with her, and as they sat together in his room, she confessed that she
was worried, and asked for his advice. She was in some money trouble,
ingeniously explained, no doubt. Wingrave, with the utmost delicacy,
offered his assistance, which was of course accepted. It was exactly
what she was there for. She was in the act of taking the check, when
she saw her husband and Lumley. Her reputation was at stake. Her
subsequent course of action and evidence becomes obvious. The check
unexplained was ruin. She explained it!

"Of the struggle, and of the exact means by which Sir William received
his injuries, I know nothing. There is the evidence! It may or may not
be true. The most serious part of the case, so far as Lady Ruth was
concerned, lay in the facts as to her husband's removal from the White
Lodge. In an unconscious state he was driven almost twelve miles at a
walking pace. No stimulants were administered, and though they passed
two doctors' houses no stop was made. A doctor was not sent for until
half an hour after they reached home, and even then they seemed to
have chosen the one who lived furthest away. The conclusion is obvious
enough to anyone who knows the facts of the case. Sir William was not
meant to live!

"Wingrave's trial was a famous one. He had no friends and few
sympathizers, and he insisted upon defending himself. His cross
examination of the man who had been his friend created something like
a sensation. Amongst other things, he elicited the fact that Lumley,
after first seeing the two together, had gone and fetched Sir William.
It was a terrible half hour for Lumley, and when he left the box,
amongst the averted faces of his friends, the sweat was pouring down
his face. I can seem him now, as though it were yesterday. Then Lady
Ruth followed. She was quietly dressed; the effect she produced was