then--. Of course I must lead in defending her,--unless it were well
that I should put the case altogether in your hands."

"Oh no! don't think of that. I couldn't give the time to it. My heart
is not in it, as yours is. Where will it be?"

"At Alston, I suppose."

"At the Spring assizes. That will be--. Let me see; about the 10th of
March."

"I should think we might get it postponed till the summer. Round is
not at all hot about it."

"Should we gain anything by that? If a prisoner be innocent why
torment him by delay. He is tolerably sure of escape. If he be
guilty, extension of time only brings out the facts the clearer.
As far as my experience goes, the sooner a man is tried the
better,--always."

"And you would consent to hold a brief?"

"Under you? Well; yes. I don't mind it at Alston. Anything to oblige
an old friend. I never was proud, you know."

"And what do you think about it, Chaffanbrass?"

"Ah! that's the question."

"She must be pulled through. Twenty years of possession! Think of
that."

"That's what Mason, the man down in Yorkshire, is thinking of.
There's no doubt of course about that partnership deed?"

"I fear not. Round would not go on with it if that were not all
true."

"It depends on those two witnesses, Furnival. I remember the case of
old, though it was twenty years ago, and I had nothing to do with it.
I remember thinking that Lady Mason was a very clever woman, and that
Round and Crook were rather slow."

"He's a brute; is that fellow, Mason of Groby Park."

"A brute; is he? We'll get him into the box and make him say as much
for himself. She's uncommonly pretty, isn't she?"

"She is a pretty woman."

"And interesting? It will all tell, you know. A widow with one son,
isn't she?"

"Yes, and she has done her duty admirably since her husband's death.
You will find too that she has the sympathies of all the best
people in her neighbourhood. She is staying now at the house of Sir
Peregrine Orme, who would do anything for her."

"Anything, would he?"

"And the Staveleys know her. The judge is convinced of her
innocence."

"Is he? He'll probably have the Home Circuit in the summer. His
conviction expressed from the bench would be more useful to her. You
can make Staveley believe everything in a drawing-room or over a
glass of wine; but I'll be hanged if I can ever get him to believe
anything when he's on the bench."

"But, Chaffanbrass, the countenance of such peop