an able and rising man, but by their verdict to reinstate him in the
position which he had temporarily and unjustly lost.

In reply, the leading counsel for the Crown said that it was neither
his wish nor his duty to strain the law against me, or to put a worse
interpretation upon the facts than they would bear under the strictest
scrutiny. He must point out, however, that if the contention of his
learned friend were correct, Sir John Bell was one of the wickedest
villains who ever disgraced the earth.

In summing up the judge took much the same line. The case, that was of a
character upon which it was unusual though perfectly allowable to found
a criminal prosecution, he pointed out, rested solely upon the evidence
of Sir John Bell, corroborated as it was by the nurse. If that
evidence was correct, then, to satisfy my own ambition or greed, I had
deliberately risked and, as the issue showed, had taken the life of a
lady who in all confidence was entrusted to my care. Incredible as such
wickedness might seem, the jury must remember that it was by no means
unprecedented. At the same time there was a point that had been scarcely
dwelt upon by counsel to which he would call their attention. According
to Sir John Bell's account, it was from his lips that I first learned
that my wife was suffering from a peculiarly dangerous ailment. Yet, in
his report of the conversation that followed between us, which he gave
practically verbatim, I had not expressed a single word of surprise and
sorrow at this dreadful intelligence, which to an affectionate husband
would be absolutely overwhelming. As it had been proved by the evidence
of the nurse and elsewhere that my relations with my young wife were
those of deep affection, this struck him as a circumstance so peculiar
that he was inclined to think that in this particular Sir John's memory
must be at fault.