w that."

"It would be a great achievement to get him off," Wilmore persisted.
"The evidence is very weak in places."

"I believe that I could get him off," was the confident reply. "That
is why I will not touch the brief. I think," Francis continued, "that
I have already conveyed it to you indirectly, but here you are in plain
words, Andrew. I have made up my mind that I will defend no man in
future unless I am convinced of his innocence."

"That means--"

"It means practically the end of my career at the bar," Francis
admitted. "I realise that absolutely: Fortunately, as you know, I am not
dependent upon my earnings, and I have had a wonderful ten years."

"This is all because of the Hilditch affair, I suppose?"

"Entirely."

Wilmore was still a little puzzled.

"You seem to imagine that you have something on your conscience as
regards that business," he said boldly.

"I have," was the calm reply.

"Come," Wilmore protested, "I don't quite follow your line of thought.
Granted that Hilditch was a desperate criminal whom by the exercise
of your special gifts you saved from the law, surely his tragic death
balanced the account between you and Society?"

"It might have done," Francis admitted, "if he had really committed
suicide."

Wilmore was genuinely startled. He looked at his companion curiously.

"What the devil do you mean, old chap?" he demanded. "Your own evidence
at the inquest was practically conclusive as to that."

Francis glanced around him with apparent indifference but in reality
with keen and stealthy care. On their right was a glass division,
through which the sound of their voices could not possibly penetrate.
On their left was an empty space, and a table beyond was occupied by a
well-known cinema magnate engaged in testing the attractions in daily
life of a would-be film star. Nevertheless, Francis' voice was scarcely
raised above a whisper.

"My evidence at the coroner's inquest," he confided, "was a subtly
concocted tissue of lies. I committed perjury freely. That is the real
reason why I've been a little on the nervy side lately, and why I took
these few months out of harness."

"Good God!" Wilmore exclaimed, setting down untasted the glass of brandy
which he had just raised to his lips.

"I want to finish this matter up," Francis continued calmly, "by making
a clean breast of it to you, because from to-night I am starting afresh,
with new interests in my life, what will practic