t, caused, he explained, by an act of
simple courtesy on his part and by John Borg's unreasoning anger. He
acknowledged that Bella had been killed by his own pistol, but stated
that the pistol had been borrowed by Borg several days previously and
not returned. Concerning Bella's accusation he could say nothing. He
could not see why she should die with a lie on her lips. He had never
in the slightest way incurred her displeasure, so even revenge could
not be advanced. It was inexplicable. As for the testimony of Bishop,
he did not care to discuss it. It was a tissue of falsehood cunningly
interwoven with truth. It was true the man had gone into Alaska with
him in 1888, but his version of the things which happened there was
maliciously untrue. Regarding the baron, there was a slight mistake in
the dates, that was all.

In questioning him. Bill Brown brought out one little surprise. From
the prisoner's story, he had made a hard fight against the two
mysterious men. "If," Brown asked, "such were the case, how can you
explain away the fact that you came out of the struggle unmarked? On
examination of the body of John Borg, many bruises and contusions were
noticeable. How is it, if you put up such a stiff fight, that you
escaped being battered?"

St. Vincent did not know, though he confessed to feeling stiff and sore
all over. And it did not matter, anyway. He had killed neither Borg
nor his wife, that much he did know.

Frona prefaced her argument to the meeting with a pithy discourse on
the sacredness of human life, the weaknesses and dangers of
circumstantial evidence, and the rights of the accused wherever doubt
arose. Then she plunged into the evidence, stripping off the
superfluous and striving to confine herself to facts. In the first
place, she denied that a motive for the deed had been shown. As it
was, the introduction of such evidence was an insult to their
intelligence, and she had sufficient faith in their manhood and
perspicacity to know that such puerility would not sway them in the
verdict they were to give.

And, on the other hand, in dealing with the particular points at issue,
she denied that any intimacy had been shown to have existed between
Bella and St. Vincent; and she denied, further, that it had been shown
that any intimacy had been attempted on the part of St. Vincent.
Viewed honestly, the wash-tub incident--the only evidence brought
forward--was a laughable little affair, po