er was Mr. Aram. He had remained in his seat till they had
begun to move, and then he followed them. Mrs. Orme was already half
way across the court when he made his way up to her side and very
gently touched her arm.

"Sir?" said she, looking round.

"Do not let her be too sure," he said. "Do not let her be over
confident. All that may go for nothing with a jury." Then he lifted
his hat and left her.

All that go for nothing with a jury! She hardly understood this, but
yet she felt that it all should go for nothing if right were done.
Her mind was not argumentative, nor yet perhaps was her sense of true
justice very acute. When Sir Peregrine had once hinted that it would
be well that the criminal should be pronounced guilty, because in
truth she had been guilty, Mrs. Orme by no means agreed with him. But
now, having heard how those wretched witnesses had been denounced,
knowing how true had been the words they had spoken, knowing how
false were those assurances of innocence with which Mr. Furnival had
been so fluent, she felt something of that spirit which had actuated
Sir Peregrine, and had almost thought that justice demanded a verdict
against her friend.

"Do not let her be over-confident," Mr. Aram had said. But in truth
Mrs. Orme, as she had listened to Mr. Furnival's speech, had become
almost confident that Lady Mason would be acquitted. It had seemed to
her impossible that any jury should pronounce her to be guilty after
that speech. The state of her mind as she listened to it had been
very painful. Lady Mason's hand had rested in her own during a great
portion of it; and it would have been natural that she should give
some encouragement to her companion by a touch, by a slight pressure,
as the warm words of praise fell from the lawyer's mouth. But how
could she do so, knowing that the praise was false? It was not
possible to her to show her friendship by congratulating her friend
on the success of a lie. Lady Mason also had, no doubt, felt this,
for after a while her hand had been withdrawn, and they had both
listened in silence, giving no signs to each other as to their
feelings on the subject.

But as they sat together in the carriage Lucius did give vent to his
feelings. "I cannot understand why all that should not have been said
before, and said in a manner to have been as convincing as it was
to-day."

"I suppose there was no opportunity before the trial," said Mrs.
Orme, feeling that she must say