she was a second parent. In fact, had her niece Ann never married Daniel
Rackstraw, she and her--Ann, that is--would have done much better by
Michael and his sisters. Which left a false impression on her hearers'
minds, that Michael was an illegitimate son; whereas really she was only
dealing with his existence as rooted in the nature of things, and
certain to have come about without the intrusion of a male parent in the
family.

As for the details of his testimony, surrendered unconsciously as mere
facts, not evidence, there was little in them that has not been already
told. The conversation of the two men, as given in the text, was taken
from Michael's version, and he was the only hearer. But he only saw
their backs, except that when the struggle came off he caught sight of
the ex-convict's face for a moment. He would know him again if he saw
him any day of the week. Some days, he seemed to imply, were worse for
his powers of identification than others. It was unimportant, as both
the survivors of the accident had noted the man's face carefully enough,
considering that he was to them at first nothing beyond a chance
bystander. He wasn't a bad-looking man; that was clear. But he was
possibly not in very good drawing, as they agreed that he had a
peculiarity--his two halves didn't square. This no doubt referred to the
same thing Michael described by calling him "a sideways beggar."

The Coroner's Jury had some trouble to agree upon a verdict. "Death by
Misadventure" seemed wrong somehow. How could drowning with the
finger-nails of an adversary in his throat be accounted misadventure? No
doubt Abel died by misadventure, in a sense. But no other verdict seemed
possible, except Manslaughter by the person whom Ibbetson supposed this
man to be when he laid hands on him. And how if he was mistaken?
"Manslaughter against some person unknown" sounded well. Only if the
person was unknown, why Manslaughter? If Brown is ever so much justified
in dragging Smith under water by the honest belief that he is Jones, is
Smith guilty of anything but self-defence when he does his best to get
out of Brown's clutches? Moreover, the annals of life-saving from
drowning show that the only chance of success for the rescuer often
depends on whether the drowning man can be made insensible or
overpowered. Otherwise, death for both. If this unknown man was _not_
the object of Police interest he was supposed to have been taken for, he
might only hav