er
husband's murder, and acquitted to the horror of a righteous world.

And he had been going to write a book about her, and it was she herself
who had given him the idea!

But was it? There had been much light talk about Mrs. Steel's novel, and
the plot that Mrs. Steel had given Langholm, but that view of the matter
had been more of a standing joke than an intellectual bond between
them. It was strange to think of it in the former light to-night.

Langholm recalled more than one conversation upon the same subject. It
had had a fascination for Rachel, which somehow he was sorry to remember
now. Then he recollected the one end to all these conversations, and his
momentary regret was swept away by a rush of sympathy which it did him
good to feel. They had ended invariably in her obtaining from him, on
one cunning pretext or another, a fresh assurance of his belief in Mrs.
Minchin's innocence. Langholm radiated among his roses as his memory
convinced him of this. Rachel had not talked about her case and his plot
for the morbid excitement of discussing herself with another, but for
the solid and wholesome satisfaction of hearing yet again that the other
disbelieved in her guilt.

And did he not? Langholm stood still in the scented dusk as he asked his
heart of hearts the point-blank question. And it was a crisper step that
he resumed, with a face more radiant than before.

Yes, analytical as he was, there at least he was satisfied with himself.
Thank God, he had always been of one opinion on that one point; that he
had made up his mind about her long before he knew the whilom Mrs.
Minchin in the flesh, and had let her know which way almost as long
before the secret of her identity could possibly have dawned upon him.
Now, if the worst came to the worst, his sincerity at least could not be
questioned. Others might pretend, others again be unconsciously
prejudiced in favor of their friend; he at least was above either
suspicion. Had he not argued her case with Mrs. Venables at the time,
and had he not told her so on the very evening that they met?

Certainly Langholm felt in a strong position, if ever the worst came to
the worst; it illustrated a little weakness, however, that he himself
foresaw no such immediate eventuality. There had been a very brief
encounter between two persons at a garden-party, and a yet more brief
confusion upon either side. Of all this there existed but half-a-dozen
witnesses, at the outside, a