equel is very soon told. Sir William died in a few days, and
Wingrave, on the evidence of Lumley and Ruth, was committed for
manslaughter, and sent to prison for fifteen years!"

Lovell paused. A murmur went round the little group of listeners. The
story, after all, except for Lovell's manner of telling it, was an
ordinary one. Everyone felt that there was something else behind.

So they asked no questions whilst Lovell drank his whisky and soda, and
refilled his pipe. Again his eyes seemed to wander to the calendar.

"According to Lady Ruth's evidence," he said thoughtfully, "her husband
entered the room at the exact moment when she was rejecting Wingrave's
advances, and indignantly refusing a check which he was endeavoring to
persuade her to accept. A struggle followed between the two men, with
fatal results for Sir William. That," he added slowly, "is the story
which the whole world read, and which most of it believes. Here,
however, are a few corrections of my own, and a suggestion or two for
you, Aynesworth, and those of you who like to consider yourselves truth
seekers. First, then, Lady Ruth was a self-invited guest at White Lodge.
She had asked Wingrave to return 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 o