he
prisoner lowered the body out of the window in the first instance, why
did she afterwards return to the house, and take a second journey,
carrying a burden of some kind? I am hardly at liberty, after what has
fallen from his lordship, to suggest to you that this second exit was
in order to remove something which the murderer wanted to steal,
something with the object of stealing which she committed the graver
crime. But, gentlemen, there is another explanation, a terrible way of
accounting for that second journey, so terrible and horrible that I
wish it were not my bounden duty to put it before you. And it is this:

'Only a portion of the victim's body has been recovered. That portion
is a hand. Now, in the absence of anything to make us think that the
cutting off of the hand was a solitary mutilation, we are forced to
the probable conclusion that whoever killed this poor woman mutilated
her in a very dreadful manner. It is possible, therefore, that after
lowering one portion of her victim's remains through the bedroom
window, she returned upstairs to bring down some other part or parts
of the body.'

As the counsel with evident reluctance brought out these horrid
points, a shudder ran through the court. The prisoner had borne it all
with tolerable firmness up to now, but she was completely overcome by
this part of the speech, and cowered down into her chair, again
concealing her emotions by putting her hands before her face.

If Mr. Prescott had any idea of making the jury revolt at the thought
of associating such shocking brutalities with the prisoner, his speech
produced the very opposite effect to what he intended. The jury saw in
it nothing but the natural reluctance of a man at making such a
charge, overborne by the counsel's conviction of the prisoner's guilt.
Their faces assumed an aspect of stony horror as they turned their
eyes upon the shrinking girl. A slight frown crossed Tressamer's
countenance, followed by a look of contempt.

'The second difficulty in the case,' resumed Prescott, 'is as to the
latchkey. As I have explained, there were only three keys in existence
so far as the prosecution have been able to discover. These will all
be produced before you. One was found in the pocket of the deceased's
dress, the other was never out of the possession of the witness
Simons, the third was on the prisoner's person when she was arrested.
One of these keys, therefore, must have been used in the latch that