peared in the dock at the Old Bailey,
charged with "The Wilful Murder of Emily Agnes Inglethorp," and pleaded
"Not Guilty."

Sir Ernest Heavywether, the famous K. C., had been engaged to defend
him.

Mr. Philips, K. C., opened the case for the Crown.

The murder, he said, was a most premeditated and cold-blooded one. It
was neither more nor less than the deliberate poisoning of a fond and
trusting woman by the stepson to whom she had been more than a mother.
Ever since his boyhood, she had supported him. He and his wife had lived
at Styles Court in every luxury, surrounded by her care and attention.
She had been their kind and generous benefactress.

He proposed to call witnesses to show how the prisoner, a profligate and
spendthrift, had been at the end of his financial tether, and had also
been carrying on an intrigue with a certain Mrs. Raikes, a neighbouring
farmer's wife. This having come to his stepmother's ears, she taxed him
with it on the afternoon before her death, and a quarrel ensued, part
of which was overheard. On the previous day, the prisoner had purchased
strychnine at the village chemist's shop, wearing a disguise by means of
which he hoped to throw the onus of the crime upon another man--to wit,
Mrs. Inglethorp's husband, of whom he had been bitterly jealous. Luckily
for Mr. Inglethorp, he had been able to produce an unimpeachable alibi.

On the afternoon of July 17th, continued Counsel, immediately after the
quarrel with her son, Mrs. Inglethorp made a new will. This will was
found destroyed in the grate of her bedroom the following morning, but
evidence had come to light which showed that it had been drawn up in
favour of her husband. Deceased had already made a will in his
favour before her marriage, but--and Mr. Philips wagged an expressive
forefinger--the prisoner was not aware of that. What had induced the
deceased to make a fresh will, with the old one still extant, he could
not say. She was an old lady, and might possibly have forgotten the
former one; or--this seemed to him more likely--she may have had an idea
that it was revoked by her marriage, as there had been some conversation
on the subject. Ladies were not always very well versed in legal
knowledge. She had, about a year before, executed a will in favour of
the prisoner. He would call evidence to show that it was the prisoner
who ultimately handed his stepmother her coffee on the fatal night.
Later in the evening, he had sought a