m. You all but frightened him into a fainting fit. What
was he afraid of?"

I tried hard to find an answer to that. I even embarked on an answer
without quite knowing where my own words might lead me.

Mr. Dexter is an old and true friend of my husband, I began. "When he
heard me say I was not satisfied with the Verdict, he might have felt
alarmed--"

"He might have felt alarmed at the possible consequences to your husband
of reopening the inquiry," said Mr. Playmore, ironically finishing
the sentence for me. "Rather far-fetched, Mrs. Eustace; and not very
consistent with your faith in your husband's innocence. Clear your mind
of one mistake," he continued, seriously, "which may fatally mislead you
if you persist in pursuing your present course. Miserrimus Dexter, you
may take my word for it, ceased to be your husband's friend on the
day when your husband married his first wife. Dexter has kept up
appearances, I grant you, both in public and in private. His evidence
in his friend's favor at the Trial was given with the deep feeling which
everybody expected from him. Nevertheless, I firmly believe, looking
under the surface, that Mr. Macallan has no bitterer enemy living than
Miserrimus Dexter."

He turned me cold. I felt that here, at least, he was right. My husband
had wooed and won the woman who had refused Dexter's offer of marriage.
Was Dexter the man to forgive that? My own experience answered me, and
said, No. "Bear in mind what I have told you," Mr. Playmore proceeded.
"And now let us get on to your own position in this matter, and to the
interests that you have at stake. Try to adopt my point of view for the
moment; and let us inquire what chance we have of making any further
advance toward a discovery of the truth. It is one thing to be morally
convinced (as I am) that Miserrimus Dexter is the man who ought to have
been tried for the murder at Gleninch; and it is another thing, at this
distance of time, to lay our hands on the plain evidence which can alone
justify anything like a public assertion of his guilt. There, as I see
it, is the insuperable difficulty in the case. Unless I am completely
mistaken, the question is now narrowed to this plain issue: The public
assertion of your husband's innocence depends entirely on the public
assertion of Dexter's guilt. How are you to arrive at that result? There
is not a particle of evidence against him. You can only convict Dexter
on Dexter's own confession. Are y