompanied by some expression on your
part which may show to the world at large how great has been the
wickedness displayed in the accusation."

And yet as he sat down he knew that she had been guilty! To his ear
her guilt had never been confessed; but yet he knew that it was so,
and, knowing that, he had been able to speak as though her innocence
were a thing of course. That those witnesses had spoken truth he also
knew, and yet he had been able to hold them up to the execration of
all around them as though they had committed the worst of crimes from
the foulest of motives! And more than this, stranger than this, worse
than this,--when the legal world knew--as the legal world soon did
know--that all this had been so, the legal world found no fault with
Mr. Furnival, conceiving that he had done his duty by his client in a
manner becoming an English barrister and an English gentleman.

CHAPTER LXXIII

MRS. ORME TELLS THE STORY

It was late when that second day's work was over, and when Mrs. Orme
and Lady Mason again found themselves in the Hamworth carriage. They
had sat in court from ten in the morning till past seven, with a
short interval of a few minutes in the middle of the day, and were
weary to the very soul when they left it. Lucius again led out his
mother, and as he did so he expressed to her in strong language his
approval of Mr. Furnival's speech. At last some one had spoken out on
his mother's behalf in that tone which should have been used from the
first. He had been very angry with Mr. Furnival, thinking that the
barrister had lost sight of his mother's honour, and that he was
playing with her happiness. But now he was inclined to forgive him.
Now at last the truth had been spoken in eloquent words, and the
persecutors of his mother had been addressed in language such as it
was fitting that they should hear. To him the last two hours had been
two hours of triumph, and as he passed through the hall of the court
he whispered in his mother's ear that now, at last, as he hoped, her
troubles were at an end.

And another whisper had been spoken as they passed through that hall.
Mrs. Orme went out leaning on the arm of her son, but on the other
side of h