All of this tirade had been said, or rather shouted, in a strident voice
and in utter defiance of the repeated orders of the chairman that he
should be silent. Mr. Stephen Strong was not a person very amenable to
authority. Now, however, when he had finished his say he not only filled
in the bail bond but offered to hand up a cheque for 500 pounds then and
there.

When it was over I thanked him, but he only answered:--

"Don't you thank me. I do it because I will not see folk locked up
for this sort of nonsense about diseases and the like, as though the
Almighty who made us don't know when to send sickness and when to keep
it away, when to make us live and when to make us die. Now do you want
any money to defend yourself with?"

I answered that I did not, and, having thanked him again, we parted
without more words, as I was in no mood to enter into an argument with
an enthusiast of this hopeless, but to me, convenient nature.



CHAPTER V

THE TRIAL

Although it took place so long ago, I suppose that a good many people
still remember the case of "The Queen _versus_ Therne," which attracted
a great deal of attention at the time. The prosecution, as I have said,
was set on foot by the relations of the deceased Lady Colford, who,